As a member of the board of the LSU Health Sciences Center Department of Psychiatry Advisory Board, co-managing partner, Robert Steeg along with everyone at Steeg Law is delighted to shine the community spotlight on the important work that the Department of Psychiatry is doing in the Greater New Orleans area.
About the LSU Health Sciences Center Department of Psychiatry
LSU Health Sciences Center (LSU HSC) Department of Psychiatry is strongly dedicated to meeting the Behavioral Health needs of children, adolescents, and their families, especially those of vulnerable children and adolescents who have experienced personal, family and community traumatic exposure. The Department of Psychiatry responds to concerns of young people, families, schools and community providers and agencies. While very committed to high quality therapeutic services, it also focuses on building strengths and resilience and having healthy development.
The Department of Psychiatry has provided over 50,000 screening evaluations and follow up therapeutic services in schools in Greater New Orleans and other impacted parishes since hurricane Katrina and, more recently, following the Gulf Oil Spill. Experienced faculty members oversee a 24/7 emergency hotline service that can meet initial needs, provide referrals for further evaluations and treatment by Department faculty and provide referrals to other relevant community providers and agencies. The Department’s Infant Mental Health Program, which is nationally recognized for its quality, provides evidence based services for children ages 0-5 as well as training for Child Psychiatrists, Psychologists, and Social Workers in this crucial period of life.
All Psychiatry services at Children’s Hospital are provided by LSU HSC faculty and advanced trainees and include response to 1,500 emergency room children with mental health concerns and approximately the same number of in-patient referrals annually. Programs are provided for children and adolescents in military families, including young children whose parents have been deployed or are returning from combat. The Department of Psychiatry is intergrading mental and behavioral health services in primary care clinics, including age appropriate assessments and treatments. This is an effort in making high quality services more accessible to families and assisting in meeting their needs in a destigmatized high quality manner. Given the quality of Department programs, the state Medicaid provider has funded their training of clinicians in Child Parent Psychotherapy, CPP, throughout Louisiana.
The Department is initiating Telepschiatry services that compliment clinic visits. All of the department programs are based on community participation, interprofessional collaboration, and the effort to build stronger communities. Major Academic Departments of Psychiatry throughout the country are turning to LSU Health Sciences Center Department of Psychiatry for leadership in meeting new challenges in the field.
Future Goals of LSU HSC Department of Psychiatry
In the year to come, LSU HSC will be focusing more of their efforts in the areas of suicide, substance abuse, and opioid dependence in addition to the expertise they are already providing through the LSU HSC faculty surrounding trauma treatment, a 24/7 crisis line, training, prevention crisis response and therapeutic interventions for both adults and children throughout our community.
About the LSU Health Sciences Center Department of Psychiatry Advisory Board
LSU Health Sciences Center Department of Psychiatry Advisory Board is crucial in guiding department priorities and achievements. The Psychiatry Advisory Board has been very important since its inception. It has recently helped think through service priorities at a time of rapidly changing mental health care and cutbacks. It was helpful in thinking through the importance of assessing military families and families dealing with addictive and behavioral concerns of family members. The Department of Psychiatry and the Advisory Board are committed to meeting the needs of children and families in our region, being inclusive and collaborative in providing services, and providing education of the mental health providers who will serve our community and state in the future.
Learn more about LSU Health Sciences Center Department of Psychiatry.