Behavioral Medicine in Denver

We offer behavioral health assessments for adults concerned about behavior-related issues like mental health and substance use. During your assessment, you’ll share your concerns with a licensed clinician who will help you understand your treatment options, connect you with resources and offer further support.

Patients younger than 18 will be referred to services that specialize in pediatric behavioral health.

What to Expect

Your scheduled visit will allow you to speak with your clinician, and together you’ll determine the best path forward. They will consider where you may be best supported in our behavioral health program or if a different provider would be a better option.

If your clinician determines admission to an acute level of care is appropriate, our team will either admit you into our care or transfer you to another hospital, to a Regional Crisis Stabilization Unit or an Acute Treatment Unit. Whatever course you take, we’ll connect you with the care you need.

Plan for your assessment to take 45 minutes to two hours.

Make an Appointment or a Referral

To schedule an appointment or make a referral, call Call303-715-2300. Referring clinicians should also fax fact sheets, insurance, medical list and provider notes to Call303-778-5661.

Our Assessment Center is on the first floor (close to the cafeteria and gift shop) at AdventHealth Porter. We are open by appointment Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm.

People with severe behavioral health conditions who’ve exhausted other therapies may benefit from electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), an electrical brain stimulation performed under general anesthesia by an anesthesiologist and a psychiatrist.

ECT is usually performed as an outpatient procedure. You may be able to go home after your procedure if you are able to care for yourself at home, have no other medical complications and can comply with the NPO restrictions before all treatments.

You will also need a driver to take you to and from your appointment and a reliable adult to stay with you until your short-term memory is regained (if profound memory loss occurs during treatment).

In some circumstances, your provider may recommend an inpatient ECT series. We provide this for patients who cannot complete the treatments due to safety issues or who have a concurrent medical condition or complication that would make outpatient treatment unsafe.

We perform the ECT series on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday rotation for an average of eight to 12 treatments. If needed, additional ECT may be done weekly or monthly.

Eligible patients are 19 years and older who:

• Are not good candidates for antidepressants or mood stabilizer medication
• Are unresponsive to other forms of treatment
• Have the referral of two licensed psychiatrists, each who has rendered a separate opinion that ECT would benefit the patient, per Colorado law
• Pose an immediate danger to themselves or others

Our ECT patients benefit from:

• An unparalleled reputation in the community for compassion and care
• Completion of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) by the patient before and after the ECT series to monitor progress
• Coordination of all pre-ECT requirements, including insurance authorization and utilization review
• Follow-up calls from a registered nurse after ECT treatments
• Pre-ECT education for patients and their families conducted by a registered nurse from the ECT department
• The support of an acute care hospital with on-call specialists such as cardiologists and neurologists

If you’re struggling with substance abuse or dependency, we’re here to help. We’ll work with you to understand your unique needs and facilitate a rehabilitation plan that enables you to work toward recovery.

Our 12-week program consists of evidence-based curricula, including the Twelve Steps, dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) methods.

The AdventHealth Porter Substance Use Intensive Outpatient Program (SU-IOP) provides comprehensive treatment for individuals with a pattern of substance abuse or dependency.

We’ll work with you and your family to:

• Construct a supportive recovery environment
• Create a personalized and applicable relapse prevention plan
• Develop a wide variety of cognitive, emotional and behavioral coping skills
• Discover, label and recognize feelings
• Identify primary emotional triggers
• Initiate a foundation for sober living
• Learn to employ and actively use appropriate coping skills in daily life
• Recognize possible relapse warning signs
• Utilize and assist other group members constructively in the treatment experience

Admission to the program is based upon the Adult Placement Criteria for Substance Use Disorders, as defined by the American Society of Medicine.

Our outpatient mental health program offers evidence-based therapeutic approaches to help you find the support you need. We specialize in individual counseling, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and trauma therapy, in addition to medication management.

Your care team is made up of the following:

• Board-certified psychiatrists who specialize in child, adolescent, adult and geriatric psychiatry
• Licensed professional counselors (LPC) and licensed clinical social workers (LCSW)
• Certified specialists
• Registered nurses

Whether scheduling appointments, reviewing your bill or managing your medication, you’re never alone.

Patients who respond positively to skills-based and structured group therapy may benefit from our Dialectical Behavior Therapy Intensive Outpatient Program (DBT-IOP).

Using a combination of individualized rehabilitative and psychotherapeutic interventions, patients learn how to regulate their emotions in an environment that causes them distress, so we equip them with the tools they need to prevent self-harming behaviors.

DBT-IOP is usually recommended for those who haven’t responded well to traditional outpatient therapy. Participants must be 19 and older. DBT-IOP involves six weeks of group skills training, telephone coaching as needed and weekly consultation team meetings.

You may benefit from DBT-IOP if you experience high levels of emotional turmoil or crises that lead to frequent hospitalizations or emergency room visits or if you self-harm and have chronic suicidal ideation.

Our program is designed to help you learn the following:

• Gain insight into your relational patterns
• Increase your presence
• Regulate your emotions
• Set healthy boundaries
• Strengthen your personal and professional relationships
• Tolerate distress

Our licensed clinical social workers (LCSW) and licensed professional counselors (LPC) have all completed the Foundational Training Course in DBT through Behavioral Tech, LLC or DBTNCAA.

