Stony Brook's renowned Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services provides four major services: outpatient evaluation and treatment of children with psychiatric disorders; inpatient care at the only academic medical institution on Long Island to provide inpatient child psychiatry services; consultation to schools that serve children with severe emotional disability; psychiatric consultation to medically hospitalized children as needed.
In-Depth Evaluation and Assessment
A cornerstone of the Stony Brook program, our outpatient evaluations often are performed as second opinions for schools seeking detailed reports that will help the child obtain the appropriate school services. They sometimes are needed to advise in legal matters. And always, these evaluations and assessment help educate parents, guardians, and the child on the presence, nature and treatment of their condition. A routine evaluation begins with obtaining standardized ratings from parent and teacher, copies of past evaluations and hospital records if relevant, and an interview with the parent/caretaker and child. A detailed evaluation also includes a laboratory assessment of attention and impulsivity as well as a classroom observation.
Outpatient Services
Our mission is to provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based clinical care to children and adolescents who are suffering from psychiatric illness. Through an understanding of the multiple biological, psychological, and social factors related to a child's problems, we deliver comprehensive psychiatric evaluations, consultations, and innovative treatment plans to help alleviate their symptoms. We offer pharmacologic evaluation and ongoing medication management, as well as individual therapy, based on the needs of our patients. We are also dedicated to developing additional therapeutic services for patients and families, including group therapy and parent management training. We strive to work in collaboration with families to best understand the problems they face and to utilize their inherent strengths to improve their lives.
Our experienced child and adolescent psychiatry faculty are nationally renowned and have expertise in a wide range of disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, mood and anxiety disorders, learning disorders, autism spectrum disorders, developmental delays, and behavioral problems. We are also devoted to the education and training of future child and adolescent mental health providers and the advancement of research in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry.
Inpatient Care
For children and young adolescents ages 8 through 14 with serious psychiatric disorders, we can provide 24-hour inpatient services in our 10-bed, locked unit. Children and young adolescents receive a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation, medications if necessary, and appropriate therapeutic interventions, which may include behavior management programs, coping skills, and therapeutic recreation. Educational services through the BOCES program during the school year are also provided with authorization from the child's school district. A core component of treatment is parent involvement to reinforce inpatient treatment, better manage the child or young adolescent, and give parents a new set of coping skills. The inpatient team includes a psychiatrist, Dr. Samuel Gartner, and a psychologist, Dr. Darla Broberg, who supervise psychiatry and psychology trainees respectively, as well as nurses, social workers, behavioral health specialists, and the teaching team.
Consultation Liaison Service
This provides high quality, thorough and timely psychiatric consultations to pediatric patients throughout Stony Brook Children's. Led by Dr. Crowell and staffed by psychiatrists on the faculty, the consultation service provides evaluation and assistance with the management of psychological conditions and psychiatric disorders occurring in medically ill children throughout the hospital such as complex medical/psychiatric diagnoses including acute stress reactions to medical conditions, self-injurious behaviors or suicidal attempt and ideation, acute decompensation from prior psychiatric or psychological status, procedural anxiety, depression and chronic pain. Assessment consists of talking to the families, outpatient healthcare providers and school counselors of children about their medical and psychological/psychiatric conditions, as well as collaborating with the pediatric team involved in their care.
School Program
Stony Brook Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has consulting agreements with Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) program which provides school services while the child is hospitalized. BOCES teachers help students maintain and develop their educational potential during hospitalization, create a routine, and develop new coping skills. The program is available to both regular and special education students. The BOCES team works closely with the school to assess the child's performance and ease the transition back to school. In addition, child and adolescent psychiatrists work in the Western Suffolk BOCES schools to provide psychiatric consultation within a student's normative functional environment. The doctors not only work as part of the school team, they also provide invaluable consultation to the community psychiatrists and other clinicians caring for these children.