Adolescent Assessment

This diagnostic service provides adolescent patients, age 12 to 17, and their families with a diagnosis and specific treatment and community support recommendations.

Adolescents participate in an intensive interdisciplinary assessment in a structured inpatient setting. The result of the process is an enriched understanding which is articulated by the treatment team in a diagnostic conference with the patient and family. The assessment results in:

• A diagnosis and understanding of how the patient’s illness affects his/her daily functioning and interaction with others.
• A plan for continued treatment that is supported by the patient, family and referring professionals.
• The availability of ongoing care at Menninger with a flexible length of stay based on the patient’s individual needs.

The Assessment Process
The process begins with the patient and family meeting with the treatment team, including the psychiatrist, psychologist, primary nurse, clinical social worker, mental health associates, an addictions counselor and a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist. This meeting provides valuable information about the patient and family’s experience, helps establish common goals and allows the treatment team to review the assessment and communication process during the patient’s brief stay in the hospital.

• The assessment process consists of a psychiatric evaluation, psychological testing, (neuropsychological testing, if indicated), family assessment, neuropsychiatric assessments (MRI, PET scans, CT scans, EEG) when indicated, addictions assessments, nutritional evaluation and psychosocial rehabilitation assessments.
• An on-site internist is available for a medical assessment of every patient admitted.
• A thorough psychopharmacological assessment is part of every inpatient assessment.
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorder assessments are also completed if necessary.
• The assessment team believes in a biopsychosocial approach. The patient’s physical symptoms and diagnoses, past and present, are assessed. The team also looks for whether the teen may be vulnerable to certain disorders because of inherited characteristics or illnesses. Previous experiences, events and treatments are invaluable in helping complete the picture for each patient.
• Patients are introduced to various treatment modalities including individual and group therapies, family work and addictions treatment. Observations within the treatment milieu allow the treatment team a better understanding of how the patient’s interactions and thought processes manifest in relation to diagnosis. This enriched understanding of the diagnosis and its impact upon daily functioning promotes effective discharge planning.
• Parents or guardians play an active role throughout the assessment process. The treatment team is experienced in working with families regardless of where they live, providing updates about findings and progress throughout the patient’s hospital stay.
• A diagnostic conference is scheduled toward the end of the assessment period, bringing together all evaluators for a discussion and interpretation of all assessment observations and findings. Team members include the psychiatrist, psychologist, nursing, clinical social worker, mental health associates, addictions counselor and psychosocial rehabilitation specialist. A final DSM diagnosis is determined and the team articulates how the diagnosis affects the patient’s family life, school life and social functioning.
• If continued hospitalization is recommended by the team, the patient and family may choose The Menninger Clinic or another hospital.

Why consider an assessment?
The Menninger Clinic specializes in treatment strategies for hard-to-treat, complex patients. An inpatient assessment suits adolescents who are not making the desired progress in other treatment settings, are seeking a second opinion or are experiencing little relief from medication or interventions. The Menninger Clinic may also be the first step in an adolescent's treatment, as family members seek a solid diagnostic assessment at the initial signs of difficulty.

• The Menninger Adolescent Treatment Program is based on years of success with a structured and systematic approach to assessment, utilizing the combined expertise of treatment team members during a focused, brief hospital stay.
• An interdisciplinary treatment team approach within the rich therapeutic milieu enables Menninger clinicians to make difficult differentiations between Axis I and II diagnosis.
• The intensive work during the assessment presents the opportunity for therapeutic engagement and collaboration between the adolescent, family and team. This process leads to a greater understanding of the whole person and their difficult-to-treat disorders and complications that are of concern to the family and adolescent, as well as factors affecting progress in treatment.
• Inclusion of active treatment during the diagnostic process is aimed at reducing symptoms and gaining knowledge about what works and what doesn’t. The team brings together these findings with what is gained from talking with prior treaters, the patient and the family to complete the comprehensive diagnostic picture and develop treatment recommendations.

To inquire
Call the Menninger Admissions staff.

• 800-351-9058 and 713-275-5000