Mental health and wellness

If you are struggling on a daily basis and need more support than weekly therapy, our outpatient programs can be your refuge. Our hospital-based outpatient programs help you manage a wide range of mental and emotional issues, including depression, anxiety, grief and trauma. In our programs, you learn how to process pain, regulate your emotions and accept your whole self for who you are. As you finish your work here, you have the skills, resources and self-confidence to handle day-to-day responsibilities. Most importantly, you leave knowing that you deserve a rewarding life full of love and support.

You may also join our outpatient program after receiving inpatient care. This lower-intensity option helps give you a smoother transition back to everyday life. We accept referrals from any healthcare professional and, in most cases, self-referrals. Day and evening programs focus on skill-building, and may include help with the following:

• Anger management
• Assertiveness
• Interpersonal relationships
• Major life transitions
• Managing stress
• Medication education
• Mindfulness
• Suicide prevention

Intensive outpatient program (IOP)

This program combines in-person and virtual attendance, and is open to any state resident. As an adult participant in the IOP, you typically attend three group therapy sessions a day, three days a week, for five to eight weeks. Group sessions in the IOP track are designed to help you overcome the often limiting and lasting effects of chronic mental health disorders. You will learn researched and evidence-based techniques to aid in reducing the physical symptoms, avoidant behaviors and destructive self-talk that often accompany mood and anxiety disorders. Some of the therapies we use in IOP include:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
• Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT)
• Safety skills
• Seek Safety
• The Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP)

Older adult structured outpatient program (SOP)

This senior-based program blends in-person and virtual attendance and is open to any state resident. We provide both individualized and group treatments for a wide range of emotional, behavioral or mental health disorders affecting adults aged 55 years and older. Treatment includes psychiatric evaluation, medication management, group, individual and family therapy as determined to be medically necessary.

You typically attend two group therapy sessions a day, two or more days a week, for 12 or more weeks.

Partial hospitalization program (PHP)

This program uses both in-person and virtual attendance to provide daytime treatment. Our PHP is the most intensive outpatient clinical treatment available. Participation can reduce your need for future inpatient treatment, or get you back into life faster following a recent hospitalization. The PHP can be particularly helpful if you need more help than traditional therapy alone, while engaging in behaviors or unhealthy coping skills that are negatively impacting work, school or relationships.

PHP participants typically attend five hours of programming a day, five days a week, for two to three weeks. Lunch is provided.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, ECT is one of the most effective therapies available to treat major depression, with about 80% of patients showing improvement. If you have sought treatment for depression, tried at least two medications and have not received any benefit from those medications, you may benefit from ECT. This procedure can treat behavioral health disorders, including:

• Bipolar disorders
• Schizophrenia
• Severe depression

You can choose to receive this treatment while hospitalized for a psychiatric event, or as a form of outpatient treatment. ECT is an often misunderstood, even feared, form of mental health treatment. Our modern approach to ECT is administered by a highly trained medical team using the latest equipment and approaches. These methods reduce discomfort and side effects, such as memory problems or headaches.

We provide telemedicine programs at all hospitals, as well as some primary care offices. Our telemedicine and psychiatry program — sometimes called telepsych — ensures that you get the care you need, even if you live in a rural area or are inquiring outside of in-person business hours. This program is available 24 hours a day in all in-network hospital emergency departments.

Our telepsych program offers crisis services in our emergency departments for behavioral health needs. This allows you to be evaluated by a mental health clinician and a psychiatrist to ensure that a correct and safe treatment plan is developed.

We're proud to offer mental health services at our advanced wellness facility. Both inpatient and outpatient services are available, and some of our features include the following:

• 120 beds with planned future wings to increase by more than 40 beds
• Accommodates pediatric, adolescent, low-acuity adult, high-acuity adult, and geriatric patient groups
• All outpatient services, PHP and IOP located at the new facility
• Just 2.4 miles south of Mission Hospital
• Located on 25 acres off Sweeten Creek Road
• New spaces include a gymnasium, outdoor courtyards, basketball court, horticulture area and patient cafeteria

Please call (828) 213-4696 to schedule your assessment today. We can also receive a referral from physicians, nurses, social workers and counselors of others concerned about your behavioral health. Our mental health and wellness programs accept Medicare, most commercial insurance and self-pay.

If you are a referring physician, please print out the form below and fax it to (828) 213-4695.

You can use this link to download our physician referral form.

When you have a mental health crisis, having access to quality and compassionate care is key to getting on the path to recovery. Our network provides acute inpatient psychiatric care, including age-specific inpatient psychiatric units for children, adolescents, adults and seniors.

Board-certified psychiatrists, registered nurses, therapists, art therapists and mental health technicians comprise your care team. We help you develop coping strategies and provide you with resources that help you work towards resuming your life.

During inpatient treatment, you can expect kind and respectful care that takes a multidisciplinary approach. We begin with crisis stabilization, then perform a comprehensive initial evaluation. Once you complete the program, you leave equipped with a discharge plan, family education materials, safety plan and community resource referrals.

During treatment, you may participate in a variety of therapies, including:

• Activity therapy
• Cognitive group therapy
• Group psychotherapy
• Individual psychotherapy
• Music therapy
• Patient and family education
• Pet therapy
• Psycho-educational groups
• Psychopharmacology-medication therapy
• Relaxation therapy
• Skill development with wellness-centered models

If you are not able to function or keep up with what should be normal activities or responsibilities in your life, there are people to help. Please call (828) 213-4696 to learn more or for a confidential assessment.

Pediatric mental health care

We also offer the region's only designated inpatient facility for young psychiatric patients. Our child and adolescent unit offers space for children ages four years old to 12 years old, as well as for adolescents ages 13 to 17 years old. In our protective environment, your child receives intensive supervision, short-term help with medications, evaluation of additional medical problems, as well as individualized therapy. Referrals to our pediatric mental health services should be made by an outpatient provider or physician.