$860,000 project at KBMC will house partial hospitalization for teens

MORAINE — Construction is expected to begin this month, weather permitting, on a new 6,324-square-foot home for the partial hospitalization program at the Kettering Behavioral Medicine Center, 5350 Lamme Road.

The $860,000 project should wrap up by August. Until then, the program will continue at the Kettering Medical Center campus.

The program treats 15 to 20 adolescents per day. Officials expect it to grow more than 30 percent when it returns to the KBMC campus. The program has been in temporary quarters at KMC since the adult behavioral health program moved from Kettering Medical Center to Kettering Behavioral Medicine Center in July 2008.

Youth ages 12 to 17 attend the program from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Partial Hospitalization is a treatment program to transition adolescents back into society. It also is used for individuals whose mental health needs are not acute enough to need inpatient treatment. The program has six employees, including two nurses, a social worker and programming specialists. Dr. Kirk Chung, an adolescent psychiatrist, provides psychiatric care, including individual therapy and medication services.