Cooley Dickinson Hospital offers a 24-bed adult/geriatric inpatient behavioral health unit that is designed and staffed to support community members who are living with a variety of behavioral health concerns.

Our approach to patient care is to achieve stable behavioral control and to provide relationship-centered treatment that is driven by the principles of recovery and trauma-informed care. Our clinical teams strive to create a safe and supportive environment that facilitates an individual’s return to community life with stability and increased resiliency.

Patient care is provided by dedicated interdisciplinary teams of psychiatrists, social workers, nurses, occupational therapists, psychiatric counselors, mental health technicians and certified nursing assistants.

Some of the innovative work we provide to our patients is group therapy programs that are held daily along with a variety of sensory modalities. In fact, the inpatient behavioral health team at Cooley Dickinson was the first in the region to design and implement a hospital-based, multi-sensory room to help psychiatric patients regulate their anxiety or agitation. Staff members describe the multi-sensory room as empowering patients to take an active role in their treatment. The environment provides alternative and experimental opportunities for de-escalation.

Incorporating sensory modalities into patient care has been the subject of research conducted by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Department of Engineering. And in 2006, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health recognized Cooley Dickinson Hospital for “leading a national initiative to decrease the use of restraints and seclusion” in one of the most vulnerable populations, consumers of inpatient psychiatric services.

The inpatient behavioral health unit also provides support groups for patients and their families on topics such as mental illness/substance dependence, caregiver support and Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Patients receive continuity of professionally consistent care through our link with the Cooley Dickinson Hospital Outpatient Behavioral Health Services and with other community-based support programs.

If you are interested in practicing psychiatric nursing in an environment that promotes growth and values you as a nurse professional, we invite you to take another look at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

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