Akron Children’s Hospital Opens Outpatient Clinic for Youth

Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio has announced the launch of an outpatient clinic to treat children and youth up to the age of 18 with substance use disorders. The clinic was slated to open Tuesday.

The program will include individual and family counseling, as well as the use of medication assisted treatment. The new clinic will complement an existing program at Akron Children’s that treats patients with other diagnoses who also have a substance use disorder.

“Many existing programs focus on mental health with some discussion of substance use but not all substance users have mental health concerns,” William Goldman, DO, the program’s medical director, said in a news release. “If you look at the national data for children 12 to 17 years of age, many patients have coexisting mental and substance use, but some do not. We will be able at Akron Children's to address both, which is unique.”