Assessments, Referrals & More

The Clinical Assessment Center (CAC) is the initial point of contact for admissions to all programs at Foundations Behavioral Health. CAC is staffed with licensed, masters-level clinicians that provide no-cost, confidential mental health assessments 24/7. These level-of-care assessments gather a potential patient’s medical history, presenting symptoms and other details that are disrupting the life and functioning of the patient and their loved ones. Staff will then determine the proper program and make referrals to necessary resources. If you’d like to make a referral for one of your patients, please visit our Professional Referrals page.

WHAT TO EXPECT AFTER ADMISSION

The first 24 hours after admission can be a critical time for children and teens coming into our programs. We want parents to be aware of what happens during that first day. During that period, you can expect the following:

Nursing staff will meet with you and your child to complete a nursing assessment to ensure your child’s medical needs are met while receiving treatment.
Your child will be given a tour of our facility, have any questions answered and take some time to settle in and unpack. For more details on what to pack, visit our What to Bring page.
You’ll be introduced to the therapist working with your child. They’ll reach out to gather additional information and to schedule a family session. The therapist will be your main contact person throughout the hospital stay and will provide their direct contact information.
Our medical team will meet with your child to ensure your child is healthy and can provide medical care and treatment as needed.
Throughout their stay, your child will be supervised by our team 24/7 with around-the-clock access to nurses and mental health professionals.

CONTACTING MY CHILD AND PATIENT PHONE TIMES

Although the Primary Therapist and the Behavior Therapist are your main contacts, you can always call the main number at (215) 345-0444 and our staff will direct your call. Patient phone times are between 6:00pm to 8:00pm and are limited to 10 minutes per call in order to accommodate all families.

Donna Hegyi-Gioia, Patient Advocate: 215-345-0444 ext. 142
Melissa Nalliah, Director of Inpatient Services: 215-345-0444 ext. 162
Sheba Farvardin, Director of Admissions: 215-345-0444 ext. 205

VISITATION

Staying connected to your child during treatment is crucial, so we try our best to make the visitation process as easy and clear as possible for families. Upon admission, a list of approved visitors will be developed in collaboration with the treatment team.

VISITING HOURS AND ACCOMODATIONS

Each unit has visitation Times to allow for parents/legal guardians to spend time with their child while they are in the hospital or residential program.
Due to our focus on family engagement; visits are limited to 1 hour on the weekdays and 30 minutes on the weekends in order to accommodate all of our families.
Given our focus on treatment, we can accommodate up to 2 visitors at a time.
Based on our interest in accommodating as many families as possible, we may not be able to provide daily visits. We will do our best to meet the visitation requests of all of our families.

VISITATION SAFETY PROCEDURES

All visitors to Foundations (regardless of the appointment) must first register at the main lobby. A staff member is typically stationed at the desk weekdays between the hours of 8:30am-8:00pm and weekends between the hours for 10:00am-4:00pm. However, if a staff member is not in the lobby, please ring the bell to the left of the exterior door which goes directly to the admissions department.

Upon admission, a list of approved visitors will be developed in collaboration with the treatment team.

Your child’s Primary Therapist and Behavior Therapist will assist you in scheduling visits. Please ensure that you contact one of them prior to 3pm on Friday in order to schedule a weekend visit. If your child is just arriving for admission, a member of the clinical team will be in contact with you to review your visiting needs.

For the safety of our patients and families, full names of all visitors and the date and time they will be arriving will be placed on the visitation log.

Outside food is permitted, but please do not bring utensils, we will provide plastic forks and spoons for you. If you would like to bring food items that need to be cut, please do so before arriving for your visit. Drinks are also permitted in unopened plastic containers only. Staff will be asking to see contents of the bag to ensure the bag only contains food items. For the safety of our patients with food allergy concerns, any food left at the end of your visit will need to be taken home or discarded.

We are a PEANUT FREE campus.

Upon arrival for your visit, you will be asked to:

Provide photo identification.
Confirmation of visitation date/time and building as well as the youth’s name.
Sign in and receive visitor badge. Please clearly display your visitor badge.
Belongings should be secured in lockers provided; this includes but is not limited to cell phones, purses, bags, cigarettes/lighters and any outside medications for the safety of our patients and their families. Although we recognize that many of these items may be important to you, our focus is to ensure the safety of all youth, staff and visitors.

There are two established checkpoints for visitation; once at the front desk and again prior to entering the unit/visitation area, please ensure your visitation badge is visible.

Always Here to Help

Masters-level clinicians are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide a no-cost, confidential mental health assessment for your child or client. Call the Foundations Behavioral Health Clinical Assessment Center at 215-345-0444 to get started. For questions about our programs, call us or use our online contact form. In the case of a medical emergency or crisis, please dial 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.