Hillside Atlanta logo. Tagline: Healing and Hope for Children and Families

Hillside Now Offering In-Home and Virtual Mental Health Therapy for Youth in Savannah and Macon

Parents looking for higher-level mental health care for their child now have additional options. Hillside®, a longstanding leader in the field of youth and family mental health services in Atlanta, is offering both intensive in-home and virtual intensive outpatient therapy in Savannah and Macon.

Both options provide greater clinical structure than regular once-a-week outpatient therapy. Hillside clinicians utilize components of dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), a type of psychotherapy focusing on building skills for mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.

“Hillside strives to meet the needs of our clients and their families where they are,” says program manager Kendra Phoumivong. “Being able to offer in-home and virtual therapy allows us to do just that.”

Hillside has been providing community-based mental health services since 1998 and Intensive In-Home Therapy since 2015. Intensive In-Home Therapy is an individualized therapeutic wraparound for ages 5 to 25, and the goal is to stabilize the client by working with them in the home, community, and school. This typically includes four hours of customized therapy per week. Additionally, the therapist provides 24-7 phone support and coaching. Hillside works to ensure each family is connected with an outpatient provider of mental health services and will work in tandem with them.

The Virtual Intensive Outpatient Program is designed for participants ages 13 to 17. This six-week program consists of 12 hours of online group work each week, occurring 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Clients also receive weekly individual and family therapy, psychiatric consultation, and medication management. Participants have access to 24-7 crisis calls and coaching.

“Hillside specializes in working with young people who need more than standard outpatient therapy,” explains Phoumivong. “After researching the youth mental health needs in our state, we’re thrilled to be able to offer services previously unavailable in both Savannah and Macon.”

For more information regarding Hillside’s therapeutic services in Savannah and Macon, call 404-875-4551.

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Hillside Atlanta Foundation Launches “Reframe Children’s Mental Health Podcast”

Today, the Hillside Atlanta Foundation unveiled its new podcast, Reframe Children’s Mental Health. The monthly series will explore the latest in child and family behavioral health treatment from clinical professionals and experts. Episodes can be found on Soundcloud and Apple Podcasts, with more platforms added in the months ahead. The Foundation sought to create a resource to help address a lack of quality information about children’s mental health. Importantly, children and adolescents will share their mental health journeys of struggle and healing in order to illuminate and inspire, while dispelling stigmas around treatment.

The Hillside Atlanta Foundation supports Hillside, Inc. in its mission to help children and families thrive by providing outstanding residential and community behavioral health services. To learn more about Hillside, please visit our website hside.org. If you’re interested in supporting our Foundation you can learn more here. Learn how to support our Foundation.

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Kimberly Young Leads Mental Health Discussion with TEDxAtlanta

As many of us have navigated this period of stress and uncertainty, our mental wellness is probably not top of mind. Yet, maintaining mental well-being is crucial to getting ourselves through the current situation and what is yet to come.

On May 5th, Kimberly Young, a Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Assistant Medical Director at Hillside Atlanta Foundation, lead an online discussion through TEDxAtlanta. The talk went over healthy coping mechanisms and techniques to manage stress and answered questions about mental health and mental well-being.

Kimberly  has devoted the majority of her career working with children struggling with mood disorders such as severe depression and anxiety, bi-polar disorder, self-harming behaviors, impulsivity, and mood dysregulation. Check out the full video below!

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Hillside Representatives Featured on WSB Radio’s “The Weekly Check-up”

Hillside president and CEO Emily Acker and assistant medical director Kimberly Young recently appeared on “The Weekly Check-up,” WSB Radio’s premier healthcare talk show. Visit “The Weekly Check-up” online or listen below to hear the pair talk with host Dr. Bruce Feinberg about the origins of Hillside and its current mission, the relevancy of mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the efficacy of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).

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AJC Explains Hillside’s Passion for Youth Behavioral Health

News regarding Hillside’s passion for youth and young adult behavioral health appears in a recent article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the city’s major daily newspaper. Reporter Gracie Bonds Staples explains how Hillside Atlanta Foundation assists patients financially by providing scholarships for continued therapy not covered by health insurance. Hillside CEO and president Emily Acker, lead residential program therapist Christina Fiddes, and former patient Maya McNairy share their thoughts. Read the article here.

