Medical Services

MSAHC health providers are specialists in adolescent medicine and provide preventive medical services, acute care, management of chronic illnesses, and inpatient services. Each adolescent knows his or her own provider, and the provider serves as both primary care practitioner and case manager for all health care needs. Physical health and psychosocial problems are identified and addressed by a multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary staff.

Core Services Include:

• Comprehensive Physical Examinations and psychosocial screening for sports participation, camp participation, employment, or school
• Annual health care maintenance and health screening, immunization updates
• Acute Care/walk-in service
• Management of chronic diseases
• Management of inpatient hospitalization when necessary
• 24 hour physician phone coverage, seven days a week

To make an appointment, please call 212-423-3000.

Reproductive Health Services

MSAHC provides reproductive health care which includes routine gynecological care, abstinence counseling, family planning, birth control education and provision, pregnancy testing, pregnancy options counseling, STI testing and treatment, HIV/STI risk reduction counseling, and HIV testing and counseling. MSAHC provides on-site colposcopy evaluation and treatment and is a major New York City referral center for the diagnosis and treatment of abnormal pap smears in the adolescent population.

Core Services Include:

• Abstinence support, enhancement of sexual decision making skills, and family planning counseling
• Sexually transmitted infection prevention counseling and risk reduction education
• Routine gynecological examinations
• Screening, diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections
• Pregnancy testing
• Contraceptive advice and information
• Emergency Contraception
• Condom distribution
• Colposcopy services

To make an appointment, please call (212) 423-3000.

Counseling Services

MSAHC runs New York City's largest program for adolescent mental health, including individual, group, and family psychotherapy; psychological testing; psychiatric services; diagnostic and psychopharmacological services; and specialized clinical social workers for mentally ill/chemically abusing and substance abusing teens. MSAHC provides specialized mental health services for incest and sexual abuse survivors, sexual assault survivors, crime victims, children of alcohol and substance abusers, and adolescents with eating disorders. MSAHC's Project Impact program provides intensive clinical services and case management for HIV+ adolescents, and clinical support and bereavement counseling for HIV-affected youth and families. MSAHC has twenty clinical treatment groups, making it New York City's largest and most diverse adolescent group therapy program.

Services Include:

• Individual, family, and group therapy, counseling and support
• Violence prevention and treatment including services for survivors of sexual assault and physical and sexual abuse
• Alcohol and substance abuse prevention, treatment and support services
• Teen Parenting support service
• HIV/AIDS support service

MSAHC's professional health educators provide comprehensive education on STI and HIV prevention, sexual decision making skills, abstinence support, family planning advice, teen parenting support, and substance abuse prevention. Additionally, our health educators go out into the community to engage and educate young people in schools as well as in community based organizations.

MSAHC's Sinai Peers Encouraging Empowerment through Knowledge (SPEEK) program recruits adolescents from our patients to be peer educators. SPEEK participants gain skills for discussing sensitive health subjects – such as reproductive health, pregnancy prevention, prevention of sexually transmitted infections and HIV, values clarification and decision making and present this information to their peers through waiting room discussions and workshops at schools, community agencies and health fairs. The goal of SPEEK is to reduce teen pregnancy in East Harlem. To date, the SPEEK program has trained over 150 adolescents to provide HIV/AIDS, STI, and pregnancy prevention outreach and education, and who advise MSAHC on program activities, needs assessment tools, and educational and outreach materials. Annually, SPEEK staff provides workshops for over 4000 teens with individual and group educational sessions.

MSAHC's comprehensive HIV care includes risk reduction education and counseling, pre- and post-test counseling, HIV testing (both traditional and rapid testing), viral load testing and CD4 counts, education on re-infection and secondary infection, respite counseling, stress reduction, nutrition, permanency planning, bereavement counseling, and medical treatment. Since 1990 "Project Impact" (Improving Access to Care and Treatment), the HIV treatment and prevention program for HIV infected and at risk adolescents, has provided medical, mental health and health education services to over 135 HIV infected and thousands of at risk youth integrated into the primary care program at the MSAHC. MSAHC is home to New York City's largest adolescent HIV/AIDS mental Health program.

MSAHC is also the site for a National Institutes of Health funded research project on adolescent HIV/AIDS. HIV+ youth are monitored for adolescent development, the medical course of the illness, and the effects of health education on treatment adherence, nutrition and at risk behaviors. The program seeks to develop HIV clinical management guidelines that reflect the biological and behavioral characteristics of adolescence. With the award of the NICHD sponsored ATN grant in March of 2001, the Connect to Protect (C2P) project initiated community collaborations with agencies serving at risk youth and continues to be have a strong presence in the community.

