About Us
The Adult Division comprises 139 faculty from a wide and diverse array of disciplines and backgrounds. The Division has experienced tremendous growth in the last 4 years, with our faculty now composed of 41% physicians, 33% psychologists, 9% social workers, and an increasing number of nurse practitioners, licensed counselors, physician assistants and medical assistants. Our clinics, programs and services span the UC Health and CU Medicine systems, with affiliations to Denver Health and the VA system. We have 14 outpatient clinics that provide care for a variety of specific patient populations and illnesses, and include clinics managing mood disorders, women's behavioral health and wellness, student and resident mental health, faculty and staff mental health, executive functioning, early psychosis, refugee mental health, trauma and anxiety, and a recently launched neuromodulation service. We also have a number of integrated behavioral health services embedded in medical clinics across the campus and within the hospital, working in family medicine, neurology, and HIV clinics, to name a few. We are dedicated to serving a community in which we value all people and have a continued commitment to diversity and inclusion in our clinical, treatment, research and educational activities.
Throughout our system we have integrated trainees of all disciplines, including psychiatry residents and fellows, medical students, nursing students, social work students, psychology interns, externs and post-docs, as well as addiction trainees. We integrate research into a number of our clinical services as well, with the aim of producing new knowledge to benefit our patients and their families.
About Our Division Chair
Christopher Schneck, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry and the Adult Division Director for the Department of Psychiatry. He is also the Medical Director of the Helen and Arthur E Johnson Depression Center and the Behavioral Health Director for the HIV Clinic at University Hospital. Dr. Schneck received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and his MD from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He completed his Internal Medicine Internship, Psychiatric Residency training and Clinical Psychiatry Fellowship at the Yale University School of Medicine, joining the University of Colorado faculty in 1995. Dr. Schneck's primary area of clinical interest is in the treatment of complex mood disorders, both in specialty clinics and integrated care settings. His research has focused on aspects of bipolar disorder, including rapid cycling bipolar disorder in adults as well as assessment and management of adolescents with bipolar disorder. His most recent research has investigated Family Focused Therapy as an early intervention for adolescents at high risk for bipolar disorder. Dr. Schneck spends considerable time teaching residents and has won many awards for his teaching and his clinical care of patients.
Research is integrated into a number of our clinical services, with the aim of producing new knowledge to benefit our patients and their families. Similar to the faculty in the Adult Division, the breadth and depth of research continues to grow. Faculty receive grant money from a variety of sources, including Federal, State, Foundation and Private agencies. These include grants from NIMH, the National Network of Depression Centers, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the National Cancer Institute, and several pharmaceutical companies. Grant awards in 2021 totaled approximately $1.7 million from 17 different granting sources. Projects have included grants studying COVID and its effects on healthcare workers and teachers, treatment of severe post-partum depression, addressing teen depression in primary care, stimulant effects on executive functioning, and research examining educational and vocational support for patients at high risk for psychosis. In addition, the development of the Psychiatric Research Innovations (PRI) office, which provides research-related administrative, operational and educational support, has greatly helped advance the academic success of our faculty members.
Throughout our system we have integrated trainees of all disciplines, including psychiatry residents and fellows, medical students, nursing students, social work students, psychology interns, externs and post-docs, as well as addiction trainees. Residents rotate through inpatient and consultation-liaison services at University of Colorado Hospital, Denver Health and the VA, while outpatient rotations include educational opportunities in a wide variety of general psychiatry clinics as well as those specializing in treatment of substance use, bipolar disorder, refugee mental health, LGBTQ mental health, integrated care, telehealth and HIV.
Clinical care in the adult division is lead by nationally recognized faculty spanning multiple modalities of treatment, delivered in a multidisciplinary fashion by psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, social workers, and licensed professional counselors. We offer bio-psycho-social assessments for patients, rapid-access focused treatment (RAFT), a variety of psychotherapeutic modalities (e.g. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy), psychopharmacologic assessment and management, and one-time consultations. We provide care for patients ages 18 years of age and older, including geriatric patents, and are dedicated to serving and caring for a diverse community of patients from all backgrounds. .
Patient care takes place both at University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) as well as across the Anschutz Medical Campus. Inpatient care at the UCH takes place in the emergency room and consult-liaison services throughout the hospital, while outpatient care in hospital-based outpatient clinics takes place in integrated clinics, including those specializing in family medicine, internal medicine, neurology, transplant services, transgender health, OB/GYN and women's health.
Across the Anschutz Medical Campus, we treat patients in a variety of clinics depending on need, including the Johnson Depression Center, the Stress, Trauma, Adversity and Research Center (START), the Program for Early Assessment, Care and Study (PEACS), the Women's Behavioral Health and Wellness Programs, the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Program, the Refugee Mental Health Program, the Connections Programs for High-Risk Infants and Families, the Student and Resident Mental Health Clinic, the Faculty and Staff Mental Health Clinic, the Encompass Integrated Substance Use/Mental Health Treatment program, as well as smaller faculty practices. Our general outpatient psychiatry clinic, called the CU Medicine Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic, has a number of subspecialty clinics within it, including the Imagine Clinic (LGBTQ mental health), the Bipolar Clinic, the Seniors Psychiatry Clinic, the Co-Occurring Substance Use and Mental Health Clinic, and the Consultation for Medically Complex Patients Clinic.
We have recently added an neuromodulation program that includes Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). We hope to add Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and esketamine treatment in the coming year.
We offer bio-psycho-social assessments for patients, rapid-access focused treatment (RAFT) for appropriate patients, a variety of psychotherapeutic modalities (e.g. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy), psychopharmacologic assessment and management, family therapy, couples therapy and one-time consultations. We treat individual patients, couples and families.
Our community outreach programs offer a range of programming and trainings focused on mental wellbeing, delivered to small and large groups wanting to learn more on how to provide support, resources, and care to their communities. Each program is facilitated with the intent to provide a general overview and understanding of a range of topics, while providing practical tips and tools that participants can practice and utilize during and after each session. Some of the topics include stress management, self-care, mindfulness, understanding mental health, anxiety and depression 101, and suicide awareness. These programs have been offered in a mix of settings (virtual or in person) including schools and workplaces- each being tailored to the audience.