|
Mental Health Service
(Barbara K. Masters, MD, DFAPA, Chief). (405) 456-1000, Ext. 63138.
The mission of Mental Health Service at the VA Medical Center, Oklahoma City is to provide excellent care for all eligible veterans, provide education for residents and medical students, and offer staff multiple opportunities for research.
Our treatment philosophy is a biopsychosocial model which is utilized throughout different psychiatric services addressing the mental health needs of patients. Examples of services include acute inpatient treatment, specialty programs of identified populations, as well as a wide array of outpatient services to promote aftercare at the hospital and in the outlying communities.
Psychology Service
(William R. Leber, Ph.D., Chief). (405) 456-1000, Ext. 62874. During the past year, Psychology Service has continued to work closely with Mental Health Service (Psychiatry) and other Services in the Medical Center to provide excellence in clinical care, education and research.
Employees Assistance Program (EAP)
This program is managed by Psychology Service and staffed by psychologists and social workers. The program provides short-term counseling services to associates of the medical center. EAP provides consultation to supervisors regarding supervisory style and other needed skills.
Associate Education Programs
Psychology Service staff have been key in the development of associate education programs in the medical center. These include Prevention and Management of Violent Behavior, Stress Management, Women's Health Program and Critical Incident Debriefing.
Ambulatory Mental Health Clinic
(Hashib Faruque, MD, Medical Director; Jeanne Morgan, Ph.D., Administrative Director). (405) 456-1000, Ext. 65183. The Ambulatory Mental Health Clinic (AMHC) is a multidisciplinary outpatient mental health clinic that, along with its affiliated units of Family Mental Health, REACH, Crisis, and Primary Care Mental Health, recorded over 20,000 outpatient visits this past year. The clinic staff is involved in the delivery of a myriad of mental health services including medication consultation and management; individual, group, family, and marital psychotherapy; biofeedback and stress management program, psychoeducational classes that address a variety of common mental health complaints; crisis intervention; psychological assessment; trauma treatment addressing combat and sexual trauma as well as other sources of trauma; and a daily walk-in emergency consultation service. The clinic also provides telemedicine/telepsychology to VA Community Based Outpatient Clinics through its affiliated telemedicine/telepsychologist staff and supports the Lawton VA Clinic through its Lawton onsite multidisciplinary mental health staff. In addition to patient care, the AMHC staff and its affiliated units are responsible for providing supervision and didactic experiences to third- and fourth-year psychiatric residents, psychology interns, doctoral practicum students in psychology, and third-year medical students, frequently winning teaching and supervision awards for their efforts in these areas.
Crisis Intervention
(Peggy Hudson, Ph.D., Director) (405) 456-1000, Ext. 65183. The primary purpose of this program is to provide psychiatric treatment of eligible veterans who are having acute problems and need intensive treatment. They most often do not need to be hospitalized on a 24-hour basis. Thus, this unit serves as an alternative to hospital admission and an avenue for decreasing length of hospitalization.
Family Mental Health Program
(Michelle Sherman, Ph.D., Director) (405) 456-1000, Ext. 65183. Training opportunities include couples therapy, family therapy, co-therapy with supervisor, consultation service, informal teaching and supervision of medical students on rotation in the clinic, and psychoeducational workshops for family members of veterans with a mental illness. Also, interns can participate in the REACH Project (Reaching out to Educate and Assist Caring, Health Families), a family psychoeducation interervention including single family therapy and multifamily groups.
Primary Care Mental Health (PCMH)
(Nemesio Gutierrez, M.D., Medical Director; Pamela Fischer, Ph.D., Administrative Director) (405) 456-1000, Ext. 64106. This is a collaborative program between Primary Care and Mental Health to address the mental health needs of the veterans within the primary care setting. It gives them immediate access to mental health care, consulting to approximately 35 primary care providers. The program is staffed by a full-time psychiatrist, full-time psychologist, and a PhD psychology fellow. Psychology interns may rotate through. Services provided include medication management, diagnostic evaluation, depression classes, brief counseling, specialized care coordination, sleep management class, anxiety management class, and weekly presentations on the psychosocial aspects of managing diabetes to the Diabetes Education Class. They can be reached at extension 64106 in D Module on the ground floor.
