UnityPoint Health - Meriter - Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Information
Number of patients waiting reflects the current number of patients waiting to be seen. This number changes frequently and is not exact.
Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP)
UnityPoint Health – Meriter - Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) offers community-based inpatient and outpatient psychiatric programs for children and adolescents in Wisconsin and surrounding states. We provide sensitive, responsive and innovative treatments for youth experiencing mental health challenges.
Caring for a child or adolescent with a mental illness can be difficult and at times, frightening. We are here to help. We offer inpatient and community-based outpatient psychiatric programs, including acute stabilization, safekeeping, diagnostic clarification and treatment of mental illness. There are several assessments that can take place while your child is here including:
- Psychiatric evaluation
- Occupational therapy
- Neuropsychological testing
- Speech and Language
- Medical consultation
Each assessment helps us better understand your child and guides their treatment.
We’ve been in the community since 1998 and serve more than 800 children each year. Our program is the very best in Madison with experienced providers on site to work with your child. No online visits with off-site providers. We are here, in person to help children receive the care they need and deserve. We have a proven system that works!
Inpatient Care
Inpatient psychiatric care involves staying at our CAP facility 24/7 to receive intensive care in a hospital setting for a short time. This level of care is needed for children and adolescents requiring continuous monitoring and support to manage severe symptoms of mental health disorders.
Partial Hospitalization Program
For patients requiring intensive support but not a full overnight stay. Patients attend treatment in our facility five days a week for six hours a day and return home in the evening.
Intensive Outpatient Treatment
This program provides individuals greater flexibility with shorter duration program during the day and a return home in the evenings for patients aged 15 -18.
Inpatient Care
The inpatient unit at Child & Adolescent Psychiatry is dedicated to meeting the unique needs of children and teens who require inpatient psychiatric care. Our inpatient unit serves young people ages 6-18 experiencing severe behavioral health challenges.
Inpatient psychiatric care involves staying at our CAP facility 24/7 to receive intensive care in a hospital setting for a short time (5-7 days average stay).
Common Conditions Treated and Therapeutic Activities
Our Child and Adolescent Psychiatry program treats patients affected by a variety of psychiatric illnesses; common patient concerns include: depressive disorders, bipolar disorders (manic-depressive illness), social withdrawal, self-harming behaviors, attention and concentration difficulties, phobias and other anxiety disorders, thought disorders and more.
Based on evaluation results, our hospital staff works with the patient's psychiatrist and family to develop an individualized treatment plan. Treatment ranges from intensive one-on-one counseling to group activities. Typical treatment activities include:
- One-on-one support and counseling
- Crisis intervention with a focus on recovery
- Problem-solving
- Training in assertive communication
- Social skills enhancement, focused on managing emotions and developing mindfulness
- Educational programs
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Occupational therapy
- Exercise and movement activities
- Individual tutoring
- Family sessions
- Parent education and support sessions
Facility Information
- A secure and closely monitored setting
- Private rooms
- Classroom for ongoing academic instructions
- Gym and outdoor recreational space
- Outdoor walking track
- Yoga studio
- Calming room
- Sensory room
Our personalized program begins with a full evaluation by a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist to identify the scope and severity of problems. Depending on each patient's symptoms, assessments may include any of the following:
- Diagnostic clarification
- Medication management
- Living and functional skills assessments
- Sensory assessment
- Additional medical testing, including lab evaluations and medical imaging
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
UnityPoint Health - Meriter - Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Intensive Outpatient Program offers treatment for adolescents ages 15-18 years old, struggling with a primary diagnosis of either depression and/or anxiety, but do not require inpatient hospitalization.
Our intensive outpatient program is a lower level-of-care program that focuses on developing skills related to those with anxiety and/or depression transitioning to adulthood.
Program Information
- Time Commitment: 3-4 hours daily, Monday-Friday.
- Intensive outpatient program conducted at our NewStart facility.
- Daily group therapy.
- Daily life skills groups (budgeting, finance, health care advocacy, applying for college, looking at careers, etc.).
- One hour of individual therapy and one hour of family therapy weekly.
- Weekly check-in with a psychiatrist.
- Case Management (School, outpatient care, etc.).
Please note that Meriter Intensive Outpatient Services is not able to treat individuals with a primary diagnosis of an Eating Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Schizophrenia, OCD or those with a diagnosis of a substance use disorder.
Intensive Outpatient Services Program Information
Both Intensive Outpatient Programs are based on are based on the HEALTH model, which encourages participants and their families to improve their overall wellness, increase community involvement, and gain important life skills.
We offer a variety of therapies based on the individual needs of each person:
- One-on-one support and counseling
- Case Management
- Social skills enhancement, focused on managing emotions and developing mindfulness
- Problem-solving skills
- Educational programs
- Occupational therapy
- Recreational therapy
- Exercise and movement activities
- Family therapy sessions
- Parent education and support sessions
- Movement-based therapy
- Group therapy
- Medication management
Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
Our Partial Hospitalization Program is a higher level-of-care program for adolescents ages 12- 18 years old, that focuses on utilizing Dialectical Behavior Therapy to develop skills to help regulate emotions and cope with stress.