The Eating Disorders Program

The Eating Disorder Program provides medical, nutritional and mental health assessment and treatment for those adolescents with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, female athlete triad, binge eating disorder and other types of disordered eating patterns. Each teenager is provided a comprehensive medical evaluation including physical exam and laboratory tests and ongoing medical care by an adolescent medicine trained provider, a nutritional assessment of diet, diet plans, individual and group dietary counseling and nutrition education offered by a registered dietitian and a mental health evaluation and ongoing mental health treatment provided by a Certified Social Worker with consultation by an attending psychiatrist.

The Weight Management Program

The Weight Management Program provides medical and nutritional assessment for the prevention, evaluation and treatment of pediatric and adolescent obesity/overweight and high cholesterol. Each adolescent receives a complete physical exam with emphasis on medical problems due to overweight or cholesterol including high blood pressure, diabetes, and respiratory and orthopedic problems. Additionally, teenagers meet with a registered dietician for an assessment of diet, diet plans, individual and group dietary counseling, behavior modification and nutrition education. Exercise groups are offered regularly that emphasize strength training, flexibility and aerobic capacity in an adolescent friendly manner. Additionally, mental health services are also integrated into the nutrition and wellness program. Participants are screened and are involved in individual and/or group counseling.

Through a multi-disciplinary team, MSAHC's Teen Parenting Program provides comprehensive services to approximately 300 infants, toddlers, school-age children and their adolescent parents. Parenting services include primary care and urgent medical services, social work, counseling, health education, child life services and evaluation, advocacy, and educational counseling and school placement for the teen parent.

The MSAHC operates two three adolescent school-based health centers at Manhattan's Julia Richman Education Complex, Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics and Bayard Rustin Educational Complex which provide more than 2,000 students with medical, reproductive health, mental health, and health education services every year. Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, and Pediatricians with training in Adolescent Medicine provide medical services along with Social Workers, who provide individual and group counseling, and Health Educators. Innovative programming at the school based health center sites led to the development of the diabetes prevention program "What's Really Good?!!!" which received the Carlotta Simons Diabetes Award in Adolescent Health in 2004.

The Community Youth Program is a New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services funded program designed to prevent substance abuse by adolescents.  Counseling and support services include individual, group and family counseling.  We build on each teen’s unique strengths and capabilities to better prepare them for the world.

The Adolescent Substance Abuse and Treatment Program (ASAP) is a SAMHSA grant funded program designed to provide drug and alcohol treatment to adolescents ages 12-21 within a comprehensive mental health program. ASAP includes comprehensive screening, psychosocial assessment, and individual treatment planning based on the goals of abstinence. Additional services include individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy, psychological testing, psychiatric evaluation, and medication management. All services are funded by SAMHSA and are both confidential and voluntary. Eligible adolescents will agree to take part in data collection (confidential) at date of admission, as well as additional collection at 3, 6, and 12 months following admission. ASAP participants will also have access to all MSAHC services available. One of the interventions that we utilize is the The Seven Challenges® Program, an evidence based intervention founded and authored by Dr. Robert Schwebel. It is a treatment approach designed specifically for adolescent and young adult substance abusing or substance dependent individuals, and used across the U.S. to motivate a decision and commitment to change. It helps young people look at their lives and handle the challenges of giving up a drug abusing lifestyle.

MSAHC operates New York State Department of Health-funded programs to provide comprehensive mental health services, preventive education, and advocacy within the criminal justice system for teen survivors of rape, incest, sexual abuse, dating violence, domestic violence and criminal assault. Our teen sexual assault survivor program is the first of its kind in New York City.

Learning Disabilities are estimated to occur in 5–10% of the school aged population. Often associated with poor academic performance, identification of Learning Disabilities can open doors to more appropriate education and thus better outcomes for teens struggling with scholastics. The MSAHC offers a team consisting of psychologists, social workers, a neurologist and a psychiatrist available for evaluation of teenagers presenting with poor academic performance and learning difficulties. Full testing is available on site.

The Health Care Access Program, a New York State funded "facilitated enrollment" program, was established at the AHC in 2000 to provide on site insurance/ entitlement screening and enrollment services for Child Health Plus and Medicaid for uninsured children. Targeted to adolescents, AHC’s program is conducted under the sponsorship of the Children's Aid Society. HCAP has screened a total of 24,180 patients since the program’s inception. Since 2004 HCAP has facilitated approval over 3000 applications.

In 2007, the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, in collaboration with the New York Legal Assistance Group, has developed a legal assistance service on site for all MSAHC patients. These services provide legal support and counsel for Issues such as housing problems, benefit entitlements, immigration difficulties, educational entitlements and custody issues.