Overview

The Child and Parent Resource Institute (CPRI) has six inpatient units for children and youth. Five units offer services for children and youth aged 6 up to age 18 with complex and often co-occurring combinations of developmental and mental health challenges. This means your child/youth’s issues are serious enough that they are causing problems at home, school or in the community. Our services are designed to help children and youth whose needs cannot be addressed in their own community.

CPRI also operates one unit for medically fragile or technology dependent children from birth up to age 18. These clients require significant medical care and support.

What inpatient services does

We provide short-term, highly-specialized and individualized consultations, assessments and initial treatments for children and families. Our services are voluntary and require an informed consent from you, your child or youth or their substitute decision-maker. The services are tailored to your child/youth’s specific needs and goals.

We are an interdisciplinary service, so our team is made up of many different professionals working together.

If your child/youth is admitted, we will work with you and your child/youth to design an initial treatment plan to accomplish their goals. You will be part of the planning and learning process all the way through your child/youth’s care. Our first step is for a CPRI staff member to meet with your family, in person or virtually, to do an assessment. We will talk with you about your child/youth and family’s needs and goals and the potential risks and benefits of inpatient services.

How long your child/youth stays at CPRI is based on their needs. During the school year, children participating in intensive services can attend school at Madeline Hardy School, part of the Thames Valley District School Board or St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School, part of the London District Catholic School Board.

Find out more on our kids page and see photos

How to access inpatient services

Referrals for inpatient services should be submitted through your county’s Single Point of Access Agency. Pratten 1 accepts outpatient referrals directly from parents or community service providers. You will be contacted by our intake department to confirm your information.

All referral forms must be signed by the child or youth’s doctor.

Learn more about the referral process and access referral forms.

Inpatient units and their services

There are six inpatient units located at CPRI. The general demographic of each unit is listed below. We respect the unique and diverse backgrounds of all clients who come to CPRI.

Unit 6

Eligibility

Children and youth are referred to the unit 6 team because of significant behavioural and/or mental health concerns. Community services, such as doctors, respite, school, behaviour services and mental health services are often already involved and may be struggling with how to best serve the child. The family and community need an interdisciplinary and comprehensive assessment to develop a better understanding of the pre-adolescent child or youth. Our team form an integrated plan to best support the child or youth in their home community.

Thameswood

Eligibility

Children and youth are referred to CPRI inpatient services because of significant behavioural and/or mental health concerns. Community services, such as doctors, respite, school, behaviour and mental health services are already involved and often the child/youth’s needs cannot be met within the local system. The family and community need an interdisciplinary and comprehensive assessment to develop a better understanding of the adolescent child or youth. Our team will form an integrated plan to best support the child or youth in their home community.

Unit 5

Eligibility

Unit 5 provides short-term (6 to 12 weeks) assessment focused care for children and youth aged 6 to 13 who have complex mental health and/or learning difficulties.

Families and community partners seeking services from our team are typically interested in obtaining an interdisciplinary approach to assessment and suggestions for treatment. We are commonly asked to provide a comprehensive diagnostic assessment or a review of medications and for strategies to support the child or youth at home and in school settings.

We value our partnerships with local services and are committed to ensuring continuity of care. We require children and youth coming to CPRI inpatient services to have a community physician and case manager involved. This is important so we can continue to work with community services providers to transfer individualized plans of care, recommendations from assessments and other strategies into ongoing support from the community when the child or youth is discharged.

Unit 4

Eligibility

Unit 4 provides inpatient services for teenage boys with complex mental health and learning needs that cannot be addressed in their community. These youth usually have complex psychotropic medication histories. Referral requests often include diagnostic and medication review, multidisciplinary assessment of their function, and treatment recommendations and stabilization.

These youth are typically referred to Unit 4 through local single point access agencies, or the service provider in the community that triages services for children, youth and families. The client/youth, guardians and community case manager help define the services requested – typically in the form of specific questions about functioning, diagnosis and etiology. We will review your needs and work with your child/youth and family, as well as other community health care teams involved, to create an integrated plan of care that addresses your identified needs. We will work with your child/youth, family and other community healthcare teams involved to create an integrated plan of care that addresses your child and family’s identified needs.

Pratten 2 South

Eligibility

The Pratten 2 South inpatient services include an interdisciplinary team that provides service to female children and youth from 8 and up to 18 years of age who present with severely impairing, complex mental health needs (emotional, behavioural, and learning needs) and complex family dynamics.

Children and youth who are referred to Pratten 2 South typically struggle with:

  • behavioural issues such as aggression, including harm to self and others
  • emotional difficulties, including anxiety and mood disorders and fluctuating mood states
  • interpersonal challenges including peer-related difficulties and difficulties within the parent/caregiver-child relationship
  • co-occurring school challenges that have resulted in exclusion from community school or utilization of specialized educational service
  • emerging psychosis, although this is rare

Pratten 1

Eligibility

The Pratten 1 team serves children and youth from birth up to age 18 with complex developmental and medical (including technological dependence) needs. The children and youth on this unit may present with cerebral palsy, developmental delays (in fine motor, gross motor, speech, vision, and/or communication), genetic syndromes, chronic respiratory conditions, neurological disorders and associated difficulties (such as feeding and seizures), sleep disorders, and other significant physical or health related issues.

Program and Services

We offer day or overnight admissions to the Pratten 1 services. During this time, we will monitor and assess your child or youth. We will provide medical treatment such as:

  • oxygen therapy
  • oral/tube feeding
  • seizure monitoring/management

We will also help your child/youth reach developmental goals such as improving their fine/gross motor and communication skills. While in the program, your child/youth won’t go to school, but they will participate in our Child Life Program, which focuses on the developmental and psychosocial needs of your child/youth.