Intensive Outpatient Program
 

The Timberlawn Southern Region Partial Hospital Program is Timberlawns’ first day treatment program in the Southern Region of Dallas for children and adolescents with behavioral and emotional issues. It operates year-round and addresses the needs of 12 to 18 year-olds who struggle emotionally and behaviorally, and who have difficulty maintaining appropriate behavior in a traditional school setting. The program operates Monday through Friday, allowing children to return home each night and be home on the weekend.

Often, the burden of illness makes it difficult for children to go to school. The program creates a safe, nurturing environment that allows children and families to participate in activities and therapy in a climate of healing. It allows them the opportunity to work on the emotional and social difficulties that occur within the family and in the community. Children and their families generally receive treatment for four to six weeks depending on the severity of the child's emotional and behavioral disabilities, his or her treatment goals and family circumstances.
Our patients will have access to services including consultation from specialists and referrals for comprehensive diagnostic testing. Our staff includes child and adolescent psychiatrists, social workers, teachers and mental health technicians.

Psychiatrists are available to help treat a range of clinical problems: including chronic mental illnesses, dual diagnosis issues, psychosomatic syndromes, and symptoms of abuse.

 

What We Do

Going to School
Each child attends school, with his peers, from 9:45 a.m. until noon, Monday through Friday, on a year-round schedule. A state-certified teacher staffs each of the age groups in a special classroom area. Your child’s teacher in the Timberlawn Southern Region-Partial Hospital Program is in communication with your child’s school, guidance counselor or home-based teacher, and will know what assignments must be covered to maintain academic progress. Parental assistance is essential to assure all assignments are picked up from the school and brought with the child to the program.

Family Meetings
In addition to informal meetings at check-in and check-out time, once a week the child's primary clinician will attempt to meet with the parents and child to talk about how he or she is doing, including what treatment is recommended and what progress is being made. Naturally, all families want to do everything they can when it comes to helping their children regain stability. Everyone at the TSR-PHP knows that the family is essential in achieving this goal. One of the primary purposes of the family meetings is to identify strategies to help the family and team work together to reach that goal.

Nutrition
Lunch will be provided daily, along with a healthy snack. For many children, like those with eating disorders or diabetes, choosing to eat healthy foods is a problem. The TSR-PHP team will help the children make good nutritional choices during the day. As a part of the program, the staff will meet with parents and children to provide help in developing healthy eating habits as a way of life. Certain dietary needs may require that the parent provide lunch and snacks for their child.


Milieu Therapy
The therapeutic milieu is the supportive environment that surrounds the child throughout his entire day. Members of the treatment team spend the day with the group, promoting positive peer communication, ensuring group participation, and aiding in positive decision making. Milieu therapy will maintain coherence in the child's day, and ensure events flow smoothly and comfortably.

Individual Therapy
On an as needed basis, an expert clinician (child psychiatrist or a licensed social worker) will meet privately with your child. These one-on-one meetings are held to encourage the child to discuss his or her feelings privately and openly. This is a good time to talk about problems, wishes and fears, and to set goals for improvement.

Peer Support Therapy
One of the greatest assets of the program is peer support therapy, held four times a week. Children, who often may reject advice and counsel from adults, many times will listen to their peers. Often, children who have difficulty facing their own problems may offer insight and solutions to others. In doing so, they may also gain insight into their own issues. The meetings are facilitated by the clinical staff, who will have further opportunities to gain additional understanding about each participant.

Multi-Family Group Therapy
Future plans will include a foster parent support group which will be held one time per week. Families are encouraged to attend the multi-family therapy group. “Families” include the children in the program, their parents, siblings, and any other close family members who would like to attend. This is an opportunity for families to compare strategies. Parents are strong supports for one another as they exchange thoughts on parenting children with challenges. Details will be provided as they are completed.


Point Store
A popular station at the TSR-PHP is the Point Store, stocked with trinkets and treasures like books, puzzles and a variety of items. Cash has no value at the Point Store, but points are like gold. Each morning, your child will be given a point sheet, and during the day, the staff will award points as treatment goals are achieved. At week’s end, the points earned are traded for prizes. On Friday, a point sheet (weekend specific) will be given to the patient. He or she will continue to receive feedback from the parents during the weekend. Points are awarded for any goal attained, and on Monday morning the accumulated weekend points are added to the weekly totals.

