Bellefaire JCB’s Outpatient Treatment Department provides individual, group and family therapy on our main campus. Additionally, Psychological Testing and Assessment is available, along with assessments for specialized treatment issues including; fire setting behaviors, sexual abuse, and sexual offending behaviors. Therapy and assessment services are provided by skilled, trained and professionally-licensed staff members, many of whom hold the terminal licensure in their respective fields. Clinical supervision and training is required for staff members who do not hold independent licenses and department-wide consultation occurs frequently regarding specialized populations, individual cases, and new evidence-based intervention models.

Referrals for outpatient therapy come from a variety of sources and are initially assessed for appropriateness at this level of care by Bellefaire JCB’s Intake Department. Therapist assignation is completed by the intake workers based on the presenting needs of each client and family that is referred. Typical referral sources include mental health professionals in the community, school personnel, pediatricians, and the family themselves. The Outpatient Treatment Department is equipped to handle therapy and/or assess cases from all referral sources.

In addition, the outpatient therapists provide individual, group and family counseling to clients involved with other departments at Bellefaire JCB. Therapists see children and adolescents who are in the Residential Treatment Program, or who are placed in one of our many foster homes. The therapist participates actively as a member of the treatment team for children and families involved with our internal partners, presenting progress and challenges of the client in therapy as part of a multi-disciplinary continuum of care. Therapists are integral to treatment planning and ongoing assessment of a client’s strengths and clinical needs, working with other members of the treatment team to maximize healthy outcomes for the clients and families they serve.

The Outpatient Treatment Department is committed to the ongoing training of the clinician’s and to researching and participating in “best practice” models of care. For several years, we have engaged the services of a nationally recognized consultant in the field of Strategic Family Therapy. This consultant has helped Bellefaire JCB broaden and strengthen its interventions in working with families. In the last year, a consultant and expert in the area of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) has worked actively with the Outpatient Treatment Department to set up new programming for the treatment of self-injurious and suicidal adolescents in our residential programs and in the outpatient setting. The department continues to identify current trends in the field of mental health and provide training to our staff to help them integrate new evidence-driven models of practice into their work with the children and families referred to us.