Continuous Professional Training

Our clinical staff undergoes continuous training in the assessment and treatment of serious mental disorders through continuing education courses taught by our staff. We also provide training about serious mental illness to psychologists, physicians, and therapists in the greater Los Angeles area.

Community Outreach

We provide outreach to the community by offering a free newsletter and workshops for individuals and family members who are seeking more information about serious mental illness.

Careful Assessment

We carefully assess our patients to determine their correct diagnosis, co-occurring substance use disorders and medical problems, and potential risk management issues. We obtain careful personal, healthcare, and mental health histories for treatment planning purposes. We use psychological testing to assist in psychological diagnosis, plan treatment, and track progress in therapy. Most importantly, we listen to our patients, find out what brings them to treatment, and understand what they hope will change in order to feel better.

Patient-Centered Treatment Planning

We work with our patients to review our treatment recommendations. Families are welcome in the treatment planning process if the patient desires. We work collaboratively with our patients to come up with a treatment plan that makes sense and that feels right. It is important that each patient is comfortable with their therapists and that they understand and agree with the treatment plan and goals of treatment. Treatment may be as simple as seeing an individual therapist, or it may be more comprehensive and also include medication management, family therapy and or group therapy.

Comprehensive Coordinated Care

Each patient’s treatment plan is routinely monitored and reviewed by our interdisciplinary treatment team. We can provide seamlessly coordinated psychological, psychiatric, and substance use disorder care within the same practice.

Risk Management

We specialize in treating patients that are categorized as high-risk by most practioners. However, like other practitioners, we do not accept all patients who request treatment at The Arroyos. We do a careful risk-assessment at admission and do not accept patients who do not meet our risk-management criteria. We always require a continuing strong commitment on behalf of our patients and their loved ones to maintain no-self-harm and no harm-to-other contracts or to agree to hospitalization.

We conduct risk assessments throughout treatment for the presence of suicide, homicide, inability to self-care, presence of serious psychiatric symptoms such as deep depression, mania, self-harm behaviors, or impulsivity. We can conduct level of care evaluations and arrange for hospitalization if necessary. We can provide continuity of care in the hospital setting as our doctors are on staff at two local hospitals for inpatient psychiatric and chemical dependency detox treatment. If necessary, we can place patients on 5150 holds if they meet criteria.

Maintenance Care

The treatment model for most serious mental illness involves maintenance of symptoms over the lifespan. When the patient is feeling better and functioning at their optimal capacity, we usually recommend going to a maintenance program where the patient meets with their therapist, and psychiatrist if they have one, a minimum of every three months. The purpose of this maintenance program is to have a “check-in” to maintain stability and also to catch a relapse or worsening of symptoms quickly should this occur. We then initiate a “rescue protocol” to stop any downturn from getting out of control if possible.

Maintenance Care

If a patient prefers to terminate treatment rather than enter the maintenance program, we develop a rescue protocol for the patient to follow should they identify a recurrence of symptoms in the future. We then arrange a mutually-coordinated discharge date from the program at which time we terminate all services, including psychiatric services, and help with referrals to other practitioners if we are asked for assistance. We do not offer psychiatric services in the absence of ongoing psychological services.