About the Treatment Team: Child & Adolescent Neuropsychiatric Unit

Each child is assigned a highly specialized, compassionate treatment team. The treatment team works together towards the goal of helping your child stabilize so they can safely move to a less-intensive level of care. Our treatment teams are composed of:

• Medical director, a child and adolescent psychiatrist who oversees all child and adolescent services at Sheppard Pratt.

• Service chief, a child and adolescent psychiatrist who serves as the clinical leader of treatment and services on the unit.

• Attending psychiatrist, a child and adolescent psychiatrist who works directly with the service chief in providing care to patients.

• Unit manager, a nurse who is responsible for program development, milieu activities, and day-to-day function of the program.

• Behavior specialist, an individual with extensive experience working with individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities. The behavior specialist will craft a behavior plan for your child, and work with them on engaging in desired behaviors while minimizing unwanted behaviors.

• Social worker, who is your primary contact and liaison. The social worker attends daily treatment team meetings and will keep you informed about your child’s clinical progress. The social worker will work with you to obtain a family history in order to get a holistic view of your child. In addition, they will also host a family meeting prior to discharge to help you assist your child with integrating back to the home, school, and community setting. The social worker will also prepare a comprehensive discharge plan for when your child is ready to return to the community.

• Speech-language pathologist, who works with your child on communication and swallowing problems.

• Occupational and expressive therapists, who facilitate activities to help children learn how to meet their own physical, emotional, and cognitive needs as best they can.

• Psychiatric nurses, who help children with their daily activities, managing their symptoms, and any medical concerns. Psychiatric nurses are also responsible for dispensing medication.

• Patient care coordinator, a nurse who is responsible for helping coordinate each patient’s post-admissions care, including planning, administering, coordinating, evaluating, and documenting care.

• Mental health workers, who are trained staff members that help run therapeutic groups and work directly with the clinical treatment team.