Understanding Mental Health Levels of Care for Teens

Mental health treatment for teens can occur in a several environments and include a range of therapies and support services. When you understand the various mental health levels of care that are available for teens, you’ll be best prepared to choose the options that are best for your child. 

At Hillcrest Adolescent Treatment Center, our team of experts can review your teen’s mental health needs and help you determine which level of care is best for them. For additional information or to schedule a free assessment, contact us today.

Learn more about mental health treatment for teens in California  or verify your insurance now.

What Are Mental Health Levels of Care?

The term “levels of care” refers to the continuum of treatment environments for teens with mental and behavioral health challenges. 

Mental health care for teens is typically organized into five levels:

• Inpatient: This is usually a short-term option in a hospital-like environment for teens who are in crisis. The general goal of inpatient care is to help teens achieve stabilization so they can either return home or step down to a less restrictive level of care. 
• Residential: Residential treatment for teens offers a longer length of stay and a broader scope of services than inpatient programs do. Also, the treatment environment and living arrangements are typically more home-like. At the residential level teens follow a structured daily schedule and benefit from 24/7 supervision and support. 
• Partial hospitalization program (PHP): Treatment at the PHP level usually features five or six hours of care per day, five or six days per week, with teens returning to their homes or to an alternative supported residence in the evenings and on weekends.
• Intensive outpatient program (IOP): IOPs commonly offer about three hours of treatment per day, with teens attending sessions two to five days per week. Teen IOPs often offer evening sessions so participants can receive care without disrupting their school schedule.
• Outpatient therapy: This level of care usually involves individual or group therapy sessions, scheduled at the frequency that is best for each client or patient. Outpatient therapy can be a valuable source of ongoing support for teens who have completed residential treatment or another level of care.

What’s the Best Mental Health Level of Care for Teens?

Once a parent has reviewed the various mental health levels of care for teens, a common follow-on question is, “Which one is best for my teen?”

There’s no standardized answer for this question. To be most effective, mental health treatment for adolescents and teens must be customized to reflect their unique strengths and needs. This customization includes determining which level or levels of care are best for each young person.

Factors to consider when evaluating levels of care for your teen:

• The type of mental health disorder they have
• The type and intensity of their symptoms
• The impact that their symptoms have had on their life
• How long they’ve been struggling with their mental health
• Their treatment history
• Their risk of self-harming or suicidal behaviors

What Happens in Residential Care for Teens?

Teens in residential programs usually follow personalized daily schedules. These schedules balance structure with flexibility, giving teens a level of predictability while providing variations from one day to the next. 

A daily schedule often begins with an opportunity for teens to establish goals for the day ahead, and concludes with time to reflect on what they accomplished and what they can improve on. 

Elements that may be included in a typical daily schedule include medication management services, psychotherapy, experiential therapies, academic support sessions, and family-focused services.

Medication Management

Teens who can benefit from prescription medication to ease their mental health symptoms can have medication management included in their personalized residential treatment plan. 

The medication component of residential treatment can include:

• Evaluating teens to determine suitability of medication
• Prescribing medication
• Consulting with parents on all medication-related decisions
• Storing medication and distributing daily doses
• Monitoring teens to assess the medication’s efficacy and recommend changes if necessary

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is the clinical term for talk therapy. The types of psychotherapy a teen receives can depend on their specific strengths and needs as well as which level of mental health care they are currently enrolled in.

Types of psychotherapy at our residential center include:

• Group therapy
• Family therapy
• Interpersonal therapy (IPT)
• Psychodynamic therapy
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
• Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy
• Recovery management therapy

The many potential benefits of psychotherapy for teens include:

• Gaining valuable information about the disorder they’ve been living with 
• Understanding the components of their treatment plan
• Identifying and changing maladaptive thought and behavior patterns
• Managing their symptoms more effectively
• Developing skills in areas such as conflict resolution, distress tolerance, and emotion regulation
• Learning to set boundaries, communicate more effectively, and form healthy relationships
• Building greater resilience
• Discovering the power of sharing support with peers who have had similar struggles or who are working toward common goals

Experiential Therapies

Experiential therapies are participatory, interactive activities that give teens alternate ways to process their experiences, express their emotions, and address issues that may have contributed to or been affected by their mental health challenges. 

With the guidance of a trained professional, teens who take part in experiential therapies may also discover interests or talents that they can continue to build on after they complete their time in treatment. 

Experiential therapies in our residential program include:

• Outdoor therapy
• Equine therapy
• Expressive therapies

Academic Support

Untreated mental health disorders can have a devastating impact on a teen’s ability to realize their full potential in school. Educational support at the residential level can address the therapeutic and academic issues that have caused problems for them in the past.

Academic support services at Hillcrest Adolescent Treatment Center include:

• Individualized learning plans
• One-on-one sessions with experienced tutors
• Adaptive technologies
• Flexible scheduling
• Coordination with students’ home schools

Integrating therapeutic principles into academic support services helps students understand how they can use their developing skills to address the types of challenges they may encounter when they return to a traditional school.

Family Participation

When a teen struggles with their mental health, their entire family will be affected. Family-focused treatment services can help loved ones process how they’ve been impacted and learn how to better support each other moving forward. 

These services can also resolve conflicts and address issues that may have previously prevented family members from fully trusting each other.

In addition to family therapy sessions, we provide parents with regular updates throughout their child’s time with us. 

Even if you don’t have a child enrolled at Hillcrest, you can still benefit from the insights and guidance in the Parent’s Corner section of our website.

Find Mental Health Treatment for Teens in Southern California

Hillcrest Adolescent Treatment Center provides residential care for adolescents and teens who have been struggling with a range of mental and behavioral health concerns.

At our center in Agoura Hills, CA, young people ages 12-18 benefit from an innovative three-phased approach that combines evidence-based therapeutic practices with experiential activities and robust academic support. 

To learn more call 800-275-1707 or verify your insurance now.