Child & Adolescent
Mental Health Services

Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services

Overview

Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services include many treatment options such as evaluation, counseling, skills development, medication management if needed, and case management for children and their families.  Metrocare also offers more intensive service for children and adolescents who have a history of suicide, are involved with the criminal justice system, and/or are struggling to stabilize at home or in school settings.

Who We Serve

Individuals between the years of 3-18

For over 50 years, Metrocare has provided a broad array of services to people with mental health challenges and developmental disabilities. In addition to behavioral health care, Metrocare provides primary care centers for adults and children, services for veterans and their families, accessible pharmacies, housing and supportive social services.

What to Expect at Your First Visit

Meet with a Qualified Mental Health Professional

You and your child will meet with a Qualified Mental Health Professional (QMHP) to complete required assessments, discuss your child’s needs, and establish initial recovery goals.

Evaluation by a Psychiatrist or Nurse Practitioner

You and your child will complete an evaluation with a Psychiatrist or Nurse Practitioner to address medical needs as a component of the recovery plan.

Financial Assessment

Metrocare provides services to all individuals regardless of ability to pay. We do accept Medicaid, CHIP, private insurance, and self-pay. For those uninsured, services may be available free of charge following the completion of a financial assessment. We request you bring copies of any insurance information. Please arrive 30 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment time to meet with a business office representative.

Getting Started

Request an appointment

Find care near you

Your first appointment

Child/Teen Mental Health Services Offered

Metrocare offers one-to-one and group therapy for children, adolescents, and their families, including trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy.

As a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, Metrocare care coordinators will ensure your child’s mental and physical health needs are met comprehensively, and that all possible barriers to care are addressed. Care coordinators and case managers will work with the child’s natural supports from caregivers to school personnel to other medical providers.

Help building the social skills children need to thrive in daily life, from learning how to interact with others, manage emotions of stress or anger, and helping caregivers have a better understanding of how to help their children on an ongoing basis.

Medications are not always recommended as part of treatment, but if they are, Metrocare’s medical team includes Child Psychiatrists and Nurse Practitioners that work with the family to determine the appropriate medications and then monitor the youth for progress.

Services to support those impacted by suicide and prevent incidents of suicide.

Metrocare’s Suicide Prevention and Resilience in Children (SPARC) program targets teens ages 12 to 17 who made a recent suicide attempt or have significant worsening of suicidal thoughts. In an eight-week intensive program, Metrocare provides weekly individual and group therapy with licensed therapists and clinicians that help teens identify reasons for living, encourage family communication, activate crisis plans, and help parents be able to identify early warning signs in their teens.

Wraparound is a comprehensive approach to care designed to keep children and families together through highly individualized services developed in a family-centered, team planning process. Services are provided at home and in the community to children and adolescents with the most complex needs​.

Wraparound seeks to provide supports that help to stabilize a youth, such as setting goals, building on their strengths and interests, and enhancing the family’s knowledge and understanding of one another.

Wraparound aims to prevent out of home placements, helping children remain within their own family home in the community. The program collaborates with families, other natural supports, schools, juvenile justice system, DFPS, and other child serving agencies​.

Intake procedure: Designed for youth between the ages 3-17. Qualified individuals have typically experienced a recent hospitalization, crisis episode, or other out of home placement. Send referrals by email to WRAPAround@metrocareservices.org.

YES Waiver (Youth Empowerment Services) – A Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Waiver that allows for more flexibility in the funding of intensive community-based services to assist children and adolescents with severe emotional disturbances. Call the Yes Waiver Authority Inquiry line: 866-501-6535 to inquire about eligibility. If eligible, Metrocare offers an array of Yes Waiver services.

  • Respite
  • Community Living Supports
  • Family Supports
  • Transitional Services
  • Adaptive Aids & Supports
  • Minor Home Modifications
  • Non-Medical Transportation
  • Paraprofessional Services
  • Professional Services
  • Supportive Family-Based Alternatives

Texas Corrections Office of Offenders with Medical and/or Mental Impairments (TCOOMMI) Juvenile Program services target youth in the Texas Juvenile Justice System, ages 10-18 who have been assessed with severe emotional disturbances. Teams consist of a counselor trained in trauma-informed approaches, a qualified mental health professional, and one probation officer who provide intensive community based, therapeutic intervention, and supervision to youth on probation.

Services include individual and family counseling, skills training, intensive case management services, and psychiatric services. Families participate in the program for 4 to 6 months. During the course of treatment, the probation/parole officer, mentor, and counselor will meet with the family 3 to 5 times per week. During these meetings, the family will receive individual and family counseling, assistance in navigating the juvenile justice system, and help accessing community entities such as schools and public assistance agencies. The team also provides 24-hour coverage for emergency situations.

To be eligible for the TCOOMMI Youth and Family Program, a youth must be on probation or parole in Dallas County, have at least 6 months remaining on probation or parole, and be referred for the service by the youth’s probation/parole officer

Services to support children and adolescents with overlapping trauma.

The Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma for Children and Teens (I NTACT) at Metrocare is an “evidence-based model that integrates a variety of theoretical and clinical approaches to the treatment of complex trauma” in children, adolescents, and their families.

Healthy Transitions is a program designed to prepare transitional age youth (ages 15-21) for a healthy transition to adulthood. This includes assistance with employment, financial planning, social supports, parental skills, housing, and more.

Request Mental Health Services Today!

The Metrocare staff is ready to help you with the challenges your child or teen faces at any one of our Dallas-area mental health clinic locations. Fill out the form and we will contact you about how we can help and the next steps.

Metrocare provides mental health services to any Dallas County resident regardless of ability to pay.

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