The Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology offers comprehensive diagnostic evaluation and treatment of children and adolescents (0-18 years) who have a variety of developmental, emotional, behavioral, and learning difficulties.
Clinical Services:
The diagnostic evaluation of children and adolescents is conducted by a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist/Clinical Psychologist. This typically includes a clinical interview/ observation of the child/adolescent, a meeting with the parent(s), collecting information from other informants (school staff, previous/current service providers), and the administration of rating scales as needed. Data is then synthesized into a case diagnosis, which includes the formulation and provision of treatment recommendations in consultation with the child/adolescent and the parents. The process of evaluation typically requires 2 to 3 visits. The evaluation findings and treatment plan are discussed within a multidisciplinary treatment team meeting. Children or adolescents may then be referred for treatment in outpatient, intensive outpatient, or inpatient services within the division. Referrals for resources in the community are also offered if more convenient to the patient and the family.
Routine psychiatric and psychological care encompasses medical treatment, individual psychotherapy, or group psychotherapy, all of which adopt evidence-based approaches.
Safe Start provides comprehensive psychological, psychiatric, and educational assessments and interventions to infants and young children (0-6 years). The specific services that Safe Start provides include clinical assessment of the child, clinical interventions with the child (psychotherapy and special education), referral to medical/ rehabilitation services as needed, parental guidance, and child-parent psychotherapy. Nursery or school visits and coordination with the child’s educational and rehabilitation teams are also among the services of Safe Start.
Social Skills Training (SST) is a program for adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Intellectual Disability (ID) or Borderline Intellectual Functioning (BIF) that aims to support this patient population to develop the social and communication skills needed for forming and maintain meaningful relationships. Adolescents aged 12 to 18 years who are diagnosed with ASD, ID, or BIF who are fluent in Arabic, English and/ or French, are eligible to enroll in this program upon referral from their physician/clinician. Since parents’ involvement is essential, parents are requested to be present for three meetings during this process (before the group starts, halfway through the program, and at the end of the program). The Social Skills Training is conducted in groups of 4-8 participants and is composed of 12 thematic sessions targeting emotion recognition and expression, communication, making and maintaining friendships, conflict resolution, taking responsibility, managing anger and practicing self-control, and problem-solving in the context of the patients’ social interactions. Participants receive one session per week each lasting for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Home-based or school-based interventions are specifically designed for families of young children who need a behavioral or educational plan to be implemented at home. To provide the appropriate interventions within the child’s natural environment, families are assigned a home-based behavioral therapist over a specified number of hours per week. Children and adolescents whose schools refuse to intervene in emotional or behavioral problems benefit from these services as well.
The Learning Center is an outpatient multi-disciplinary setting providing specialized assessements, interventions, referrals, awareness, training and research to a wider population of persons with learning difficulties, their parents and other professionals involved.
The Learning Center provides special education, psychomotor, speech and language therapy which include:
- Assessments and interventions
- Individualized educational and rehabilitation plans to be implemented in homes and educational or vocational settings
- Training parents on the best educational, behavioral-emotional, language and motor practices based on the children's individual needs.
- Training professionals, residents and interns on learning and behavioral difficulties.
- Designing tools in relation to learning and behavioral difficulties.
The iCAN encompasses partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient services for children and adolescents with mood and anxiety disorders. Such patients usually need a higher level of care than that provided by outpatient services and a less intensive level of care than that provided by inpatient services. Here children/adolescents learn skills to help control negative emotions including anger, anxiety, and sadness. Treatment is given in a group of 4-5 patients and is offered weekly after school hours.
FOCUS Fund
Focus Fund is the first of its kind in Lebanon to provide support for children and adolescents with mental health difficulties. Established in December 2015, Focus aims at empowering and effectively caring for patients aged 0-18 years who have emotional, behavioral, and learning difficulties. To achieve this, Focus operates at different levels:
Awareness activities adressing families, professionals, and the community at large;
Direct coverage of outpatient and inpatient care of needy patients. The services covered are psychiatry, psychotherapy, and special education, speech and psychomotor therapy.
co-funding research, conferences and seminars about child and adolescent mental health in Lebanon
supporting the education of junior professionals. The first fellowship program in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at AUBMC was established in June 2017. The Dania Ajam Ramadan Internship in Child & Adolescent Psychology has been created in September 2021.
Check our our video on the following link
For more information please call 01-759620
