A child and adolescent psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and the treatment of disorders of thinking, feeling and behavior in children and adolescents..
At University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, our child and adolescent psychiatry team provides comprehensive evaluation and ongoing medical and psychosocial treatment of psychiatric illnesses, as well as behavioral and emotional difficulties, with psychotherapy and/or psychiatric medications. These issues include, but are not limited to, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder; pervasive developmental disorders; mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders; parent-child relational issues; eating disorders and substance-related mood or behavioral disorders. The psychiatry team also provides consultative services to patients with primary medical illnesses who may experience psychiatric symptoms, such as delirium.
Outpatient psychiatric services
We offer a wide array of clinics providing specialized treatment for child and adolescent psychiatric conditions, including:
- Addiction Center
- Anxiety Disorders Program (Adult)
- Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
- Child OCD & Anxiety Disorders Program (COAP)
- Geriatric Psychiatry
- Neuromodulation
- Neuropsychology
- PREP Early Psychosis Clinic
- Psychology
- Social Work
- VA Mental Health Service
- Women's and Children's Mental Health
Our providers also participate in a number of multidisciplinary behavioral and mental health clinics, including U-M’s innovative eating disorders program.
Inpatient psychiatric services
The Nyman Family Unit for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Wellness offers inpatient psychiatric care for a variety of childhood and adolescent psychiatric disorders. State-of-the-art care is provided for suicide, self-harm behaviors, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychosis (difficulty recognizing what is real and what is not), eating disorders and behavioral disorders. Diagnosis and treatment are provided by a multidisciplinary team led by a physician, and include nursing, social work, activity therapy, psychology and learning specialists. Treatment can include individual or group therapy, family therapy and crisis stabilization, psychoeducation (combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy and education), behavioral planning and intervention, care coordination, educational intervention and medication management. The program also provides academic assessments and advocates for a patient's educational needs in coordination with their school’s staff.
In 2016, we opened a new state-of-the-art 16-bed Nyman unit in the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital facility. The length of stay is 7-10 days on average but ultimately is determined by the patient's condition. Since this unit is designed to address psychiatric crises, most patients are first evaluated in Psychiatric Emergency Services. Learn more about our inpatient psychiatric unit, including what to expect and frequently asked questions.
Psychiatric Emergency Services
University of Michigan Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) provides emergency/urgent walk-in evaluation and crisis phone services available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for people of all ages. We offer psychiatric evaluation, treatment recommendations, crisis intervention, screening for inpatient psychiatric hospitalization and mental health and substance abuse treatment referral information.
Services are offered in the University Hospital Psychiatric Emergency Services unit.
Inpatient Psychiatric Consultation
Our child and adolescent psychiatrists also provide specialty consultation for children hospitalized for medical conditions at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and who are in need of psychiatric assessment or treatment referral, or who require ongoing management of pre-existing psychiatric conditions. Additionally our team can evaluate patients who develop psychiatric symptoms associated with medical illness including delirium or agitation. We work closely with the hospital’s primary care givers in a multi-disciplinary approach that includes the patient, parent/guardians, nursing, physicians of various disciplines, and social work.
A primary focus of the Consult and Liaison Service is in the area of safety of depressed and suicidal youth. We provide therapeutic and pharmacologic recommendations for the care of children and adolescents dealing with emotional or behavioral disturbances, as well as recommendations for management of psychiatric care, including referral for inpatient or outpatient psychiatric care for patients discharged from the medical hospital.
Make an appointment
To learn more or make an appointment with a U-M child and adolescent psychiatry clinic, call (734) 764-0231.