While childhood is normally considered a time of innocence and exploration, for young people battling behavioral health issues, these years are often wrought with great difficulty and anguish.

Unfortunately, for these children and their families, professionals capable of helping them combat these problems are difficult to find — especially in rural communities in Cass and Berrien counties.

Officials with Borgess Health have recently done their part to help alleviate this pressure on families living in the greater Dowagiac region, though.

Rob Heffron, a pediatric physician assistant, began seeing child and teenage patients last month at the Borgess-Lee Medical Group’s DeLano Outpatient Clinic, located on the second floor of the Don Lyons Medical Building across from the Dowagiac hospital. Heffron will be at the clinic the first and third Wednesday of the month, where he and other clinic staff will be able to provide psychiatric care, counseling services and mental health medication management to children and adolescents dealing with conditions such as:

• Anxiety and panic disorder

• Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD)

• Child and adolescent behavior problems

• Depression

• Feelings of isolation and loneliness

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

The in-person child treatment is among several services the DeLano Clinic offers patients, who
primarily hail from communities in Cass, Berrien and Van Buren counties. Other services include in-person counseling as well as tele-health services, where patients can receive counseling from behavioral health staff in Kalamazoo remotely, using a monitor with an encrypted signal.

“Our goal is to get patients in and out of the center as soon as possible,” said Samantha Kreitner, director of rural health with Borgess Medical Group.

These services are in response to the recommendations from the Cass County Rural Health Planning Network, a group of area healthcare providers who meet several times a year to discuss pressing healthcare issues affecting local residents.

“It’s a response to a community need,” said Ann Crabb, clinical manager, ambulatory behavioral health, with Borgess Health. “It is something that is desperately needed out here.”

These services are especially critical for children dealing with these issues, who often suffer from poor performance in school, or problems forming or maintaining friendships with their peers.

“We often work upstream against parents who believe that their children will simply ‘grow out of it,’” Kreitner said.

However, these problems may often be successfully treated through regular therapy sessions and/or medication.

Some signs that children are dealing with behavioral health issues include a sudden change in personality, withdrawing from social circles and falling grades at school.

“If you think your child’s behavior is a concern, don’t wait,” Heffron said. “Make that appointment right away. We will try to make the process as easy as possible.”

People may contact the DeLano Clinic at (269) 782-1502.