Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) Somerset, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, continues its facility upgrades with a newly renovated space for its Outpatient Behavioral Health Services, the health care provider announced May 9. 

Located near the main hospital with a separate, private entrance, the new center features more rooms, expanded services and advanced treatment options.  

Additions to the facility include group therapy rooms and doubled outpatient capacity. The center also will offer more programs at new times to accommodate patients’ work schedules. 

Part of the new program offerings are three levels of outpatient behavioral health services for those 18 and older. They are: 

• A partial hospitalization program with daytime treatment Monday through Friday;  
• Intensive outpatient treatment, which typically involves a half-day program three days a week; and
• Traditional outpatient services offered in conjunction with RWJUH Somerset‘s Babs Siperstein PROUD Center, which provides primary medical care for members of the LGBTQIA community. 

The trauma-informed multidisciplinary team includes board-certified psychiatrists, psychiatric advanced practice nurses, licensed therapists, music and art therapists, occupational therapists, according RWJUH Somerset. 

In a statement, Dr. Frank Ghinassi – senior vice president of behavioral health and addiction services at RWJBarnabas Health and president and CEO of Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care – said the RWJUH Somerset team “is equipped to teach the patient what their physical, psychiatric, psychological and social needs are so they possess the skills needed to succeed. 

“Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the team has seen rates of loneliness, anxiety, depression and other mental health issues increase,” Ghinassi said. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of adults who received mental health treatment increased from 2019 to 2021 (among both adults of all ages, from 19.2% to 21.6%, and those ages 18 to 44, from 18.5% to 23.2%). 

Ghinassi added that the new outpatient center will help accommodate this growing need for services. 

Additional behavioral health services at RWJUH Somerset include a 28-bed inpatient Behavioral Health Unit for ages 18 and older, and a Crisis Center in the Emergency Department. 

The new facility follows RWJUH Somerset’s newly renovated outpatient office suite for medical oncology and infusion services, a renovated eating disorders unit and the topping off of its orthopedic center expansion.