Cincinnati Children’s Opens New Behavioral Health Regional Care Center

Multidisciplinary approach provides urgent mental health interventions, day treatment program

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Cincinnati Children's recently opened a new regional care center for behavioral health in Norwood. The center is designed to provide increased behavioral health access for patients in need of intensive services and crisis intervention, while offering a central location that makes it easier on families.

Partial Hospitalization Program

The regional care center will offer several behavioral health services for patients, making it convenient to be seen at the same site and same day, instead of having the patient seek services at multiple sites across several days. It will include a variety of providers and programs including a Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP), which allows patients to receive intensive mental health care services but return to home in the evening, avoiding an inpatient stay. Courtney Cinko, MD, is the medical director of the PHP at Norwood and Green Township.

“The program aims to improve each patient’s functioning at school, at home, and within their social group. PHP is an increased level of care for patients struggling with their mental health but who are not in acute crisis,” said Cinko. “It serves a vital role in getting children feeling better, not just within themselves but also within their worlds.” 

“The care center allows tailoring to the individual patient. If patients need multiple services, their providers are coordinating and collaborating together regularly. The clinic streamlines communication,” said Monica Whitehead, PhD, lead psychologist, Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology at the regional care center. “It’s a more seamless approach compared to if they had services across different locations, making it easier for them.”

Bridge Crisis Clinic Services

In addition to the PH services, the regional care center offers Bridge Clinic services through referrals from the Psychiatric Intake Response Center (PIRC) – the admission and evaluation center for all psychiatric services for Cincinnati Children’s. Patients will have access to a team of providers, including a psychiatrist, advanced practice nurses, a psychologist and the PIRC Bridge staff. Each of the providers works together as they approach patient care and evaluate treatment, giving each patient the well-rounded care they deserve.

“We help patients and families navigate the mental health system and help them get connected to ongoing services,” said Cheryl Hilvert, LPCC, lead clinical counselor of daily operations of the Bridge Crisis Clinic. “When you're new to the mental/behavioral health system, it is difficult to navigate. We provide short term intervention and help them connect with longer term care.”

“Our goal is to provide a number of services in the community that will allow families to stay closer to home while receiving care,” said Joe Luria, MD, vice president of mental health operations at Cincinnati Children’s. “We’re developing additional processes to serve more kids by giving them access to the level of care they need including behavioral interventions. This will also help some families to avoid seeking care in an Emergency Department.”

The new regional care center is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It’s located at 2300 Wall Street, Suite D, Norwood, Ohio 45212. Scheduling will be available by calling the Psychiatric Intake Response Center (PIRC) at 513-636-4124.