This seems like overkill for school refusal.

Inpatient is really for stabilization - meds adjustment and a safe place. Php and IOP rely on the kid being stabilized enough to engage. IOP was a lot of meandering group discussion (importance of showering and eating and self care, what is troubling group members, what made everyone feel good today). Don’t know how well that works with a younger age.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is she in crisis? I think these programs can be helpful and can also cause trauma. I would do one for a younger child in crisis but I would pursue all other options first, particularly if the IOP was a bad experience.

We were referred to PHP rather than IOP. School resistance. There was an incident that brought this on. Unsure they can return (or really stay a full day) to school without a therapeutic intervention of some sort. Docs dont think inpatient is needed.

And agree on possibility of trauma with program….it feels too young. There isnt a therapeutic school option for this age and were hoping a brief intervention may help nudge them into a safer space.

Anonymous wrote:Is she in crisis? I think these programs can be helpful and can also cause trauma. I would do one for a younger child in crisis but I would pursue all other options first, particularly if the IOP was a bad experience.

We were referred to PHP rather than IOP. School resistance. There was an incident that brought this on. Unsure they can return (or really stay a full day) to school without a therapeutic intervention of some sort. Docs dont think inpatient is needed.

Is she in crisis? I think these programs can be helpful and can also cause trauma. I would do one for a younger child in crisis but I would pursue all other options first, particularly if the IOP was a bad experience.

Bumping this for any other recent experiences.

Anonymous wrote:Our child went through Dominion's PHP as a step down from inpatient. Unfortunately, when you have a younger child the options are very limited. I'll say Dominion's PHP was better than inpatient, but I'm not sure if it helped much because DC's issues were still largely undiagnosed. It was better once we had a handle on what we were dealing with. Some posters here have had OK experiences with the PHP, I think.

My child was 13 when she did Dominion 2 years ago. It was step down from inpatient. She slept for the 2 days she was there and then was admitted again. She is the one who told me she slept all day. I didn’t get anything from the staff. I also was never billed so I got what I paid for I guess.

Dominion had a new psychiatrist that many have liked. I hope this place has turned a corner but stories in last six months have been positive. Bad stories were from two years ago.

Best of luck to you and your kid.

Partial Hospitalization Program for those who don't know.

Dominion was helpful for my child because it got us access to a good psychiatrist and helped us find a neuropsych for a full eval (we were on waitlists and couldn’t find anyone as quickly as we needed). Dominion also helped us stabilize our child after a long period of extreme behaviors. Child was 11yo at the time.

We started in PHP, moved to inpatient, and then to PHP for a week after inpatient. It was during COVID so was very difficult to find any in person assistance at the time.

Anonymous wrote:Shephard Pratt here also, but in Baltimore. No, they didn't "learn" bad behaviors, wtf? Way to think your kid is better than others in the EXACT SAME position? Nice.

OP here-
Thanks for the hostile and judgmental comment. This concern was expressed by our therapist- I didn’t create this concern. Also my child did IOP and being young was frightened by other Chikdren’s experiences. Clearly we are struggling and your comment was unkind and unsupportive. I try to send light, positivity, and support. I hope you can grow to be kinder and learn from this experience.

Shephard Pratt here also, but in Baltimore. No, they didn't "learn" bad behaviors, wtf? Way to think your kid is better than others in the EXACT SAME position? Nice.

Our child went through Dominion's PHP as a step down from inpatient. Unfortunately, when you have a younger child the options are very limited. I'll say Dominion's PHP was better than inpatient, but I'm not sure if it helped much because DC's issues were still largely undiagnosed. It was better once we had a handle on what we were dealing with. Some posters here have had OK experiences with the PHP, I think.

My child attended the PHP at Shephard Pratt in Towson. They use DBT-C which was interesting. However, there wasn't the DBT family component which I think would have been helpful. The groups were separated by age groups. He didn't learn behaviors from other kids---he had his own issues which is what landed him there in the first place.

Any experience with a PHP for kids under 12? It looks like Dominion is the only one relatively nearby. If you had a child attend (it would be step up for us not step down). Did it help? Did they learn other disturbing behaviors from the other children? How long were they there? We are considering this for our child. Thank you.