Hosted by Divvya Mirani, Clinically Yours, is a podcast that serves as a mental health resource for the community. Tune in twice a month with mental health professionals as we discuss mental health topics related to children and adolescents in efforts to demystify diagnoses and illuminate mental health issues. Episodes cover self-esteem, ADHD, autism, self-harm, addiction, cultural influences, and treatment options.
In this episode Divvya’s guests are Lincoln Prairie therapists Amelia Johnson and Meeko Reddick. In this episode we discuss:
- Speakers background and experience
- What the listener can expect from this podcast
- General overview of Lincoln Prairie services and programs
Transcript:
Divvya: Welcome to clinically yours Lincoln Prairie where we discuss mental health issues in Children and adolescents. I’m your host, Divvya Mirani and with me is Amelia Johnson outpatient manager and Meeko Reddick in patient therapist at Lincoln Prairie. Today, we’ll be giving an introduction of who we are and what you can expect from this podcast. Let’s get started. Lincoln Prairie behavioral health center is located in Springfield, Illinois. We provide psychiatric treatment to Children and adolescents ages 3 to 17 that present with a broad range of psychiatric and behavioral disorders. Our mission is to promote the healing of Children and their families through compassionate and supportive care. And that brings us as to why we wanted to create this podcast. We hope to be a resource to you. We will be covering a variety of mental health issues that affect Children and adolescents from self-harm to depression, A. D. H. D. Anxiety, stress, cultural influences on mental health and much, much, more. Our speakers will feature mental health professionals within our hospital as well as bringing in mental health leaders from the community and with that I’m going to let my co-hosts introduce themselves. Amelia, Can you tell us a little about by yourself?
Amelia: Yeah, my name is Amelia Johnson. I have a bachelor’s in psychology a masters in counseling. I have been with Lincoln Prairie since 2018. Um I started as an intern in our inpatient department And I did that for about a year. And then I came on as a partial hospitalization program therapist in 2019. And moved to our assessment and referral department as a therapist in 2020. And in late 2020 it became an intensive outpatient therapist and in 2021 became outpatient manager. So I’ve been kind of all over. I have experienced every department that our hospital has to offer.
Meeko: Alrighty, my name is Meeko Reddick. I graduated from college in Jacksonville where I got a bachelors Psychology and a minor and physical education. I also got a masters in human development counseling at the University of Illinois at Springfield. I’ve been with Lincoln Prairie since 2018 as well. I started as an intern just like Amelia. And after that I was offered a position in outpatient therapy where I am the group therapist, I do group all day. Um I also did one traveled throughout the hospital as well where I’ve done some PHP things um and I’ve also done some and are things too as well. Um So I’ve been in every area as well.
Divvya: I love that, awesome. And lastly I’d like to introduce myself to you. I’m Divvya and I have a B. S. In psychology and a master’s in social work. I’ve been with Lincoln Perry for nine years in the Business Development dept and I’m just very passionate about bringing more awareness to mental health issues and Children. And I’m very excited to shine some light on some important issues in our communities and we just hope to be a resource to you. So with that let’s jump into something clinical! when we talk about mental health, what does what does that exact definition? What does that mean?
Meeko: Okay so I will tackle this first. So what I got the definition of mental health is a person’s condition with regard to the psychological and emotional well-being. Mental health is also the effect on how we think feel and act. All right. So the important parts of mental health deals with not only our cognitive but also our emotional health.
Divvya: Right. And what does that look like in Children? specifically like our demographic here?
Meeko: Right. So we talked a little bit about it earlier when you were given kind of the spill. So a lot of our kids here deal with depression, dealing with suicidal thoughts, homicidal thoughts um dealing with aggression. Um A. D. H. D, P. T. S. D. The list just goes on and on. And I would say the top one that we deal with here is trauma. So a lot of trauma meaning as an abuse, whether it’s physical, emotional and to collect um anything in that area. I would say a lot of our kids dominate with that also with suicidal ideation, thoughts, behaviors.
Divvya: A lot of our kids here deal with that, from ages 3-17 and what resources are available for those Children for those needs?
Amelia: So resources kind of depend on what level of risk there is. So if there is a child or adolescent who is an immediate danger to themselves or somebody else, of course you’ll want to call 911 to make sure that everybody in the situation is safe. First and foremost that’s our biggest concern is safety. Um Of course you know, if they are at a point where they are safe but the risk is increasing, then you will look at calling us for an assessment to see if they meet the criteria for an inpatient hospitalization um to make sure that they are stabilized before coming back home and going back into the community and school and their daily lives. Um If they are at a lower risk than an immediate danger but they are still in need of services. Um You can still call us because we can assess in our assessment and referral department and what they will do is um They will match you with the services that are going to best fit your child’s needs. Um So we have a variety of programs here at the hospital. We have services to fit every level of need. Um Of course our inpatient hospitalization is where we have Children and adolescents who are an immediate risk to themselves or somebody else. Um We also provide militia group and LGBTQ. Group and are impatient um program and our miss a group is focused more on child and adolescents who struggle with substance abuse. Um And then our LGBTQ Um focuses on anything from sexual orientation to gender identity to questioning. Um So it’s really helpful with processing that stuff with kids and helping them to kind of explore that for themselves and figure that out. Um for our outpatient department. We have other levels of care. Also we have our partial hospitalization program um and our intensive outpatient program which are kind of like next steps for Children and adolescents who have had an inpatient stay here or somewhere else.
Divvya: Like a step down what’s the next step after?
Amelia: Yes it serves as that um Just for a level of support when they do go back to their home lives. Um And then in those programs we also assess for risk every day. So they have an opportunity to say, hey um these thoughts and feelings are either coming back and they’re stronger or to let us know that they’re doing okay. And just to utilize the supports that we have. Um they also serve as a preventative step if your child or adolescent is not an immediate risk to themselves or anybody else but they still need something increasing and they need that extra support to keep it from going there. Um so that’s what those programs serve as we also have outpatient groups and we have medication management. We also do individual and family counseling as well.
Divvya: Awesome. Well that’s a quick overview of what Lincoln prairie offers. Um, join us next time as we discuss these services and our programs in depth. What sort of Children specifically can benefit from them and what happens after. If you want to learn more about our services and programs, please call us at 217-585-1180. Or visit our website at https://lincolnprairiebhc.com and be sure to follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram at Lincoln Prairie BHC until next time. Stay happy, stay hydrated and we’ll see you around.