Child and Adolescent Services

Adolescent Programs at Chestnut Ridge Center are designed to provide intensive treatment that promotes healthy growth and lifestyles. The goal of the adolescent unit at Chestnut Ridge Center is to stabilize the patient in order that he/she may return home, to school, and to the community. Family members are an integral part of the treatment program.

Inpatient Services Criteria

Adolescents, 13 to 17 years of age, who require comprehensive psychiatric assessment and treatment to stabilize their psychiatric symptoms, may enter an acute care program. Adolescents who enter this program are actively suicidal, homicidal, and/or psychotic.

Multidisciplinary Team

An interdisciplinary treatment team is led by a board certified psychiatrist and includes a licensed psychologist, social worker, nurse, mental health specialist, and recreational therapist.

Treatment Components

• Individual and group psychotherapy
• Family therapy
• Life skills: suicide prevention, impulse control, anger management, values clarification, decision-making skills and problem solving
• Recreational Therapy
• Rational Emotive Therapy

Adolescent Residential Treatment Programs

In partnership with the West Virginia University Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, Chestnut Ridge Center offers two (2) long-term residential treatment services for adolescent males.

Adolescent males, 13-17 years of age, who are experiencing legal problems due to the excessive use of alcohol and other drugs or who have committed sexual offenses against others may be referred through the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services (WVDHHR) or the juvenile justice system to one of the residential treatment programs.
 
Treatment Modalities
The interdisciplinary treatment team is led by a psychiatrist and includes social workers, nurses, mental health specialists, clinical therapists, and representatives from the ancillary disciplines: art, experiential and recreational therapies. Group therapy is the primary treatment modality.  All youth are encouraged to participate and support one another.  Emphasis is placed on experiential, hands on learning combined with assigned treatment goals that include written assignments, workbooks, and group presentations.  The your will work on substance use, sexual offending, criminal behaviors, family issues, depression, anger, school, grief and loss, surviving childhood abuse, and other goals as directed by the treatment plan. 

Art therapy, Experiential Therapy (Ropes course and Wilderness Program), Therapeutic Recreation and Healthy Leisure skills, Community Service through training “Hearts of Gold” therapy dogs, Spirituality, and Family Therapy are vital parts of the treatment process.

Education
All youth participate in an on-grounds school through the Monongalia County School System.  Grades will transfer to the youth’s home school.

Substance Abuse/Dual Diagnosis Residential Treatment Program

The Dual Diagnosis Residential Treatment Unit provides extended inpatient treatment for substance abuse and dependence issues along with emotional and behavioral problems to adolescent males, who have not been successful in lesser restrictive environments. The Dual Diagnosis Residential Treatment Unit offers a comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation program within a structured therapeutic environment. The average length of stay for successful completion of the program is 9 to 12 months.
 
Admission Criteria

• Adolescent males between the ages of 13 and 17 (the youth may remain in treatment until the age of 21)
• Must have a current psychological evaluation (within the past year)
• Must have a primary psychiatric diagnosis
• Must have a significant history of alcohol and / or drug abuse
• Intellectual functioning above an IQ of 70 (65-70 IQ will be considered)
• Adjudication is preferred but not required
• Must not have benefited fully from a less restrictive treatment program

Specialized Residential Treatment Program

• Adolescent males between the ages of 13 and 17 (the youth may remain in treatment until the age of 21)
• Must have a current psychological evaluation (within the past year)
• Must have a primary psychiatric diagnosis
• Must be moderate to high risk to sexually offend
• Intellectual functioning above an IQ of 70 (65-70 IQ will be considered)
• Adjudication is preferred but not required
• Must not have benefited fully from a less restrictive treatment program

• A psychological evaluation completed within the last year
• A detailed history of drug abuse or sexual offenses, criminal behaviors, family, and school information