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Psychiatry Outpatient Specialty Programs

Mood and Thought Disorders Program

This program specializes in treating children with mood and thought disorders, including but not limited to depression, bipolar disorder, or any type of psychosis, including schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Our Treatment Philosophy

Our treatment philosophy is based on our commitment to intervening with whole families. The Mood and Thought Disorders Program is designed to treat not just the individual child, but parents and siblings as well. In addition, all of our programs are skills- and strengths-oriented, meaning that our psychotherapies strive to build on existing strengths and foster new psychosocial skills in families.

At Children's Hospital Colorado, we are committed to providing evidence-based and standardized treatments. Nearly all of our programs have been validated by research and outcome data. Many of our faculty have contributed to field advancements and are regionally and nationally renowned for their achievements and expertise. Our programs are multidisciplinary in nature, with providers from varied disciplines including nursing, social work, psychology and psychiatry, to ensure that all treatment needs are served.

Finally, we provide comprehensive care, with programs from inpatient to day treatment, and from intensive outpatient to routine outpatient. Most of our providers offer continued follow-up into lower levels of care, ensuring continuity and quality of care.

Intensive Outpatient Program

Launched in 2006, our Intensive Outpatient Psychiatry Program has been extremely successful. It has achieved positive clinical outcomes and received consistently high patient satisfaction ratings. The Intensive Outpatient Program serves youth with mood or disruptive behavior disorders who are stepping down from higher to lower levels of care, or patients who have not been successful with routine outpatient treatment. It is also well suited for youth who recently presented the need an urgent or emergent psychiatric assessment.

The Intensive Outpatient Program holds sessions for parents and youth three times a week, for a five-week course of treatment. Components include a psychosocial assessment, psycho-education, psychosocial skills training, parent effectiveness training and creative arts therapies. The program is staffed by a multidisciplinary team of experts, specializing in the treatment of disruptive and mood disorders for youth and their families. Please call (720) 777-6200 for more information regarding medication consultations.

Outpatient services

We offer comprehensive outpatient services including evaluations, medication management and psychological testing, along with individual, group, family and creative arts therapy. We serve patients ages 5 to 17, with virtually any diagnosis, and their families.

Referral information

Referrals for outpatient mental health services are made through our intake team. Our team will make every effort to work with insurance companies, although not all insurances will authorize treatment at Children's Hospital Colorado. For more information, or if you are a physician seeking to make a referral, please call (720) 777-6200.

Facts about mood disorders

Some signs of mood disorders might include increased irritability, acting out, social withdrawal and/or academic failure. Children and teens with mood disorders might exhibit impaired concentration, crying spells, or changes in energy, sleep or appetite. They might also complain of feeling hopeless, or express thoughts of dying or suicide.

Facts about thought disorders

Children and teens with thought disorders might complain of hearing voices of seeing things that are not real. They might exhibit unusual or even delusional thinking. Initial presentation of a psychotic disorder might include mood symptoms as well as deterioration in hygiene, social withdrawal and academic failure. Youth with disordered thought processes are likely to appear confused and use language that is odd and difficult to comprehend.