The Pros of a Fully Virtual Adolescent Partial Hospital Program: How a Multidisciplinary Team Works to REACH Teens and Families in Rhode Island and Beyond

Based on positive experiences of providing virtual care at the Bradley adolescent partial hospitalization program (APHP) during the COVID-19 pandemic and to help meet the needs of a stressed mental health care system, Bradley launched a unique fully virtual APHP program in October 2021, after in-person care had resumed. This virtual program, named “REACH,” treats patients from Rhode Island, Connecticut and southern Massachusetts. This program was modeled after Bradley’s in-person adolescent partial hospitalization program (APHP) which started in 2010.

The APHP is an intensive day treatment program which provide teens ages 13 to 18 with access to individual, group, family, psychiatric, and milieu-based treatment with a multidisciplinary team consisting of psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, nurses, psychology assistants, and behavioral health specialists. Staff, patients, and their families in REACH meet via Zoom six hours daily on weekdays for these therapies.

Initial data from the first year of REACH showed no significant difference in patient satisfaction or outcomes compared to the in-person APHP.  In this presentation, participants will explore the treatment model of virtual APHP, especially from a cohesive, multidisciplinary team perspective. We will then look at clinical outcomes from parent, teen and clinician viewpoints. 

Speakers

Gabrielle Beaudoin is presently a psychology assistant for the Bradley Hospital virtual REACH adolescent partial program. While obtaining a bachelor of arts degree in psychology at the University of Maine at Farmington, she developed interest and gained experience in research topics including collaborative mental health care, barriers to mental health services, and alternative therapies. Her role in REACH involves administering surveys to teens and their caregivers, performing data analysis, and disseminating research to promote the efficacy of virtual partial hospital programs.

Chris Bowers, RN has been an employee at Bradley Hospital for over 20 years. He currently works as a nurse for the Bradley Hospital REACH program and is excited to start on one of the developing virtual partial programs in Florida. His career at Bradley started as a milieu therapist working for the home-based program affiliated with the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities. He then spent the next 11 years working in the Bradley Schools, first as a classroom behavior specialist, then in a supervisory role. During this time also worked on the Bradley Hospital Adolescent Inpatient Unit. He has been employed as nurse with Bradley Hospital for the past 5 years, working with REACH, but also the Bradley School, and Bradley Hospital residential services. He is also a certified case manager, and has worked as a nurse care manager in population health for Care New England. He enjoys brining his many experiences and skills to the multidisciplinary team at REACH.

Nicole Chaudhrey, LICSW is a clinical social worker and team lead with the REACH all-virtual adolescent partial program at Bradley Hospital. Prior to this role, Chaudhrey was a social worker on the children’s inpatient unit at Bradley Hospital for eight years. She has experience both with child and adolescents as well as adults within her training. She is looking forward to transition REACH to it’s first team in Florida. Chaudhrey received her BS from New England College. She received her master of social work from Simmons College in Boston, MA. Following graduation, she was a social worker at a residential program for adolescents with traumatic brain injuries and also worked with teenagers who suffered from substance abuse disorders.

Elizabeth Frazier, PhD (Co-Investigator) is an attending psychologist at Bradley Hospital and clinical associate professor in the department of psychiatry and human behavior (DPHB) at Brown University. She provides direct clinical care and supervision of psychology and psychiatry trainees in the DPHB across various levels of care at Bradley including the Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program, Bradley REACH, and outpatient services. Additionally, she has provided clinical care and supervision of clinical services at the Rhode Island Training School, Rhode Island’s juvenile detention center, and the Bradley Vista Co-occurring disorders intensive outpatient program. Prior to these positions, Dr. Frazier also worked on the adolescent inpatient unit at Bradley for several years, helping implement empirically based treatment and develop an ongoing program of empirically based assessment and outcomes research. Dr. Frazier has published clinical research specializing in pediatric mood disorders/severe mood dysregulation, psychosocial factors contributing to adolescent high-risk behaviors (suicidality, self-injury, and substance use), treatment development for such behaviors, and adaptation of empirically supported treatments in novel acute care and community contexts. She co-edited the recently published, “Handbook of Evidence-Based Day Treatment Programs for Children and Adolescents.” Dr. Frazier has served as a co-investigator on the NIDA funded project, “Brief Individual and Parent Interventions for Marijuana Misuse in Truant Adolescents” (R01 DA045396-03; PI Anthony Spirito, PhD, ABPP) and has completed the NIMH project, “Intensive Outpatient Protocol for High-Risk Suicidal Teens” (R01MH097703-01) and the NIAAA project, “Adolescents with Major Depression and AUD: Community-Based Integrated Treatment” (R01AA020705-01A1) also as co-investigator with PI Anthony Spirito, PhD, ABPP. Lastly, Dr. Frazier is currently the outgoing co-chair of the practice committee on the executive board of the Acute Intensive and Residential Services Special Interest Group of Division 53 of the APA, and was recently elected as chair-elect of this executive board.

