MENTAL HEALTH
Department of Pediatrics patient clinics and offer consultant support.
Telehealth, or the use of remote cameras linking providers and
patients, can also increase accessibility to child and adolescent men-
tal health. Psychiatry, of all the specialties, relies on observation and
communication as its cornerstone, both of which can occur over
the internet without much sacrifice. Kentucky is primarily a rural
state with a few urban pockets and, as expected, many rural families
must travel hours for medical specialty visits. The UofL Division of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Pediatric Psychology works
with several community mental health centers and pediatric resi-
dential facilities in rural Kentucky to provide child and adolescent
psychiatry support. The service provides diagnostic assessment,
treatment planning, medical interventions (i.e. prescribing medi-
cation), and education to the families, as well as the onsite mental
health providers. This technology improves access and increases
compliance with care and is being used across the nation. In fact,
many of our recent graduates are now practicing full-time in tele-
psychiatry positions.
Our division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry continues to
expand its ability to care for a wide range of patients. For example,
the division provides specialized mental health care to patients
with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at the UofL Autism Center
(ULAC). The ULAC provides much needed coordinated and collab-
orative care of children and families affected by ASD through the
combined efforts of child neurology, child and adolescent psychiatry,
pediatric psychology, developmental and behavioral pediatricians
from the Weisskopf Child Evaluation Center, psychologists, occupa-
tional therapists, behavioral analysts, speech-language pathologists
and the Kentucky Autism Training Center. ULAC personnel strive
to diagnose and intervene early in efforts to decrease impairment,
to establish a network so families, schools and communities can
find ways to enhance interventions, and to provide the medical
treatment, therapy and research component necessary for better
care and prevention measures to this population.
Our Division is also influencing other areas as well. These include
sports psychiatry (developmental impact to create life-long healthy
sports participation), advocacy for access to mental health care for
children and adolescents, safer laws to limit access to lethal means of
suicide, and family interventions to help the youth and their families.
We have developed manuals for treatment of youth with Chronic
Illness (i.e. Child Health and Illness Recovery Program - CHIRP),
and interventions for populations at higher risk for polypharmacy
(i.e. foster children) and marginalization (i.e. LGBTQ community).
clinicians can provide more holistic developmentally-based care. So,
our graduates engage in a wide variety of practice settings. There are
still those who perform research and teach at a university setting,
many who work in health care groups (i.e. community mental health
systems) and those who are in private practice.
Dr. Peters practices pediatric psychiatry at the UofL School of Medicine
where he also serves as an associate professor. He is the Outpatient
Director of Bingham Clinic as well.
Dr. Lohr practices pediatric psychiatry at the UofL School of Medicine
where he also serves as an associate professor.
1. https://webappa.cdc.gov/cqi-bin/broker.exe
2. Mojtabai R. et el. National Trends in the Prevalent and
Treatment of Depression Adolescents and Young Adults.
Pediatrics Val 138, Number 6, December 2016 e20161878
3. https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/documents/
access-infographic.html
PROFESSIONAL
ANNOUNCEMENT
PACKAGE
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Announcement Package
provides mailings and printed
announcements in the
monthly publications to let
your colleagues know about
changes in your practice.
Outsource your next
mailing to GLMS.
CONTACT
Amanda Edmondson
Director of Communications
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502.736.6330
[email protected]
Obviously, our faculty and trainees at the Division of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry do more than just write a prescription. Our
work incorporates biologically-based treatments (medications, etc.)
along with family therapy and individual therapy (i.e. CBT) so our
DECEMBER 2018
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