EmPATH Unit

M Health Fairview Southdale Hospital

If you came to this webpage looking to refer a client or access services, please call the Southdale Hospital’s mental health line directly at 612.672.6999 or click through to learn more about mental health services offered by M Health Fairview and Southdale Hospital. 

Side of Design Podcast: Emergency Mental Health Services: The EmPATH Model

BWBR Live Talk: EmPATH Units: Improving Psychiatric Emergency Care

M Health Fairview worked with BWBR to create Minnesota’s first EmPATH (Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment, and Healing) mental health unit. EmPATH is an innovative approach to emergency mental health care that is designed to guide people safely through a crisis while helping them build coping skills for the future. The unit is designed for acute psychiatric patients to receive assessment and evaluation in a therapeutic and least restrictive setting.

Complementing the emergency department, the new adult EmPATH unit provides a calm and comforting environment, allowing the movement and human interaction that is vital in the first 24 hours of treatment. After a short medical evaluation in the emergency department, patients come to a calming, living room-style open space with comfortable recliners and self-serve refreshment stations. Open nursing stations and unlocked rooms create an atmosphere of trust and allyship with the staff, while the mix of daylighting, views to nature, or appropriate imagery establishes a sense of hope. In addition to providing a conducive environment for treatment, the EmPATH unit provides a gentle and benign setting for the care team to constantly evaluate a patient and discharge them with an appropriate treatment plan.