Child/Adolescent Services
The Department of Behavioral Health & Psychiatry at Trinitas Regional Medical Center offers a full continuum of care for adolescents with mental illness issues. Our programs can be accessed through a direct referral from the emergency room, schools or through outside agencies. The inpatient unit is utilized as a means to safely stabilize the child or adolescent as well as educate on boundaries, limit setting and accepting responsibility for his or her behavior.

Child/Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatric Unit
The Child and Adolescent Inpatient Unit is an 18-bed short-term inpatient psychiatric unit servicing children and adolescents with acute psychiatric disorders between the ages of 5 and 17 who are residents of Union and neighboring counties. The unit accepts both voluntary and involuntary admissions. Each youth admitted to the inpatient unit are those that present with illnesses/behaviors that are severe enough to prohibit alternative treatment (outpatient services, partial hospitalization or residential treatment).

Program Goal
The overall goal of the Child/Adolescent Inpatient Unit is to provide psychiatric evaluation and treatment to those children admitted to the facility. Treatment is provided within the context and guiding philosophy of a therapeutic community and implemented by a multidisciplinary team which includes psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, creative arts therapists, occupational therapists, and mental health workers.

Scope of Service
The program includes multimode therapies and services. Clients receive ongoing psychiatric observation and supervision for evaluation, psychopharmacological treatment, and control of behavior to protect property, patients and others. Individual therapy is provided and focuses on the expression of feeling and learning problem-solving skills. Family therapy occurs 2-3 times per week and focuses on the dynamics of family interaction to encourage an improved family system as well as deal with conflict resolution and improves parenting skills. Group therapy enhances social skills and interaction. Creative Arts therapies such as Art, Music, Movement and Recreation encourage increased self-expression and channel impulses toward positive expression. Milieu therapy fosters greater responsibility for actions and their consequences. Behavioral modification systems also help the youth identify and target behavior and treatment goals. Daily classroom time is provided Monday-Friday, during the school year Psycho educational groups focus on issues that impact on the daily living of the client and promote skills with which to deal with these issues (anger management, compliance with treatment, substance abuse education groups). Occupational therapy is also provided to enhance daily functioning and social skills.

Referral networking with community agencies and facilities provides the clients with appropriate post hospitalization services and helps coordinate these services to prepare for discharge when the youth is stabilized.

Child/Adolescent Intermediate Psychiatric Unit
The Child/Adolescent Intermediate Unit is 22-bed intermediate term inpatient psychiatric unit serving clients between the ages of 5 to 17 requiring extended voluntary or involuntary hospitalization. The CIU serves clients statewide and provides continued psychiatric treatment beyond the psychiatric crisis.

Developmentally Disabled/Mentally Ill Program
Children/Adolescents who are dually diagnosed DD/MI presenting with significant psychiatric and behavioral problems that require inpatient treatment are eligible for admission to the CIU. Unique services are available to provide specialized treatment for this population.

Program Goal
The goal of the unit is to provide continued psychiatric treatment beyond the psychiatric crisis. Treatment is provided within the context and guiding philosophy of a therapeutic community and implemented by a multidisciplinary team.

Scope of Services
This program, like the Children Crisis Intervention Service (CCIS) unit, utilizes multimode therapies and services. Classroom time and psycho-educational groups occur on a daily basis. Networking with community agencies and facilities provides the clients with appropriate post hospitalization services and helps coordinate these services to prepare for discharge when the client is stabilized.

If you have any questions, please contact Michelle Perna, Program Director, at 908-994-7720.