Our mission is to empower children and adults with developmental disabilities to achieve their potential based on personal choices, abilities and interests...
For more information about our clinical services please
contact:
Nancy Succoso
Assistant Executive Director
nsuccoso@
westchesterarc.org
For appointments:
phone: 914.949.9300,
ext. 4500
Westchester Arc
The Gleeson-Israel Gateway Center
265 Saw Mill River Road
Hawthorne, NY 10532
914.949.9300
info@westchesterarc.org
24-hour
Crisis Intervention:
914.949.8200
Información
en Español
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Clinic Focuses on Families
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| Dr. Claudia Sickinger |
Dr. Claudia Sickinger, psychiatrist and clinical lead for Westchester Arc’s clinic, believes that families are key to the successful treatment of individuals with developmental disabilities. She brings to this philosophy a very personal perspective, having a brother with autism, a sister who has taught special ed and parents who are on the boards of advocacy and social service organizations. “You could say it’s a family business,” she quips.
After completing her residency in psychiatry at Mt. Sinai Hospital, she was awarded a fellowship in public psychiatry at Columbia University. The program involved working with WIHD (Westchester Institute for Human Development) and “it was a great fit, my personal experience gave me perspective.”
Her work in Westchester Arc’s clinic involves a specialized form of person-centered planning. “You can’t isolate treatment from the rest of an individual’s life.” That means involving as large a “circle of support” as possible in order to learn a person’s history, as well as current environmental factors. “We want to understand an individual’s goals, then help them make the necessary adaptations to achieve them.” She stresses the importance of keeping families continually informed, within the bounds of confidentiality.
Her role is to conduct an initial assessment of the needed course of treatment, then to collaborate with colleagues specializing in nutrition, rehabilitation counseling, psychotherapy, and occupational, physical or speech therapy. As a psychiatrist, she is also responsible for the management of any medications.
Her evaluations, which may require several meetings, often involve family counseling—addressing the separation anxiety that may accompany an individual’s move to a group home or discussing plans for the future during the psychological interview that is a legally required part of the guardianship process.
She brings special expertise to the care of aging individuals—a growing segment of the population—having trained at one of the nation’s top hospitals for dementia. She recently organized an agency workshop on the topic, stressing symptoms and courses of treatment.
Dr. Sickinger points out that stereotypes have traditionally interfered with quality medical treatment for people with developmental disabilities. “Twenty to 30 years ago, in the days of Willowbrook, they might have been prescribed anti-psychotics, when they were really anxious or depressed.” She emphasizes that people with developmental disabilities experience mood disorders to the same extent as the general population.
Similarly, environmental stressors or other medical conditions can play a role. The anniversary of a loved one’s death, difficulties with a roommate or a physical condition such as diabetes can affect behavior.
“The things they are more prone to,” she notes “are trauma and abuse. They are more vulnerable.” In order to balance personal autonomy with needed safeguards, the clinic can evaluate an individual’s capacity for informed consent and is always alert to details in a person’s psychsocial history that point to threatening situations.
Dr. Sickinger is working with the Westchester District Branch of the American Psychiatric Association to educate the larger medical community about people with developmental disabilities. “I want to ensure that when our consumers go to an emergency room, they’re taken seriously.”
Following 9/11, she worked at ground zero, subsequently publishing a chapter in the book Disaster Psychiatry. “A Woman Named Katherine” describes her acquaintance with the particularly insightful family member of one victim. She credits the experience with helping her to “hone my everday work skills, and develop new ones, to better serve people.”
Dr. Sickinger is currently working on a paper for MFY Legal Services, a non-profit that performs pro bono legal work for individuals with chronic mental health issues. “Offering something that people can really use in their lives is what gets me excited.”