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WSB Radio’s “Lenz on Business” Talks Shop with Hillside

For many, Hillside’s services are more important now than ever before. Business talk show “Lenz on Business” takes a look at one of Atlanta’s oldest nonprofits and a longstanding leader in the field of youth and family mental health services. CEO and president Emily Acker and medical director Adam Silberman talk about dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), youth mental health during the pandemic, and how Hillside Atlanta Foundation assists patients financially. Listen below or listen on the “Lenz on Business” website.

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NPR’s “All Things Considered” Taps Hillside Expert on Youth Mental Health

In the midst of pandemic concerns, National Public Radio’s (NPR) flagship evening news magazine “All Things Considered” welcomes Hillside assistant medical director Kimberly Young on the program. Local host Jim Burress speaks with Young about how young people are dealing with this unknown from a mental health perspective. Listen to the segment here.

Emily Acker and Kimberly Young of Hillside

Hillside President and CEO, Emily Acker, and Assistant Medical Director, Kimberly Young will be featured on “The Weekly Check-Up” on WSB Radio

Hillside President and CEO, Emily Acker and Assistant Medical Director, Kimberly Young, will be guests on “The Weekly Check-Up” on News/Talk WSB Radio on Sunday, June 21, 2020.

Founded in 1888, Hillside is one of Atlanta’s oldest non-profit organizations, and a leading provider of residential and community mental health services to help children, young adults and their families thrive.

Emily has served children and adolescents for more than thirty years. She joined Hillside in 2014, and has guided a significant expansion of its services. Kimberly is a Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and has spent the majority of her career working with children struggling with a variety of mood disorders.

Tune in from 3-5 p.m. on 95.5 WSB to hear Emily, Kim and host, Dr. Bruce Feinberg, discuss the evolution of mental health for children, the need to expand behavioral health research, and why treatments like Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) are more critical than ever as kids and families grapple with COVID-19.

Hillside Atlanta Foundation to Help Fund Treatment, Training, and Research for Child Behavioral Health

Today Hillside, Inc., a longstanding leader in the field of youth and family behavioral health services, announced the formation of Hillside Atlanta Foundation. This nonprofit will work to make sure every child at Hillside has all the time, treatment, and professional support they need to heal and flourish.

Behavioral health treatment for children and adolescents faces a myriad of obstacles. The Hillside Atlanta Foundation vows to help Hillside rise to these challenges by providing scholarships for children, and professional training for all doctors and staff of Hillside. Additionally, the Foundation will fund research and innovative new treatments, and expand access to quality treatment across the state and region.

“When a child needs adequate time in care to stabilize and be successful after discharge, and insurance or Medicaid won’t pay for it, the Foundation’s goal is to have the funds to help a family along,” says Emily Acker, president and CEO of Hillside. “I’m highly concerned kids’ treatment is unfunded before they are ready, and we want to make sure their needs are met.”.”

These needs can include some therapies and supports not typically funded by insurance. Hillside Atlanta Foundation can assist in paying for effective treatments such as horticulture therapy, therapeutic drumming, and animal-assisted therapy.

Staying on top of the latest treatments requires ongoing training. Professional development and new treatment innovations are expensive, but they help keep Hillside at the forefront of child and adolescent behavioral health care. That’s why the Hillside Atlanta Foundation supports these critical investments.

“These are developing practices that we need to be experts in,” Acker explains, “and that takes lots of training dollars.”

In turn, Hillside’s professionals share services and knowledge with colleagues all over the world. Additionally, Hillside is expanding its in-home therapy services across Georgia, with ambitions to reach children and families throughout the Southeast, providing access to a level of specialized care that isn’t currently available to them. The Hillside Atlanta Foundation is proud to support Hillside as it expands the reach of its lifesaving and life-changing expertise.

“The Hillside Foundation is all about breaking barriers,” says Acker, “and ultimately allowing children, adolescents, and young adults to get the help they need to live their lives to the fullest.”