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The Division of Prevention and Behavioral Health Services provides behavioral health assistance to youth
However, DPBHS Prevention services are available to anyone despite the type of insurance coverage they carry or their income. Some programs have specific eligibility requirements.
The Division of Prevention and Behavioral Health Services (DPBHS) provides a statewide range of voluntary mental health, substance abuse treatment and prevention services for children and youth, under the age of 18.
We provide varying levels and degrees of services depending upon the child’s needs. Our services are child centered and family focused.
The following are brief descriptions of the services offered by DPBHS to children and youth. For more detailed information, please call the DPBHS Information and Referral Unit weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 302-633-2571 or 1-800-722-7710 or email at: DSCYF_Intake_General@delaware.gov).
Caregivers can send this Service Eligibility Request Form by fax to (302) 622-4475, mail it to the address DEPARTMENT OF SERVICES FOR CHILDREN, YOUTH & THEIR FAMILIES, DIVISION OF PREVENTION & BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES, 1825 Faulkland Road, Wilmington, DE 19805 or email to: DSCYF_Intake_General@delaware.gov
Crisis Bed is a substitute care setting that may be utilized for a period of up to 72-hours, when such substitute care will facilitate effective implementation of crisis intervention services.
Day Treatment is a facility-based intensive treatment program for children or adolescents with serious emotional disorders who are unable to attend school. This service operates on a five hour per day, five day per week basis. Treatment is integrated with an educational program with certified teachers. Services are provided during the school day and evenings to assure that working parents are able to participate. Activities occur both on-site and in the child’s natural environment.
Early Childhood Mental Health Consultants address school readiness for young children. The Division offers Early Childhood Mental Health Consultations as a free service and partnership with Delaware early childhood education programs with a focus on children 2-5 years of age. All consultants are licensed mental health professionals with experience working in early child hood settings. Contact your early childhood center to find out if this service is available.
Family Based Mental Health Services (FBMHS) is an Evidence Based Practice model designed to service children between 3 and 17 years of age and their families (parents, guardians, caretakers and siblings). These children have a serious mental illness or emotional disturbance and are at risk for out-of-home placement into residential treatment facilities, psychiatric hospitals or other settings. The focus of treatment is on the child and family system. Family Based Mental Health Services treat these children and adolescents in their homes, communities and schools thus allowing the youth to remain in the home. Services are available 24 hours per day and 7 days a week via on call therapist and include crisis intervention as a part of the service.
Trained Family Support Providers (FSPs) have lived experience as parents or caregivers of a child with mental or behavioral health challenges. FSPs can help your family to navigate the mental health system and to learn how to be a positive advocate for your child. FSPs are available to you for one to two hours per week to provide support and resources and even to advocate with you at meetings such as IEPs, therapy appointments and psychiatrist visits.
Contact info@championsde.org or (302) 724-7229 for more information.
Functional Family Therapy (FFT) is an Evidence Based Practice model designed to serve children ages 11-17. FFT is a short-term, family-focused, community-based treatment for youth who are either “at risk” for, or who manifest, antisocial behavioral problems such as conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, disruptive behavior disorder, violent acting-out and substance abuse disorders. Co-morbid behavioral or emotional problems, such as anxiety or depression, may also exist as well as family problems, such as communication and conflict issues. FFT has been applied to a wide range of families with at-risk, pre-adolescent and adolescent youth in various multi-ethnic, multicultural contexts. Interventions are primarily conducted at home but may occur in school or outpatient settings and at times of transition, from a residential placement.
Inpatient Hospital Treatment is provided for children who are suicidal, self-injurious, and/or a danger to others due to a psychiatric condition. These children are hospitalized in an inpatient setting to provide safety and a twenty-four hour treatment setting under the direction of a physician. Treatment is used primarily for acute crisis resolution to address behavior and symptoms which cannot be addressed at other less restrictive levels of care. When the acute crisis is resolved, the client should continue treatment in a less restrictive setting. Inpatient Hospital Treatment services include:
When a family is in the midst of an emotionally charged situation involving a child who is struggling emotionally or behaviorally, it can be hard to decide what to do and how to calm things down. Our Mobile Response and Stabilization Services (MRSS) are here to help. MRSS is available to address the needs of children through age 17 and their families anytime, day or night, including weekends and holidays. Family members and other concerned people can access MRSS by calling 1-800-969-HELP.
We expanded how we define a crisis to meet the needs of young Delawareans and their families. This approach will make it easier for children and families to get help when they need it to defuse situations that affect family functioning. MRSS provides timely assistance that assesses risk/safety and works collaboratively with children and families to identify their needs, strengthen their support network, and make connections to community resources.
The goals of our Mobile Response and Stabilization Services are to
DPBHS has contracted with Delaware Guidance Services to deliver mobile response and stabilization services throughout the State.
Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is an Evidence Based Practice model designed to serve children ages 12-17. MST is a home-based intensive family and community-based treatment that addresses multiple aspects of serious conduct related behavior in adolescents. MST typically targets chronic, aggressive youth who are at high risk of out-of-home placement. MST recognizes that many “systems” (family, schools, neighborhood/community, peers) play a critical role in a youth’s world and impacts their behavior. Each system requires attention when effective change is needed to improve the quality of life for youth and their families.
Outpatient Services for Mental Health and Substance Abuse offer individual and family assessment; psychiatric and psychological services; individual, group, and family counseling; consultation to other child-serving agencies and case management.
This is a direct service in which the therapist meets with the child, siblings and/or the parents or legal guardians to plan for treatment and work toward achievement of the goals stipulated in the client’s treatment plan. This is one of the least restrictive (or controlled surroundings) of the mental health service levels.
Partial Hospitalization/Day Hospital treatment services provide support and psychiatric services five days per week to clients living at home or in other residential settings. This level of care is used for clients with severe, complex, or chronic psychiatric disorders requiring high intensity psychiatric medical services.
Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF) are comprehensive rehabilitative services to aid and support youth in the development of daily living skills, interpersonal skills, and behavior management skills and to enable youth to learn about and manage symptoms and improve functioning and behavior due to behavioral health (MH, SA and co-occurring) disorders. Individual and group activities and programming must consist of services to develop skills in functional areas that interfere with the ability to live in the community; participate in educational activities; develop or maintain social relationships; or participate in social, interpersonal, recreational, or community activities. This service provides support and assistance to the client and the family to identify, adjust, and manage symptoms, enhance participation in group living and community activities; and, develop positive personal and interpersonal skills and behaviors to meet the youth’s developmental needs as impacted by his/her behavioral health issues. PRTFs must meet the requirements in §441.151 through 441.182 of the Code of Federal Regulations. DPBHS contracts with out of state PRTF providers when it is determined the child’s needs cannot be properly met by an in-state Residential Rehabilitative Service.
Residential Rehabilitative Services provides a 24-hour, supervised, residential living arrangement with intensive psychiatric services for children and adolescents with Mental Health and Substance Abuse disorders that impair their ability to be successful in community settings. Services will be delivered in a trauma informed environment in conjunction with other evidence based practices. The focus of treatment is to resolve the primary presenting problems that necessitated the youth’s need for this type of structured residential treatment service with the goal of safely returning a child to their natural home and school settings. Research shows improved outcomes with shorter length of stay, increased family involvement and stability and support in the post-residential environment (Walters & Petr, 2008).
Residential Services are available for all age groups.
Therapeutic Support for Families (TSF) is available to children under the age of 18. TSF provides psycho-educational, therapeutic and supportive services for parents/ caregivers and youth who are participating in treatment services from the Division of Prevention and Behavioral Health Services. TSF services are delivered in conjunction with other medically necessary treatment services. TSF services support the treatment goals identified in the youth and family’s treatment plan.
No system is perfect. Sometimes, there are gaps in services. People who speak up to make systems better are advocates. You can become your own advocate or you can obtain advocacy assistance. There are organizations that already exist for this purpose.
For more information about admission, care, treatment, release, and patient follow-up in public or private psychiatric residential facilities, contact your State mental health agencies:
Division of Prevention and Behavioral Health Services
Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families
1825 Faulkland Road
Wilmington, DE 19805
Phone: 302-633-2573
Fax: 302-633-2614
Website: https://kids.delaware.gov/prevention-and-behavioral-health-services/
Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Department of Health and Social Services
1901 North Dupont Highway
New Castle, DE 19720
Phone: 302-255-9399
Website: https://delaware.gov/
Each State has a protection and advocacy agency that receives funding from the Federal Center for Mental Health Services. Agencies are mandated to protect and advocate for the rights of people with mental illnesses and to investigate reports of abuse and neglect in facilities that care for or treat individuals with mental illnesses. These facilities, which may be public or private, include hospitals, nursing homes, community facilities, board and care homes, homeless shelters, jails, and prisons. Agencies provide advocacy services or conduct investigations to address issues that arise during transportation or admission to such facilities, during residency in them, or within 90 days after discharge from them.
Brian J. Hartman, Director
Disabilities Law Program
913 Washington Street, Wilmington, DE 19801
Phone: 302-575-0660
Fax: 302-575-0840
Statewide consumer organizations are run by and for consumers of mental health services and promote consumer empowerment. These organizations provide information about mental health and other support services at the State level and are active in addressing and advocating for mental health system issues. For information about consumer activities in your area, contact:
Autism Delaware advocate for and supports families and individuals with autism.
