Child and Adolescent psychiatry provides medical care for ongoing or serious mental and behavioral health issues in kids and teens. Getting your child medical care for these issues can make a difference in their quality of life at home, school, and social settings.

We care for kids and teens who:

• Have atypical development: Their mental and behavioral health is much different from kids their age.
• Need help adjusting to significant stresses: This includes death of a loved one, moving schools, bullying and peer pressure, parental divorce, and family money problems.
• Are experiencing the onset of mental or behavioral illnesses: Many mental health conditions first emerge during childhood. Teens may use drugs or alcohol as a way to cope. Substance use disorders and eating disorders are also common.

The right care starts with getting the right diagnosis. We offer diagnostic evaluations to figure out what’s causing your kid or teen to act, think or feel a certain way.

Carilion Child and Adolescent Psychiatry treats ongoing or serious mental and behavioral health issues. We provide care on referral from your child’s doctor or from Pediatric Behavioral Health.

Sometimes, your child’s doctor may provide medical care for mental and behavioral health issues. It’s common for pediatricians to prescribe medications for ADHD, anxiety, and depression.

Not all pediatricians prescribe mental health medications to kids and teens, however. If your child needs mental health medications, their doctor may refer them to us instead. They may also refer them to us for a mental health diagnosis.

It can take several months to schedule a first visit with a child and adolescent psychiatrist. To make sure you're scheduling the right care, talk to your child’s doctor. They can help you decide whether your child should see someone in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Pediatric Behavioral Health, or Child Development.

We provide medical treatment for a range of mental and behavioral health conditions in kids and teens. These include:

• Anxiety
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Autism and developmental disorders
• Depression and mood disorders
• Child and adolescent behavioral issues
• Early life stress and traumas
• Eating disorders
• Gender identity concerns
• Learning disabilities
• Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Sleep disorders

We provide a range of medical and therapeutic treatments to care for kids' and teens' mental health needs. These include:

• Medication management: Mental health medicines are often used along with talk therapy to treat many mental health conditions. Different conditions respond to different medicines, and it may take time to find the medication and dose that works best for your child.
• Mental health counseling: We offer a range of talk therapy services to help your child understand and manage their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Our outpatient therapy services include individual therapy and group skills therapy.
• Child and adolescent inpatient psychiatry: When a child or teen needs more intensive mental health care, inpatient psychiatry provides treatment in a safe, supportive hospital setting. Our inpatient unit cares for youth ages 9 – 17. Our team creates a personalized treatment plan to help stabilize symptoms and prepare your family for the next steps in care.
• Grief and loss services: Death, divorce, and other major life changes can affect your child's mental health. We help kids and teens understand and cope with the emotions that come with grief and loss.
• Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT): PCIT helps parents and children build stronger relationships and learn healthy ways to communicate and manage behaviors together.
• Clinical social work: Sometimes kids and teens need extra support at home, at school, or in their community. Our clinical social workers help connect families with mental health services and other community resources.
• Pediatric sleep consultation: Sleep problems and mental health conditions often affect one another. We help identify the cause of your child's sleep concerns and provide counseling and treatment to improve sleep.