Sandalwood
Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (IDD)
Psychiatric Program
Sandalwood's Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Psychiatric Program is modeled off of the mission and professional work of Carol M. Wester of Hopewell Associates, Inc. (HAI), and is, in part, informed by principles of Wolf Wolfensberger's Social Role Valorization (SRV) Theory. The IDD Psychiatric Program is designed to provide specialized holistic psychiatric/mental health services to adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities who reside within North Carolina.
Why do patients with IDD require specialized services?
Did you know that...
...approximately 1 in 33 children are diagnosed with Autism each year?
...approximately 40% of individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities experience psychiatric/mental illness?
...individuals with IDD are significantly more likely to receive inferior treatment from healthcare professionals?
...many healthcare professionals admit they received little to no training on the needs of individuals with IDD and feel ill prepared to meet their specialized needs?
...many health care systems purposefully avoid specializing in providing care to individuals with IDD due to the amount of resources that are required in their care?
The Sandalwood IDD Psychiatric Program understands these facts and are equipped to meet the specialized needs.
What makes the Sandalwood IDD Psychiatric Program different from other mental health services?
Providers within the Sandalwood IDD Psychiatric Program are trained and experienced to support individuals with IDD and co-existing mental illness. These providers have expertise to parse out the nuances of the intellectual/developmental disability from the symptoms of mental illness, screen for potential underlying medical causes of behavioral symptoms, interpret ABA data graphing, and identify environmental factors impacting behaviors.
What type of medications are prescribed at the Sandalwood IDD Psychiatric Program?
Providers within the Sandalwood IDD Psychiatric Program prescribe a range of medications, vitamins, and supplements. Each provider determines their practice orientation based on their education and experience.
The Sandalwood IDD Psychiatric Program may consider prescribing controlled substances, such as benzodiazepine (ex. Ativan, Klonopin, Valium, etc.) or stimulants (ex. Ritalin, Adderall, etc.) medications on a case-by-case basis due to the needs of the population served. New patients on these medications, however, must be willing to engage in dialogue with the provider regarding long-term treatment plan, which may or may not include the medication regimens prescribed by previous providers.
Commitment to Family & Caregiver Mental Health:
The Sandalwood IDD Psychiatric Program also understands the multi-faceted stressors that are placed on immediate family members of those with IDD as they are faced with the challenges over advocating for their needs. For this reason, immediate family members of the Sandalwood's IDD Psychiatric Program patients are also eligible for care and support, if so desired.