Adolescent Psychiatry Unit (APU)

The Interior Health Adolescent Psychiatry Unit is a specialized inpatient program for youth ages 12-17 who are struggling with significant psychiatric symptoms, such as psychosis, mood disorders, or anxiety disorders that require an extended stay for assessment and treatment planning. The program serves youth who reside in the Interior Health region. Admissions are by referral only. Our program is not suitable for adolescents whose primary problems are severe behaviour disorders, substance abuse, significant developmental delay or eating disorders. Services offered The Adolescent Psychiatry Inpatient Unit has 8 beds and the program runs seven days per week. Length of stay varies between 10 days to several weeks. Evaluation of our patients is carried out by a multidisciplinary team comprising of nurses, youth and family counselors, social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists, teachers, psychiatrists and other disciplines as needed. Our assessment process requires the active participation of adolescents, their families and community Mental Health support services. Many of the youth or adolescents we work with have long-standing or severe problems, and we do not expect all their difficulties to resolve completely during the admission. Instead, our goal is to complete a comprehensive assessment, initiate and provide treatment planning. We will provide recommendations for follow-up to the patient, family and community support services.