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Mental Health: Adolescent Outpatient Program at Hinsdale

Adolescence is typically a hard time, for youngsters making the transition into adulthood as well as their parents trying to cope with the changes. A child's stubborn need to assert independence often conflicts with the reality of relying on adults for financial and emotional support. Parents are baffled by offspring who seem to suddenly question, critize and resent their efforts to parent.

However, if a child's behavior becomes seriously disruptive and/or you suspect he or she may be abusing drugs, alcohol or becoming addicted to another type of behavior, it's time to reach out for professional help.

Signs of a problem in an adolescent include: increased irritability; prolonged sadness; social isolation; change in appetite or sleep pattern; and, seriously defiant behavior/breaking rules.

Personalized Care
The Adolescent Program of Adventist Hinsdale Hospital's Behavioral Health Department delivers specialized care for adolescents in their early to late teens (ages 12 - 18).

Our staff is experienced in treating adolescents with self-esteem issues, difficulty in school, uncontrolled anger, depression, anxiety, behavioral problems, school issues, family conflicts, substance abuse and addiction.

Since each adolescent is unique, we develop a personalized care plan for each child, based on a thorough diagnostic evaluation. Our programs are flexible to make sure youngsters receive the help they need while allowing them to progress at their own pace. To ensure the most successful results, parents and other family members play an important role in treatment. We also coordinate with schools so youngsters can stay current with their studies during treatment.

Our goal is always to enable the adolescent to return to home, school and the community with tools for effective living and ongoing support. Our method is to teach adolescents the skills that build on their individual strengths and enable them to reintegrate successfully.

Adolescent Inpatient Care
When an adolescent lives in an unsafe setting, we provide inpatient care. The goal is to stabilize the immediate crisis and assess the youngster. We develop an individualized plan of treatment based on the results of the assessment. The attending psychiatrist and the multidisciplinary team evaluate the plan and the adolescent's progress at regularly scheduled staff meetings.

Adolescent Outpatient Care
We offer two levels of outpatient care for teens who need the structure and support of a comprehensive psychiatric program but do not require 24 hour inpatient care. Outpatient care may be used as an alternative to inpatient care or to ease the transition from inpatient to outpatient care.

Our two levels of outpatient care are: Partial Hospitalization (5 days a week for 6 hours per day) and Intensive Outpatient (3 times a week for 3 hours per day)

Chemical Dependency and Addition as Co-occurring Disorder
Adolescents can become addicted to alcohol, drugs, good, nicotine, gambling or any behavior that offers an escape from reality. Addiction is never simple. It often involves a range of problems, from family and social issues to medical, environmental, vocational and psychological issues. Adventist Hinsdale Hospital has a long-term reputation for successfully treating addictions, as they occur with other emotional problems.

Our approach is wholistic, designed to recognize and treat physical, mental, social and spiritual needs. Our comprehensive program includes counseling, patients and family education and introduction to the 12-step program.

Support for the Whole Family
All our programs focus on helping the adolescent and his or her family better understand the complex issues associated with adolescent development. To support that focus, we strongly encourage families to attend family therapy sessions once a week while the child is at the partial hospital level and regularly while on the intensive outpatient level.

Ongoing Support for Adolescents
Once adolescents successfully complete their plan of care, they are invited to our Aftercare Group. The group meets weekly, for a limited time after discharge, to help members ease the way back to home, school and the community.

For more information or to arrange a private tour of our facilities, please call 630-856-7717.