Contact:
Phone: 302-224-6020
Fax: 302-224-6017
Location:
New Castle County
924 Old Harmony Road
Suite 201
Newark, DE 19713
Sussex County
17517 Nassau Commons Blvd.
Unit 1
Lewes, DE 19958
Website: https://www.autismdelaware.org/
Champions for Children’s Mental Health is a Delaware-based, nonprofit organization offering peer support, trainings and resource information to families caring for a child/youth with mental or behavioral health needs.
Barbara Messick, Executive Director
BarbM@ChampionsDe.org
(302) 503-7198
The Delaware Disability Hub (DelDHub)
Delaware Family Voices supports families of children and youth with special healthcare needs, helping them to navigate complex healthcare and insurance issues, as well as providing connections to resources and other families.
Contact:
(877) 235-3588
(302) 669-3030
Email: familysupport@defv.org
Location:
222 Philadelphia Pike, Suite 11
Wilmington, DE 19809
Website: http://www.delawarefamilytofamily.org/
The national and local Mental Health Associations provide information on mental health issues and information as well as advocate for community programming and improved services.
National Mental Health Association Information Center
1021 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-2971
Phone: 703-684-7722
Fax: 703-684-5968
Toll-free: 800-969-6642
TTY: 800-433-5959
Website: https://www.mhanational.org
Mental Health Association in Delaware
Community Services Building
100 West 10th Street, Suite 600
Wilmington, DE 19801
Phone: 302-654-6833
Kent/Sussex: (800) 287-6423
Website: https://www.mhainde.org
Email: information@mhainde.org
The national and local organizations provide information on mental illness, community services, support groups and advocacy components.
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
3803 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 100 Arlington, VA 22203
Main 703-524-7600
Fax 703-524-9094
HelpLine 800-950-6264
Website: https://www.nami.org/Home
National Alliance on Mental Illness in Delaware (NAMI Delaware)
2400 W. 4th Street, Wilmington DE 19805
Phone 302-427-0787
HelpLine (888) 427-2643
Website: https://www.namidelaware.org
Email: namide@namide.org
This is a private, non profit organization funded by the U.S. and Delaware Departments of Education, State of Delaware and private and corporate gifts. PIC provides: education advocacy training for parents of children with disabilities, information on special education laws and processes, information on the rights and entitlements of persons with disabilities and disability awareness training for schools and communities. In addition, PIC sponsors a Parent-to-Parent Support program with support group meetings to help families cope with a disability in the family. PIC sponsors a statewide conference each year which focuses on issues and topics of interest to families of children with disabilities.
Parent Information Center of Delaware (Northern Delaware)
5570 Kirkwood Highway
Orchard Commons Business Center
Wilmington, DE 19808
Phone: (302) 999-7394
FAX: (302) 999-7637
Email: picofdel@picofdel.org
Website: https://picofdel.org
Parent Information Center of Delaware (Southern Delaware)
13 Bridgeville Road
Georgetown, DE 19947
Phone: 302-856-9880
FAX: 302-856-9882
Toll-Free(in Kent County): 1-888-547-4412
Medicaid clients and their families may contact the following for advocacy assistance and information:
Delaware Medicaid Consumer Hotline: 1-800-372-2022
Health Benefits Manager: 1-800-996-9969
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) is the Federal agency that leads national efforts to improve prevention and mental health treatment services for all Americans. SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention provide guidance and technical assistance to DPBHS to ensure quality and effective service delivery.
The National Institute of Mental Health supports national research in the prevention and treatment of mental health problems
The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law maintains a “Children’s Issues” section on their website which contains information which is of interests to children and their families.
A mental health or substance use emergency is any situation in which the child’s behaviors puts them at risk of hurting themselves or others and/or when the parent isn’t able to resolve the situation with the skills and resources available.
As with any medical emergency, a mental health or substance use emergency can be life threatening. Most of the time, mental health or substance use emergencies are those involving the threat of suicide or an actual suicide attempt. Other types of mental health or substance use emergencies may involve the threat of harm to another person. These are typically times of intense difficulty, trouble or danger.
Parents and caregivers should take suicidal thoughts or attempts seriously. Thoughts of killing or injuring someone are very serious too. Traumatic events, such as witnessing a murder or suicide, or being a victim of bullying or a violent crime can also cause a crisis for your child.
IF YOUR CHILD IS UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE, call the DPBHS 24-hour Mobile Response and Stabilization Services call center in this kind of emergency: 1-800-969-4357
NOTE: If your child is injured or is an immediate threat to hurt someone, call 911 before calling the DPBHS Mental Health/Substance Use Emergency hotline.
When you call the hotline, someone will ask you to provide:
The person on the phone will arrange an appropriate service response that could include verbal de-escalation of the situation, a meeting in your home or a meeting somewhere else if help is needed right away.