Molly Hedrick, PhD is an attending psychologist at Bradley Hospital and clinical associate professor in the department of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University. She has worked as a staff psychologist at the Adolescent Partial Program at Bradley Hospital for more than 10 years in both in-person and virtual programs where she leads family, individual and group therapies. Dr. Hedrick presently serves as the team lead for REACH New England, Bradley hospital’s new virtual adolescent partial program, where she mixes her love for clinical work with supervision, program development and team building. She has a passion for working with teens and families and being part of a multidisciplinary team. She has helped develop and disseminate outcomes research for the Partial and Safequest programs at Bradley. She has previous research experience in the development of family-friendly policies and domestic violence. Dr. Hedrick has additional clinical experience in community and outpatient mental health, private practice, integrated behavioral health care, and early intervention. 

Diane McLean, MD is currently a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown, and an attending child and adolescent psychiatrist at Bradley Hospital. Before becoming a physician, Dr. McLean pursued a career in epidemiology. She was previously an assistant professor of clinical public health in epidemiology at Columbia University and then became director of epidemiology at the Harlem Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention from 1991 to 1997. She was active in community-based partnerships and was an investigator on multiple CDC, foundation, and NIH RO1 and UO1 grants. She then joined the faculty at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine as an assistant professor of pediatrics and worked with The Children’s Health Fund, developing and leading a childhood asthma intervention program for homeless families. Inspired by her colleagues at Harlem Hospital Center and the Children’s Health Fund, she changed careers to become a physician. After earning her medical degree, she served as a staff psychiatrist with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and then as an attending outpatient child psychiatrist at Lincoln Hospital before joining the REACH program in 2022.

Gary Regan, LICSW is currently the clinical director of Bradley Hospital Adolescent Partial Hospital Services. Regan first started at Bradley as a behavioral health specialist (at the time called milieu therapist) in 1989, leaving a few years later to complete his master’s in social work. He returned in 1996 and has been with the hospital ever since, first working as a clinical social worker, then as director of the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities (CADD) group homes for 14 years, where he led the effort to open three new group homes. In his current role, Regan oversees Bradley’s two adolescent partial hospital programs, the Safequest program, the Vista program for co-occurring disorders, and the new remote REACH program, which he helped launch. His day-to-day role involves facilitating admissions and discharges, oversight of the staff, and most importantly “leading the charge” to ensure good quality care for the kids.

Victoria Wehjla works as a behavioral health specialist at REACH, the newly developed virtual adolescent partial program. In her role at REACH she directly assists in the day-to-day programming for all our teens and helps train other staff. Prior to working at REACH, Wehjla worked as a behavioral health specialist at the in-person Adolescent Partial Program as well as at the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities and the adolescent inpatient unit at Bradley Hospital. She continues to help at the in-person programs at Bradly when needed. Through her work on the diversity committee at Bradley she frequently comes to the team with innovative ideas as to how to meet the diverse needs of kids and staff in the hospital. Her previous experience includes residential care for folks with developmental disabilities. She received her associates degree in general studies at the Community College of Rhode Island and has studied at Rhode Island College and mentored college students as a resident assistant.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to:

1. Discuss the benefits of intensive virtual treatment for adolescents.
2.  Identify the benefits of a multidisciplinary approach to treatment
3.  Identify research indicating effectiveness of virtual partial program for adolescents.

Details

• Target audience: psychologists, physicians, social workers and other interested health care professionals
• 3.0 CE hours/credits (see below) 

Registration

• Program fee: $49.00
• Online registration closes on Wednesday, May 10.
• To request reasonable accommodation for a disability, please call Melissa Crane at 401-432-1106.
• For refund/cancellation information, please email [email protected] or call Mayra Colon at 401-606-5753.

Register online

Credit Details

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of Rhode Island Hospital and Bradley Hospital. Rhode Island Hospital is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education. 

Rhode Island Hospital designates this activity for a maximum of 3.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s). Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. 

Psychologists: Rhode Island Hospital is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Rhode Island Hospital maintains responsibility for this program and its content.