|
Walk-In Clinic|
The Walk-in Clinic has been developed to provide the continuum of single-session therapy through to crisis intervention. This Clinic allows more families to access services on an immediate basis. The focus of the program is multi-disciplinary. The mandate of the program is to: provide a therapeutic process of assessment, short-term counselling/intervention and referral to appropriate community resources; provide consultation regarding service options; provide consultation to service providers regarding crisis intervention; provide easier access to families who have identified need for support as defined by family.
The target population: children and their families aged 6-18 who reside in Windsor and Essex County; children with social, emotional, or behaviour problems, mental health and/or psychiatric disorders; children at risk of suicide; children and youth involved with or at risk of becoming involved with the justice sector/in conflict with the law; children and youth involved with the child welfare and/or youth justice systems; children and youth at risk of chronic, long-term mental health problems, e.g. psychoses; children and youth with dual diagnosis. Clinic hours at the Windsor Regional Children's Centre are currently Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm. |
| A Social Worker is available to the hospital Emergency Room, Monday to Friday 8 a.m. - 11 p.m. as well as on-call provided weekends and holidays 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. The social workers provide assessment of children and youth, up to the age of 16 years, who present in crisis. The Social Worker has access to psychiatric consultation to determine the best course of intervention for the child and family. The family, through the Social Work services, may be stabilized in the Emergency Department and sent home with Child and Youth worker support if the home environment is determined to be safe for stabilization. The child/youth may be admitted to the Paediatric Unit if there is need for medical stabilization. If needed, Child and Youth Worker support can be provided during the child/youth's stay in hospital. The child/youth may also be admitted to the Paediatric Unit if there is no available mental health bed and it is determined that the home is not safe for the child to return. While in hospital the family is asked to assist the child/youth and a Child and Youth Worker will be available to support the child/ youth during his/her length of stay during the hours of 11p.m.- 7a.m. The Emergency Crisis Response Social Worker, in conjunction with the Director and Psychiatrist-on-call, will determine whether the child/youth requires admission to Windsor Regional Children's Centre crisis bed, or to a Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Bed also at Maryvale. | 
|
The Emergency Crisis Response Social Worker will develop an intervention plan for those families where admission is not appropriate.
When a child/adolescent is discharged from the 7 day mental health bed at Maryvale, a social worker is involved from the crisis program to provide intervention where needed. That social worker is also involved in the discharge planning that is taking place prior to discharge in consultation with the Maryvale staff. Protocols are developed with the school boards and pediatricians to provide assessment for children in crisis that are identified in their program, either at the hospital or the newly-developed Walk-in Clinic at the Windsor Regional Children's Centre. The child and youth workers that are part of the crisis team provide crisis in-home intervention. Their function includes crisis intervention focusing on the parent/child conflict and behaviours that are presenting to the Emergency Crisis Response Service/Walk-in Clinic. The focus of this intervention is to continue to de-escalate the crisis and provide the skills and strategies to help families function in a more solution-focused approach. |
|
|
|
|
If a parent is in distress or a child/youth needs to speak with someone urgently, they may dial 257-5215. Note: if the matter is of a serious nature, the client should go to the Emergency Room. |
|
|
|
|
There are two family preservation teams. One services families in which the identified client is less than 12 years of age (Family Solutions) and one servicing families in which the identified client is over 12 and less than 18 (SAFE).
Family Solutions focuses on providing extremely intensive, in-home services for a circumscribed time period. The Family Solutions team is comprised of the Intensive Phase, which is eight weeks in duration, and the Follow-up Phase that is based on the family's needs. The parents identify the goal areas that they want to work on as well as identifying the times that they require the intensive intervention in order to bring about changes. The team's focus is to build on the family's strengths. The work is strength-based and solution-focused. It involves arranging or providing whatever services are needed to allow successful family functioning. Criteria for referral: families where children are at imminent risk of being removed from the home due to severe at-risk behaviours. Our goal is to keep children in the home. The S.A.F.E. team follows the same model as the Family Solutions team. They have added a third phase, the Prevention Phase which extends complete services to meet the family's needs and for further preservation of the family since they are dealing with adolescents. The criteria for referral is strictly clients and families that have presented to the Crisis program and/or have been through the hospital mental health beds at Maryvale. |
 |
To Home Page of Windsor Regional Children's Centre |