Dorothea Dix Hospital

Last week we had the great possibility to accompany one of our instructors to the Dorothea Dix Hospital where he gave an interesting lecture about the ICF-CY (The International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health for Children and Youth).

The Dorothea Dix Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located on Dix Hill in Raleigh. It opened in 1856 and was named later in honor of Dorothea Dix who had called for reform in the care of mentally ill patients.

The Dorothea Dix Hospital serves as the regional psychiatric hospital for the 8-county South Central Region of the Department of Health and Human Services. It collaborates with community-based mental health programs and provides evaluation, treatment and rehabilitative services for the mentally ill.

A team of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and other trained professionals work together to provide individual care both for outpatients and for inpatients. Altogether the hospital serves about 200 patients.

After the lecture we had the possibility to talk to some of the psychologists and psychiatrists about different therapeutic strategies, the process of assessment and its limitations and about actual financial problems the hospital is faced with. We are invited to join a case review and we really hope to be able to do so soon.