Willow Springs Center is a facility with a multi level system of treatment programs that helps children, adolescents, and families overcome psychiatric difficulties, in partnership with Psychiatric Solutions Incorporated, a company that offers an extensive continuum of behavioral health programs to critically ill children, adolescents and adults through its operation of 58 owned or leased freestanding psychiatric inpatient facilities.

Progams & Services

Willow Springs Center is a 116-bed, secured (locked) residential facility that was established in 1988 to provide exceptional psychiatric treatment for children and adolescents. We are proudly accredited by the Joint Commission and are known for our comprehensive programs that provide a wide range of individualized and compassionate care to the patients and families we serve. Willow Springs is committed to providing innovative, evidence-based therapeutic interventions, tailored to individual needs, which represent a wide range of clinical modalities and structure. We provide intensive individual, group and family psychotherapy and are deeply invested in transformational change.

The Willow Springs Center staff is comprised of highly trained professionals who work together as an interdisciplinary team to provide coordinated care, support and guidance for each patient throughout treatment. The clinical team is led by a board-certified Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist who provides thorough assessments and medication management, as necessary. Our staff makes communication with families a priority. Ongoing communication will occur throughout the course of treatment. Our staff also will collaborate with others involved in a child's care, such as mental health providers, educators, community agencies and referral sources.

Some of the diagnoses and symptoms we treat include:

  • Depression
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • PTSD
  • Schizoaffective Disorder
  • Schizophrenia
  • Para-suicidal behavior
  • Substance Abuse or Dependence

Clinical Philosophy

Willow Springs Center believes that the power for an individual to change lies in the therapeutic relationship. That change can be sustained through the support and active involvement of the child's family (traditional or otherwise). The core values of the therapeutic relationship include compassion, nurturing, unconditional acceptance and support in a positive, non-punitive environment. At Willow Springs Center, we believe that among the most important factors in treatment is the modeling of positive social skills by adult mentors. In our interactions with children, the goal is to instill a sense of value and worth to each individual through listening with an open mind, accepting them for where they are now and acknowledging their positive achievements and individual strengths. We believe that through the adoption of these core values, the individual will be empowered to attain their maximum growth and potential.

Programs & Services

The Pediatric Program

This program is designed to help children ages 5 - 12 make a successful transition from childhood to early adolescence. We strive to instill in each child a sense of trust, self-respect and self-confidence. The Willow Springs Pediatric Program recognizes the unique needs of each individual child. Children who meet the admission criteria for this program need a structured and supportive environment in which to work through psychological, social and familial adjustment problems.

The program takes a developmental approach to assessing and providing treatment for children suffering from psychiatric problems. A comprehensive assessment is completed to determine each child's and family's unique strengths and problems. Based on these assessments, we develop an individualized treatment plan for each child based on developmental needs.

The family plays a key role in the treatment of the child resident. Family therapy is used to help families and patients develop the capacity to communicate and function effectively.

The Latency Program

Because the latency stage is less of a stage and more of period between stages, it may begin at any time between the ages of 3 and 7 (whenever the child goes to school) and may continue until anywhere from the ages of 8 to 13 (whenever the child's puberty begins). This stage of development can be a difficult time for children and requires specialized programming.

The Adolescent Program

This program is for youths ages 13 through 17 who are dealing with tremendous internal and external distress. Willow Springs Center's adolescent program is designed to help kids develop more successful ways of maintaining relationships. We seek to enhance self-worth, confidence, interpersonal skills, family cohesiveness and academic achievement, and to assist our residents in establishing healthy boundaries with improved distress tolerance and decision-making skills. The program fosters a positive peer culture to utilize adolescents' focus on socialization. Our level system encourages youths to make constructive choices and receive more responsibility and privileges as a result.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Patients are taught through homework and during group or individual sessions how to identify triggers or events that lead up to drug or alcohol use. Through this identification of thoughts, feelings and behaviors, they learn new coping skills to assist in remaining sober.

Survivors' Groups

These groups are designed to provide a supportive and safe environment for youths suffering from sexual abuse. Our expert facilitators guide and educate the patients through the stages of recovery. We offer both male and female groups, facilitated by same-sex licensed therapists.

Motivational Interviewing

Many patients entering treatment are in denial or resistant to change. Motivational interviewing helps build rapport with patients by meeting them where they are in their recovery process. It also helps each person establish a strong, healthy relationship with his or her counselor, an important component that WSC believes is the key to transformation.

