Mercy Health — Behavioral Health Institute, St. Charles
Mercy Health – Behavioral Health Institute, St. Charles is a department of Mercy Health – St. Vincent Medical Center
If you or another person is in danger of harm, call 911 immediately for help.
Mercy Health recognizes mental health as a nationwide issue that effects individuals, families, and the communities that we serve. As such, we place a priority on providing a continuum of care for mental health disorders throughout the ministry. Ideally, early intervention and quality ambulatory care can prevent the need for acute intervention but we provides acute care for individuals whose emotional and behavioral manifestations have put them at risk of harm to self or others. Below is a list of services offered within our institute:
- Adult Inpatient Psychiatry
- Co-occurring Diagnosis
- Geriatric Inpatient Psychiatry
- Interventional Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic (ECT, TMS, Esketamine)
Adult Inpatient Psychiatry
This service is offered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to persons who are 18 years and older who are experiencing difficulty coping with symptoms that place them at risk of harm to self or others and/or are having difficulty caring for themselves due to the exacerbation of their symptoms. Inpatient psychiatry is provided in a locked, secure facility by a multidisciplinary team of behavioral health professionals that includes psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, psychiatric nurses, behavioral health technicians, and social workers.
If you or another person is in danger of harm, call 911 immediately for help.
Initial treatment and stabilization can arise from:
- Severe mood disorder, including mania and depression
- Psychosis
- Anxiety disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Suicide risk
- Cognitive impairments
Care is provided in a safe and supportive environment and may include:
- Individual or group therapy
- Medication management
- Neurostimulation, such as Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
The goal of the hospitalization is to provide emergency stabilization, symptom relief and coordination of care that enhances treatment and recovery.
Co-occurring Diagnosis
This service is offered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to persons admitted to inpatient adult psychiatry units who also have comorbid substance use disorder (SUD) concerns. These individuals receive the same quality psychiatric care provided on inpatient adult psychiatric units combined with interventions aimed to support their SUD needs. These interventions can include but are not limited to detoxification/withdrawal management, MOUD, individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, and peer support.
If you or another person is in danger of harm, call 911 immediately for help.
Interventional Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic
ECT is the most advanced treatment for people who suffer from treatment-resistant depression, bipolar disorder, mania and other forms of schizophrenia. It involves the use of brief, controlled electrical current to produce a seizure in the brain. The seizure activity can create biochemical changes to treat active symptoms. ECT is one of the most effective ways to relieve symptoms in severely depressed or suicidal patients.
While ECT uses an electric current to induce a seizure, TMS creates a magnetic field to induce a much smaller electric current in a specific part of the brain without causing a seizure or loss of consciousness. TMS does not require sedation and is administered on an outpatient basis.
Esketamine is a prescription medication used with oral antidepressants to treat adults with treatment resistant depression. It is a nasal spray used under the supervision of a health care provider in our outpatient health care setting.
If you or another person is in danger of harm, call 911 immediately for help.