Columbia Area Mental Health Center

Fairfield County Adult Services

  • Clinic based outpatient services provide individual, group, and family therapy, psychiatric medical assessments and nursing services.
  • Crisis services are provided at the clinic and at Fairfield Memorial Hospital.

Fairfield County Child, Adolescent, & Family (CAF) Services

  • Clinic based outpatient services provide individual, family and group therapy to children and adolescents to improve quality of life and general functioning of children.
  • School based services at Fairfield Middle, Fairfield High School and other schools as needed provide an avenue to increase accessibility of mental health services in a non-stigmatizing environment.
  • Crisis services are provided at the clinic and at Fairfield Memorial Hospital.

Clinic Programs

  • Adult Clinic Services, located in downtown Columbia, is a general outpatient clinic which provides psychiatric medical assessments, nursing services, individual and group therapy and case management services.
  • Insights, located in the Columbia Mall area, provides services that meet the age, developmental, cultural and clinical needs of men and women 18-30 years old who are high users of inpatient care, emergency departments and other crisis services.

Intensive and Specialty Programs

  • Rehabilitation and Stabilization Services specializes in assisting patients who have been less responsive to medications and usual treatment interventions.
  • Behavior Therapy, home of the Center’s Suicide Prevention Program, is a psychotherapy program which offers individual, family, and/or group therapy.
  • Impact, a model program for the state, is a short-term (up to 90 days), highly intensive ACT program which engages patients in their own recovery process.
  • Mental Health Court is a treatment alternative to jail and prosecution designed for individuals with mental illnesses who have been arrested for a misdemeanor and/or non-violent felony, resulting mainly from an untreated mental illness or mental illness/substance abuse problem.
  • Homeless Outreach, based at Transitions, engages and assesses adults with serious mental illness and co-occurring disorders.
  • Homeshare offers a unique living situation to patients who need assistance in transitioning from inpatient facilities into the community by placing them individually into a community household, similar to the foster care system.

CAMHC Emergency Services

The Emergency Services Unit provides services to adults in crisis and/or new to the Center during regular operating hours.  A Center Mental Health Professional is available by telephone 2:00pm until 5:00pm 7 days/week. In addition, a Center Mental Health Professional is on duty at the Prisma Health Emergency Department 8:00am until Midnight 7 days/week.

Midlands Crisis Stabilization Center

Midlands Crisis Stabilization Center (MCSC) is a 9 bed, voluntary, adult crisis unit that operates 24-7-365 serving Richland, Fairfield and Lexington counties. This unit is designed to provide an urgent treatment option for individuals experiencing psychiatric symptoms, which may require adjustments and/or counseling support. MCSC provides an alternative treatment option with a goal of diverting individuals from unnecessary ED visits or jail when possible.

MCSC is a short-term treatment option, with an average length of stay of 3-5 days. The focus of the unit is to stabilize symptoms and stressors which led to the individual’s crisis and help them to transition back to their natural support systems as quickly as possible.

CHILDREN, ADOLESCENT AND FAMILY SERVICES (CAF)

Clinic-based Outpatient Services

  • Provides individual, family, and group therapy to children and adolescents 3-18 years of age (also serve children up to the age of 21 who are in transitional services through school districts) who present with emotional, behavioral, or psychiatric problems.

School Mental Health Services

  • CAF’s largest community-based program.
  • Provides an avenue to increase accessibility of mental health services (individual, family, and group therapy) in a non-stigmatizing environment, provide early intervention and prevention services, and consult with teachers and school staff to advocate for the social, emotional, and psychiatric needs of children in educational settings.
  • Provides psychosocial rehabilitation services during the summer to children who otherwise would not be able to be maintained in traditional summer camp settings.
  • Providing services within schools has been essential for reaching children and families in the rural portions of our county, particularly in the Lower Richland area.
  • Involved in all three school districts that serve students in Richland County.

Crisis Services

  • Provides assessment and referral of youth who present in acute psychiatric, emotional, or behavioral distress.
  • Youth are evaluated to determine the appropriate level of care and intervention (i.e., acute hospitalization, referral for ongoing therapy).
  • Program also provides consultation to local emergency rooms either through face-to-face (PRISMA Health Richland only) or telephone contact during the day.

Child Welfare Program

  • In partnership with South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS), a clinician is embedded in the Richland County DSS office to provide treatment to youth who are dealing with the ramifications of abuse and neglect.
  • Program is designed to provide immediate assessment and counseling services to youth who enter protective custody to minimize the need for therapeutic placement, to enhance potential for the child’s successful reunification with his/her family; or to assist the child in the processing and acceptance of the permanent placement decision that may be made for them.
  • Clinician provides services to children in DSS custody placed in Richland County.

Infant and Early Childhood Evaluation and Treatment Clinic

  • Provides assessment and treatment for children ages 0-6 years who present with social, emotional, and/or behavioral disorders.
  • Children who are in need of ongoing treatment also may receive medication monitoring in conjunction with individual and family therapy.
  • Program serves all counties in South Carolina.
  • William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute ran clinic until 2008 when Columbia Area Mental Health Center administratively adopted the program.

Case Management of Children in Out-of-Home Placement

  • Monitors children placed in out-of-home placement to ensure children’s treatment needs are being met, and they are progressing in therapy.
  • The program is deeply committed to providing youth with treatment in the least restrictive setting, based upon each individual’s needs, involving their family, and with proactive discharge planning.
  • The case management program provides services for youth in out-of-home placements, up to age 21, who reside in Richland or Fairfield County.

Multi-Dimensional Family Therapy (MDFT)

  • Multi-dimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) is a comprehensive and multi-systemic family-based intervention. It is delivered through manualized treatment in a series of 12 to 16 weekly or twice weekly sessions.
  • The treatment focuses on improving the youth’s interpersonal functioning with parents and peers, the parents’ parenting practices and level of parental functioning and communication between family members and key social systems (e.g., school, mental health, and juvenile justice).
  • The model can be used with youth ages 9-26 years of age.

Metropolitan Child Advocacy Center (MetCAC)

  • Is the only state-funded Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) in South Carolina.
  • Primary mission is to conduct forensic interviews and medical exams of children referred by local law enforcement and DSS agencies due to allegations of abuse or neglect.
  • Most of the children seen each year are both medically examined and interviewed.
  • Staff provide trainings across South Carolina.

Columbia Area Mental Health Center

2715 Colonial Drive, Suite 100
Columbia, SC 29203

Phone:  803-898-4800
Emergency Line (after hours):  833-364-2274

Service Hours

Monday – Friday
8:30am – 5:00pm

Closed During Holidays

Helpful Links

Do you have a complaint regarding services being provided to a child by a state agency? Please submit your complaint to the South Carolina Department of Children’s Advocacy by phone (1-800-206-1957) or via the electronic submission form.

Notices

Language assistance services are available to you free of charge by calling 1-805-360-3326. Please enter Pin #:  81767494 and be prepared to state your language.

Los servicios de asistencia lingüística están disponibles sin cargo llamando al 1-805-360-3326. Por favor, ingrese su número de pin 81767494 y prepárese para decir su idioma.

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