Behavioral Health

The Department of Behavioral Health’s mission is to establish partnerships and empower individuals through education, quality interventions, and preventive resources to promote well-being.

Outpatient Care

The goal of Myrtue Medical Center (MMC) Behavioral Health is to treat you as a whole person: body, mind and spirit. We seek to help each individual handle life’s challenges by re-establishing positive relationships, using new coping skills at home and at work and developing a stronger sense of self. Specialty-trained mental health professionals offer a wide array of outpatient mental health services including:

• Medication management
• Traditional therapy
• Drug and alcohol evaluation/treatment
• Community support services.

The ultimate goal is to get people get back on the road to overall mental wellness.

Child/Adolescent

For children, adolescents and their families this service provides therapy to help the client to lead a healthier life physically, emotionally and spiritually. Treated holistically, family dysfunction will improve and symptoms will decrease. A multidisciplinary team offers specialized services for child and adolescents at the main clinic as well as for students that attend the Harlan Community School District or the Shelby County Catholic School. Therapists lead the team delivering a variety of services including individual, group, family, and others based on individual assessments. The team may include psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, teachers, parents/guardians, peers, and MMC Community Support workers. Clients may be referred to further community support groups to assist with self-reliance and learn additional life skills. Communications with referral sources will occur with permission of the client and parent/guardian.

Adults

Through behavioral health interventions, clients learn improved life skills to promote their mental health and wellness. Psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, or therapists may lead the team delivering a variety of services based on initial and ongoing assessments. For persons experiencing mental health issues that are disrupting interpersonal, family or work life, we provide both short-term, problem-focused therapy services as well as longer courses of treatment for clients requiring additional assistance in achieving stabilization. Treatments include:

• Individual Therapy
• Group Therapy
• Marital Therapy
• Family Therapy
• Psychopharmacological (the study of the use of medications in treating mental disorders) and others based on individual assessment.

The treatment goal is to restore and stabilize the client to his or her optimal level of functioning. Some clients may be referred to further community support groups to be more self-reliant and learn additional life skills.

Medication Management Therapy

This is when psychiatrists or psychiatric practitioners give psychiatric medication management and assessment to patients. If you are not sure if medications are the best option for you a psychiatrist or practitioner can be of great assistance to you to explore your options.

Just like it is important to have a physical every year by your doctor, it’s just as important to have a mental health check-up, as well.

A psychiatrist or psychiatric practitioner will give you an initial checkup similar to what a primary care provider might do. This checkup is called an assessment, and it is an overview of your symptoms that will help with the determination of whether or not medication is a good option in the treatment of your mental health concerns. Primary care doctors address your physical care; psychiatrists use the form of discussion to get to the core of your mental health concerns.

Then as a result of the assessment, a diagnosis is made and a treatment plan is designed for your particular needs. If medication is decided to be the best option, you will be informed and educated about the medication uses, and side effects.

Medications are often used with other forms of treatment like counseling, family therapy, and/or behavioral therapies. With careful monitoring and continuous discussion, you can find the right medication and treatment plan for you.

It is important to remember that the use of prescription medications always introduces potential risks and side effects. These should all be discussed in detail with you by your psychiatrist. There are many psychological problems that do not need medicines, however, there are instances where prescription medicines are a good option for patients that are struggling.

Overall, medicines are an important part of the treatment of many mental illnesses like depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, panic, sleep problems, attention deficit disorder, etc.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy, also known as “talk therapy,” is when a person speaks with a trained therapist in a safe and confidential environment to explore and understand feelings and behaviors and gain coping skills.

During individual talk therapy sessions, the conversation is often led by the therapist and can touch on topics such as past or current problems, experiences, thoughts, feelings or relationships experienced by the person while the therapist helps make connections and provide insight.

Studies have found individual psychotherapy to be effective at improving symptoms in a wide array of mental illnesses, making it both a popular and versatile treatment. It can also be used for families, couples or groups. Best practice for treating many mental health conditions includes a combination of medication and therapy.

If you would like to ask a question, submit it through our contact form and one of our staff will respond.