Developing a DBT-Informed Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program to Increase Equity and Access

Rising mental health problems and systemic barriers have reduced available services for adolescents with acute mental illness in recent years.

This article describes the development of a partial hospitalization program (PHP) to treat adolescents with a wide range of severe mental health problems and high-risk behaviors in a major metropolitan hospital.

We describe our advocacy efforts to fund higher levels of care for patients with public insurance, the evidence-based clinical programming developed, and early implementation challenges, including managing high patient risk outside of a locked facility.

Our program opened in 2023 and served 96 adolescents with severe mental health conditions and diverse demographic backgrounds in the first year, 51% of whom were covered by Medicaid.

This article is intended to provide a practical guide and example for clinicians and program developers interested in increasing access to evidence-based treatments at higher levels of care for underserved patients.