Mental Health Services

St. Vincent's Services is one of the few foster care agencies in New York City to operate a full-service mental health clinic. The clinic, which is licensed by the New York State Office of Mental Health, treats approximately 400 children and 150 caregivers a month. Twenty-five percent of the clinic's patients come from the SVS family foster care program. The rest are children who are in foster care with other agencies that don't have their own clinics, and children who are referred by hospitals, schools, and community agencies.

The SVS Mental Health Center staff believes in treating patients holistically, addressing both the mind and the body. In addition to individual, family, and group psychotherapy sessions, the staff is trained in crisis intervention. Drug therapy is used in treatment when needed. Since caregiver involvement is crucial to the success of treatment, regular conferences are held with caregivers as a standard part of every treatment plan. The SVS clinic staff is multicultural and multilingual, including Spanish, French-Creole, African, Filipino, and Yiddish.

Children who come to the clinic have a broad spectrum of problems. Many have experienced physical and psychological abuse, and many have parents who are substance abusers, which can lead to children born with drugs in their systems or fetal alcohol syndrome. Often these children have no stable family relationships, and many have languished in the foster care system for years, so they feel like "throwaways." Some of the younger children we see have attention deficit problems or hyperactivity. Adolescents are often defiant or anxious, abusing drugs and/or alcohol, and having problems dealing with family expectations. Many of the children are depressed.

Teams of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and other specialists as needed conduct initial assessments and develop individualized treatment plans.

The staff includes therapists who are specially trained in alcoholism or substance abuse. Monthly workshops on diverse topics (post-traumatic stress disorder, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, and sexual abuse, among others) are frequently scheduled. So that the staff may better understand their needs, patients complete satisfaction survey forms.

Because of the staff's broad-based expertise, the SVS Mental Health Clinic is able to treat patients with all mental disorders except those that require hospitalization. The clinic is open Monday through Saturday, but provides Sunday and after-hours access through a 24-hour switchboard. Three senior staff members are accessible by beeper, and in an emergency, response is almost immediate. Geographically situated near all forms of public transportation, the clinic is wheelchair accessible.