Adolescents with psychiatric disorders and moderate to high suicide risk who require integrated medical and educational support.
Sunflower Adolescent Dayward is the only adolescent day hospital nationwide that integrates psychiatric care with educational support, serving adolescents who experience psychiatric symptoms, emotional distress, and a high risk of educational disruption. The program is staffed by a full-time, on-site multidisciplinary team comprising psychiatrists, nurses, clinical psychologists, special education teachers, social workers, and occupational therapists, providing comprehensive medical care, psychological support, Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), and family interventions. By maintaining school enrollment, ensuring close coordination and referral between medical services and schools, and implementing structured return-to-school and follow-up mechanisms, the program helps adolescents stabilize their emotional states and rebuild academic and daily functioning. With the capacity to support adolescents with moderate to high suicide risk, the program has maintained a zero suicide completion rate over the past three years, successfully engaging youths who might otherwise be lost to existing systems, while promoting safety, educational equity, and social inclusion, thereby demonstrating substantial public value.
The only adolescent day program nationwide that integrates psychiatric care with educational support.
A full-time, on-site multidisciplinary team capable of supporting adolescents with moderate to high suicide risk.
Continuity of enrollment ensured through Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and structured return-to-school mechanisms.
Close coordination and referral among medical services, schools, and families, forming a continuous and integrated support network.
More than 800 service encounters per month
Over 2,000 adolescents served cumulatively
Partnerships with more than 150 schools
Maximum service capacity: approximately 50 students
Serving students from seventh grade through high school graduation
Continuity of enrollment: Students maintain full linkage with their original schools and special education systems. Once clinically stabilized, students are gradually reintegrated into their schools with a high return-to-school success rate. They are eligible to receive graduation certificates issued by their original schools, enabling seamless reintegration into mainstream education and genuinely realizing the goals of destigmatization and uninterrupted education within mental health care.
Globally unique model with a full-time, on-site psychiatric professional team: A dedicated psychiatric team is stationed on campus throughout the day, enabling the program to safely support students with moderate self-harm risk and to maintain a high level of suicide crisis response capability.
An average staff-to-student ratio of 1:5, with services covered by the National Health Insurance system.
100% completion rate of IEP meetings.
100% completion rate of case conferences.
100% emergency intervention within 3 hours.
Client satisfaction rate reached 89.85%.
Annual satisfaction remained above 90% in most years.
Established a stratified self-harm risk alert system.
High-risk incidents reviewed within 24 hours.
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) conducted for adverse events.
Service user satisfaction rate reached 89.85%.
Annual satisfaction rates remained above 90% in most years.
Received 12 student commendation letters in 2024.
Received 10 parent commendation letters in 2024.
More than 2,000 adolescents completed the program and successfully returned to education, vocational training, or employment pathways.
Our team has published extensively in leading and high-impact journals, including the Journal of Clinical Oncology (IF≈42.1), JAMA Psychiatry (IF≈25.8), JAMA Pediatrics (IF≈24.7), Diabetes Care (IF≈16.6), Psychological Medicine (IF≈7.0), Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica (IF≈6.2), the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (IF≈9.5), European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (IF≈5.1), and Autism Research (IF≈4.3). These studies address a broad range of topics, including long-term follow-up of ASD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression, and suicide risk, establishing the team’s international leadership in the field of child and adolescent psychiatric epidemiology and psychiatric–medical comorbidity.
Established Taiwan’s pioneering integrated medical–education model.
Developed standardized school reintegration pathways.
Implemented structured self-harm risk management.
Improved educational and psychosocial outcomes.
Trained future child and adolescent mental health professionals.
Built a sustainable medical–education–family collaboration network.
