Mental Health Services After a Traumatic Brain Injury

After a traumatic brain injury your child might experience a variety of symptoms. Some symptoms are temporary and very mild, while others might be more severe and last longer. A brain injury might cause problems with your child’s ability to:

• Think, reason, pay attention, learn and remember
• Control behavior
• Manage emotions
• Socialize with others
• Interact with peers

These difficulties can impact your child’s functioning at home, at school and with friends. Mental health services staff can assess your child and provide support through these challenges.

There are several different kinds of mental health services available in most communities. Here are some of the services we offer at Gillette:

Psychotherapy

You may be referred for psychotherapy if there are concerns about depression, anxiety, or behavior, or to learn new skills to help you manage pain or headache.  Psychotherapy may also help with coping with life changes after the injury.   Psychotherapy may be provided by a psychologist or a clinical social worker and may include talking through stressors, learning new skills, play, and/or learning ways to calm the body through biofeedback.

Psychology/Neuropsychology Evaluation

You may be referred for further evaluation with a psychologist or neuropsychologist if there are concerns about how the injury may have impacted cognitive functioning such as understanding information, attention, memory, problem-solving, and many other aspects of thinking and learning.

Social Work Appointment

Clinical social workers provide mental health assessments, chemical health screenings and counseling to help your child adjust to a brain injury.

In most situations insurance will cover all or a significant portion of the expenses for the mental health services listed here. If you are referred to Gillette for mental health services, we will contact your insurance company and give you an estimate of what will be covered.

Your Gillette physician or nurse practitioner will make a written referral to a mental health professional. We will call you within two weeks of your clinic visit to begin the scheduling process.

If you have an emergency mental health concern, go to an emergency room, or contact your primary health care provider.