Sheppard Pratt hosted a grand opening celebration for its new Baltimore/Washington Campus located in Elkridge, Maryland today. This new 156,000-square foot, state-of-the-art, behavioral health hospital incorporates the latest advances in design for effective treatment and will replace Sheppard Pratt’s hospital in Ellicott City.
The Sheppard Pratt – Baltimore/Washington Campus will offer the full totality of psychiatric and behavioral health services to advance care. Situated in the Baltimore/Washington corridor, the new hospital includes 85 inpatient beds; four specialized outpatient programs including eating disorders, thought disorders, and mood disorders; a psychiatric urgent care; and much more.
“Our new hospital campus will redefine the standard of excellence in mental health care and help us broaden our impact to serve more people,” said Harsh K. Trivedi, MD, MBA, president and CEO of Sheppard Pratt. “Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we were seeing an urgent need for increased access to high-quality, compassionate mental health care. The Sheppard Pratt – Baltimore/Washington Campus is the first bold step in a number of key initiatives that we are undertaking in our journey to meet the demands for our care and services.”
Creating Access and Meeting the Demand for Services
The Baltimore/Washington Campus will launch a Psychiatric Urgent Care to provide urgent assessments and triage to appropriate care for individuals experiencing mental health and/or addiction crises. This expands the urgent care services currently offered at Sheppard Pratt’s Psychiatric Urgent Care in Towson, Maryland, which opened nearly a decade ago and serves 5,000 individuals a year in crisis. The expanded services address the growing need, particularly in the Baltimore/Washington corridor, for more direct and efficient access to psychiatric care—a need that has become more pressing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to the new young adult patient care unit that was not at the previous Ellicott City hospital, the expansion to four specialized outpatient programs—where clients return home daily after participating in several hours of group and individual treatment, offer new care and services for targeted populations and disorders including children and adolescents and eating disorders. These offerings represent an expansion of services to people in the Baltimore/Washington corridor.
The campus will also offer access to the latest treatments, including novel approaches such as neuromodulation for mood disorders, particularly treatment-resistant depression, to help find solutions for people who have been struggling for years.
“The new campus will be a vital local, regional, and national resource and uniquely positions Sheppard Pratt to meet the ever-increasing needs for mental health care,” said Joshua Kakel, Chairman of the Sheppard Pratt Board of Trustees. “The Sheppard Pratt – Baltimore/Washington Campus will provide another access point for critical care and services, and its impact will be far reaching and long-lasting.”
Campus design, spaces, and features
The design of the Baltimore/Washington Campus reflects Sheppard Pratt’s commitment to setting the national standard for psychiatric and behavioral health care. Set on 50 acres of land, the hospital’s setting ensures privacy and takes advantage of the surrounding woods. Patient rooms face wooded areas or interior courtyards, which will offer well-lit spaces and capitalize on the healing effects of nature. Wide, airy hallways, soft color palettes, and warm finishes offer spaces that are inviting and restorative.
Patient care areas offer contemplative and restorative spaces where patients can learn skills to help them succeed long-term. There are designated spaces for group activities and group therapy, a living room-like gathering area, a conference room, an outdoor terrace, a dining area for meals, and access to a shared central courtyard for fresh air and sunshine. In addition to the courtyards, the Baltimore/Washington Campus has a gymnasium, three basketball courts, and multipurpose room for fitness and recreational activities.
Other features of the building include a cafeteria for visitors and staff, a gift shop, patient exam rooms, and an office dedicated to judicial/legal activities such as commitment hearings. The hospital has been built to LEED Silver standards, demonstrating a commitment to energy efficiency in its design and operations.
For more information and a virtual tour of the campus, visit sheppardpratt.org/hopeishere.
About Sheppard Pratt
Sheppard Pratt is the largest private, nonprofit provider of mental health, substance use, developmental disability, special education, and social services in the country. A nationwide resource, Sheppard Pratt provides services across a comprehensive continuum of care, spanning both hospital- and community-based resources. Since its founding in 1853, Sheppard Pratt has been innovating the field through research, best practice implementation, and a focus on improving the quality of mental health care on a global level. Sheppard Pratt has been consistently ranked as a top national psychiatric hospital by U.S. News & World Report for 30 years.
