Boys Town is home to a one-of-a-kind mental health environment with a full range of compassionate, effective behavioral healthcare specialists who collaborate with Boys Town Pediatricians, Neurologists and other specialty providers. This collaborative care makes Boys Town your community leader in mental health for youth and families.
Our founder, Father Flanagan, had a holistic, healthy “mind, body, and spirit" philosophy when it came to raising “his boys." This whole-person concept was unheard of in his time. We are following in his footsteps today by applying the concept to the physical and behavioral healthcare offered at Boys Town.
Online Mental Health Support for Children and Parents
NO ONE HAS TO STRUGGLE ALONE
Boys Town has more than 100 years of experience helping and healing children and families. We are using this experience to support those fighting the invisible battle of staying mentally healthy daily. We are here to change the way America cares for children and families with:
- Coping Tools
- Parenting Guides and Articles
- Healthcare Clinics that Focus on both Physical and Mental Health
- Expert-Curated Q&As, Submitted by Real People like You
Featured Mental Health Resources
Featured Self-Care Tip:
Ask for help when you need it. Many hands make light work. Plus, doing chores or projects with loved ones is a good way to increase the amount of quality time you have with one another.
For Our Fellow Community Leaders
We strive to keep our colleagues updated on what is new in Boys Town care philosophy and research. Right now, dozens of researchers at Boys Town are busy creating the cutting-edge therapies and behavioral breakthroughs that will benefit generations to come.
Boys Town National Hotline
The Boys Town National Hotline is accredited by the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) and is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The Hotline aims to be a resource for anyone who needs help. We offer Spanish-speaking counselors and translation services for more than 100 languages. Plus you'll find an email account available for speech- or hearing-impaired individuals. In addition, digital services are available via text and on the Your Life Your Voice website.
Now We Serve 9-8-8
When the National Suicide Hotline shortened its number to 9-8-8 in 2022, the Boys Town Hotline took on the task of serving callers in need. Boys Town Crisis Counselors are trained in suicidology, crisis de-escalation, safety planning and Nebraska resource navigation. And if a situation does need emergency services like 911, The Hotline is equipped to forward those calls.
Leading the Way for the Future…
Boys Town Pediatrics & Boys Town Mental Health
You've probably recognized Boys Town as a leader in pediatric healthcare for many years, but most people don't realize that we've always been a leader in pediatric mental healthcare as well. Today we are connecting the two as never before, treating mental health as a vital component of preventative healthcare.
By having behavioral healthcare experts available within Boys Town Pediatrics clinics, we're bringing accessibility to a new level. Plus, Boys Town offers expert-reviewed resources to help parents support and guide a child with a mental health condition.
Coordiniated Care Is Medicine Done Right
Having physical and behavioral medicine as part of the same organization has distinct advantages. Our coordinated care system combines physical and behavioral health, parents, children and professionals have the best opportunity to get the right diagnosis and care at the right time.
A stomach pain that is physical in origin gets the medicine or surgical intervention needed. Meanwhile, a stomach pain that is emotional or behavioral in causation gets referral and treatment by a behavioral health specialist.
Having a primary healthcare practitioner provide a referral to someone they know and whose expertise they trust will eliminate some of the hesitancy parents may feel about taking their child to a mental health professional.
Coordinated care between Boys Town Pediatricians and Boys Town Behavioral Healthcare Providers gives you:
- Less time from call to care, with 24-hour turnaround for emergency situations
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Two sets of eyes on all medications prescribed for mental health issues
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Improved care because our doctors share results regularly
- Easy scheduling at your Boys Town Pediatrics clinic or on the Boys Town Home Campus
- Seamless insurance filing through a single provider.
The Center for Behavioral Health
The Boys Town Center for Behavioral Health is here to help children, adolescents, adults and families find solutions to difficult challenges using evidence-based practices. With 35 Ph.D.-licensed psychologists at the clinic on Boys Town Home Campus, there's a provider suited to every child and family.
The Center for Behavioral Health also serves as a national training center for child psychologists, with many interns continuing on to serve as staff members at Boys Town Behavioral Health clinics across the country.
Boys Town Behavioral Health Services
Boys Town Medical Clinics
Boys Town Medical Clinics are located throughout the greater Omaha community, providing life-changing care that takes into consideration the physiological, social and emotional needs of each patient (and their family).
More than 100 physicians offer a broad range of hospital, clinical and residential services such as gastroenterology, orthopaedics , neurology, surgery and psychiatry. Our healthcare services are comprehensive enough to provide a continuum of care that provides needed services for everyone.
In fact, we have five psychiatrists who are dedicated solely to seeing children and adolescents. They are currently delivering psychiatric services to Boys Town Youth and kids in the Omaha community.
Behavioral Health for All
Boys Town's wide range services is designed to meet the individual needs of each child and their family. This array of services benefits children and adolescents who need less intensive outpatient services, as well as those facing serious mental health disorders requiring intensive treatment. Are you looking for care for your family? Find the care you need.
For healing and hope, families turn to Boys Town and our continuum of Behavioral Health Services.
