Ngan Vu
The Yale Child Study Center consolidated its clinical practices from three locations around the city to one at 350 George St.
The location change has been in the works since October 2017, when the Yale Medicine Board endorsed plans to shut down centers on 40 Temple St., 230 South Frontage Road and 98–100 York St. for one larger facility. While CSC’s research programs are still located at 230 South Frontage Road, the new location — which the Center moved into on Sept. 14 — will house the Center for Emotional Intelligence and the Mental health Outreach for MotherS Partnership, which works with mothers experiencing mental health problems. With the move, the CSC aims to improve the overall patient experience through ease of service, according to Child Study Center Chair Linda Mayes.
“I think the space is beautiful, but what I’m most proud of is how our community came together,” Mayes said. “Everyone was involved. And there’s built-in room for expansion. Clinically, we’re growing at about 5 to 6 percent a year and I am sure there will be new programmatic effort.”
Since its founding in 1911, the Center has grown to encompass pediatrics, psychiatry and psychology research. The CSC conducts interdisciplinary research and interacts with other departments at the School of Medicine and with the New Haven community.
The move and renovation impact the approximate 3,000 families who receive care at the CSC each year, as well as the approximately 225 professionals at the clinic. The facilities at the new location include quieter, more private waiting rooms and a supervised area for children accompanying patients on the same floor as clinical practices, according to Dr. Erin Warnick, who is the lead of clinical operations.
“Having all CSC clinicians work in a single location, with many spaces for informal discussions and meetings, will encourage collaboration and innovation,” said Mayes in a July 23 School of Medicine press release.
Warick added that clinicians will be able to better communicate across programs within a single building. Fixtures such as huddle rooms and flexibly designed conference rooms facilitate group work. These shared spaces have already led to more discussions among different branches of the CSC, Warnick said.
“It’s really neat for me to see people who used to know each other and work together but had been in different buildings rediscover those relationships,” Warnick said. “And to see some of our teams who haven’t known each other interact, now their offices are right down the hall.”
The interior is designed to be “biophilic,” drawing on natural lighting. Nature motifs punctuate the paintings on the walls. Artworks on the wall include ones painted and donated to the Center by Rex Walden, the grandson of CSC founder Arnold Gesell. Other donations come from Scholastic Publishers, who donated books, artwork and two vending machines.
Earlier this year, Director of the Center for Health and Learning Games Lynn Fiellin — who has a joint appointment with the CSC — was awarded the NIH HEAL initiative grant for her work to prevent opioid misuse using video game programs.
Esther Reichek | esther.reichek@yale.edu