PBMU

Children with complex mental health issues may have times when they need to stay overnight in the hospital for treatment. When this happens, we have a specialized unit where we treat children ages 4 to 17 who are in psychiatric crisis. This unit is the PBMU.

The PBMU is divided into 3 programs based on the child’s age and behavioral needs:

• Child Inpatient Program, for children 12 years and under
• Adolescent Inpatient Program, for teens 13 and older
• Biobehavioral Inpatient Program, serving children and teens 4 to 17 who have severe intellectual and developmental disabilities and benefit from specialized programming.

The PBMU provides short-term (7 to 10 days), evidence-based care. Our goal is to help stabilize your child’s behavior by helping with their immediate crisis.

M-PBIS

We use Modified Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (M-PBIS) as the guiding philosophy and framework for our unit. Our expectations for our patients are:

• Be safe
• Be respectful
• Communicate

When youth are struggling with our basic expectations, we use Collaborative Problem Solving, an evidence-based intervention used in schools, residential programs and other inpatient units to help identify solutions with youth.

Mental Health Therapist

Seattle Children’s Hospital Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit (PBMU) is offering one practicum position to students at the University of Washington. The PBMU is a 41-bed acute crisis unit designed to stabilize children and adolescents in crisis. Patients are admitted when they are a danger to themselves, a danger to others, or are gravely disabled by a mental health disorder. We are a collaborative team of child psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, psychologists, mental health therapists, clinical social workers, case managers, nurses, and pediatric mental health specialists.

Mental health therapists are responsible for the management and therapeutic treatment of suicidality, aggression, and psychosis. We practice from a trauma-informed harm-reduction lens. Our goal is to prepare master’s level clinical social workers to provide evidence-based therapeutic care to children, adolescents, and their families while in crisis. Some examples of our most commonly used modalities include DBT, CBT, ACT, and basic psychoeducation about different mental health difficulties and presentations.

We work in an extremely fast-paced and emotionally challenging environment with children, families, and community members who have lots of complex needs. We are a dynamic placement and look for people who share our core values.

Students will work with a mental health therapist to care for a team of five patients. Students will begin by shadowing therapists as they do individual, group, and family clinical work. Therapists are the lead clinician on the team and the primary point of contact for families. Therapists are responsible for the assessment of patients, the management of unsafe behavior, and the development and implementation of therapeutic treatment plans to safely stabilize patients in preparation for discharge. In Winter and Spring quarters, students will lead interventions with patients and families with the goal of leading care for several beds under the supervision of a licensed clinical social worker. Students will join group supervision, case conferences, interdisciplinary didactics, and Psychiatry Grand Rounds. We seek students who share our commitment to anti-racism and share our values of equity, excellence, integrity, innovation, collaboration, and compassion.

Students will have the opportunity to do clinical work with families and groups of patients. Typical treatment goals for family work include psychoeducation, safety planning, relational repair and reconciliation, and planning transitions out of the hospital. Typical treatment goals for group therapy are distress tolerance, psychoeducation, and motivational enhancement.

Students will have opportunities to engage in policy advocacy both within the agency and in the legislature.

Students must be in their second year.

Written and spoken English proficiency is needed. Proficiency in other languages is highly desired.

Please submit a letter and resume to BOTH Amber Petitt and Kirstie Catlin (amber.petitt@seattlechildrens.org and kirstie.catlin@seattlechildrens.org). Applications will be reviewed, and interviews will start on or after March 25th.