Psychiatric Unit Nursing Jobs

The inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit is a 12-bed unit that provides acute child and adolescent behavioral health treatment. The unit is has 12 private rooms and two double occupancy rooms.

Our Patients

Patients on this unit are 8-17 years old and stay an average of 7-10 days. Our patients suffer from a number of psychiatric disorders including:

• Mood-disorders, 
• thought-disorders, 
• depression, 
• anxiety, 
• ADHD; and 
• many issues that prohibit the child/adolescent from being safe or successful at home or within the community.

Our Team

We have a team of Psychiatrists, Social Workers, Psychologists, an Occupational Therapist, and a Special Education Teacher. Since Denver Health is an academic medical center, Child Fellows, Medical students, Psychology Interns and Social Work Externs round out the treatment team and help provide additional care.

Caring Registered Nurses that specialize in Adolescent Behavioral Health Nursing and highly-qualified Behavioral Health Care Technicians provide top-notch nursing care and milieu management for patients. Our primary focus is to provide caring, professional therapeutic relationships during treatment for this special, vulnerable population.

Customized Care

Every patient has an individual treatment plan (ITP) based on the criteria that qualified the patient for admission to inpatient treatment. Patients and their support system are personally involved in creating and completing their own treatment plans. The adolescent unit has an incentive-based program where patients can earn tickets towards prizes for accomplishing goals towards treatment and discharge.

The new adolescent psychiatry program provides individual, group and extensive family therapy.  Additional programs include music therapy, yoga and pet therapy as well as staff-led groups. The Child and Adolescent Inpatient Unit at Denver Health has quickly become the premier treatment facility for children and adolescents within the Denver-metro area.

Our Facility

We are in a new state-of-the-art building with naturally lighted space, an open-air atrium space with amazing views of the mountains, a basketball half-court, and ample space to play, relax and regroup. 

The Adult Inpatient Psychiatric Unit has a total of 41 beds divided into two units. The focus of our nursing care is to provide a therapeutic environment so that individuals who suffer from a mental illness can feel safe and valued.  We strive to build rapport with patients by being good listeners and offering feedback to them so that behavioral changes can be achieved and maintained. 

Therapeutic and social oriented groups run throughout the day and nursing staff is expected to lead groups. This unit works as a team and all members must be willing to give and accept constructive feedback for the purpose of improving the quality of care. The unit is scheduled using 8 hour shifts. There are opportunities to be mentored in clinical and leadership roles.

Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) is a multidisciplinary team providing evaluation and treatment for patients presenting with behavioral health emergencies. PES works closely with Denver Health’s Emergency Department, the Denver Emergency Center for Children, Adult and Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatric Services, Outpatient Behavioral Health Services (OBHS) and services throughout the community to meet the needs of patients in psychiatric crisis. PES services include triage, stabilization, consultation, evaluation, and observation of psychiatric patients who may or may not require hospitalization. PES evaluates patients for any behavioral health emergency, whether related to a psychiatric condition, addiction, or both. Following evaluation and stabilization, the appropriate level of care is determined and patients are referred accordingly to either inpatient or outpatient services.