All of the staff members of Peak View Behavioral Health are committed to providing personalized, evidence-based, effective care for mental health disorders and/or substance use disorders to each and every person we serve.
That commitment drives our approach to treating young people who are struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, or other mental health issues. Helping adolescents achieve and maintain improved mental health so that they can begin their adulthood from a place of wellness is among the most important things we do.
Let’s take a closer look at Peak View’s work with adolescents who need help getting back on track.
Treating Adolescents – Ages 12 to 17
Being a parent is hard—and it becomes even harder if the adolescent in your life is struggling with a mental health disorder. It can be hard to know what to do, and your emotions—worry, sadness, fear, and more—can feel overwhelming.
You might struggle to decide whether your teen is experiencing the kind of everyday sadness we all go through or is dealing with one of the various kinds of depression. You might wonder if your child has an anxiety or panic disorder or is just experiencing the ups and downs that are part of most every young person’s life. You might be concerned that a traumatic event in your family’s life or in your community is having a lasting impact on your adolescent’s mental health. You might hope that you can adopt a wait-and-see attitude and that things will improve.
In some cases, things will, in fact, improve. But in others, it may become clear that your teen needs professional help with their mental health. That can be a hard thing to grapple with, but the right move is seeking out that needed assistance as soon as possible.
The good news is that help is available via Peak View Behavioral Health’s inpatient and outpatient programs. Our inpatient program begins with an immediate assessment, diagnosis, and rapid treatment of acute psychiatric symptoms. We provide a structured, safe, and therapeutic environment that supports improved mental health via personalized treatment. When residential treatment is coming to an end, we work to provide a smooth transition to appropriate levels of additional care and support.
Our outpatient services are an option for ongoing care. The outpatient program is a day program—meaning the young person continues to live at home but participates in the program during the day. This can be a wonderful program for those who simply need a less intensive approach or for those who are transitioning back to daily life after inpatient care.
Another Option – Our Peak Navigation Program
The Peak Navigation program—which is offered as an intensive outpatient program or a partial hospitalization program—offers support for young people dealing with a mental health disorder.
One of the defining features of Peak Navigation is that the program is person-centered rather than disorder-centered. In practice, that means that the focus is always on the individual instead of on whatever mental health disorder they may be dealing with. The social, emotional, and physical development of teenagers is at the heart of the Peak Navigation approach.
Teens who participate in the program learn a variety of life skills and coping strategies that can help ameliorate the symptoms and impacts of mental health disorders. Those skills and strategies include problem solving, boundary setting, distress tolerance, options for addressing depression and/or anxiety, and alternatives to engaging in self-harm.
In addition to the aspects of the program intended specifically for adolescents, Peak Navigation also includes family support sessions. While these sessions are entirely optional, they can make a powerful and lasting difference in a family’s shared life. We are committed to helping entire families experience improved mental well-being—and we also want to ensure that each member of the family unit is prepared to provide ongoing and effective support for the young person in the family who has been struggling.
Adolescents to Adults, Families to Veterans: Peak View is Ready to Help
This entry has focused on Peak View Behavioral Health’s services for adolescents, but young people are just one of the groups we are equipped to help. It is our privilege to help teens and adults as well as families and veterans who may be struggling with the direct and indirect impacts of drugs or alcohol, mental health disorders, or a combination of the two.
If you or someone in your life is in need of help, our team in Colorado Springs is here and ready to provide personalized, empathetic care grounded in evidence, expertise, and experience.
