Services
Senior Inpatient Services
Mental health care for older adults in a safe, secure setting
The senior mental health unit at Adventist Health Vallejo provides care for adults 55+ facing life changes — loss, declining health, or reduced independence and more — that can lead to depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal. The program is also appropriate for seniors who suffer from long-term psychiatric illnesses. Through focused care and our supportive setting, older adults can strengthen their coping skills, find new ways to manage their symptoms, and move out of crisis and into their lives with new peace and joy.
Our specialized areas of care
While mental illness can affect anyone in various ways, some health concerns can appear in seniors that may not be as common among younger people. The most prominent admitting diagnoses are:
Expertise and compassion, united in personalized treatment
Throughout their stay at Adventist Health Vallejo, each participant meets daily with our psychiatrist and professional staff for evaluation and treatment planning, attends group programs, receives individual counseling, and engages in discharge planning, family intervention, and education.
Our team, united to care for your loved one
Our team is headed by a staff psychiatrist and includes a nurse practitioner, specialized nurses, licensed therapists, and occupational therapists. Our professionals get to know each person to assure individual needs are met.
How the program works
The program offers therapy, education, and support through a variety of approaches, including:
- Psychiatric evaluation and monitoring daily by a psychiatrist
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), including individual and group sessions
- Family counseling to help caregivers manage the emotional challenges of caring for a loved one
- Stress management and relaxation techniques 24-hour behavioral health monitoring and supervision
- Behavioral health diagnostic assessment and evaluation
- Medication stabilization and management
- Music, art and pet therapy
- Recreational therapy Individual and group patient and family education
- Discharge and aftercare planning
Admission criteria
Our senior inpatient program is designed specifically for this age and stage of life.
- Age 55 or older DSM-5 Diagnosis(es) as primary diagnosis
- Psychiatric symptoms (like hallucinations, delusions, depression, and mania) resulting in significant dysfunction and interference with activities of daily living
- Danger to self or others destructive behaviors self/property
- Disorientation or memory impairment severe enough to endanger the welfare of self or others (gravely disabled)
- Failed outpatient treatment
- Requires medical psychiatric monitoring for toxic effects of therapeutic psychotropic medications
- The severity of the patient’s illness requires continuous observation to protect self, others, and/or property and could only be achieved in an inpatient psychiatric facility
Involving caregivers and family
As someone who cares about their loved one, you and the rest of your family are an integral part of the healing team, and we highly encourage your active participation in treatment. A successful return to home and community life requires close collaboration with all the key individuals.
Preparing to go home
When a patient is ready to go home, our team provides support to make the return as easy as possible. We make plans with their group of caregivers to get any ongoing care for when they leave. We also follow up later to ensure the plans made in the hospital are being carried out.