A Transitional Resource After a Psychopathological Decompensation
The Day Hospital is a healthcare resource that forms part of the Inpatient Unit of the Clínic’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology Service. It is intended for children and adolescents who have experienced a severe deterioration in their mental health and require specialised care before fully resuming their normal lives.
Mariló Noró, educational counsellor and teacher in the General Day Hospital Classroom, is part of a multidisciplinary team made up of psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, mental health nurses, educators, social workers and education professionals. Her role goes far beyond academic activity: she is a key figure in the therapeutic process of the children and young people treated there.
"My role is strategic because it brings an educational perspective into a hospital setting. My work consists of helping students who arrive at the day hospital stay connected with their learning and their school, because this is a therapeutic factor for them."
According to Astrid Morer, Head of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Section, it is “an intensive therapeutic resource where boys and girls can stay for up to six months” and one that serves “to help them return to the life they had before the crisis.” In some cases, it also allows intervention before the situation requires full hospitalisation.
The Clínic’s Day Hospital receives children aged 6 to 12, an age group for which it is a referral centre in Barcelona, as well as young people aged 12 to 18. It currently includes several programmes: a general day hospital for children and adolescents with severe emotional difficulties; a specialised programme for autism spectrum disorders; and another dedicated to eating disorders. Each of these programmes includes a teacher from the hospital classroom.
When Mental Health Affects Educational Pathways
Mental health decompensation not only causes clinical and emotional distress. It often also leads to prolonged absences, learning difficulties or a progressive disconnection from school.
“It is common for more than 50% of boys and girls to have experienced a sense of school disconnection, school failure or a loss of schooling for a long period of time,” says Morer. For this reason, one of the main goals of this resource is to help them reconnect with educational activities.
It is in this context that the role of the teacher becomes especially important. “My work helps guarantee these children’s and young people’s right to education,” explains Noró.
The Educational Perspective Within a Clinical Team
One of the unique features of the Hospital Classroom is that the teacher is part of the healthcare team. She participates in case review meetings and shares information with other professionals in order to adapt interventions to the needs of each child or adolescent.
“We work as a multidisciplinary team. The teacher is integrated into the clinical team,” says Morer. This integration helps connect two worlds that often develop in parallel: the clinical and the educational.
For Noró, this educational perspective is precisely her main contribution. “These children and young people arrive here as patients, but when they enter the classroom, I see them as students and they forget about that part of their distress; it is a way of bringing them closer to their everyday lives.”
This shift in perspective adds significant value. The classroom becomes a space where they can recover routines, take on challenges adapted to their abilities and reconnect with aspects of their identity that go beyond illness.
A Permanent Bridge With Schools
An important part of teachers’ work involves coordination with students’ home schools. Contact with tutors, school leadership teams, Educational Guidance and Counselling Teams (EAPs) and other educational resources is ongoing.
“We are the link between the school and the clinical and hospital setting,” explains Morer. The teacher helps adapt curricula, communicate specific needs and prepare school reintegration processes.
This collaborative work is particularly relevant because many of the young people treated have specific educational needs related to their mental health condition. Noró highlights the value of this personalised approach: “When we plan a return to school, we accompany the process and transfer strategies that have worked here.”
Recovery Taking Place in the Classroom
The classroom is one of the places where young people’s progress during treatment becomes visible. Participation, concentration, the recovery of study habits and reduced anxiety related to learning are some of the indicators that reflect this improvement.
This progress is possible thanks to the coordinated work of the entire team. From the field of mental health nursing, Elías Guillén highlights the importance of creating a safe environment in order for treatment to be effective. “The main responsibility of a mental health nurse is to create environments where the young person feels safe and is able to talk about why they are here, so that they can find the treatment they need.”
Within this healthcare ecosystem, the educational perspective provides a complementary yet indispensable dimension. Maintaining the connection with school, guaranteeing the right to education and facilitating a return to the educational community are all part of the same goal: helping children and adolescents recover the highest possible level of functioning in all areas of their lives.
For Noró, this is the essence of her work: “I believe it is a privilege to have this space and, at the same time, to work within a multidisciplinary team where we share both social and clinical perspectives. All of this helps me offer each student the best educational support I can provide.”
