 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
Child & Adolescent Clinical Services Our work proceeds from the premise that effective treatment of children and adolescents requires central involvement of parents or guardians and optimally involves the whole family. In some phases of our work with adolescents who are in conflict with their parents, we see adolescents alone, but we work to involve the parents if at all possible. This includes collaborating with the child or adolescent and the parents in choosing the services that will be provided. Our staff also give priority to assuring a high degree of coordination among the specific services, agencies, and individuals who are providing services, and to basing service plans on the best available knowledge about what services are most helpful for different problems and are most cost-effective. Equally important to our staff is that the atmosphere, or culture, of the service sites is welcoming, respectful, and as attentive to engaging individual and family strengths as to understanding problems. We provide comprehensive mental health and substance abuse services in several sites. In addition to office visits, families may be visited at home as needed, and children and teens may be seen in school-based counseling. Staff provide clinical as well as educational consultation in all the public schools, and work closely with the three separate special-education programs at the Kennedy, Next Wave, and Full Circle schools. Early-childhood clinical services include consultation to the staff of our agency’sEarly Head Start Program, to the Community Action Agency’s Head Start staff and several day-care providers, to the agencies in the City’s Early Childhood Advisory Council, and to the pediatric staff of Somerville Hospital. Referrals Our agency receives referrals of children and adolescents from parents, schools, preschools, health-care providers, other mental health programs, social service agencies, and the Department of Mental Health. Adolescents sometimes refer themselves for services. Assessment & Planning Once we have the parent or guardian’s written consent, we make an appointment for one of our clinicians to meet with the child or adolescent and the parents to assess the problems and their strengths for addressing the problems. A multi-disciplinary team of child clinicians then develops a service plan in collaboration with the family. The team includes a child psychiatrist and a licensed social worker and/or psychologist. When appropriate, the psychiatrist can also provide a separate evaluation of whether medication is recommended as a part of treatment. Our staff also includes professionals who have been trained and certified by the State Department of Public Health to provide specialized assessments of adolescent substance abuse problems. We accept referrals for such assessments from the DPH Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, from schools, other community service agencies, and from parents. The assessment may result in a referral for treatment by our staff or treatment by another agency when there is need for services that we do not provide, e.g., inpatient care, residential treatment, or other specialized care. Access to services Our offices are located on major public transportation routes and are handicapped accessible. Our switchboard coordinates calls for all our sites and services. For individuals who are registered as clients of our agency, crisis intervention is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, through a combination of:
Services during regular hours of operation New families contacting us with urgent but non-emergency situations are seen for intake within 3 days. If a new family calls and requires immediate intervention and assessment of risk of hospitalization, the family is directed with our assistance to the Cambridge-Somerville Crisis Team. After such an assessment and initial stabilization by the Crisis Team, the family is transferred to our clinical services. Once a family is registered with our agency, crisis management is handled by our child clinicians during regular hours of operation. This may include home visits and/or more frequent clinic visits. Which cases are appropriate for hospital diversion by our staff is worked out in close collaboration with the Cambridge-Somerville Crisis Team. Services outside of regular hours of operation Outside of regular hours, calls to the agency are answered by a live answering service which directs emergencies to the Cambridge-Somerville Crisis Team at the Cambridge Hospital. This Crisis Team provides immediate assessments of the need for hospitalization and provides hospital diversion whenever possible. Our clinical staff are available to the Crisis Team for phone consultations as needed for dispositions and follow-up appointments.
|
Programs & Services
|
|