Outpatient Psychology
The Boys Town Center for Behavioral Health® provides compassionate, effective help for the challenges families are facing. The Center offers a variety of outpatient services for children of all ages, as well as counseling for parents. The Behavioral Health Clinic serves thousands of young people every year, using Boys Town's proven methods to help families deal with issues like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anger management, bedtime and sleep disorders, learning challenges and depression. The Center also offers substance abuse assessment and therapy through the Boys Town Chemical Use Program. The Boys Town Assessment Program provides specialized assessments to help identify specific childhood issues and develop the best treatment options.
Outpatient Psychiatry
Boys Town Child and Adolescent Psychiatry specializes in managing and treating developmental, behavioral and mental health problems in young children and adolescents. Our team of experts provides diagnostic and counseling services for children with ADHD, school problems, anxiety, anger management challenges, depression, phobias, peer relationship challenges, habits, sleep problems, eating disorders, neurodevelopmental delays and spectrum disorders.
Our medical physicians work with families to create the best medical and behavioral treatment plan for each child, which may include medication management.
Psychiatric Residential Treatment Center
The Boys Town Residential Treatment Center provides medically directed care for children ages 5 to 17 with severe behavioral and mental health problems. The Center promotes a family-centered, culturally-competent and developmentally-appropriate approach to treatment. Children in our program require a secure environment with supervision, safety and therapy but do not require acute inpatient hospitalization. Children are provided systematic and professional treatment for their behavioral, emotional and academic problems.
Common problems of children admitted to our programs may include multiple psychotropic medications without improvement, suicidal thoughts or self-harm, a history of school failures, emotional or aggressive outbursts and combined medical and psychiatric issues. The majority of these children have had multiple treatment failures in the mental health system.
The Center is licensed as a Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility and approved by The Joint Commission as part of Boys Town National Research Hospital.
Inpatient Psychiatric Care
The Psychiatric Inpatient Center provides intervention and stabilization for children in immediate crises. As part of Boys Town National Research Hospital, our 16-bed state-of-the-art facility provides the highest level of care and safety for children ages 5 to 17 who need psychiatric hospitalization. The average length of stay is about seven days.
The Center includes classrooms, a gymnasium, living spaces and recreational areas. Patients receive treatment and care from a multidisciplinary team of board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrists, pediatricians and pediatric specialists, highly trained psychiatric nurses and social workers. Upon leaving the Center, patients may be referred to one of Boys Town's lower levels of care, such as residential treatment, outpatient care, telehealth or in-home services to meet the behavioral and mental health needs of the child and family.
Boys Town Celebrates 30 Years of Research
with the Gift of Knowledge
This year the Boys Town Child and Family Translational Research Center (TRC) is celebrating 30 years of youth care research publications with the 2021 Applied Research Bibliography. The bibliography contains 566 citations and abstracts of published youth care research which includes peer-reviewed journal articles, books and book chapters. This anniversary provided an opportunity to reflect on the history and heritage of youth care research at Boys Town.
The spirt of research at Boys Town goes all the way back to our founder, Father Edward J. Flanagan. In 1939, Fr. Flanagan said, “I like to think of Boys Town as an experimental station in youth work – a starting point from which we adults may gain a better and a finer knowledge of the problems of youth and the treatment of unusual cases that may arise." Fr. Flanagan learned from the boys he cared for and then applied this knowledge to inform the rest of society on how to improve care for vulnerable children. This approach was later referred to as participatory action research. Today, we continue this approach at the TRC as we partner with children, families and our practitioners to use research to improve the quality of child and family services and help us address the complex problems that we face in society.
Rising Numbers of Mental Health Diagnoses in Children
Call for the Coordinated Care Provided at Boys Town
There is a national crisis in children's behavioral health. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry notes that 13 percent of children under the age of 14 qualify for a mental health diagnosis. As children approach age 20, that figure climbs to 20 percent. Most alarmingly, only one in five who index for a diagnosis receives treatment.
Acknowledging such concerns and the prevalence of behavioral health issues in the national population of youth, Boys Town has made huge strides in bringing together pediatric medical and behavioral health. This collaboration brings together two of Boys Town's most highly regarded services – pediatrics and psychiatry – allowing us to provide coordinated care for our patients and families.
Having physical and behavioral medicine under one organization has other distinct advantages. It improves care, costs less, saves time and, most importantly, produces better results. Record keeping, billing and the geography of care are all added benefits. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of Mental Illness acknowledge that such pediatric primary care/behavioral medicine arrangements are in the best interest of patients, professionals and payers.
Boys Town Center for Neurobehavioral Research
The Center for Neurobehavioral Research is a collaboration between Boys Town National Research Hospital and Boys Town Youth Care Services to study and improve methods for intervening early in the lives of children with behavioral and mental health problems.
The goal of the Center is to understand what is physiologically happening in the brain of a troubled child so that the right interventions can be adopted, at the right time, for that individual child. This research moves beyond the observation of behaviors. We are developing scientific ways of diagnosing and treating problems like depression, anxiety, aggression and ADHD.
Located on the Boys Town Campus, the Center is home to two next-generation MEG (magnetoencephalography) systems. This advanced imaging system can see what is happening in the brain at the millisecond level – meaning researchers can image the brain at the speed of thought.
This technology supports the work of the research team to define normal brain development in children and identify the impact of traumatic experiences on brain development, as well as the brain changes associated with the emergence of psychiatric conditions like anxiety disorders, depression or schizophrenia.
To meet our team, learn about core services and facilities or to participate in research,
click here.
