Linden Oaks responds to increased demand for mental health services, opens 45,000 square foot Outpatient Center

Linden Oaks at Edward has opened a new Outpatient Center in a completely renovated 45,000-square foot building at 1335 North Mill Street in Naperville.  Linden Oaks’ outpatient services had previously been located nearby in a facility about half the size of the new center.

Linden Oaks invested $3.5 million in the renovation of the building, which features numerous large windows that allow natural light to flood the interior, contributing to a healing environment.

“We were at the point where we didn’t have enough space to accommodate the volume of patients,” says Mary Lou Mastro, CEO, Linden Oaks at Edward, which had 45,257 outpatient visits in fiscal year 2012, an 11 percent increase over fiscal year 2011’s 40,709 outpatient visits.  “The new, larger facility means we can expand and grow existing programs.”

A new Linden Oaks program is “Aspirations,” an intensive outpatient program for the treatment of adolescents with Asperger’s Disorder and mood and anxiety disorders.  Asperger’s is characterized by serious impairment in social interaction skills and repetitive behaviors.  M. Joann Wright, Ph.D., Director, Anxiety Services and Lauren Friedrich, Psy.D. lead the Aspirations treatment team.

In addition, the Outpatient Center is home for the majority of Linden Oaks’ support programs and a community resource center managed by NAMI DuPage County (National Alliance on Mental Illness).

The Outpatient Center provides prevention, education, diagnosis and treatment of behavioral health conditions and disorders.  All of Linden Oaks’ outpatient services are now centrally located in the new building, with the exception of the eating disorders program.

Features of the new Outpatient Center include:

--Chemical dependency, addiction, depression, self-injury, bi-polar disorder and anxiety treatment for adults/adolescents

--A 100-seat conference center for support programs, and outpatient and community education

--Offices for Linden Oaks Medical Group and its 14 board certified psychiatrists

Linden Oaks’ outpatient programs offer a high level of supportive, focused and structured care.  A variety of programs are available – full-day, half-day and after work or school.  Partial programs are designed as an alternative to or follow-up after inpatient treatment in order to provide a higher level of structured care than the traditional outpatient setting.  Outpatient programs are offered at Linden Oaks’ new Outpatient Center in Naperville, Linden Oaks’ offices on the Edward Plainfield campus and Linden Oaks’ St. Charles location.

 The opening of the new Outpatient Center follows the spring 2012 opening of a three-wing, 8,500-square foot expansion of Linden Oaks at Edward’s inpatient facility on the campus of Edward Hospital, 801 S. Washington St. in Naperville.  The $4.3 million project created room for 14 additional beds and increased Linden Oaks’ bed count to 108 for adolescent, adult, chemical dependency, eating disorders and geriatrics patients.  There are also new day rooms, group meeting rooms and patient consultation rooms, along with patient and staff locker rooms.

Linden Oaks at Edward is a 108-bed behavioral health hospital on Edward Hospital’s Naperville campus with offices in Naperville, Plainfield, St. Charles, Woodridge and Yorkville.  Linden Oaks has more than 30 psychiatrists on its medical staff and 350 employees to serve residents of Chicago’s west and southwest suburbs.

Linden Oaks uses a combination of inpatient, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient and traditional outpatient programs to treat adolescents, adults and older adults.

Linden Oaks’ treatment teams are made up of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, including the physicians of Linden Oaks Medical Group and psychologists, clinical social workers, professional counselors, registered nurses and occupational therapists.  All are certified and/or licensed in their area of practice.

They treat patients for anxiety disorders, chemical dependency, addictions, depression, eating disorders, geriatric conditions and self-injury, and provide a full range of services for adolescents.  In addition, Linden Oaks works with Edward Hospital to conduct postpartum depression screenings of new moms.  The service is also provided to area OB-GYN physicians and perinatologists.

The Resource and Referral Department provides free assessments for individuals who need mental health services.  Licensed resource and referral counselors are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at (630) 305-5500.  They take more than 100,000 calls and conduct more than 9,000 in-person assessments each year.

The Joint Commission has awarded Linden Oaks the Gold Seal of Approval for commitment to excellence in six disease management programs:  addiction services, bipolar disorders, depression, eating disorders, geriatrics and self-injury.

Earlier in 2012, Linden Oaks became the first psychiatric hospital in the U.S. to be honored with the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) Award for Outstanding Nursing Quality, which is determined by the ANA’s National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators.

For more information about Linden Oaks, visit www.edward.org/lindenoaks.  For immediate assistance and a free and confidential assessment, call the Linden Oaks 24/7 Help Line at (630) 305-5500.