Psychiatry and Behavioral Health

Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Services

The Lutheran Medical Center Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Services offers the Brooklyn community a variety of inpatient and outpatient mental health and substance-abuse services.

Inpatient services include a 35-bed, acute care psychiatric unit, which provides psychiatric evaluation and treatment for individuals suffering from psychiatric disorders, and a 16-bed detoxification program providing alcohol and chemical dependency medical detoxification and supportive services. Both units recently have been renovated and are designed for comfort and safety. Patient care plans focus on individual needs with emphasis on comprehensive evaluation, short-term treatment and restoration of health. The treatment team works closely with each patient, arranging the return to home with referrals for follow-up outpatient aftercare. If necessary, referral to longer-term or residential care can be made.

Located within the hospital, near the medical emergency room, is the psychiatric/ behavioral health service emergency room. It is open to the community 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is always a psychiatrist and registered nurse on duty for emergency evaluation and care.

Psychiatric consultation is provided by experienced psychiatrists on all medical units of the hospital upon request.

The outpatient care system, located at Lutheran Family Health Centers’ Sunset Terrace site, offers a comprehensive continuum of mental health and substance-abuse services including, but not limited to: individual and group adult and child therapies, couples and family counseling, psychiatric evaluation and medication management, buprenorphin treatment and psychiatric treatment of older adults. In response to the 9/11 disaster, this mental health center became a designated Project Liberty program, which developed a specific Project Liberty Wellness Center now located at the Lutheran Family Health Centers’ Family Support Center on 6th Avenue and 61st Street in Brooklyn. The Family Support Center offers education, free counseling and outreach services to anyone in the community experiencing continuing effects of the tragedy. For more information on this program, please call 718-630-7186.

All programs are certified by New York State and are staffed by a culturally diverse staff that reflects the surrounding communities. Click on “Find a Physician” to make an appointment with one of our psychiatrists.

Bradford M. Goff, M.D., Chair of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Services