Accepting that your child needs more support than you alone can provide is no small feat. It is commendable to acknowledge when your family is ready for more intensive help. The part that those in your position are often not prepared for, however, is working out where to go.
Across the board, the North Shore has more options than it did a few years ago. There are outpatient practices, intensive programs, hospital-based services, and a growing number of virtual providers who serve Illinois. While having a wider range of options is a positive thing that means more children can find appropriate care, this also makes deciding where is best harder.
This useful guide provides a framework for asking providers the right questions, in the right order, so that you can evaluate the programs you’re considering for your child. It is not a comparison of specific providers, so it can be applied across all the options you come across.
Start with the level of care (not the location)
A common thing parents do when looking for a mental health program is starting with logistics. They ask: Which place is closest? Which has the shortest waiting list? Which can start the earliest?
While these are all valid and meaningful considerations, in an ideal scenario they should come second. The first question caretakers should ask is: what level of care does my child actually need?
Programs like weekly outpatient therapy, Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOPs), Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHPs), and inpatient programs all differ in their levels of clinical intensity. They are not interchangeable, and each is specifically designed with specific needs and presentations in mind.
Choosing a program that is less intensive than your child needs wastes valuable time, whereas choosing one that is more intensive than is necessary can create disruption without proportionate benefit.
The starting point for determining an answer to this question is always: having a proper clinical assessment made on your child. These are done by qualified child and adolescent psychiatrists or psychologists who take a full history into account before they make any recommendations. Be cautious of any program that commits to a level of care before completing one.
Questions to ask all providers
Who is delivering the clinical care?
- Are the clinicians delivering the program licensed and credentialed? In Illinois, PHP and IOP programs should be staffed by licensed mental health professionals. Ask specifically about who runs your child's individual sessions and who leads the group work.
- Is there a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist overseeing the program? This is different from having a psychiatrist available for medication management. It means a physician with specialist training in child psychiatry is responsible for the clinical direction of your child's care.
- Where did the clinical leadership train? Fellowship training at an academic medical center is a meaningful signal of clinical depth.
How is family involvement structured?
Family involvement in child and adolescent mental health treatment is not optional. The evidence on this is consistent: outcomes are significantly better when the family is genuinely integrated into treatment.
- Ask how many family sessions are included in the program (not solely available, but included).
- Ask what happens between sessions: how will you know what your child worked on? How does the team communicate with you throughout the week?
- Ask what the discharge plan looks like, and how the family will be prepared for it.
What does the group look like?
Group therapy is central to most PHP and IOP programs. The quality of that group experience matters enormously. Ask the following questions:
- How many children are in each group? Larger groups are more economically efficient for the provider. Smaller groups are clinically better for the children in them.
- How are groups composed? Age-appropriate grouping matters. A 10-year-old and a 17-year-old are in completely different developmental contexts.
- What is the group therapy modality? Evidence-based approaches (e.g. CBT, DBT, RO-DBT, and ACT) should be identifiable and named, rather than described in vague terms.
What happens at the end of the program?
- What is the step-down pathway? Learn how the team prepares your child and family for the transition back to outpatient care or school.
- Does the program coordinate with your child's existing outpatient therapist, paediatrician, and school? Programs that allow for the smoothest transition offer communications and step-down planning.
- What is available if your child has a difficult period after discharge? At Plena, we offer access to The Parent Academy both during and after treatment, so support remains available. Our door is always open.
Practical questions that also matter
- Is the program accredited? Joint Commission accreditation means the program has been independently evaluated against national standards. The Plena Mind Center is accredited by The Joint Commission.
- What insurance does the program accept, and what does the authorisation process look like? We are in-network with many commercial insurance plans. Our team requests prior authorization when a plan requires it and sends claims directly to the insurer. This means that families aren't left managing that paperwork. We also offer flexible payment plans.
- What is the typical wait time from first contact to starting? Getting started with us begins with a phone conversation so that we can better understand what your child is going through. From there, we aim to complete an intake within 24 hours of that first call and set a treatment start date as soon as possible. If Plena isn't the right fit, we'll refer you to a program that’s better suited to your child's most pressing needs.
For more details on what care at Plena looks like, please visit our FAQs page.
Red flags to keep an eye out for
Most providers in this space are operating in good faith. With this in mind, it is still important to take proper precautions. The following items can signal a program that might not be the best for your child.
- A program that recommends a level of care before completing a proper assessment. Proper assessments are always the starting point for determining what kind of care is best for your child’s unique needs.
- Vague descriptions of the clinical model. 'Evidence-based', 'holistic', and 'individualized' are not clinical descriptions. Ask specifically what that language means for your child.
- No named clinical leadership. A program where it is unclear who is medically responsible for the children in it can raise questions.
- Pressure to commit quickly. Urgency is sometimes genuinely clinical. It should not be a sales technique however.
- Family involvement described as optional. It is not optional. A program that treats it as optional is revealing something about how they conceive of treatment.
A note on geography
Families in Northbrook, Glenview, Deerfield, Highland Park, Wilmette, and across the North Shore have more options than those in many parts of Illinois. The concentration of providers in this area is very positive for the region. At times however, it can create the impression that all options are roughly equivalent, when they are not.
Geography should be a tiebreaker between programs that you have assessed to be equally fitting and appropriate for your child. A program that is slightly further away but is the right clinical fit for your child can result in better support than a convenient one that is not.
If you would like to talk through your options
Plena Mind offers an initial consultation to any family who is trying to work out whether our program is the right fit. We will provide you with our honest medical opinion on if we think another level of care or a different type of program is more appropriate for your child. We have no interest in enrolling children who need something different from what we offer.
To begin the process with an initial phone conversation (followed by a 24-hour clinical assessment response), contact us now.
