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Back to School with Four Rivers Behavioral Health’s New OurPlace Program

PADUCAH,KY: Back to school means different things to different people – especially now. That is why Four Rivers Behavioral Health has updated the agency’s children’s day treatment program.

OurPlace is the newest initiative from Four Rivers Behavioral Health’s Specialized Center for Children’s Services. OurPlace provides treatment to children and adolescents in need of short-term behavioral health care in a highly structured environment that is less restrictive and a more creative alternative to 24-hour inpatient hospitalization.

OurPlace Director Sally Carter said, “Our goal with children is to always have them in the least restrictive program relative to their needs. OurPlace gives us that interim option of more specialized care than outpatient therapy but not as restrictive as being in a residential or hospital setting.”

OurPlace is an intensive program available to children in western Kentucky that offers five hours of behavioral health care a day as well as educational instruction. The OurPlace program focuses on group and individual therapy sessions along with addressing social skills and working with the entire family. The program is made up of a professional team that includes therapists, clinicians and Four Rivers Behavioral Health’s child psychiatrist to assess and treat complex emotional and behavioral problems. Four Rivers Behavioral Health has the only Board Certified Child Psychiatrist in the region and the doctor plays an important role in the overall treatment plan as many of the program participants require medication.

School curriculum is designed in partnership with Paducah Independent Schools. The education component of the program helps ensure children don’t miss school work and fall behind during their time in treatment.

Most OurPlace participants are in the program for eight to ten weeks and are then able to go back to a traditional school environment and continue with outpatient therapy.

Carter said, “Children today are under so much stress and have such unique needs. OurPlace helps us meet those needs while giving kids the care they need and helping them manage their mental health concerns.

“The children we see have a range of issues from depression and anxiety to anger management trouble and stress. It’s our job to help these kids get to a place where they can be a part of their families and communities.”

OurPlace typically follows the same schedule as public schools in the area. Admissions to OurPlace are made through a referral process from the child’s school, pediatrician or mental health therapist.

For more information about OurPlace or any of the children’s services programs offered by Four Rivers Behavioral Health, visit the agency’s website at www.4rbh.org.

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Four Rivers Behavioral Health is a private, not-for-profit community mental health agency that for more than 50 years has provided comprehensive mental health, substance abuse and developmental/intellectual disability services to clients in Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Livingston, McCracken, and Marshall Counties.

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