Step Up Step Down
The Youth Services Bureau (YSB), CHEO, and Le CAP, three partners of the Kids Come First Health Team, announce the launch of a new program called Step Up Step Down — a bilingual live-in-treatment program for youth aged 12 to 17 with complex mental health needs. Step Up Step Down addresses a service gap between hospitalization and community care.
The focus of the program is to support youth in the transition home from an inpatient hospital stay (step down) and from community based support to manage a deterioration in mental health which, without intervention, will likely lead to an inpatient hospital admission or readmission (step up). The program provides short-term (up to 30 days) stabilization and intensive individualized treatment during the youth’s stay with an emphasis on youth and family recovery and skill building that will lead to a successful return home. CHEO inpatient services have been operating at maximum capacity for several years now; half of the children and youth going to the CHEO emergency department are there seeking help for a mental health concern.
How to access the program
This program is available by referral only to youth who continue to struggle in spite of receiving intensive mental health services. Youth and caregivers should speak to their mental health provider at CHEO, the Royal, YSB, or Le CAP if they feel that Step Up Step Down might meet their treatment needs.