Neurobehavioral Program: ASPIRE - Adolescent Mental Health
Overview
Families across Orange County are facing significant and increasing challenges
with their adolescents. Little support exists for children and their parents
moving through this fragile stage of development. For many families, unaddressed
neurobehavioral challenges have become devastating catastrophes.
In 2010, 30% of students in the Newport-Mesa school district reported drug
abuse. 50% reported alcohol abuse, and the numbers continue to rise. Co-occurring
mental health disorders feed and are fed by this substance abuse epidemic.
If you are a parent of a teen in Orange County today, you likely have
your own story – direct or indirect – to underscore this unfortunate reality.
The Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute at Hoag has launched a programmatic
answer to this glaring community need: ASPIRE (After School Program: Intervention
and Resiliency Education) is an intensive outpatient program for adolescents,
ages 13-17, with primary mental health disorders and possible co-occurring
substance abuse challenges. The program is evidence-based and outcomes
driven, and guides teens and their families through an eight-week curriculum
of skills-based training in stress management, resiliency, interpersonal
communication, mental health and substance abuse education.
The program is offered at Hoag’s Center for Healthy Living in Newport
Beach, with an additional location in Irvine in development.
Program Summary:
- Adolescents 13-17 and their parents
- 8-week outpatient program; skills-based curriculum
- 4 nights weekly for 3 hours; parents 1 night weekly
- Multidisciplinary team
- Collaborative with local schools
Program Goals:
- Early intervention
- De-stigmatize mental illness and mental health care
- Promote mental and behavioral health and well-being
- Emphasize “skill building & resiliency training”; de-emphasize
“therapy”
- Empower parents for the unique demands of this life stage
- Help adolescents navigate the challenges inherent in the age, and build
a foundation for young adulthood
Community Partnership
Hoag is working in close collaboration with both Newport-Mesa Unified School
District and Huntington Beach Unified School District. Hoag is positioned
to support high school teens identified with mental health challenges
by the school staff. Hoag and the school districts are working to provide
high school credit to those adolescents that complete the ASPIRE program.
Team
The ASPIRE clinical team is led by Sina Safahieh, M.D. Dr. Safahieh is
board certified in child and adolescent psychiatry, and will provide the
program’s medical and clinical leadership, creating a unique partnership
between Hoag and CHOC to meet this community need. Prerna Rao, LMFT, is
the clinical program manager. Prerna has developed the clinical team,
structured the program content, and has positioned ASPIRE to be a model
for adolescent mental health treatment. Prerna is overseeing the program’s
clinical and patient experience outcomes.
ASPIRE also interfaces with Jerry Weichman, Ph.D., who specializes in outpatient
mental health treatment for teens and their parents. Dr. Weichman operates
The Weichman Clinic, and oversees the Teen Brain program there. Teen Brain
brings together a multidisciplinary team of specialists housed at the
Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute to provide a unique and comprehensive
diagnostic assessment and treatment planning service for struggling adolescents
and young adults.
To learn more, visit the
ASPIRE Program section.