Duke provides psychiatric, psychological, and substance abuse diagnosis and treatment for children, adolescents, and their parents and families.

For more than 40 years, Duke Medicine has advocated and delivered the highest-caliber mental health care for children and adolescents ages. We are committed to our partnerships with community-based health care, education, and social services programs that are dedicated to the safety of our children and adolescents. We invite you to contact us to help advocate for the mental health care of young people.

Backed by our state-of-the-art research initiatives, Duke is a leader in developing innovative and effective treatments for a wide variety of pediatric mental health conditions and concerns, including:

• Antisocial conduct
• Anxiety and mood disorders
• Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Autism
• Behavioral concerns
• Bipolar disorder
• Depression
• Developmental disorders
• Down syndrome
• Drug and alcohol abuse (ages 13-21)
• Family problems
• Fragile X syndrome
• Individual and family adjustment issues
• Learning disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive, Tourette’s, and tic disorders
• Oppositional defiant disorder
• Psychosis
• School performance concerns
• Severe trauma
• Substance abuse

Services

Our child psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers take a collaborative, compassionate, child- and family-centered approach to their work.

The result is a broad array of integrated diagnostic and treatment services for children three to 18 years old that address many developmental, behavioral, and psychiatric conditions, and are carefully designed to achieve the best outcome for each and every patient.

These services -- most available on an outpatient basis -- include:

• Behavioral and developmental assessments
• Cognitive-behavioral therapy
• Diagnostic evaluations and second opinions
• Expert consultation
• Fragile X syndrome counseling
• Genetic counseling
• Individual and family therapy
• Medication management (for patients taking psychotropic drugs)
• Neuropsychiatric, neurodevelopmental, and psycho-educational testing
• Outpatient substance abuse treatment and recovery program
• Pain management
• Parenting training groups
• Psychiatric and substance abuse evaluations
• Psychological and neuropsychological testing

Duke practitioners provide psychiatric consultation to Duke Children’s Hospital inpatients, Duke Children’s Health Center outpatients, Durham Public Schools, and a number of community health centers. Our service to families with limited income remains a priority for us.

Specialized Programs

We offer a number of specialized programs for children and adolescents with mental health concerns. Get details about programs offered.

A Children’s Mental Health Crisis

In a 2001 report, the Surgeon General of the United States found that one in 10 American children and adolescents suffers from a mental illness severe enough to interfere with normal functioning and development. Only about one-fifth of these troubled youngsters receive specialized mental health care in any given year.

These statistics have changed very little in the past two decades -- and the World Health Organization now predicts that in the next 20 years, mental illness will take its place as one of the top five causes of disability and death in children and adolescents.

How Duke Psychiatry Can Help

We offer collaborative, team-based programs for children and adolescents -- from initial evaluation to follow-up treatment. Our expert clinicians represent a broad range of complementary specialties and bring an unparalleled, comprehensive approach to treatment planning and continuing care.

And because we are integrated with the internationally recognized Duke University Health System, we can easily make referrals to our pediatric medicine and surgery when necessary.

Duke’s evidence-based treatments ensure that our patients receive the latest, safest and most effective therapies available. Our staff of clinicians includes leaders in psychiatric and psychological research, who participate in numerous studies of new treatments. In some cases, our patients may participate in these studies and benefit from the most attentive and leading-edge care possible.

Locations

This service is available at:

• Center for Child and Family Health
  411 W. Chapel Hill Street, Suite 908, Durham, NC 27701
• Duke Child and Family Study Center
  Pavilion East at Lakeview, 2608 Erwin Road, Suite 300, Durham, NC 27705
• Durham Child Development & Behavioral Health Clinic
  402 Trent Drive, Durham, NC 27710