Program Information:
- Time Commitment: 6 hours daily, Monday-Friday.
- Daily group therapy.
- One hour of individual therapy and one hour of family therapy weekly.
- Weekly check-in with a psychiatrist.
- Case Management (school, outpatient care, etc.).
Please note that Meriter Intensive Outpatient Services is not able to treat individuals with a primary diagnosis of an Eating Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Schizophrenia, OCD or those with a diagnosis of a substance use disorder.
Our Team and Approach
Our Team
Our program is the very best in Madison with experienced providers on site to work with your child. Our treatment team includes board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners and nurses, occupational therapists, behavioral health therapists, mental health specialists and certified teachers. All on site, working directly with our patients.
Our Approach:
Typically the kids who are patients here at UnityPoint Health Meriter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) are divided into three separate groups in two separate sections of the hospital; Children between the ages of 6 and 12, and two different groups of patients between the ages 13 and 18. We work with these groups under the guidelines of “Love and Logic,” an approach that teaches kids to solve their own problems while gaining self-confidence.
We also use the Zones of Regulation to encourage kids to communicate more openly about their feelings as well as learn coping skills for distressing emotions. On the child side we help children, and their parents modify problem behaviors. We care for each child individually.
With the adolescents we also practice Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). DBT is a system of therapy that combines standard cognitive behavioral techniques for emotion regulation and reality testing with concepts of distress tolerance, acceptance, and mindful awareness. DBT has been shown to help young people develop the skills they need to better manage their emotions during times of stress.
Our staff works diligently to ensure our program provides treatment that has been shown through research to be effective statistically. This is called evidence-based care. During the course of your child’s hospital stay, we will educate you about your child’s diagnosis, medications, helpful approaches, and the recovery process. We will also provide you with the tools to continue your child’s care upon discharge from the hospital.
How to Reach Us
We are here to help. Here’s how you can reach us.
- Call Journey Mental Health’s 24/7 Crisis Line at (608) 280-2600 or the Suicide Hotline at 988.
- Go to your nearest Emergency Room (All Emergency Rooms can make direct referrals and transfers to Child and Adolescent Psychiatry services at UnityPoint Health-Meriter inpatient/hospitalization services.)
- If there is an imminent threat to safety, please call 911.
During regular daytime hours call our clinics:
- Contact your child’s therapist and/or psychiatrist
- Contact your child’s pediatrician or primary care provider
Hours for Inpatient Hospitalization, overnight
- Monday - Sunday - Open 24 hours, always open
Hours for Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP).
- Monday: 7:45 AM - 5:00 PM
- Tuesday: 7:45 AM - 5:00 PM
- Wednesday: 7:45 AM - 5:00 PM
- Thursday: 7:45 AM - 5:00 PM
- Friday: 7:45 AM - 5:00 PM
- Saturday: Closed
- Sunday: Closed
Note you may be instructed to go to a different clinic at our NewStart location. Please see instructions provided by your care team.
Families will work with care teams to establish a safe and supportive visiting plan. We understand that family members and guardians are an important part of the healing process, your support is essential. Please respect the guidelines set by your care team and give your child time to heal.
The campus is not open to the public due to privacy measures that we are required to uphold. Part of providing a safe and healing environment for our patients is to consider how visitors can impact and influence their stay. Visiting should provide an opportunity for additional patient support and well-being.
Because we have patients from the same or neighboring school districts, some visitor restrictions are needed not only for your child’s privacy but for the privacy of all the patients on the unit.
Who Can Visit:
- Visitors approved at the time of admission include the legal guardians and/or parents of the patient (unless restricted by law).
- All other visitors, regardless of age must be approved by the patient’s provider on a case-by-case basis. Minors must always be accompanied by a responsible adult.
- Patient’s friends and significant others are NOT allowed on the unit, to keep confidentiality of all patients on the unit.
- A maximum of two visitors may visit the unit in a 24- hour time period. This is primarily to limit the number of individuals on the unit at one time. The two visitors must be the same persons in the 24-hour time period.
- Visiting takes place in the patient’s individual room.
Your doctor and behavioral health team will determine the appropriate program and provide a referral.
We have space available for your patient and will give the best care possible.
Please Note: Only licensed professionals (such as primary care doctors, therapists, psychiatrists, school psychologists and social workers) and case managers can complete the referral process, not parents.
- To refer a patient to our Inpatient unit, please contact the Charge Nurse at 608-417-8777, you do not need to fill out a form.
- If you are a provider interested in completing a referral to one of your intensive outpatient programs, then please click here: Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Referral.
- If you would like further information about our programs and/or which may be best fit, please contact 608-417-8773
- If you are a parent or guardian interested in one of our intensive outpatient programs, please talk with your provider about completing a referral.
- Unsure of which option to choose? Providers, if you need to discuss the best option for your patient call 608-417-8773
Accreditation
The mental health and substance use disorder programs at UnityPoint Health – Meriter are certified by DNV and by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Division of Quality Assurance.
Payment and Insurance Information
Most insurance policies cover mental health services. If you have questions about your coverage, please contact your insurance provider.
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