The Program Schedule

Group Therapy
Group therapy during the morning and afternoon is used to teach and improve upon skills needed by the patients in order to assist them in maintaining appropriate behavior upon return to their community and regular schools. In the morning Skill Group the patients will receive instruction in topic such as: Anger Management, Self Esteem, Conflict Resolution, Problem Solving, Communication, and others. The afternoon Process or Peer Support Therapy Group is designed to encourage the patients to relax and learn from interacting with their peers. Patients will benefit from openly expressing their thoughts, feelings, or an account of the day, with emphasis on the skills taught earlier in the Skill Group.


Therapeutic Activities
As the day begins to wind down at TSR-PHP, it’s time for fun and recreation. The TSR-PHP staff will plan a variety of age appropriate activities: from arts and crafts to outdoor activities in good weather. On a weekly basis there will be Cultural Arts days, in which the patients will be encouraged to bring in an item from their families and from the community in order to share information about differing cultures. On a weekly basis, opportunities will be provided to showcase the talents and abilities of our patients. The goal of the afternoon activities is to provide a structured program for learning and appropriate social interaction, while allowing time to relax and reenergize before the final group session of the day.


 

Daily Schedule: Monday through Friday

Evaluations, treatments and diagnostic tests always have first priority over general activities.

7:40 – 8:00 a.m.

Check-in

8:05 - 9:35 a.m.

Skill Group

9:45 – 11:50 a.m.

School

Noon - 12:30 p.m.

Lunch

12:35 - 1:30 p.m.

Therapeutic  activity

1:40 – 3:10 p.m.

Peer Support Therapy

3:15 - 3:30 p.m.

Check-out




First and Last Day

On a child’s first day in the program, parents will be asked to spend some time helping us learn as much as possible about the child and family. Likewise, on the last program day, parents will be asked to spend extra time to help evaluate the completion of treatment goals. 

The Team

A team of dedicated mental health professionals along with parents create a healing environment for our patients. Each child in the Timberlawn Southern Region Partial Hospital Program (TSR-PHP) has an assigned team of professionals to help achieve his or her treatment goals. The team members vary from child to child depending on individual needs.

Together, we make up a therapeutic community consisting of:

  • Parents and caregivers: The most important members of the team are the parents or caregivers responsible for the child in the home environment. No major decisions are made in the treatment of the child without the participation of these crucial team members.
  • The referring physician: Often children enter the program by referral from a pediatrician or psychiatrist who has in-depth knowledge of the child’s needs. Diagnostic tests and treatment efforts made by the referring physician may help determine the direction treatment takes once a child comes to the program. Referring physicians are invited to participate in scheduled consultation. In all cases they are invited to remain an active part of the treatment team.
  • Mental Health Technician: College-educated behavior specialists who help maintain a healthy milieu. The mental health technician assists patients in making healthy choices in pursuit of treatment goals.
  • Educational Coordinator / Teacher: Their role includes assessing how children with significant emotional and behavioral problems function in a structured school environment. They provide helpful information to families, neighborhood schools and treatment personnel. The teachers are certified special education educators with experience motivating children with special needs. Much of their contribution comes from communicating with the teachers and guidance staff at the schools that the patients attend.
  • Clinical staff: Each child is assigned a primary clinician who coordinates the efforts of the team to complete the identified treatment goals.
 Clinicians include:

- Child/adolescent psychiatrists
- Licensed Social Workers
- Licensed professional counselors

Each staff member brings a unique perspective to the team, while functioning together to achieve treatment goals.

 

Program Evaluation:

What to Expect

When families first come to the Timberlawn Southern Region’s Partial Hospital Program, parents are asked to provide us with information about their child’s treatment history. The information assists in developing a highly individualized treatment plan, specific to each child’s needs.

Help Us Help You

We would also like to be able to use some of the information to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. Part of the evaluation involves following up on patients after they have been discharged.  We may communicate with parents to follow up on the outcome of the child’s treatment. By participating in this follow-up, we are able to continually strengthen the program.

 

 

Timberlawn Southern Region

Partial Hospital Program 

1510 N. Hampton* Ste 110

 DeSoto, TX 75115

 

 JOHNATHAN JOHNSON, LMSW

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

 

 

 

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