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Happy Monday and welcome to your
Mental Health Mini. 

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This week's guest is Doctor 
Justin Mohat and we are talking 

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about pursuing intensive mental 
health treatment. 

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So for parents that have 
received the recommendation that

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their teen might benefit from an
intensive mental health care 

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program, what things do you look
for in a treatment program to 

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make sure that it's a great fit 
for a patient? 

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I have a couple big things that 
I really wish families would 

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hear. 1 is just because a place 
is the most expensive place 

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doesn't mean it's the best 
place, and just because it's in 

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the most beautiful setting 
doesn't. 

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Mean it has horses, doesn't mean
it'll be the best. 

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As horses has an ocean view, I 
think families can easily get 

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romanced by some of that because
it's so scary to have your child

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go away somewhere. 
So to say, OK, well the place is

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really expensive, it looks 
really nice. 

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That doesn't necessarily mean 
high quality care. 

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The other thing I would say is 
be wary of programs that promise

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everything. 
If you look at their materials 

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and they say they basically 
treat everything under the 

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spectrum with evidence based 
treatments, it's highly unlikely

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that they really are that 
specialized in all of those 

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different things. 
I much prefer to have a program 

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that says we do this and this 
very well and this is our 

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modality. 
You want to ask them what 

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modalities of treatment they use
and they should be able to 

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answer that clearly. 
And so you want to educate 

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yourself ahead of these 
conversations about your kids 

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diagnosis and what the best 
treatments are for that and then

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ask very pointed questions. 
Honestly, I think the most 

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important things from my 
perspective are that they 

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involve family, and that's for a
couple reasons. 

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One is if you are a program that
doesn't communicate with 

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parents, that doesn't involve 
parents and family in treatment 

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and you're doing this sort of 
bubble of something with a kid 

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and then you say, OK, we're done
and you send them home and 

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you've never done anything to 
change the environment, then 

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you're setting everyone up for 
failure. 

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I think that again, evidence 
based treatments, but not every 

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evidence based treatment under 
the sun. 

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And they should be able to talk 
to you about what that actually 

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looks like and how they deploy 
that. 

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And I think the other thing is 
you, you want transparency. 

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So if you're getting any sense 
that they're sort of skirting 

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around questions and then 
they're not giving you very 

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clear answers, I would be really
wary. 

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Yeah, I think that this may be 
hard and you may not get a 

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satisfactory answer, but it's 
worth at least asking what their

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internal quality kind of process
is and if they have any data or 

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statistics on the success. 
Of their. 

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Program, absolutely. 
The biggest thing is just ask 

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questions. 
Lots and lots and lots and lots 

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of questions. 
And if anything doesn't feel 

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right, ask more questions until 
it either feels right or until 

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you say you know what this is a 
no go I don't like. 

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Them. 
For teens, I think one of the 

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biggest things that I remember 
is just how daunting of an 

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experience this is. 
It's so anxiety provoking 

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because a lot of the times you 
don't know what to expect. 

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So if you could give just some 
basic pointers of what to 

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expect, whether it's like you 
can probably expect to on the 

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first day, kind of go through 
why you're here and and what's 

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happened this far. 
So a lot of teens are thinking 

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that if they go to residential 
treatment, it's going to a 

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locked hospital. 
And that's not what residential 

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treatment is and it's not what 
intensive outpatient treatment 

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is. 
And there is a place for 

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inpatient treatment. 
But if your family is trying to 

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get you help in a voluntary way 
at a specialized program, it's 

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going to be an unlocked unit. 
Everyone's there voluntarily. 

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It's going to be, again, if it's
the right program, it's going to

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be kids your age, right? 
You know, they are going to want

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to understand what's bringing 
you in. 

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They're going to want to 
understand if there are safety 

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concerns, depending on why 
you're going into treatment. 

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But even if you're going in for 
something that's not about self 

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harm or suicidality, they're 
going to be asking you those 

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questions. 
They're going to want to know, 

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they genuinely are going to want
to try and understand what the 

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path has been to get you to that
place and to come up with goals 

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and targets for treatment. 
And if safety is a primary 

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concern, they're going to spend 
a lot of time on that first day 

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assessing safety, coming up with
safety plans and trying to sort 

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of identify in the program what 
are the resources that you can 

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use when you're feeling unsafe. 
I think their parents are really

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important partners and really 
important people in their lives.

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We're going to want to involve 
them, but I'm not here to do the

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bidding of your parents. 
I'm here to help you and figure 

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out what's causing you suffering
and struggling and trying to 

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affect change so that you can 
lead your best life. 

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And I often say to kids, if I 
think they have a sense of 

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humor, that in the first visit 
that my real main goal is that I

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never see them again. 
Yeah, yeah. 

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Like, I'm not here to take your 
money. 

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I'm not here to sort of see you 
forever. 

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I'm not here just to put you on 
medication. 

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In fact, I'm only going to put 
you on medication if it is 

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really indicated and necessary 
and that your best interests are

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sort of like the guiding light, 
the true north of. 

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I think it's really hard to 
understand that and feel that 

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when you're in a dark. 
Place. 

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And therapy may be uncomfortable
at times, but you you need an 

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objective outside person who can
tell you what it is, when it's 

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happening and that you can 
develop a rapport with. 

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That is a true back and forth 
and trust. 

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If you enjoyed this week's 
mental Health Mini, you can 

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listen to the full episode. 
It is episode 136 featuring 

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Doctor Justin Mohat. 
A link to the full episode is in

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the show notes. 
And as always, make sure to 

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leave a review. 
Subscribe, share with the friend

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