Women's Trauma Team
(Dana D. Foley, Ph.D., Director) (405) 456-1000, Ext. 5183. This program represents an increasing integration of the women in the VA Medical System.
Day Treatment Center
(William Dycus, Ph.D., Administrative Director) (405) 456-1000, Ext. 3626. The Day Treatment Center (DTC) is a specialized outpatient program of the Mental Health Service which provides a structured day treatment program for eligible veterans experiencing a wide range of behavioral, emotional, and stabilized physical problems. The program, which operates five days per week, provides therapeutic assistance and support while allowing the veteran to live in the community. The DTC has a primary goal of providing intensive structure and support to SMI (seriously mentally ill) veterans that will provide stabilization of functioning and prevent future hospitalizations. The majority of therapeutic activities are experienced in a group format. Group experience in the DTC includes occupational therapy, recreational therapy, and art therapy classes, group therapy, patient education groups, and community integration outings. The principle of helping individuals to help themselves and one another is the essence of the program.
Extended Care Unit
(Patrick J. Mason, Ph.D., F.P.P.R.) (405) 456-1000, Ext. 65198. The Extended Care Unit is a 25-bed inpatient unit designed to provide rehabilitative services to veterans who have recently suffered a loss in function and wish to return to a community setting. Psychological services are offered as part of an interdisciplinary team focused on rehabilitating the patient to as independent a life style as possible. Brief screenings, individual, group, and family therapies are provided, as well as daily consultation to the Extended Care Unit team.
Health Psychology Clinic
(John Tassey, Ph.D., Director) (405) 456-1000, Ext. 65495. The Health Psychology Clinic is a mental health service focused on the emotional and behavioral needs of the Medicine and Surgery Services both inpatient and outpatient. Health Psychology is concerned with understanding how biology, behavior, and social context influence health and illness. They apply the contributions of psychology to the understanding of health and illness through clinical research, education, and patient service activities. This includes health promotion such as weight loss and smoking cessation programs, consultation with patients undergoing complicated surgical procedures or treatment regimens, and investigating the integration of biomedical information about health and illness with current psychological knowledge.
Mental Health Intensive Case Management (MHICM)
(Sherri Edwards, PhD Program Manager) (405) 456-2865. MHICM is an intensive multidisciplinary team approach to ambulatory case management of veterans with severe and chronic mental illness. It is an evidence-based method which is based on Assertive Community Treatment (ACT). MHICM provides care for vulnerable veterans who are frequently admitted to inpatient psychiatry and unable to benefit from standard case management and traditional treatment. It helps fill the gap in mental health services. The majority of services are provided in the community. Services provided include medication management, psychotherapy, case management, support, rehabilitation, etc. for veterans inadequately served by conventional clinical-based outpatient treatment and day treatment. These veterans' severe functional impairment is such that they are neither currently capable of successful and stable self-maintenance in a community living situation. Finally, the veterans with chronic mental illness have had high hospital use as evidenced during the past year by over 30 days of psychiatric hospital care or three or more episodes of psychiatric hospitalization. This intensive interdisciplinary team approach to ambulatory management and treatment of persons in, and coordinated with, the community and its services, is clearly distinguished from usual case management by:
- Engagement in community settings of people with severe functional impairments traditionally managed in hospitals;
- An unusually high staff to client ratio; multiple visits per week if needed;
- Interventions primarily in the community rather than in office settings; and
- Fixed team responsibility, around the clock, for total client care over a prolonged period.
Multiple studies, including three recent VHA studies, have shown that the intervention is cost effective, particularly where the service is offered to chronically ill, hospitalized patients and where the model is rigorously adhered to with respect to assertiveness of the intervention and maintenance of low caseloads . There is compelling evidence for the effectiveness of ACT with clients who experience psychotic symptoms.
Neuropsychology
(William D. Ruwe, Psy.D., Ph.D., Director) (405) 456-1000, Ext. 63148. Activities include: Individual psychotherapy, psychological and neuropsychological evaluation, Stroke Recovery Group, and evaluation and treatment of patients with spinal cord injuries. Services include screening and evaluation of veterans of the Persian Gulf war to assist in delineating cognitive aspects of the Persian Gulf Syndrome.
Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Readjustment Program
(Steve Scruggs, Psy.D., Administrative Director) (405) 456-1000, Ext. 63295. This program offers easy access, brief intervention for veterans who are returning from service in Iraq or Afghanistan. The focus is on readjustment and veterans are offered a range of services after initial evaluation, including readjustment counseling, psychoeducational groups about the impact of serving in a war zone, short-term individual trauma processing therapy, and referral to comprehensive mental health services as needed. The program staff is comprised of a full-time social worker, full-time psychologist, part-time psychiatrist, and a program support assistant. Veterans initially receive a comprehensive assessment which identifies strengths and needs of the veteran, determines treatment direction, and allows for referrals to appropriate resources. The OEF/OIF Readjustment Program provides individual therapy, psycho-educational groups, and psychiatric evaluation/medication. When indicated, referrals are made to other specialized treatment programs within the VA.
Post-traumatic Stress Recovery Program
(Emily Rosenberg, MD, FAPA, Medical Director; Dan Jones, Ph.D., Team Leader). (405) 456-1000, Ext. 65369.
This program focuses on veterans who have experienced some traumatic event (usually combat-related) that is outside the range of usual human experience. The PTS Recovery Program differs from many other programs in some significant ways. First, although a closed group treatment phase that is quite intense for six weeks is offered, an outpatient, day hospital type format is used. This offers the advantage of allowing the veteran to return each night and on weekends to a familiar environment and known support systems.
Second, the program deals with some of the major issues of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); e.g., social alienation, hypervigilance, poor anger management, intrusive and distressing memories, et al., by focusing on team development and unit identity. A variety of treatment groups that work on specific problem areas are available, as well as general education and stress management. The team concept facilitates trust within the groups and gives them a basic foundation on which they can build. This has led to the development of a social support system which is typically absent in this population.
Psychiatry Inpatient Unit
(Judy Forshee, MD, Medical Director; Bela Geczy, Ph.D., Administrative Director) (405) 456-1000, Ext. 65204. Patients treated on this 32-bed unit (25 beds on 8 North, 7 beds on 8 East) have a wide variety of diagnoses with the most prevalent being schizophrenia. Other diagnoses include depression, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and personality disorder. Many patients are admitted with suicidal/homicidal ideations or attempts, and many have been mandated for treatment by the courts. The unit treats a substantial number of psycho-geriatric patients who require medical as well as psychiatric care. Occasionally, active duty military personnel and others are admitted for observation and evaluation.
The purpose of the unit is to admit and treat patients from the community who have severely decompensated due to a psychotic illness or due to extreme psychosocial stressors. Patients are stabilized as quickly as possible, and returned to the community or in appropriate long-term placement if return to the community is not possible. Mean length of stay is nine days and the unit averages 80 admissions per month. Staff consists of three full-time psychiatrists, one psychologist, one physicians assistant, three social workers, one program support assistant, nursing staff, and part-time staff from Pharmacy, Occupational Therapy, Dietetics, Recreational Therapy, and Chaplain Service. Patients also are referred to other specialties such as Internal Medicine, Neurology, Physical Therapy, etc. on a consult basis as needed. The unit is a teaching location for the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and students from multiple disciplines rotate through continuously.
Substance Abuse Treatment Center
(Catherine Shaw, Psy.D., Administrative Director) (405) 456-1000, Ext. 62858/63216. The Substance Abuse Treatment Center (SATC) is a specialized treatment program providing eligible veterans with a continuum of care of substance abuse services. SATC offers comprehensive, integrated medical, psychiatric, nursing, and psychosocial treatment to veterans with active substance use disorders. The Substance Abuse Clinic (SAC) provides intake/assessment, detoxification/medically-supervised withdrawal/stabilization, treatment/discharge planning, contract bed placement, intensive outpatient (IOP) treatment, sobriety maintenance, and aftercare outpatient treatment. SAC specialized treatment tracks include an opioid treatment program; Native American, Women's, and Senior in Recovery support groups; patient education, relapse prevention, affect management, and cocaine recovery groups. Early morning and evening groups are available. Ancillary services include therapeutic recreational, chaplains, and vocational rehabilitation services. Varied educational experiences are available to qualified trainees within multiple disciplines in addition to program participation in approved research studies.
|