If appropriate, a therapist will talk to you and your child and help you develop a safety plan. The Hotline worker will also assist you to obtain other mental health services if help is not needed immediately.
IF YOUR CHILD IS 18 YEARS OR OLDER and is in a mental health or substance use-related emergency, call the Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health’s Crisis Intervention Services:
In Northern Delaware, call: 800-652-2929
In Southern Delaware, call: 800-345-6785
No child in Delaware who needs mental health or substance abuse treatment will be denied access because of the inability to pay.
If you have health insurance:
Call the number on the back of your insurance card. Ask if you have coverage for behavioral health services. If you think your child may have a substance abuse problem, be sure to tell the person you want someone who specializes in that kind of a problem. Ask about the therapists who are nearest to where you live.
If you have Medicaid or Chip (See box below):
Use your Medicaid Insurance card the same way as described in the “If you have health insurance” section.
If you cannot afford medical insurance for your child and you do not qualify for Medicaid, you may be eligible to buy very low-cost medical insurance through the State of Delaware Healthy Children Program.
For information call:
Health Benefits Manager 1-800-996-9969 or
Division of Social Services 1-800-372-2022
If you are afraid you will be unable to afford services because you do not have Insurance or Medicaid:
The Division of Prevention and Behavioral Health Services (DPBHS) provides a range of treatment services for children and adolescents up to their 18th birthday.
Most behavioral health services are voluntary. That means that before treatment can begin, an informed consent to treat, signed by the parent is needed. Sometimes a grandparent or other relative acts as parent for the child. Relative Caregivers may legally sign consent to treat if they obtain a Relative Caregivers’ Medical Authorization Affidavit. To request an affidavit, call the Division of Services for Aging and Adults with Physical Disabilities at 1-800-223-9074.
The US Department of Health and Human Services has a lot of information on their “Families and Children” web page.
This Spanish language fact sheet is to inform parents how to effectively talk to their young adult about the risks of underage drinking.
After High School Guide – Spanish
Anxiety can affect children and adults. To find out more about anxiety go to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America at https://adaa.org/
Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) – This website tells about the disorder and how to get help. It also lets you know about support groups in your area.
ADD / ADHD and School: Helping Children and Teens with ADHD Succeed at School
ADHD and Learning Disabilities: School Help
College Assistance Guide for People with ADHD
The Best Software and Gadgets for ADHD Students
ADHD Apps
How Dogs Can Help People with ADD & ADHD
ADHD and Stress: Does One Cause the Other?
AA Anonymous Meetings in Delaware
This website helps individuals struggling with alcoholism find the help they need on a local basis.
DrugWatch
This website aims to educate the public about thousands of prescription and over-the-counter medications, many of which have the potential to cause serious side effects. It is continually updated with drug recall news, recent FDA approvals, drug interactions, side effects, and current developments in the medical field.
Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Resources
This website lists organizations dedicated to raising awareness about drug and alcohol abuse prevention.
Parents, the Anti-Drug
This website has everything a parent should know about drug abuse from how to talk about drugs and alcohol with your child to recognizing the signs and symptoms of substance abuse.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network brings together the newest research on the signs, symptoms and treatment for children who have experienced trauma. There is a special section on their website for parents.
Info for Teens is a site for teen girls by Planned Parenthood. It is a place where teens can get information and news about teen sexuality, sexual health, and relationships. Planned Parenthood specifically asks parents and health educators not to participate in the online discussions, they are directed to the Planned Parenthood site.
Self-Directed Violence and Other Forms of Self-Injury are serious problems that affect children, youth, and families. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website provides valuable information on these topics and more.
Advocates for Youth is dedicated to creating programs and promoting policies which help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health. The Fact Sheets cover many topics such as dating violence, gay/lesbian/bisexual youth, gender bias, and peer education, as well as contraceptive use, sexual abuse, and adolescent child-bearing.
As drug abuse escalates across the country, it’s imperative that parents, educators, and healthcare providers be knowledgeable of the telltale signs and symptoms of drug abuse in children. This knowledge can be both preventative and protective, empowering these individuals to advocate and find treatment for children and teens in this time of need.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website provides information for parents and youth about the problems of violence facing young people today.
Parenting Support in Delaware:
Child Inc.
Children and Families First
Fire-Setting:
The Delaware Fire Marshal’s Office sponsors the Juvenile Fire-Setter Intervention Program.
Gambling:
Youth can be addicted to gambling just as adults can. Delaware Council on Gambling Problems, Inc. has important information about the number of youth involved in gambling in Delaware. Their website also has a hotline to call if you are wondering if a loved one has a gambling problem.
Related Topics: DSCYF, State of Delaware
If you are concerned about a child's safety, call the Child Abuse & Neglect Report Line today.
Have a child experiencing a behavioral health crisis? Call our 24/7 Mobile Response Stabilization Services hotline. You are not alone.
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