A recent success story includes an 11 year old named Jill. Jill’s mom identified the Extended Day Treatment program as her “last resort” before she was going to have to start looking for out of home placements. During outbursts, she would pull out her hair, bite herself, yell and become physically aggressive. Due to mood disruptions, she was struggling academically and socially.
After being released from the hospital she started Crisis Response Therapy at HopeSpoke and then transitioned into our Outpatient Services for about ten months. Even though her mom was a single parent she was involved in Jill’s therapy. Jill then transitioned to the Extended Day Treatment program which is a higher level of care providing treatment five days per week that included individual, family and group therapy along with intense skill building time that would teach her more appropriate ways to manage her emotions, calm her body and build connections with others. Community partners were brought in and consultation was provided to Jill’s school to provide consultation on ways to reduce then eliminate the disruptive and avoidant behaviors within the classroom.
“During the six months the family was in treatment with the Extended Day Treatment program, Jill’s confidence level improved and her anxiety greatly reduced as did her outbursts at home with her mom and siblings. She was back in school for full days, was making academic strides and had not been in the hospital for four months prior to her discharge. She was able to gain insight into her own mental health needs and share those with others as a way to help the younger children in the program. She has now transitioned to HopeSpoke’s school based therapy program to have more immediate access to a therapist during the school day for extra support while her mother will still be involved with family therapy,” shared Jackie Prater, Extended Day Treatment program director.