According to the Children’s Defense Fund, one in 10 children in this country has a mental illness serious enough to impair how they function at home, at school or with peers. Despite these high rates of mental illness in children, four out of five children who have mental health problems do not receive any help.
The Psychiatric Research Institute is home to a unique and innovative child psychiatry inpatient unit, the Child Diagnostic Unit (CDU). The unit, which has a total of 10 beds dedicated to the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute’s youngest patients, provides care to children as young as 2 years old up to 12 years old who experience a variety of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. We utilize an interdisciplinary approach that relies on child specialists in psychiatry, psychology, speech and language pathology, occupational therapy, social work, nursing, and education to provide comprehensive assessment and treatment of children,
Using the treatment model of Collaborative Problem Solving, a cognitive behavioral approach, our CDU staff assist children with their disruptive behaviors and assist adults in interacting and collaborating with children to solve problems. We provide our patients and their families with a positive, child-friendly environment with no fixed times for visits, encouraging families to partner in the assessment and treatment of their children. Staff members with Psych Telemedicine Liaison Consultation (Psych TLC) follow patients for 90 days after discharge from the CDU in order to integrate our treatment plan with community-based resources. The Psychiatric Research Institute’s Child Study Center, located at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, offers mental health services for children under the age of 12. Our qualified staff of psychologists, social workers, analysts and counselors provides family and individual therapy. Trained specialists see patients for behavior management and psychiatric evaluation along with medication management.