Offering Children the Mental Health Support They Need
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Many view childhood as an idyllic time untouched by the realities of mental illness that adults face, but pediatricians know better.
Photo: Attendance was high at a recent open house hosted by AspenPointe.
Every day, the pediatricians who see some of the millions of American children diagnosed with mental illness each year are confronted with the challenge of providing adequate support and treatment for their young patients when their communities lack sufficient resources devoted to pediatric mental health. AspenPointe Counseling Services recently expanded its pediatric clinical services and moved into a sparkling new location in Colorado Springs, ensuring the children of southern Colorado receive a seamless continuum of mental health care.
The number of U.S. children affected by mental disorders is striking — more than 12 million under the age of 18, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH reports that as many as one in five young people lives with a mental illness at any given time. Most telling, however, is the gap in care that exists when it comes to mental health treatment for children. According to the NIH, an estimated two-thirds of children with mental disorders go without receiving the treatment they need. Robert Underhill, M.D., FAAP, pediatrician and Chief of the Pediatric Section at Mountain View Medical Group in Colorado Springs, is all too familiar with the problem thanks to the time he has spent practicing in other communities. The availability of AspenPointe’s services, however, ensures his patients receive the expert, timely care they need.
A Pediatrician’s Perspective
Some of the mental disorders Dr. Underhill commonly sees in his patients include anxiety and depression, which the NIH estimates could affect as many as one in 33 children and one in eight teenagers. Symptoms of a possible mental illness include reduced sociability, fatigue, overeating, chronic physical complaints and focusing on negative aspects of life. When Dr. Underhill sees a child with indications of depression, he evaluates whether or not he can devote sufficient time to address the problem — a challenge in a busy private practice — and determines if the child requires urgent treatment. Then, he considers the resources offered by AspenPointe, whose varied, streamlined access points he finds invaluable.
“We pediatricians find ourselves having to provide mental health services more and more, as child psychiatrists are not abundant,” says Dr. Underhill. “When I feel strapped by my schedule, I think, ‘How much can I really give to this child?’ AspenPointe is more than an entry point in terms of counseling; here, kids can find other methods of help for whatever they’re going through, from drug use to self-esteem issues. I know how important it is to have an organization like AspenPointe available to support local pediatricians because I’ve been in other communities where that’s not the case. AspenPointe is a multilevel practice offering diverse interactions for various ages and needs, and I encourage pediatricians to take advantage of it to help their patients.”
Healing Services in a Soothing Environment
When Mary Ellen Benson, Director of AspenPointe, assumed her role in 2009, she and her team identified gaps that existed in mental health care for southern Colorado children, preteens and teenagers. Benson realized a new delivery care model, one that focused on healing in a holistic environment.
“We expanded our children’s services to make AspenPointe a place where the whole family can receive treatment for mental illness,” says Benson. “We created more family-friendly spaces that would allow kids to play with their siblings and facilitate family sessions. The most important component, however, was bringing in more clinicians with specific expertise and passion for caring for kids; treatment can’t be successful without that last component.”
In August 2010, AspenPointe’s expanded children’s services debuted in a new space in Suite 600 of the Phoenix Tower at 2864 South Circle Drive in Colorado Springs. The location is easily accessible from all areas of town and provides convenient parking. Upon entering the suite, families find a spacious, welcoming waiting room with an adjacent play area for kids; 13 treatment rooms, including four designated for family, couple or children’s counseling; and a large group therapy room.
Treatment Options
More important than the new treatment environment, however, are the diverse services offered in it, beginning with nonverbal therapies for the youngest patients.
“People think 2-, 3- and 4-year-old children can’t be depressed, but they can, and signs such as decreased interest in play and changing interactions with others are indicators of depression,” says Marjorie Knighton, LPC, licensed counselor at AspenPointe. “I perform a lot of play therapy with kids and help them understand, for example, that it’s OK to feel sad when a parent in the military is away on deployment. They learn about healthy ways to express anger or sadness.”
Treatment methods include:
- cognitive therapy;
- dialectical behavior therapy, which focuses on building skills that allow children to control their emotions; and
- eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, which helps kids process trauma or anxiety.
Medications are an important and effective part of the counselor’s toolbox, although not in the absence of therapy.
“We believe in an integrated model at AspenPointe,” says Charon Nelson, PMH-BC, RXN, C.N.S., clinical nurse specialist at AspenPointe. “No magic pill exists to cure mental illness, which is why we believe so heavily in the use of therapy. If a child isn’t actively engaged in therapy, we don’t prescribe medication. Because many parents are concerned that medications will alter a child’s personality, I speak with them in the first session about the qualities they appreciate about their children. I then check with the children frequently during the course of treatment to ensure, simply put, that the good stuff is getting better and the bad stuff is lessening.”
The most meaningful review of AspenPointe’s clinical pediatric services and new location came from one of Knighton’s patients, a 12-year-old boy who visited the practice soon after its expansion. The young man said he loved coming to AspenPointe because it didn’t feel like a mental health facility or a place where he would be labeled. That kind of environment awaits every patient at AspenPointe.
Visit www.AspenPointe.org or call (719) 572-6100 to learn how AspenPointe helps children and families. AspenPointe accepts most insurance plans.
MD News January/February 2011, Southern Rocky Mountain Region