Treatment on the Child & Adolescent Neuropsychiatric Unit

When your child is staying on our inpatient unit, treatment is focused on helping them get through their current crisis and return to their home environment. On average, children stay with us for two weeks to one month. Some patients do not need as much time to stabilize while others may need more time. Our treatment team focuses on observing your child’s behavior for a number of days; this gives the team time to get to know your child, and allows your child to become comfortable in their new environment.  

Treatment on our unit is highly focused on behavior management and occupational therapy. During a stay on our unit your child may receive:

• Daily medication management and meetings with a healthcare professional

• An individualized treatment plan

• Therapeutic groups, including:

• Occupational therapy – we offer 20 occupational therapy groups each week

• Speech-language pathology

• Physical activity

• Goal setting

• Expressive therapy, including movement, dance, and art

• Exercise groups that are held in a safe indoor space, or outdoors on the terrace when the weather is nice

In addition to daily therapeutic programming, we provide all meals and snacks. If your child has any dietary restrictions, we will do our best to accommodate them. We understand that many children have selective or specific dietary needs, and we will discuss this with you during the admissions process.

The entire inpatient experience is designed to be therapeutic; our compassionate team focuses on fostering a safe, trusting environment and providing positive reinforcement when children exhibit desired behaviors. Throughout the day, the children on the unit earn points based on their behavior; then, during a daily ‘trade-in time’, they may trade in their points in order to spend time using preferred items, such as iPads, headphones, books, magazines, and more.