Referral Criteria

The basic criteria for admission to this program include:

• History of self-harm
• Low frustration tolerance
• Moderate to extreme struggles with interpersonal relationships
• Pervasive emotion dysregulation
• Possession of few effective coping skills
• Tendency to act in a passive-aggressive or aggressive fashion

Participants must:

• Abstain from alcohol and drugs
• Abstain from suicidal or para-suicidal behavior (self-harm)
• Agree to a safety plan
• Have reliable transportation
• Have safe and stable housing to allow functioning in an outpatient setting
• Participate in the program
• Take medication as prescribed (if applicable)

This therapy is only offered to those who can benefit from treatment and don’t have a primary or co-occurring substance use disorder. This is an in-person treatment program.

Specialized group therapy may be an effective treatment for patients with mood and anxiety disorders. Our AdventHealth Porter Mental Health Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) is a skills-based, partial-day treatment program led by compassionate clinical therapists who emphasize the use of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).

Our program accepts participants suffering from advanced behavioral conditions, such as major depression, bipolar disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder, and people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who are stabilized on medication. Additionally, on a case-by-case basis, we accept patients with severe — but stable — medical problems (like congestive heart failure, cancer or transplant) with a primary mood disorder diagnosis (and other parity diagnoses) and those with a traumatic brain injury.

The IOP program lasts a minimum of six weeks, Monday through Thursday, and can be extended based on the severity of your symptoms. Our program consists of a Goals Group, a DBT Group and ends with a Coping Skill Group or CBT Group.

Our expert clinical team includes the following:

• Licensed advanced practice nurses and licensed clinical social workers
• Licensed, board-certified psychiatrists
• Licensed professional counselors
• Mental health counselors

To be eligible for our mental health IOP, you must have the following:

• Safe and stable housing to allow functioning in an outpatient setting
• Distress caused by worsening symptoms (severe depression, hypomania/mania, suicidal thoughts, impairment in thinking)
• Impairment in functioning (occupational, familial, social, activities of daily living) worse than the baseline level of functioning

Participants must:

• Abstain from alcohol and drugs
• Abstain from suicidal or para-suicidal behavior (self-harm)
• Be able to function as a member of a group
• Benefit from treatment
• Follow their care plan
• Participate in the program
• Take medication as prescribed

We accept referrals from outpatient providers, including psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists and other mental health professionals. We also accept referrals from inpatient treatment sources and other facilities.

Adults whose mental health conditions have the potential for severe harm to themselves or others may be admitted to our AdventHealth Porter psychiatric inpatient unit.

Our inpatient hospitalization program is the most intensive level and is typically reserved for patients struggling with mania or psychosis that cannot be safely managed on an outpatient basis.

In our care, you will have access to a robust treatment program that includes behavioral therapy groups, occupational and recreational therapy groups, nursing groups and one-on-one counseling services. Your care plan — from start to finish — will be coordinated by a social worker and managed by a psychiatrist.

What to Expect

Patients usually stay three to five days but can stay longer depending on their medical needs.

During admission, we’ll take care to understand your needs, especially if you have a complex medical condition or medication regimen. We offer careful monitoring in a comfortable, home-like atmosphere.

When inpatient care is no longer needed, we assist with your next steps, including a referral to our intensive outpatient program (IOP) or behavioral health center.

Our inpatient psychiatric treatment services include:

• Access to neuro-psych testing
• Coordination of services led by the attending psychiatrist
• Daily group sessions with registered nurses, mental health counselors, occupational therapists and recreational therapists
• Discharge planning with a licensed social worker
• One-on-one counseling with mental health counselors
• Ongoing medication consultation and treatment coordination with a licensed board-certified psychiatrist

Our expert clinical team includes the following:

• Certified therapeutic recreational specialists
• Licensed, board-certified psychiatrists
• Occupational therapists
• Mental health counselors
• Registered nurses
• Licensed social workers and licensed clinical social workers

Information for Families and Friends

We have two separate inpatient units: an adult unit for patients ages 18 to 65, and a geriatric unit for patients ages 65 and older. Both units are locked. We cannot confirm or deny the presence of any patients without their permission in compliance with HIPAA regulations.

Here are some things visitors should know:

• All visitors must be approved before they can enter the unit
• Phone calls can be placed and received during the time between group sessions
• Each visitor must be cleared by staff for entry to or exit from the unit
• Keep in mind that many items may be considered dangerous, including mace, glass mirrors, glass bottles, aluminum cans and plastic bags (visitors are required to report all items brought to the unit to our team and possessions brought to patients must be first cleared by staff)
• No visitors under the age of 14 are allowed in the unit
• Weekday visiting hours are Monday to Friday from 5 to 7 pm
• Weekend and holiday visiting hours are from 4 to 7 pm

Maintaining a high standard of excellence in senior care has earned us the Nurses Improving Care for Health System Elders (NICHE) designation. Through the NICHE program — a leading elder care nursing program — we offer evidence-based, interdisciplinary approaches promoting better outcomes, positive experiences and improved care for older adults.