Today’s world can be a difficult place for adolescents. They can feel isolated and frustrated growing up in an increasingly complex environment. They may have difficulty thinking, feeling, and participating in the activities others take for granted. Regardless, their struggles not only cause stress and anxiety, it can also add stress to family life.
It’s not easy to research mental health providers and find effective mental health treatment services in the current healthcare system, especially for young adults. But that’s why we’re here.
Tamarack Center was founded in 1984 to be a center for youth mental health resources and to create a quiet refuge of hope for those struggling.
We help children and teens break the cycle of emotional illness, low self-esteem, and self-destructive behavior. Through intensive treatment, compassion, family involvement, and community outings, we provide behavioral health services that address the unique needs of each individual.
That said, the most common question we get is, “Does your program work?”
To that, we happily answer “Yes.”
Here, we’ll explore a few ways that Tamarack Center’s individualized, compassionate mental health services transform the lives of teens with challenging behavioral health needs.
Is your child facing significant mental health obstacles? Find out how we can help. Contact Tamarack Center today.
How Tamarack Center Transforms the Lives of Teens
Structured Schedules
A structured schedule may seem restrictive. But structure often provides comfort and relief. It removes the anxiety and fears over what to do next.
We’ve found that teens and adolescents thrive on a schedule.
Meals, snacks, education, and recreational time are all scheduled to build a comforting reliable routine for teens to depend on.
At Tamarack Center, time for mental health services, focus groups, and personal time is scheduled throughout the day.
Guided Education
Education is an important part of growth and healing at Tamarack so we employ Master-level and certified teachers to provide schooling for our residents.
Teens in residence at Tamarack Center are registered with School District 81. Transcripts for schoolwork completed are issued through Spokane School District 81 and our teachers coordinate with students’ home districts. This assures their education is academically appropriate and up-to-date.
Tamarack teachers prepare academic progress reports at regular intervals. These reports are made available for parents to review online.
Depending on the progress made in an individual’s treatment and the location of their home school district, a resident may attend an off-campus school in the community. This eases the transition back into a community school setting before discharge.
Recreation Therapy
Recreation is an important part of any teen’s physical and mental health. That’s why recreation therapy plays an important role in mental health services at Tamarack Center.
Recreation therapy provides physical activity to residents. But also creates the opportunity to learn new skills, develop mastery, and find ways to incorporate positive recreational activities into their post-discharge lives.
Some recreational activities take place off campus. This helps residents experience what it would be like to have these activities be a part of their everyday lives once they are discharged. Positive leisure time planning can increase their success following discharge.
Residents can participate in a wide variety of recreational activities such as sports, hikes, games, and self-soothing activities like knitting, beading, and arts and crafts.
More involved activities are occasionally planned. These might include ropes courses, nature hikes, and outings to attend community events such as theater productions. The residents also have the opportunity to go to the library each week.
Our recreation therapy staff has an extensive list of leisure activities for residents to choose from.
The Tamarack Center recreation therapy department is led by a Certified Therapeutic Recreational Specialist (CTRS).
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a skill-building therapy. DBT has proven to be an effective mental health treatment for a wide range of psychiatric disorders. DBT is referred to as an “evidence-based therapy,” meaning that it has been researched for effectiveness.
DBT helps develop behavioral skills in residents and allows them to manage their emotions better. DBT skills increase the ability to self-soothe and decrease personal anxiety. They also help residents build interpersonal relationships, and better cope with life’s problems.
We incorporate DBT throughout our resident treatments and treatment modalities. We have found it to be an effective treatment that’s well-received by our residents.
In DBT it’s important to teach the skills and provide opportunities for practice using them in everyday situations. This helps residents deal more effectively with previous self-defeating behaviors.
The five DBT modules we teach in treatment are:
- Mindfulness – learning to be more attentive and present while being less judgmental.
- Distress Tolerance – learning to improve impulse control and tolerate stressful situations.
- Walking the Middle Path – learning to view situations from multiple perspectives and reduce rigid thinking.
- Emotion Regulation – become better at identifying emotions, changing negative emotions, and becoming better problem solvers.
- Interpersonal Effectiveness – learn to ask for what you need, better cope with interpersonal conflict, and become more effective when communicating with others.
Comprehensive Treatment Team
It takes more than one person to create effective, long-lasting mental health recovery.
Our entire facility is dedicated to your adolescent’s well-being and care.
Our treatment teams include:
- The Family knows the resident the best and can provide the needed information and insight into the treatment planning process.
- Our Child Psychiatrist directs the mental health services provided and clinical care of each resident. They meet with each resident every week.
- Our Therapy Director is responsible for behavioral health management. They oversee the clinical work performed by Family Specialists and Primary Residential Counselors to ensure continuity of clinical care for each resident.
- The Family Specialist facilitates weekly family and individual therapy sessions with their assigned residents, from admission to discharge. Family Specialists also facilitate group therapy sessions with residents.
- The Primary Residential Counselor works daily with residents, providing behavioral sessions and interventions.
- Our Education Coordinator provides schooling for the residents, coordinates with the resident’s home school, and prepares regular academic progress reports.
- Our Nurses provide medical oversight of the residents.
- Our Recreation Department provides therapeutic recreational activities to the residents.
By providing a comprehensive care team that works with the resident’s family, we create a compassionate supportive environment for effective mental health treatment.
Family Involvement
Families play a critical role in a child’s treatment, and we want you to be involved throughout the process.
You know your child better than anyone. We incorporate the insights and experiences you have with your child to create unique individualized support.
Each resident is assigned a family specialist at the time of admission, who will serve as the point of contact for you regarding the child and their progress.
The family specialist will make sure your voice is being heard and your opinions recognized, before and during treatment.
The family specialist will follow your child until discharge.
Weekly family therapy sessions are held during a resident’s treatment. We make sure the family is involved in developing a child’s discharge criteria, pass criteria, behavior contracts, and treatment goals.
We understand how difficult it is for a parent to have their child away from home. It is important to us that you have as much access and communication with your child as possible while not interrupting treatment modalities. To ensure that, each child has daily telephone times, each child is given an e-mail address, and Thursday evenings are visiting times for families.
Tamarack Center – Providing Mental Health Support for Teens in Washington
Tamarack Center is licensed as a residential psychiatric treatment center, a community mental health service, a non-public school agency, and an evaluation and treatment facility.
Though we’re accredited and have received the Gold Seal of Approval from the Joint Commission, our participation in meeting the rigorous standards for Joint Commission accreditation is voluntary. However, we feel independent quality verification of our facility and programs by an external authority is important.
We’re also TRICARE certified and a member of the American Association of Children’s Residential Treatment Centers.
At Tamarack, we provide extensive quality assurance/quality improvement data on each resident’s daily, weekly, and monthly progress — and make that data available to families, primary care providers, and approved referral sources.
Is your child facing significant mental health obstacles? See how we can help. Contact Tamarack Center today.