DBT Program

Willow Springs offers a 20-bed residential DBT program. DBT stands for Dialectical Behavior Therapy and was created by Marsha Linehan, Ph.D. DBT is designed to treat individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (a serious mental illness), or traits of this disorder. Willow Springs' DBT program is most appropriate for suicidal teens who exhibit severe, chronic forms of emotion dysregulation with multiple coexisting problems, as well as for youths that struggle with emotion dysregulation, chaotic relationships, impulsivity, para-suicidal behaviors and identity disturbance.

Chronic emotion dysregulation results in a vicious cycle of impulsive, self-destructive or otherwise harmful behaviors. Many of these patients present with at least one Axis I disorder and often are resistant to treatment due to this entrenched behavioral cycle, resulting in frustration, exhaustion of families and cost to payors.

The DBT treatment model has been extensively researched and validated to be effective even with the most challenging mentally ill population. It is a highly structured form of behavioral therapy that teaches patients the skills necessary to regulate emotions, avoid self-destructive behaviors, improve interpersonal relationships and create lives worth living.

Our specialized DBT team trained under Marsha Linehan, Ph.D., and consists of psychiatrists, therapists, nurses and direct-care coaches. Treatment of complex problems focuses on DBT skills training in intensive individual, family and group therapy with instruction that teaches patients how to better regulate their emotions and replace dysfunctional coping strategies with more adaptive behaviors. Our residential setting provides a unique opportunity for the residents to practice skills they have learned throughout the day. Our committed and talented treatment team is clinically sophisticated and dedicated to whole-family healing and the restoration of hope in the lives of those we serve.

The Ascent Program

Adolescent substance use and addictions treatment at Willow Springs Center is centered in the Ascent Program. The philosophy of this program is that recovery is an ongoing journey that begins upon admission and continues throughout the person's life. This is a valuable component to the patients' clinical work and impacts their overall mental health treatment.

The vision of the Ascent Program is: "To meet patients where they are, empower them to make healthy choices by gaining insight during their journey to becoming and remaining sober, and inspire them to continue on this path when they leave Willow Springs," said Dave Briggs, LCSW, LADC, Ascent Program Manager.

Treatment Components

  • Psychoeducational groups
  • Process groups
  • Addiction and recovery education
  • Matrix Model of relapse prevention
  • Individual counseling
  • Support group for patients with drug-using caregivers
  • Complete assessment including biopsychosocial and SASSI-A2
  • Participation by counselors in Multidimensional Treatment Team Staffing
  • 12-steps meetings
  • Discharge planning for relapse prevention and continuing care

Matrix Model of Relapse Prevention

The Matrix Model is an evidence-based clinical approach that was created to combat the numerous components of addictive disorders. To provide the best opportunity for success, comprehensive initial assessments are used to identify specific areas of focus for each treatment plan, and clinical modalities vary to address individual patient needs.

In following with the Matrix Model, some key components that are used include:

12-Step Meetings

Both Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous hold weekly meetings onsite. Multiple outcome studies have identified the importance of having support groups in conjunction with counseling to improve the rate of sobriety. Patients are given 12-step packets to work on, are connected with meetings and begin the process of locating a sponsor.

Continuing Care

Research has demonstrated that having a thorough aftercare plan in place increases the rate of sobriety. Patients in the Ascent Program complete individualized relapse prevention plans in the course of their treatment. In addition, they are provided with information about local resources in the areas where they will be living after discharge, including, but not limited to, 12-step groups, sober activities, additional support programs, educational opportunities and outpatient treatment.

Challenge by Choice Ropes Program

The Challenge by Choice ropes course encourages emotional, physical and intellectual growth. The course is a three-phase program of outdoor group activities using a series of elements including ropes, cables and logs that create various obstacles or "challenges." The individual's right not to participate is always respected, thus creating the "choice." The activities are not competitions. They are opportunities to develop communication, leadership and problem-solving skills. Individuals are challenged to go beyond their perceived limitations and to take safe risks as the group supports them. Challenge by Choice builds on relationships that develop team spirit and cooperation.

Education

Our philosophy is based on the disease concept of addiction. We educate our patients about the disease model as well as the negative effects of drugs and alcohol on their bodies, lives and the people that care for them.

Truckee Meadows School

A year-round licensed school for patients that emphasizes behavior management, self-control with improved academic and social skills. Staff includes Nevada state certified teachers.

Continuing Care

Research has demonstrated that having a thorough aftercare plan in place increases the rate of sobriety. Patients in the Ascent Program complete individualized relapse prevention plans in the course of their treatment. In addition, they are provided with information about local resources in the areas where they will be living after discharge, including, but not limited to, 12-step groups, sober activities, additional support programs, educational opportunities and outpatient treatment.