Our Services: Clinical Services

Adolescent Psychiatric Services

Access to Adolescent Psychiatric Services

Who to refer?

Young people between the ages of 12 and 22 years may be referred to Adolescent Services at Albert Road Clinic (ARC). ARC provides specialist inpatient, outpatient, and outreach programs for young people who are experiencing difficulties which prevent them from achieving their potential.

As these problems may be expressed in many ways our programs involve the whole family, not just the adolescent, because a young person's problems cannot be effectively treated in isolation.

Critieria for services

Inpatient - must be suffering acute difficulties that require intensive assessment or support. We are not an emergency service as we are a voluntary, open-ward service we are not structured to take unplanned admissions. Clients presenting with disordered eating must have a BMI >16 and be medically stable.

Day/Evening Programs - Each program will have specific admission criteria that must be met. Please speak to Intake or the Clinical Program Manager for further details.

Outreach - Clients may be referred to the outreach service if they are known to the Clinic either via a Clinic consultant, the inpatient or day programs. Clients may not be supported by this service if the home environment may put a worker at risk or if the client has a history of poorly controlled aggression/anger.

Clients must be in the care of a treating psychiatrist for the duration of their program attendance and are expected to have regular therapy appointments with this person.

Who can make a referral?

Referrals to Adolescent Services may come from many sources including General Practitioners, School Counsellors, Psychiatrists, Health and Welfare Professionals and from parents themselves.

A medical referral is required from a General Practitioner or Psychiatrist to access the programs.

Referral letter should contain...

• Full details of services/consultants already involved, including contact details
• Complete client demographic data, including full name, date of birth and health fund details
• Client contact details
• All relevant clinical information
• Reason for referral and to which service
• Goals/Aims for admission to service

Referrals can be delivered to our Intake worker by...

Post: Albert Road Clinic, 31 Albert Road, Melbourne, 3004
Fax: 9256 8361
Email: arcintake@ramsayhealth.com.au
By hand

Cost Structure

Costs of programs vary depending on the structure of the program. Private health insurance is strongly recommended.

Referral Management Process

Once a referral has been received it will be taken to the Adolescent Services team meeting to discuss and make treatment recommendations.

If a referral is deemed appropriate for a program at ARC, an assessment may be organised prior to admission to that program. An assessment allows us to determine the client's goals for admission and whether the client meets the criteria for the specific program, thus not all referrals will be accepted. Time from referral to admission to a program varies depending on whether we have a current waitlist and whether the program being offered is an open or closed group. Information about wait times is available from our Intake worker.