Working together, University of Minnesota Physicians, Fairview Behavioral Services, Behavioral Healthcare Providers, University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview, private practice and other providers offer a full array of services that span the continuum of behavioral care for children and adolescents, including treatment from mental health therapists, licensed chemical dependency counselors and psychiatrists for mental health and chemical dependency issues.

University of Minnesota Children's Hospital, Fairview is home to Minnesota's only children's behavioral inpatient unit and programming exclusively devoted to children ages 12 and younger.  Available services and programs include inpatient, partial hospitalization, day treatment and outpatient treatment options for mental health and chemical dependency issues that are tailored to fit a child’s developmental level and presenting concerns.

Our staff meets the needs of children and adolescents facing depression, anxiety, behavioral or adjustment difficulties, learning or coping disorders, autism, fetal alcohol syndrome, chemical dependency or any combination of these issues. Our care team and facilities provide a safe, comforting environment and specialized care that help bring health and healing to the young people we serve.

Conditions/behavioral issues we treat

• Chemical dependency
• Depression
  -Overview
  -Depression resource list
• Autism
  -Austism spectrum disorders
  -General guidelines
  -Pervasive developmental disorders
  -Autism resource list
• Fetal alcohol syndrome
• Stress management issues
• Adjustment and coping disorders
• Learning disorders
  -Overview
  -Resource list
• Attention disorders
  -Dealing with
  -Methylphenidate, pros and cons
  -Overview
  -Resource list
• Eating disorders
  -Anorexia nervosa
  -Bulimia nervosa
  -Eating disorder resource list
• Behavioral issues related to developmental disabilities (e.g., autism)
• Habit problems
• Anxiety
• Other mental health issues

Treatments and programs we offer

• Chemical Dependency

-Primary treatment
-Short-term outpatient preparation
-Outpatient treatment
-Lodging Plus
-School-based services
-Recovery management services

• Mental Health

-Counseling
-Inpatient care
-Outpatient care
-Adolescent day therapy and partial hospitalization
-Eating disorders program
-Psychiatry
-Community outreach programs

• Clinics

 -Fairview clinics
 -Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/Fetal Alcohol Effect Center
 -Self-Regulation Clinic (biofeedback, self-hypnosis, relaxation, mental imagery)
 -STAR Eating Disorders Clinic
 -St. Joseph’s Community Clinic (provides comprehensive preventive and acute care for children and adolescents referred from the foster care system, from juvenile corrections and from other residential treatment facilities)

Click here to read an article about our music therapy program.

Research Activities

Through funding provided to the University of Minnesota Medical School's Department of Pediatrics and the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, investigators are actively involved in many research projects, including.

• An examination of adolescents who have successfully lost weight. The goals of this pilot project are to: 1) recruit 50 overweight adolescents who have lost weight, 50 overweight adolescents who have not lost weight, and their parents for surveys and anthropomorphic measures, and 2) compare the two groups on strategies for managing weight, eating behavior, physical activity, home environment, depression, anxiety, parent interventions for weight loss, and parent psychological functioning.
• Healthy Youth Development Prevention Research Center, a project to develop community-partnered education, fellowship education, research, and the translation and dissemination of information on best practices regarding promotion of healthy adolescent development and the prevention and reduction of adolescent risk factors.
• Leadership Education in Adolescent Health Training Program, developing interdisciplinary research and training for health professionals working with adolescents.
• Bisexual Youth in Risk and Resilience study, a project to empirically derive operational definitions of bisexuality and to explore patterns of demographics factors, mental health symptoms, health indicators, risk behaviors, and associated protective factors among bisexual adolescents as compared with their heterosexual or gay/lesbian peers.
• Coalition Capacity-Building for Teen Pregnancy Prevention, a study to increase the understanding and implementation of science-based strategies to prevent teen pregnancy and promote adolescent reproductive health, including abstinence and the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infections.
• Minneapolis Public Schools Teen Parent Case Management Project, promoting school completion and delay of repeat pregnancies by providing comprehensive, integrated school and community-based services to pregnant and parenting students in two high schools.
• Religiosity and Adolescent Sexual Behaviors project, examining longitudinal relationship between religious practices and beliefs and teen sexual behaviors, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth.
• Minneapolis Public Schools Dropout Prevention Project, strengthening and expanding school dropout prevention initiatives by assisting school re-entry for those who have dropped out, making school relevant, and retaining at-risk students, with a special emphasis on teen parents.