PPIU Daily Schedule

Meeting with Psychiatry Team (9am)
Psychiatrists are medical doctors specializing in mental disorders. UNC Healthcare is a teaching hospital, so at least two psychiatrists are directly involved in your care. Others will participate in the morning rounds. Our team includes attending psychiatrist who supervises resident psychiatrists. These residents are licensed medical doctors completing their training to become psychiatrists. The role of this group of doctors involves assessing all your psychiatric and medical problems. They will then order and oversee your treatment plan during your hospital stay. They will attempt to coordinate your care with doctors and other professionals who work with you outside the hospital. The doctors make decisions about your medications. The doctors hope to answer all your questions about your care and treatment. They want to understand your life circumstances, stressors and concerns. On our team we also usually have medical students. The medical students often are available for more extended discussions during the day.

Occupational Therapy (11am)
Occupational therapy treatment can provide support during the perinatal period by supporting mothers and birthing people in returning to their meaningful roles and routines. This includes helping to discover what that means for each individual person and family unit during what can be such a significant transition. Treatment sessions may include topics and activities such as creating a family or personal routine, sleep hygiene, holistic self-care, cooking, meal planning, identity and role exploration, co-occupation with children, planning for discharge, setting up supports for their return home and improved communication skills.

Recreational Therapy (1pm)
Recreational therapy involves the therapeutic use of activities and interventions led by a certified and licensed professional to improve the physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and leisure needs of patients. The recreational therapist works individually and in a group setting to help  individuals during the perinatal period reconnect with past leisure activities or consider new opportunities to improve wellbeing and help bring joy into the healing process. Recreational therapy interventions can vary greatly but may include coping skills, relaxation training, exercise, leisure based activities, expressive art, biofeedback, and leisure education.

Alternative Groups: (meet approx. 2/week) (2pm)

Spirituality
The Department of Spiritual Health & Education offers groups focusing on spiritual themes on the unit. Participants will have opportunities to explore issues such as grief, healing and meaning in life. The department also offers individual pastoral care and support to patients. A chaplain is available 24 hours a day for emergency visits. If you would like a visit, you may ask the nurse to make the referral or talk to a chaplain after a group session.

Music Therapy
Music Therapy is the clinical & evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. Music therapy interventions can address a variety of healthcare and educational goals. Music therapy can be supportive to people in the perinatal period for addressing role changes in parenthood, emotion regulation, parent-infant bonding, promoting wellness, and self-expression, all through music-based interventions. Music therapy groups and individual sessions may incorporate music listening, instrument learning, singing/instrument playing, songwriting, movement to music, and music and arts-based interventions. Music therapists collaborate with the multidisciplinary team to ensure that music therapy supports individual and group needs.

Psychology
Psychotherapy is provided by licensed psychologists and their trainees who specialize in perinatal mental health. Patients can expect to engage in individual therapy 2-3 times per week, depending on staff availability, for the duration of their hospital stay. We tailor therapy to meet the needs of individual patients, which means that the topics and strategies addressed in therapy vary from patient to patient. Therapy focuses on providing tools that patients can use to function better in their daily lives and to identify and meet their goals for pregnancy, motherhood, or both. The primary treatment modalities used by the psychology team are cognitive-behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, exposure and response prevention, and acceptance and commitment therapy. We also offer psychoeducation and discharge planning sessions to family members as patients prepare to discharge.

Activities group (6pm)
Activities therapists provide meaningful activities with the need and interest of the perinatal patients in mind.  Many groups are leisure based which could involve: movement, games, conversation, writing and thought processing.  Activities Therapy uses leisure based interventions to build upon skills that patients may be working on in other therapies such as Recreational, Occupational and Music. Currently Activities Therapy is offered on the PPIU Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6pm and also at rotating times on weekend days. Additional unscheduled AT groups are held based upon need and availability.