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The physicians at Marillac also work with parents of children suffering from mental health issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe tell the parents it\u2019s like treating your kid\u2019s asthma,\u201d Dr. Douglass said. \u201cIf your kid has asthma, they can\u2019t breathe. They need to get treated. Sometimes they don\u2019t have to go to the hospital, but you\u2019ve got to make sure they get appropriate treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf your kid is suffering from depression, you\u2019ve got to see their therapist. They might need to take a medication if it gets really bad, but you still have to help them \u2018breathe.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe main thing is to not blame yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Douglass says that, contrary to a common myth, talking to a child about suicide is not going to lead to suicide. If they\u2019re already thinking about it, talking with them is the best thing a parent can do. It\u2019s the first step in the treatment process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second step is to initiate treatment at school. The inpatient facility is the third and final step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The focus on mental health is quite a shift from Douglass\u2019 initial pursuit. He majored in East Asian Studies at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. He lived in China for two years in the 1990s on a teaching fellowship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But instead of finishing his PhD in Chinese Art History, he decided to pursue medicine. He was one of 20 people in America to do a triple-board program (pediatrics, pediatric psychiatry and adult psychiatry).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2009, he became the medical director of the Wyandotte Center in Kansas City, Kansas, where the focus was on those young people likely to be incarcerated or admitted to a state mental hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His history with pediatrics drew him to Marillac, where they\u2019re being more proactive and preventative than reactive. The KU Health System Marillac campus has added an intensive outpatient program to provide intensive care for patients before or after trauma. The Health System has also expanded outpatient care to include bridge clinic appointments and has sponsored a behavioral health navigator to work with highest risk patients after discharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of his work, Douglass is the May recipient of the \u201cBlue KC Answering the Call\u201d award, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City and benefitting The Battle Within. The Battle Within is an organization that helps former military personnel and first responders cope with the sometimes-hidden trauma of their careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is honored by the award, but he says that it reflects the work done by the entire staff at Marillac. It even reflects the entire University of Kansas Health System.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is an award for the group of people that I\u2019m working with,\u201d he said, \u201cincluding the administrators of the University of Kansas Health System who have made an investment in child psychiatry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMental health is not a profitable business. But they made a commitment to child psychiatry. We have a 60-bed inpatient child psychiatric hospital. The fact that they gave me this opportunity, so we can make sure that they get the treatment that they need, that\u2019s the win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
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