BY WILLIAM C. TORREY
As is true across the nation, New Hampshire is grappling with an urgent challenge: how to provide timely, high-quality care to our children and youth who are suffering from anxiety, depression or other painful psychiatric difficulties.
William C. Torrey
When the state of New Hampshire needed a trusted partner to operate Hampstead Hospital and Residential Treatment Facility — a critical safety net for young people experiencing acute mental health issues — it turned to Dartmouth Health. As our state’s only academic health system, Dartmouth Health has the expertise, resources and mission-driven commitment to not only meet the moment but to set a new standard of care.
For over 60 years Dartmouth Health’s Department of Psychiatry has been providing psychiatric care to our state’s youth. In July 2024, we began applying that expertise at Hampstead Hospital, offering clinical leadership in a public-private partnership that has now expanded as of February 2025.
Through our new arrangement, described by state officials as a “win-win,” Dartmouth Health will retain current Hampstead staff as full-time employees, including its strong leadership team, while leasing the facility from the state. This will ensure that we can build on the progress of the last year to deliver the highest quality care possible for Granite State youth who need high-intensity psychiatric services.
Providing clinical leadership at Hampstead Hospital is a privilege that we take very seriously; the results of our first six months speak for themselves. Working together with Hampstead’s leaders and staff, we have implemented evidence-based practices that are already transforming patient outcomes.
Safety has improved: Hampstead leaders implemented a Psychiatric Emergency Response Team that has halved the number of calls to local law enforcement, compared to the first half of last year (and eliminated them in November and December), and significantly reduced the need for seclusion and restraint orders. New patient admissions are quicker, with wait times reduced by 11% thanks to a streamlined referral process, and the hospital is now serving nearly 8% more patients since August, reflecting our efforts to improve access to care.
These achievements are the result of a deliberate, multifaceted approach. With our Hampstead colleagues, Dartmouth Health is integrating medical and psychiatric care, enhancing communication with outside providers, and ensuring hospital staff members are equipped with the latest in de-escalation tools and training. We expect our progress to accelerate over the coming year.
Dartmouth Health’s commitment to high-quality clinical care and operations at Hampstead Hospital ushers in a new chapter in improving the state’s continuum of care for those needing mental health services, and builds on a foundation of trust earned through decades of partnership with the state of New Hampshire.
Over the last 35 years, we’ve fulfilled increasingly more of the state’s needs for clinical leadership and specialized professional care at multiple sites. From providing psychiatric and general medical care at New Hampshire Hospital, the state’s acute psychiatric hospital for adults, and Glencliff Home, a psychiatric and medical facility for older adults with severe mental illness or developmental disabilities, to preparing for the opening of a future forensic hospital in Concord, which will serve patients with very high psychiatric acuity, I’m proud that Dartmouth Health has consistently and successfully stepped up to address critical needs in the state’s mental health system. No other institution in the region is as well equipped and prepared to meet these needs for the state.
We approach our partnership with an understanding that lasting solutions require trust and teamwork between state agencies, community providers and the families we serve. Together, we are building a mental health system that is resilient, responsive and centered on dignity and respect for every individual.
We know that no one signs up to have a psychiatric illness, and that timely access to high-quality psychiatric care can transform lives for the better. Dartmouth Health’s home base is in New Hampshire, and we are dedicated to serving our neighbors in the state who need care.
Part of our regional and national mental health crisis stems from the profound shortage of psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurse practitioners and licensed social workers, and the need is even greater for professionals who care for children and adolescents.
At Dartmouth Health, our mission includes addressing the regional workforce shortage through new training programs, and working closely with our affiliate, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, and other leading colleges and universities across the region. By expanding the training mission at Hampstead, we will contribute skilled pediatric clinicians to our state.
As an academic health system, Dartmouth Health implements the best clinical practices, and we develop and research new models of care to improve health. Training others and building new knowledge creates the kind of vibrant learning community that attracts and retains the most talented clinicians and staff. As a nonprofit organization, everything we do and everything we plan to do puts the needs of the patients and communities we serve first.
The progress at Hampstead Hospital is a testament to what is possible when a state and health system come together with a shared vision. But it’s also a reminder of the work still ahead. Expanding access to care, improving safety and preparing the next generation of mental health professionals are ongoing commitments. Dartmouth Health is honored to stand at the forefront of these efforts, answering the call whenever the people of New Hampshire need us.
The stakes could not be higher. For every young person who walks through the doors of Hampstead Hospital, a brighter future hangs in the balance. And for the families who love them, Dartmouth Health’s commitment offers something invaluable: hope.
William C. Torrey, MD, is professor and chair of psychiatry at Dartmouth Health and Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. He lives in the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire.
