Children

The Inpatient Child Program is dedicated to providing evidenced based treatment to children ages three to 11-years-old, diagnosed with a variety of mental health problems affecting their behavior and safety. This unit provides treatment designed to help patients learn skills that will help them manage their behavior and emotions.

Our treatment model includes psychiatric services, individual, group, family and expressive therapies. A psychologist, therapist, or social worker will work with the individual and family to develop a treatment plan that meets individualized needs.

The direct care staff have been trained to run therapy and skill-based groups that promote social skills, safe choices/anger management, impulse control, coping skills, self-esteem, healthy expression of feelings, and positive family dynamics. Our goal is to provide effective inpatient treatment and facilitate appropriate aftercare planning that supports the individual and the family in a successful transition back to the community and home environments.

With that being said your child has been admitted for the purpose of inpatient stabilization. Although we endeavor to foster skills that will set a foundation for successful outpatient treatment, our primary objective is to help your child reduce aggression, self-injury, suicidality, and/or homicidality so that they may safely return to your care.

Children engage in an age-appropriate schedule with activities including wake-up and bedtime routines, group-based activities, expressive therapy, recreation time, and academic support. The child unit utilizes The Zones of Regulation™ curriculum (or “The Zones” for short), which are lessons and activities designed to help him/her gain skills in the area of self-regulation. Self-regulation can go by many names, such as self-control, self-management, and impulse control. It is defined as the best state of alertness of both the body and emotions for the specific situation. For example, when a child plays on the playground or in a competitive game, it is beneficial to have a higher state of alertness. However, that same state would not be appropriate at bedtime. The programmatic activities are designed to help children recognize when they are in the different Zones as well as learn how to use strategies to change or stay in the Zone they are in. In addition to addressing self-regulation, the children will gain an increased vocabulary of emotional terms, skills in reading other people’s facial expressions, perspective about how others see and react to their behavior, insight into events that trigger their behavior, calming and alerting strategies, and problem-solving skills. 

To reach the Child Unit, please call 630-837-9000 and ask to be connected with the Child Unit.

As you can see by our treatment chart, your child, our patient, is the center of what we do every day. Led by the psychiatrist and therapist, the team will respond to your child’s needs throughout their stay with us. Beginning with the first treatment team meeting and throughout follow-up meetings, we will constantly review your child’s progress, getting critical input from him or her on their recovery.

Discharge planning is a multi-step task and begins the moment a patient is admitted to our facility. Discharge dates are discussed with patients and their parents or guardians during the meetings/sessions/conversations with the child’s psychiatrist and/or assigned therapist.  Our goal is to ensure that our plan for your child’s smooth transition to outpatient care is finalized and clearly communicated to your child and to you prior to discharge. We also commit to ensuring all follow up appointments are scheduled. If your child does not have a therapist and/or medication prescriber who can work with them once they leave our facility, we will assist in identifying aftercare providers. If your child is prescribed medication by the hospital psychiatrist, they will leave the hospital with a prescription for up to a 30-day supply of medication. Outpatient physicians or primary mental healthcare providers assume responsibility for managing medication and prescriptions following discharge.

At the time of discharge, the unit nurse will meet with you to review your child’s medication (if prescribed) and to review the clinical aftercare plan. During your child’s time in treatment, his or her treatment team will work with your child and you to develop the clinical aftercare plan. This plan includes a safety plan, a description of triggers, warning signs, coping skills and resources to support patients in maintaining their health and safety outside of the hospital.  

We encourage feedback from patients regarding the experience they had with us. Please feel free to complete a Service Excellence Counts card and place it in the suggestion box on the day of discharge or hand it to any staff. We welcome all feedback in order to continuously improve our services.

Streamwood Behavioral Healthcare System Outpatient  Service offers three levels of care and a therapeutic day school to children ages 4 through 17 including Partial Hospitalization Programming (PHP), Intensive Outpatient Programming (IOP), traditional Outpatient Clinic, and a Therapeutic Day School, Innovations Academy. As the premier provider of behavioral healthcare services, Streamwood Behavioral Healthcare System is committed to quality, community collaboration with our patients’ families, schools, external providers, and other invested parties to develop and provide innovative therapeutic services to pave a pathway to recovery. We inspire hope and build resilience for our patients, their families, and the community to make every life worth living.

Our Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) for children serves children who have been discharged from the hospital and children who do not need to be hospitalized, yet require intensive treatment. SBHS Partial Hospitalization Program for Children includes separate programs for tots and children and runs Monday through Friday  from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. SBHS PHP allows children to keep up with school work during academic time with the assistance of our licensed teacher.

PHP therapeutic groups build communication skills, conflict resolution skills, anger management skills, emotional regulation skills, and general coping skills to assist participants in daily life at home, school, and in their communities. PHP programming for children includes group and expressive therapy, daily education and tutoring, and general health and nutrition education. Our PHP psychiatrist and/or Advanced Practice Nurse collaborate with our patients and their parents or guardians to provide medication consultation and management to PHP participants. PHP participants also receive a light breakfast and lunch during the programming day.

The SBHS Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) allows children who do not need a full day program to attend school while continuing to receive intensive treatment Monday through Friday from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m during the academic year and from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. during the Summer IOP, Tools for Success in School, program. IOP is group based and is designed to strengthen and reinforce communication skills, conflict resolution skills, anger management skills, emotional regulation skills, and general coping skills learned in therapy, PHP, or during an inpatient hospital stay.

SBHS Outpatient clinic’s psychiatrists and advanced practice nurses provide medication consultation and management to children, adolescents, and adults. During Outpatient care of children, our patients’ parents also participate in this process and receive education on their child’s medication(s) and behavioral or mental health struggles. Our Outpatient Clinic team of dedicated, experienced therapists, Psychiatrists, and Advanced Practice Nurses offer individual, group, and family therapy services, designed to provide structure and education to help youth and their families manage difficult behaviors. All forms of our therapy serve to encourage development or strengthening of alternative ways to respond to stressful situations and to communicate & interact more effectively with family members, peers, and other people in the child’s community.

Innovations Academy is approved by the Illinois State Board of Education and serves children with the following disabilities: emotional difficulties with moderate to severe mental illness; Intellectual Disability; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Multiple disabilities or Other Health Impairment (OHI); and Specific Leaning Disabilities. Innovations Academy offers two separate therapeutic programs including Elementary and Middle School Program for children in kindergarten through 8th grade and a High School  Program that offers common core standards-based coursework, daily physical education classes, and therapeutic services to meet each student’s social-emotional needs.

Innovations Academy students also benefit from individual and group counseling, psychoeducational and recreational groups, art therapy, music therapy, speech-language therapy, and occupational therapy.

Students’ home school districts typically refer them to Innovations Academy. The dedicated and professional Innovations team works diligently to partner with referring school districts to develop realistic, achievable goals that will facilitate the student’s gradual return to home school districts armed with strategies and skills needed to facilitate successful adjustment.

We would love to meet students and families who are interested in enrolling at Innovations Academy. Please feel free to complete the attached form to request a tour of Innovations Academy. You may also call 630-540-3900, extension 2774 or 630-540-3900, extension 2758 to request a tour.