About PHIICAPS

Philadelphia Intensive In-home Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services (PHIICAPS) is an in-home, community-based program which provides trauma-informed therapy and case management to children, adolescents and families in Philadelphia with Medicaid insurance. 

The primary goal of PHIICAPS is to stabilize the child and family so they can effectively utilize traditional outpatient services. The child or adolescent is identified as experiencing acute or severe mental health issues and that put them at risk of hospitalization or out-of-home placement.

PHIICAPS is made up of seven specialty teams. Each team has one master’s level clinician and one bachelor’s level mental health worker. Five of those teams are designated as trauma-specialty, one team specializes in anxiety and OCD (PHIIPATCH), and one team has a juvenile justice focus (JCAPS). PHIICAPS also offers bilingual service for Spanish speaking families. 

PHIIPATCH is the specialty PHIICAPS team created through a partnership with the PATCH clinic (Pediatric Anxiety Treatment Center at Hall Mercer). PHIIPATCH serves the families of children and adolescents with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or other anxiety related disorders that need additional support beyond what the outpatient PATCH clinic provides. This specialty team follows the same family-focused, trauma-informed model as the other PHIICAPS teams, with specific focus on addressing anxiety symptoms through Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). ERP is evidence-based and considered the gold standard for OCD treatment.  

JCAPS is the juvenile justice specialty team. JCAPS treats youth transitioning out of the Juvenile Justice Center (JJSC) to help coordinate care and provide intensive therapeutic services in the home and community. JCAPS coordinates with Family Court to connect with youth as soon as possible. JCAPS, like the other PHIICAPS teams, is voluntary and participation is dependent on the family's willingness to engage in treatment.  

 

See how the PHIICAPS Program has adapted during the COVID-19 Pandemic to serve the needs of families:

 

Parent testimonial: 

"I have improved many parts of my life, my awareness, my maturity in knowing how to manage with problems that the majority of adolescents today experience. When PHIICAPS came, this beautiful and dedicated team, I can say that they, without even knowing it, have come to feel like part of my family. I have learned so much from them, and their help, their time, their dedication, WOW, so much more, the push they gave me to encourage me to keep on going. They help you in those areas that not even I knew I was capable of changing and, even more, improve." 


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