In a perfect world, cost wouldn’t be a consideration when it comes to our children’s mental health.
Unfortunately, that’s not true for most of us. As much as we wish it weren’t, cost is an issue and sometimes a big one.
At Tamarack, we understand that. And we know that many people assume a residential treatment program will cost far more than a few days of treatment in a hospital.
In actuality, the opposite is true, by a wide margin.
A study in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology found that residential treatment costs were 44 percent less than hospitalizations and emergency interventions.
That’s almost half the cost.
Let’s look deeper into why residential is so much more cost-effective when compared to repeated hospitalizations.
If your teen is experiencing a mental health crisis, we can help. Contact Tamarack Center to find out more.
Cost Effectiveness of Residential Children’s Mental Health Services

Continual Care Vs Intensive Care
Hospital stays, especially in psychiatric care units, are very expensive. Hospitals require higher staffing levels to respond instantly to every eventuality. They have to maintain more expensive diagnostic equipment and medications — and must be ready to provide acute, immediate, intensive care to anyone who walks in at a moment’s notice.
To be fair, that’s exactly what you want from a hospital — a place with the personnel and resources to treat even the most dire medical issues immediately. But the cost for that is reflected in what patients are charged.
Residential facilities like Tamarack don’t need to be prepared for such a wide range of potential issues. We don’t have to be prepared for walk-in patients, and we don’t have to be prepared for every medical eventuality. Residential facilities only need the staff, medications, and equipment needed to care for the mental health conditions of residents under their care.
Residential programs may have staff equally qualified (or more so) as those at hospitals. But they require a far smaller staff.
A study by the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology found that residential care for patients with serious mental illness was significantly less expensive than general hospital care: As a result, residential treatment centers have much less overhead and cost much less to operate, while still providing high-quality treatment and care.
Integrated Mental Health Treatment
Hospitals are focused on stabilization. If you break a bone, the hospital will x-ray the area to determine the location and severity of the break. You’ll likely be given a cast or other device to stabilize the area while it heals, or a small amount of medication for immediate pain management. In some severe cases, you may have to stay at the hospital for a few days — until you’ve healed enough where they feel the risk of reinjury is acceptably low.
After you’re stabilized, you’ll be sent home. After that time, treatment is up to you to seek out. You might have a prescription for pain medication, but choosing to use it and picking it up is up to you. Physical therapy may be recommended, but pursuing it (and doing it) is your choice.
The cost for those is up to you as well.
the beauty of residential treatment for mental health issues is that it provides holistic care. Staff will prescribe and monitor medication — and schedule various types of therapy sessions based on the needs of each individual and monitor the results.
Residential treatments also provide a daily schedule to reduce triggers and help patients focus on recovery. This includes education, therapy, recreation, meals, and phone time so young people can stay safely connected with friends and loved ones.
At Tamarack Center, we also manage the education of our residents. We coordinate with schools so those in treatment don’t lose any academic progress, and schedule recreational activities so young adults develop new social skills, peer support, and coping mechanisms. Our treatment teams provide counseling, emotional support, and therapy for families to create long-lasting benefits.
Residential treatment centers also oversee all aspects of treatment during a patient’s stay. The goal is to create an immersive holistic environment for healing. That said, we go far beyond stabilization. We want our residents to return to their daily lives healthier — and able to navigate issues better than before they came to us.
A residential level of care just isn’t available at hospitals. Essentially, it would be cost-prohibitive to almost everyone if it were.
Lower Per-Treatment Costs
We talked about the higher overhead hospitals have to carry, and how those costs are passed along to patients.
Even with that, a single hospital visit for a mental health crisis might cost less than treatment in a residential facility.
However, severe mental illness and behavioral disorders are seldom addressable in a single visit.
You wouldn’t expect a broken bone to heal during one emergency room visit. Recovery from mental illness is less straightforward than recovering from a broken bone.
Patients experiencing severe mental health issues often have multiple hospitalizations for the same condition with little or no change between hospitalizations.
Residential programs last longer than a single hospitalization because the goal is to help patients leave healthy and more capable than when they entered, rather than undergo multiple visits for the same issue.
Reduced Risk of Readmission
Another goal of residential programs is to prevent readmission. This goes far beyond stabilization.
In addition to helping residents overcome their current mental health struggles, residential programs help patients develop coping skills for when they return to their lives. These programs also develop detailed discharge criteria, behavioral contracts, connections with community services, and post-discharge maintenance plans.
Tamarack Center provides post-discharge plans so our patients have continued guidance — even after they leave. Residents are provided with the tools they need to re-enter their lives, adjust, and cope with new circumstances they’ve never encountered before.
When patients can self-adjust and cope with unforeseen circumstances, their chances of readmission become very low.
Reduced Risk of Emergency Intervention Care
Emergency visits are expensive, in both monetary and emotional terms.
The best way to reduce the costs of emergency visits is to prevent them before they happen.
In residential treatment programs, patients receive round-the-clock care and support. They learn how to build support systems in a safe environment, healthy mechanisms for managing stress — and how to recognize their own warning symptoms earlier to de-escalate their reactions. Residents also learn how to communicate their needs and concerns better, with less stigma around asking for help.
During residential treatment, our patients have the chance to practice these skills repeatedly, so they’re readily accessible when needed.
Improved Quality of Life
Perhaps the greatest cost-effective benefit of a residential treatment program is leaving with a better quality of life.
As we mentioned before, the goal of hospitalization is stabilization.
But stabilization is only the first of many steps towards healing. You may leave the hospital better than when you entered, but there will still be a long journey to a better life. With a broken bone, the break still has to be mended, but you’ll still need to strengthen the muscles around the break after it’s healed.
If you experience a cardiac incident, healthcare providers will ensure you’re stable when you leave the hospital. But you’ll face many months of dietary and lifestyle changes before your quality of life improves.
The primary goal of residential care is for residents to leave with a better quality of life than they entered with, better coping mechanisms, better communication skills, a better understanding of themselves, a support system, and much more.
When you compare the cost of emergency intervention treatments, hospitalizations, stabilization, a better quality of life, and a drastically reduced risk of recurring treatments, residential programs become extremely cost-effective.
Residential Mental Health Treatment at Tamarack Center
Tamarack Center provides effective, compassionate treatment and children’s mental health support. We provide a safe environment, structured daily schedules, and recreational activities. Our staff includes a full-time child psychiatrist, pediatrician, clinical psychologist, Master’s level therapists, and a Master’s level teacher who provides for the residents’ education during their stay. And we have access to many other local resources.
We use evidence-based, effective treatment modalities for mental health conditions, such as Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and medication management when required.
Family members are an important part of our treatment team. You know your child better than anyone. Your insights and experiences play an important part in every treatment plan.
If your teen is experiencing a mental health crisis, we can help.
We offer residential mental health treatment for struggling teens. Contact Tamarack Center and see how we can help.