Inpatient Unit B7 South
At the Montreal Children’s Hospital, we have eight acute care beds on the inpatient unit. We offer specialized services for the general public and we often receive consultation requests from across Quebec, including the James Bay and Hudson Bay territories.
The multidisciplinary teams work together to assess and treat children and adolescents, while taking their family situation and dynamics into account. We work with partners in the community to promote continuity of care and improve the quality of life for those with significant mental health issues.
Treatment plans include a combination of individual psychotherapy, behaviour management, family therapy or counselling, intervention and liaison with the school, and pharmacological treatment, if necessary. Individualized treatment plans focus on the safety of each patient during the hospital stay and are determined in close conjunction with the families and external resources.
Consultation-liaison service
The consultation-liaison service assesses and treats childhood and adolescent mental illnesses associated with medical conditions, as well as psychosomatic disorders.
The child psychiatrist first performs a psychiatric assessment based on the facts presented by the attending medical team regarding the patient’s complex mental and physical health problems; this service is offered to pediatric inpatients.
Emergency services:
Mental Health Emergency Room Team (MHERT): a child psychiatrist, a psychiatry resident, a social worker and a nurse clinician are available from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. weekdays. There is also an on-call service evenings and on weekends.
Next-day clinic: A child psychiatrist and a social worker are on staff every weekday morning to see patients who are returning for an urgent psychiatric assessment after being deemed safe enough to be sent home after a visit to the Emergency department the previous day.
Emergency follow-up: This service is offered to patients who require follow-up after a visit to the Emergency department and who need a referral to community services
Outpatient clinics in child psychiatry
Evaluation and stabilization of complex cases (ESCC)
ESCC consists of three OPD teams that provide psychiatric assessment, treatment and recommendations for children and adolescents up to the age of 18. ESCC teams are partnered with first line mental health services at the community CLSCs of the West Island, central-west Montreal and for the anglophone population of eastern Montreal. Second line psychiatry is also provided to the communities of Kahnawake and Kahnesatake. Team members include a psychiatrist, social worker, psychologist, psychotherapist and an educational liaison professional.
ADHD
The ADHD team provides tertiary level consultations for children with ADHD who present complex conditions (for example, multiple medical or psychiatric comorbidities) and for whom regular treatment has proven ineffective. Acceptance to this specialized service requires submission of a medical consultation and a copy of a psychology report that includes cognitive testing performed within the past three years. Team members include a child psychiatrist, social worker and an educational liaison professional.
Behavioural Pediatrics
The Behavioural Pediatrics team responds to MCH physician requests for consultation of patients with complex medical conditions as well as psychiatric difficulties. The psychiatric issues would be of sufficient intensity to interfere with medical treatment or the medical condition is sufficiently complex that regular mental health services would not be able to respond adequately. Team members include a child psychiatrist, social worker and a psychologist.
Autism Complex Psychopharmacology Clinic
This specialized team provides consultations for children with autism spectrum disorders, already receiving intervention in the community (CLSC and/or CRDI), with severe mental health concerns that have not been adequately addressed by pharmacologic or non-pharmacologic intervention. Team members include a child psychiatrist and a nurse clinician.
Batshaw consultation
MCH child psychiatrists provide consultations for patients under the care of Batshaw Family services and the Director of Youth Protection, whether living at home, group homes, foster care or in residential placement. Court Mandated Assessments are also carried out.
Northern services
MCH psychiatrists provide psychiatric services to the Cree and Inuit communities in Northern Québec.
First Episode Psychosis Program (FEPP)
The FEPP aims to screen, assess and intervene as quickly as possible with young people under the age of 18 who have a first psychotic episode. The goal of prompt response and management is to improve the clinical prognosis and allow functionally oriented recovery. The team consists of a child psychiatrist, a specialized nurse practitioner in mental health, an occupational therapist, and a clinical nurse.
