Nicolás Solano is the Scientific Director of the La Inmaculada, a centre in Bogotá (Colombia), belonging to Sisters Hospitallers. This intensive outpatient treatment programme, aimed at people with mental or emotional difficulties, where group therapeutic activities are carried out and individualised and family care is provided, either virtually or in person.
What is the main objective of the care of minors in the day hospital at La Inmaculada de la Congregación de las Hermanas Hospitalarias?
The primary goal is to provide a space for young people who have mental health problems to resolve to acquire coping tools, seeking to reintegrate them into their activities in a safe, accompanied and supervised environment; with the support of the family to achieve the objective of returning to activities appropriate to their age, avoiding dropping out of school.
How is the Sisters Hospitaller mission reflected at the hospital? What are the priority Sisters Hospitallers values and principles?
The Sisters look to respond to the needs of care, care with an emphasis on mental health. There is an unmet need for care in outpatient programmes for school-aged. We would like to offer an integral quality service based on hospitality
What is the therapeutic approach used in the care of minors in the day hospital at La Inmaculada?
To provide an individualised response to the psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatment needs of minors, in the least restrictive environment possible, by the professional team to help the patient successfully reintegrate into their daily activities.
How is the humanisation and integral care of minors promoted in the day hospital programme, in accordance with the mission of the Hospitaller Sisters?
Through a specialised professional team that dialogues with the minor, the family and other professionals and teachers, proposing a management that meets the needs of the minor and his or her family, providing a welcoming space and accompaniment following the principles of care in the Sisters Hospitallers’ centres.
What kind of psychiatric disorders can be treated in the day hospital programme for children in your clinic?
We treat children and adolescents with various mental health disorders and problems, such as depression, anxiety, adjustment disorders or learning disorders.
How is a typical day structured in the day hospital programme for children and adolescents at La Inmaculada? What activities are carried out?
When the patient is admitted, individual attention is given and they are integrated into group activities and workshops by social work, occupational therapy, psychology and psychiatry, team meetings are held for strategy planning, follow-up and evaluation of cases and meetings with parents, according to the needs and the therapeutic plan; tasks are established for the minors to continue them on an outpatient basis.
How is formation and spiritual accompaniment integrated into the daily work with minors in the day hospital programme, in line with the mission of the Hospitaller Sisters?
The aim is for the minors to have spaces to attend to their individual needs with spiritual accompaniment provided by a Sister and through the activities carried out by the health ministry.
What is the role of the family in the treatment of minors in the day hospital? Are they given any kind of support or participation in the therapeutic process?
The family is fundamental, schedules are organised so that parents can attend meetings, accompany their children on admission and departure from the day hospital and encourage communication with teachers, there are spaces for individual and group care for families.
What is the approach to follow-up and aftercare once the children or adolescents are discharged from the day hospital programme?
The minors sould continue their psychotherapy process and follow-up by child psychiatry to give continuity to everything that has been done in the process; both at home and at school, given that the aim is to fully reintegrate them into all their activities.
How is collaboration with other health professionals such as psychologists, occupational therapists and educators in the day hospital programme for children?
It is a joint work; generally, patients have a type of problem that does not allow them to function well in their environments, individual psychotherapy processes must be articulated, consultations so that all professionals have the same objective, that all interventions are coordinated, with information to parents and minors and opening the dialogue to teachers.
How do you promote quality and continuous improvement in day hospital care for minors, in line with the vision of the Hospitaller Sisters and their commitment to excellence in child and adolescent mental health care?
We encourage feedback from children and adolescents, as well as parents, to improve care, either anonymously, through surveys or verbally. We work with the Clinic’s quality area for the continuous improvement of our processes.