Hawthorn's Children's Psychiatric Hospital

Hawthorn Children’s Psychiatric Hospital, located at 1901 Pennsylvania Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri, is the state’s only free-standing psychiatric hospital dedicated exclusively to children and adolescents. Owned and operated by the Missouri Department of Mental Health, Hawthorn provides inpatient, residential, and crisis stabilization services to youth across the state. The hospital operates on a 26-acre campus and is accredited by the Joint Commission, ensuring the highest standards of care, safety, and compliance.

The hospital’s treatment philosophy is child-centered and family-focused, designed to provide care in the least restrictive environment possible. Services are delivered by an interdisciplinary team of psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed therapists, nurses, and certified teachers. Hawthorn offers both inpatient programs for short-term stabilization and longer-term residential treatment, with comprehensive services including psychiatric evaluations, medication management, individual and family therapy, educational programs, and specialized therapeutic interventions. Evidence-based practices such as CBT, DBT, and trauma-focused therapy are integrated into treatment, alongside expressive approaches like art, music, and play therapy.

Hawthorn partners closely with families and community mental health centers to ensure continuity of care from admission through discharge. With specialized programs for children and adolescents, the hospital provides a safe and structured environment where young people can build coping strategies, stabilize psychiatric symptoms, and prepare for successful reintegration into their communities.