Outpatient Psychiatric Services

Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital offers comprehensive outpatient services for adolescents and adults.

Adolescents

Adolescents requiring intensive therapeutic services after hospitalization, or to prevent hospitalization, may participate in the Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program. Patients can be referred during hospitalization or by outpatient psychiatric providers. This Monday through Friday, after-school program provides comprehensive assessment, therapeutic structure and support within a nurturing group-therapy format. It is a short-term program that uses a cognitive-behavioral and family systems approach to help adolescents manage symptoms, improves social skills in a variety of settings, and provides families/caregivers with education and techniques to maximize the adolescents' functioning.

Clinical services include:

• Comprehensive assessment of the adolescent's physical, psychological and social issues
• Cognitive-behavioral group therapy focused on managing behavioral, emotional and/or substance-abuse problems; and learning skills to increase tolerance and regulation of feelings and interpersonal effectiveness
• Intensive family therapy
• Discharge planning and collaboration with the adolescent's school, outpatient clinicians, family and other community agencies

Locations:

646 George St., New Haven: Phone: 203-789-5150; Fax: 203-867-5279

21 Business Park Road, Branford: Phone: 203-488-0471 Fax: 203-488-6479

Adults

Adult patients who have achieved some stability but continue to require more intensive treatment than traditional outpatient therapy, or to prevent hospitalization, may be treated within our Adult Intensive Outpatient Program. Most of these patients are admitted for treatment of mood disorders, anxiety disorders, chronic suicidal thoughts, co-occurring disorders (psychiatric and substance-abuse disorders), personality disorders, and family/interpersonal conflicts. Patients can be referred during the hospitalization or by outpatient psychiatric providers. Participants attend the program three to four times a week for four hours each day. There are three main tracks in this program:

1. General Adult Track (for patients with general mood or anxiety disorders)
2. Dual Diagnosis Track (for patients with psychiatric and substance-abuse diagnoses)
3. Dialectical Behavioral Track (primarily for patients with borderline personality disorder and other severe personality disorders)

Clinical Services

• Comprehensive assessment of physical, psychological and social issues
• Crisis intervention and case management to help patients safely manage their psychiatric or co-occurring disorders on an outpatient basis with increasing self- and community-support reliance
• Cognitive-behavioral groups that focus on continued development of coping and problem-solving skills and relapse prevention
• Group therapy that actively addresses interpersonal problems which may contribute to the patient's ongoing psychiatric problems or co-occurring disorders
• Psychoeducational groups that strengthen the patient's commitment to change problem behaviors
• Specialized groups targeting bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, family issues, loss and trauma
• Medication consultation to community psychiatrists and other physicians prescribing medication treatments for patients, and promotion of medication compliance provided by psychiatrists 
• Discharge planning and collaboration with patients' outpatient treaters, family and community agencies 

Basic principles of the program

1. Most of our clients have slipped into a kind of "psychological crevice" where it becomes hard to maintain positive connections with other people, and fruitful activities and work. Our aim is to help clients lift themselves out of that crevice.
2. Each person can learn from others because there are struggles, challenges and life experiences common to us all. People struggling with similar issues grow and learn together. Clients learn from one another and from staff. 
3. Clients must be treated with utmost dignity and respect to have the courage to change.
4. Selecting psychiatric medications is a collaboration between the physician and the client that carefully weighs benefits and possible side effects, based on prior treatment experiences and current scientific evidence. It is important to give a medication strategy sufficient chance to work, which requires patience and perseverance. If a medication strategy, after thorough evaluation, does not work or produces significant side effects, it is time for a change.
5. Medications can help improve coping and functioning but are not the sole means of recovery. Clients must also develop a greater capacity to understanding themselves in relationship to others, along with the tasks of living. Better coping, stress management and personal growth will help medications work better. 
6. People often slip into patterns that govern their behaviors and distort how they understand experiences. Substance abuse, psychosis, suicidal preoccupation, mania and depression all constitute very specific, highly rigid patterns of behavior, thought and experience. Once clients understand the pattern, they can change it.
7. A key piece of our staff's work is an ongoing partnership with referring clinicians who work with our clients. IOP staff provide clinicians with different approaches to help clients in crisis change course so that regular outpatient treatment can successfully move forward.
8. Every treatment setback and downturn provides an opportunity to learn from one's mistakes and set a better course.

Locations:

425 George St., New Haven: Phone: 203-688-3182; Fax: 203-688-3596

2080 Whitney Ave., Suite 200, Hamden: Phone: 203-747-3480; Fax: 203-747-3490

Clients are generally expected to attend four days a week to start. Referrals must be made by a clinician.