Mental Health - Children and Youth

Many children can experience difficulties as they grow from infancy through adolescence.  These difficulties may cause behavioral problems, anxiety, depression, uncontrollable anger, and even suicidal thoughts or behaviors.  In addition, some children need help after experiencing trauma in their lives, including grief and family disruption.  Children are vulnerable to mental illness and have much to gain by receiving early intervention and adequate care when facing these struggles. An estimated one in 10 children and adolescents in the United States suffers from mental illness severe enough to cause some level of impairment. Early diagnosis  and treatment of mental illness provides an opportunity for these children to grow up to be healthy, happy and productive adults. 

The Children and Youth programs are based at the Helen Ross McNabb Children and Youth Centers in Knoxville and Morristown, Gateway Center in Louisville, Mountain View Youth Developmental Center in Dandridge, Child Net Blount office, Healthy Families East Tennessee offices in Blount, Loudon, and Jefferson Counties and the Blount County Courthouse. These programs provide specialized evaluation and treatment for those with childhood problems related to biologically based disorders, learning disabilities, substance abuse and emotional, family, interpersonal, social, adjustment and personality factors. 

Children and Youth Mental Health Programs include: 

Children and Youth Continuous Treatment Team

The Continuous Treatment Team (CTT) delivers intensive, comprehensive case management services to children and youth who are identified as seriously and persistently mentally ill in Knox, Blount and Sevier Counties.  Services are delivered primarily in the home or other natural settings and emphasize a strong partnership with the family and other community support systems.

Child Net

Child Net is an innovative program for indigent, uninsured children ages two through 12 (in Knox, Blount and Sevier counties) who are experiencing trauma, mental illness and/or behavioral problems. Children often have difficulty accessing care because of financial barriers or because their problems are not of a certain diagnosis. They are at risk of slipping through the cracks of the system, receiving no help until their illness becomes severe or they are placed in state custody. The goal of Child Net is to provide counseling, behavior management and community support to these at-risk children before their situation becomes desperate.

Developmental Disabilities Services

Developmental Disabilities Services furnish support for individuals dually-diagnosed with mental retardation or developmental disability and mental illness. These services are delivered through In-Home Intensive Case Management. The program's goal is to assist the child and his/her support system in identifying barriers to maintaining stability or to being maintained in the home environment.  

Regional Intervention Program

The Regional Intervention Program (RIP) is an internationally recognized model for a behavior modification program for families with preschool-age children who may exhibit behavior such as tantrums or behavior that is overly active, withdrawn or aggressive. Parent participation is crucial in this program. RIP services include beginning behavior management training, advanced behavior management training, classroom programs that teach children social skills, child care, preschool intervention and follow-up services for families who complete the program.   

Juvenile Justice Services

Innerchange

The Innerchange Program serves youth ages 12-18 who are on probation and live in Knox County. Innerchange is a cooperative effort with the Knox County Juvenile Court. The goal of the program is to reduce court involvement and prevent custody to DCS by addressing the individual and family root causes that precipitated the youth's initial involvement in the court system.

Home Base

Home Base is an intensive probation program for juvenile offenders ages 12 to 18 who are on "suspended commitment" (commitment to the state is suspended in lieu of participation in this program) to the Department of Children's Services. The program's goal is to improve and strengthen the family unit, which assists the youth to remain at home and in their community and avoid placement in state custody.  

Mountain View Services

The Mountain View Services program provides mental health services to youth residing at Mountain View Youth Developmental Center in Dandridge, Tennessee. This developmental center is a 144-bed state-managed residential facility that serves youth who have been committed to the custody of the DCS following conviction of felony crimes. Youth are referred by case managers at the facility and then assessed to determine appropriate treatment services.                           

EXIT

EXIT provides services to Knoxville and the surrounding 15 county East Tennessee region. The program is an intensive aftercare program for juvenile offenders committed to custody of the Department of Children's Services (DCS).  The focus of the program is to help prevent a return to jail and to help ensure a successful reintegration into the community. EXIT counselors work with the youths and their families during and after incarceration and also  with the DCS, Knox County Juvenile Court, local law enforcement and schools to enforce probation expectations and monitor compliance.   

SCHOOL-BASED SERVICES (Blount County)
Bridges

The Blount County Bridges program works with students at Heritage and William Blount High Schools, in a specialized behavior modification classroom at Everett Learning Opportunity Center, at Fort Craig, John Sevier, Sam Houston and Foothills Elementary Schools, in addition to Maryville Intermediate School. The program is designed to help students who were identified as having emotional and/or behavioral problems that interfered with their educational progress. Goals include the reduction of psychiatric hospitalization days, improved attendance and grades, increased communication and cooperation between home and school, less restrictive academic placements and reduction of juvenile court involvement and school suspensions.

Other Blount County School-Based Services

The Helen Ross McNabb Center provides a behavioral consultant to special education students in schools throughout Blount County. The counselor conducts functional behavior analysis and behavior support plans as requested by teachers, also serving as a consultant to teachers who work with special needs children.

Therapeutic Pre-School

The Therapeutic Pre-School Program serves children ages two to six who have been sexually, emotionally or physically abused or neglected. Children who have suffered major loss, experienced traumatic events or have emotional or behavioral difficulties related to abuse or trauma may also participate in the program. These children have special emotional requirements that many child care or school facilities are not equipped to accommodate and that place them at imminent risk for more restrictive placements. The Pre-School provides cognitive and developmental stimulation, therapeutic behavioral treatment, nurturing, structure and help with basic skills. Parent participation is an integral part of the program. Parents learn to become more competent teachers for their children and learn to use effective and appropriate discipline. 

Regional Intervention Program

The Regional Intervention Program (RIP) is an internationally recognized model for a behavior modification program for families with preschool-age children who may exhibit behavior such as tantrums or behavior that is overly active, withdrawn or aggressive. Parent participation is crucial in this program. RIP services include beginning behavior management training, advanced behavior management training, classroom programs that teach children social skills, child care, preschool intervention and follow-up services for families who complete the program. Children are eligible for the RIP program through their kindergarten year.   

TRACES Foster Care

The Tennessee Regional Alternative Care Environments (TRACES) Foster Care program serves children in the custody of DCS ages birth through 21 years.   These children have been removed from their families of origin due to abuse, neglect, unruliness or delinquency. The program recruits and trains caring, structured foster parents to help these children who enter custody with a multitude of problems and needs. Children can have mental illnesses, addictions, school issues, poor peer relationships, abandonment and trauma issues and developmental delays. Great care is taken to match these children with an appropriate family to provide the child with a positive family experience.