A Place Built for Healing: The Impact of Children’s Mercy + Camber Mental Health
Introduction
At Fore the Kids Foundation, we believe funding mental health care means investing in more than programs; it means helping build pathways to healing for children and families when they need it most.
Recently, some of our board members had the pleasure of visiting the Children’s Mercy + Camber Mental Wellness Campus to see Fore the Kids recognized on a permanent donor wall inside the center. Standing together in front of that wall was a reminder that philanthropy is not simply about putting a name on a project. It is about helping make something possible.
And this place is doing exactly that.
Since opening in December 2024, the center has served over 3,450 patients, providing specialized inpatient mental health treatment to children and adolescents in crisis. In response to growing community need, the wellness campus has expanded its focus exclusively to youth care, increasing capacity from 48 to 72 inpatient beds to help meet demand.
Meeting a Critical Need in Our Community
The need for youth mental health care continues to rise, and facilities like this exist to meet children and families at some of their most vulnerable moments.
The Children’s Mercy + Camber Mental Wellness Campus provides inpatient hospitalization for youth ages 6–18 experiencing mental health emergencies or urgent safety concerns. This may include young people struggling with depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, trauma, or other acute behavioral health challenges.
Inpatient hospitalization includes:
- Full medical, clinical, and nursing assessment
- Intensive psychiatric care and medication management
- Individual, family, and group therapy sessions
- Case coordination
- 24/7 Support and supervision from our skilled nursing staff
- Innovative treatment and education on neuroscience and emotions
For Fore the Kids, supporting this work was about helping ensure children in our region have access to the kind of care they deserve, closer to home.
What This Support Makes Possible
When Fore the Kids contributed funding to this project in 2024, it was with the hope that our donors’ support would help provide additional space for children to receive the care they need, when they need it, not days, weeks, or months after sitting on a waitlist. Seeing the center now fully operational and serving thousands is proof of that impact.
“When my brother, Nick, was in high school, there was a time when he needed inpatient treatment for his depression, and while the place my parents found was okay, it was nothing compared to how incredible this Camber facility is. When I started working with Fore the Kids, I hoped that we would fund things that Nick needed so kids like him could get the support we didn’t have. The Children’s Mercy + Camber Mental Wellness Clinic is that place.”
That is what this work is about.
It is about creating access. It is about meeting families in crisis with compassion. And it is about building something future generations can rely on.
If Your Child Needs Help
Fore the Kids Foundation is a fundraising mechanism that helps bring the care children need directly to our community. If your child needs immediate intervention in an active emergency, please go to your local emergency room or call 911. You can also call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.
Families can also contact Camber Admissions directly to learn about the intake process and available support. Referrals may come from parents or guardians, physicians, schools, or mental health providers.
If you are looking to speak with someone about admissions into the facility, their front desk is open for calls 24/7 at (913) 890-7468, or head to cmcmentalhealth.org/#how-to-access-care and fill out the form online.
Conclusion
Seeing Fore the Kids recognized on the wall was meaningful. Seeing what that support is doing for children is even more meaningful.
More than 3,450 young people have already walked through the doors of this facility, and because of continued community support, many more will find healing here in the years ahead.
We are proud to stand alongside Children’s Mercy, Camber Mental Health, and KVC Foundation in supporting this work, and grateful to every donor, event participant, and advocate who has helped make investments like this possible.
This is why we fundraise.
This is why we partner.
And this is what impact looks like.
© 2021