A rendering shows the outside of Sweetser’s incoming youth psychiatric facility. (Courtesy of Sweetser)
Maine’s first youth psychiatric facility, planned for an existing building on the campus of Saco-based behavioral health agency Sweetser, is moving closer to completion but still needs significant funding.
The Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility will provide intensive clinical care for up to 16 at-risk young people — something Sweetser CEO Jayne Van Bramer said the state is seriously lacking.
“It really is a missing link in the continuum of care for children’s behavioral health,” Van Bramer said Tuesday.
Lindsay Hammes, spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, said the establishment of a PRTF is an important development for the state.
According to a state dashboard maintained by DHHS, more than 1,000 children were on a waitlist for psychiatric treatment as of January 2025, the most recent month for which data is available.
Because of the lack of youth psychiatric treatment facilities in the state, Van Bramer said, Maine children are often sent to facilities in other states, sometimes as far away as Florida, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Other children often end up languishing in hospital emergency departments for weeks or months on end.
“We want to keep Maine children in Maine,” she said.
The benefits of keeping at-risk children close to home, Van Bramer said, are endless.
“Imagine what it must be like for a 14-year-old or a 12-year-old with some sort of serious emotional disorder, being put on a plane and sent to a state where the weather is different, the accents are different, the environment is different,” she said. “And you don’t have the benefit of your family and your community to be a part of your healing.”
A LOOK INSIDE
Sweetser’s youth psychiatric facility will offer families the opportunity to stay in an apartment on campus, giving at-risk children a familial support system nearby.
A rendering of a common area at the Sweetser youth psychiatric facility. (Courtesy of Sweetser)
The facility will also keep the security of an inpatient setting in a residential environment, with light colors and nature scenes intended to lift children’s spirits and inspire hope.
“It will be more home-like, more serene,” Van Bramer said. “It will be a beautiful facility.”
Beyond home comforts and family support, the facility will offer medication management, a wide range of therapies and education. A child psychiatrist, nurses, crisis workers and trained direct care workers will staff the facility 24/7.
The goal, Van Bramer said, is to transition children to a less intense form of care.
“On our campus, there’s a trajectory, and that can inspire hope and a belief that this is not who they are,” she said.
An outdoor basketball court rendering for the new Sweetser youth psychiatric facility. (Courtesy of Sweetser)
FUNDING STILL NEEDED
The facility will be built by renovating an existing building on Sweetser’s Saco campus, minimizing the cost. But funding is still needed to complete the renovation, Van Bramer said.
In 2023, the Legislature approved $2 million in appropriations to establish the PRTF, which was awarded to Sweetser in 2024, Hammes said.
In February 2025, DHHS established PRTF services and rates under MaineCare. Gov. Janet Mills also put forward about $3.4 million in additional funding in the current supplemental budget, Hammes said.
But the current funding awarded to Sweetser is essentially just a “down payment,” Van Bramer said. “There’s still a gap.”
Now, Sweetser is working to secure an additional $2.5 million to complete the project.
While the facility was originally scheduled to open in April, the need for additional funding makes that almost impossible.
Once completed, the facility will be “transformational” for Maine youth in need of this type of mental health care, Van Bramer said.
“We’re very excited about this project, and we’re proud to be the leaders bringing this to Maine,” she said.