The Behavioral Health programs at Primary Children’s Hospital offer a team of professionals to help understand your child and family’s unique, individualized needs. We offer a wide range of services to treat your family at the right level of care. If your child's needs increase or decrease, we can modify your treatment plan to accommodate them. In addition to this, we offer several unique resources, including speech therapy, recreational therapy, and occupational therapy.

Families can access our Assessment, Referral, and Consultation services (ARCS) through a centralized entry point into care by calling (801) 313-7711. An Intake Specialist will help determine options for your next steps. Anyone can call ARCS to access resources and learn more about the different treatment options that are available. This simple step allows you to access our entire service line and community resources with one call.

Contacting Assessment, Referral, and Consultation Services  

An Intake Specialist will speak to a legal guardian over the phone for 15 minutes to gather more information about the current concern. This will help to ensure the Intake Specialist creates the best plan for you. Callers will want to have their insurance card available during this call.

Your Appointment  

On the day of your appointment, please remember to have your child attend with you. In addition to this, we will need you to bring all necessary paperwork/documentation. Lastly, please arrive 15 minutes early. We encourage you to come with a list of questions and a list of goals or areas on which you would like to work. Feel free to ask the Intake Specialist more questions regarding your first visit/admission.

Children are often most apprehensive about separating from their parents. The provider will assess the situation and determine how comfortable your child is with talking with them alone. Adolescents tend to be the most apprehensive about 1) talking to a "stranger" and 2) what the provider will share with his/her parents. All our providers specialize in working with children and adolescents. They are skillful in building rapport and trust with clients, which help clients feel safe and open talking about their emotions and behavioral health needs. Additionally, the provider will share with both the client and the family the confidentiality policy and how this impacts the child and the family.

Parents are most apprehensive about whether treatment will have an impact on their child. Parents can help decrease this apprehension by engaging in open and honest communication with the provider. It is recommended to talk with the provider about goals and areas of concern. This ensures we are on the same page and working towards the same goals.

Before Treatment: We will ask you to fill out paperwork and provide us with some additional documentation, including but not limited to: previous testing or treatment records, custody agreements/legal documents, a copy of a physical examination, a copy of immunizations, and school records.

After Treatment: Once your child has met their individualized treatment goals, we will provide you with some additional recommendations, as well as connect you to additional services. We can provide clinical documentation for new providers and schools. With your written permission, we can also collaborate with your new providers/programs and schools to help ensure a seamless transition.

While receiving treatment your child will have a treatment team that consists of multiple disciplines. We use evidence-based practices in order to provide the best possible treatment outcomes for your child. The members of the treatment team will depend on which services your child is receiving but could include:  

• Board Certified Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist/Advanced Practice Provider:  
  Evaluate medications while in treatment and work with the care team to meet individualized goals. 

• Licensed Mental Health Therapist:  
  Masters level clinicians (LCSW, CHMC) who work with patients on an individual basis as well as with families, working towards individualized therapeutic goals. 

• Psychologist:  
  Doctorate level clinician qualified to complete psychological testing to clarify diagnosis.  

• Pharmacist:  
  Provides medication reconciliations and recommendations for patients needing medication management. Also provides medication education to patients and their families as well as to the care team.  

• Registered Nurses:  
  Provides daily assessment and screening for patient health and safety concerns as well as medication administration. 

• School Teachers:  
  Licensed educators in Day Treatment who work with the patient to ensure that educational needs are being met. These educators work under a principal and the fully accredited school on campus.  

• Recreational Therapists:  
  Focuses on improving the functionality of the patient while focusing on skill building and interactive recreational activities. 

• Occupational Therapist:  
  Provides services for patients in need of assistance in areas such as self-care, eating, fine and gross motor skills, sensory, and play and social skills. 

• Speech Therapist:  
  Provides services to patients in need of assistance with ability to express thinking and feeling, as well as the ability to understand verbal instruction.  

• Dietitian:  
  Monitors individual nutritional needs and makes recommendations to treatment team. 

A Service of Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital

The recently acquired Matt’s Place, now a service of Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, is a clinic that is focused on helping families and individuals with social and behavioral struggles, and those on the Autism Spectrum. Matt’s Place will assist families and individuals ages 3-21 work through challenging behavioral disorders in a day treatment setting, intensive outpatient programming, and outpatient appointments.