Professionals in Crisis Program

Program life
The Menninger Clinic strives to offer a treatment experience that differs from a traditional hospital and helps the patient take full advantage of treatment.

Where patients reside
Menninger's Professionals in Crisis Program shares a large one-story building—one of seven buildings on the Houston-based 14-acre campus shaded by tall pines—with one other program. The patient living buildings are much like a university residence hall with patient rooms along a hallway. The programs are co-ed, but roommates are the same gender.

Spacious common areas with sofas and tables, both large and small, anchor the halls. Rooms where groups meet, nursing stations with an open doorway, TV/game areas, a kitchen-snack room and laundry room round out the Program’s space. Dry cleaning can be arranged.

On the campus, lawn chairs, gazebos, a pool, a gymnasium, exercise center, tennis courts, walking trail along with the sounds and sights of a backyard await patients during their unscheduled time.



Atmosphere on the unit
Staff dress in business and business casual attire. Patients are encouraged to dress comfortably. Appropriate attire is required on the unit at all times.

Most of the treatment team offices are located in the building with the unit. As a result, members of the entire treatment team interact with patients both formally in treatment and informally throughout the day. Nursing staff are available on the unit around the clock when patients have questions or need support.

The patients and staff function together as a community. The patient community plays a vital part in the milieu. Patients meet weekly in a community meeting. This meeting provides a forum to welcome new patients and staff, say goodbye to those leaving and to discuss issues of interest to the patients. Patients and staff meet to plan the activities for evenings and for trips into the community.

The unit is locked to provide a safe environment of care for the patient community.



First days in the program

• With an Admissions coordinator, the professional and family complete the admissions paperwork.
• Members of the treatment team greet the patient and family on the unit.
• The staff inventories and checks the patient’s personal belongings to ensure the safety for all patients.
• The patient moves into his/her room. Rooms are set up for double occupancy. Each offers an in-room bathroom with tub/shower, individual desks, a closet and a window. A handicapped accessible room is also available. Roommates are the same gender. Patients socialize in the common areas and not in one another’s rooms. Participants in the program live closely with as many as 25 other professionals and the staff on each shift.
• A staff psychiatrist and an internal medicine physician see the patient within 24 hours of admission.
• Staff introduce the patient to other staff and patients, and orient them to the program within the first few hours of admission.
• The treatment team and patient work together to stabilize symptoms and begin assessments that help the team better understand the patient and his/her needs. During the first days at Menninger, the patient may participate in a shortened version of the core programming. Initially, this stage of treatment may feel slow as the treatment team completes the assessments and organizes an individual treatment plan. This time also allows the patient who arrives in an exhausted state to prepare for what will soon become days filled with prescribed treatments.

Daily treatment

This treatment program offers evidence-based therapies and other interventions for professionals and their specific needs, including integrated addictions treatment for dual disorders.

Each patient attends core groups and activities along with other therapies that may include individual psychotherapy, family therapy, psychological testing and medication management.

The schedule below represents groups and activities within Menninger's Professionals in Crisis Program.

Unstructured time
An important component of the program is teaching individuals how to use leisure and non-structured time in their daily lives. For many professionals who enter the Professionals in Crisis Program leisure time is often out of balance and negatively affecting health and well-being.

The staff considers the use of leisure time and relaxation as important aspects of personal mental health, which is a skill that can be learned. The Professionals in Crisis Program incorporates periods of unstructured time during which the staff coaches individuals in how to use the time effectively and in ways they can use these skills following discharge.

Unscheduled time may be used to do therapy homework, socialize with other professionals—which is often valuable for self-motivation in managing your illness—relax with a hobby or activity, read or participate with other patients and staff in planned recreational activities. With approval from staff, group activities—on the unit, on the campus or in the community—may include events, games and movies.

Supervision by staff
The patient’s treatment team determines the level of supervision the patient needs. Supervision levels change throughout a patient’s stay based on the team’s assessment of the patient’s clinical needs.

The supervision levels and the activities prescribed by the treatment team aim to help the patient accomplish treatment goals and provide for the patient’s safety. As the patient attains their goals, they typically earn privileges to participate in individual and group activities on and off the campus.

Menninger is a leading psychiatric hospital dedicated to
treating individuals with mood, personality, anxiety and
addictive disorders, teaching mental health professionals
and advancing mental healthcare through research.

The Menninger Clinic | 800-351-9058 | 713-275-5000 | Houston, Texas
Affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine and
The Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center
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