Coastal Harbor Treatment Center is home to the following, three, separate psychiatric programs for children and adolescents: Intensive Residential, Acute Residential, and Partial Hospitalization. For a patient to be admitted to one of these programs, they must meet specific criteria, which we have outlined here and are happy to discuss with you in more detail.

The Acute Psychiatric Program is designed to help those children that are at imminent risk of harming themselves or someone else. An initial assessment will be conducted as soon as possible to determine the severity of the crisis. If admission to the program is warranted, the patient will be guided to the unit whereby he/she will be welcomed by our nursing and clinical staff. A comprehensive treatment plan for each individual patient is then developed to treat the patient’s specific needs. The goal of this program is simple: to safely stabilize the patient so that he/she is no longer a danger to himself or others. Patients may be referred by to us by parents, schools, hospitals, physicians, counselors, and other professionals.

The Psychiatric Residential Program requires a long-term stay at CHTC that is, on average, 6-18 months. Children and adolescents suited to this program are often in the custody of a state agency such as the Department of Family and Children’s Services and must have received a psychiatric diagnosis and, for documented reasons, have been unsuccessful in less restrictive placements prior to admission. The primary goal of this treatment program is to provide patients with the behavioral and emotional tools necessary to reintegrate them back to a stable, home environment.

Partial Hospitalization is recommended when a child is in need of daily therapy or intervention but is sufficiently stable so that full-time admission is not needed. Often, patients who have been discharged from our Acute Program are transitioned to this partial program for a period of days or weeks as a successful steppingstone.