Adolescent Medicine

The adolescent medicine team at Corewell Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital provides extensive health care services designed to meet the unique physical, emotional, social, and developmental needs of patients aged 12 to 22.

Adolescence is a critical time of transition. We focus on helping young people make healthy choices, empowering them to participate in their health care decision-making, and preparing them for adulthood.

Collaborative care

We work closely with specialists across Corewell Health — including behavioral health, infectious disease, orthopedics, physical and occupational therapy, nutrition, and child life experts — to provide integrated care for whatever health concerns adolescents are struggling with.

Family-centered and empowering

Our collaborative care model engages teens, parents, and their medical team as partners in decision-making. We empower young people with education, tools, and self-care skills necessary to both overcome daily challenges and build self-reliance.

Specialized team

The adolescent medicine team includes board-certified physicians, a certified physician assistant, licensed medical social worker, nurses, and medical assistants who are all specifically trained and dedicated to serving this important age group.

Our team treats young people with a variety of conditions and health concerns, including:

Anxiety disorder

Intense, persistent worries or fears about routine aspects of life (such as school, fitting in, or social interactions) that are severe enough to cause significant distress (such as panic attacks) and interfere with daily activities.

Attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Signs of this condition in adolescents can include difficulty focusing or following directions, impulsiveness, disorganization, fidgeting, hyperactivity, or hypersensitivity to criticism. They may struggle in school despite being highly intelligent in other areas.

Depression

Teens struggling with depression often feel sad, frustrated, angry, or hopeless, even over small matters or for no apparent reason. They may fixate on past mistakes or show little interest in activities they used to enjoy.

Eating disorders

Eating disorders are very common in teens and can be motivated by different psychological impulses. They include avoiding food due to fear of weight gain (anorexia nervosa), avoiding food based on other factors such as texture, color, or a fear of vomiting or choking (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder), or binge eating followed by forced vomiting or fasting (bulimia nervosa).

Obesity

Adolescents become obese for many reasons, including poor diet and exercise habits, lack of access to nutritious food, endocrine disorders, mental health challenges, and more.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

People with OCD experience obsessions (constant intrusive and unwanted thoughts, fears, feelings, or urges) that cause them anxiety and compulsions (repetitive behaviors to try to relieve that anxiety). This can take many forms depending on what things your adolescent is obsessing about.

Psychosocial challenges

This refers to specific difficulties with emotional or social functioning — for example, stress, low self-esteem, or sleep problems — caused by an underlying mental health concern like depression or anxiety.

Self-injury

Children who are struggling with depression or other mental health problems may hurt themselves on purpose (such as cutting, head-banging, or hair pulling) as an attempt to alleviate psychological pain or trauma.

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

Compassionate treatment for STIs (such as HPV, herpes, and chlamydia) along with developmentally appropriate counseling and education that respects the personal and cultural values of each patient and family.

Substance abuse

Any misuse of a controlled substance, including prescription medications, alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs.

Suicidal ideation

If your child expresses any thoughts of suicide, or you believe they may hurt themselves, call 911 immediately.

Our health services for teens, adolescents, and young adults include:

Connections to community support

When appropriate, we connect adolescents and families with relevant social services, support systems, and other outside organizations and agencies that can offer further assistance for their specific needs.

Illness and injury treatment

Our providers diagnose and treat a wide range of medical and behavioral issues, including infections, chronic medical conditions, minor injuries, and mental health challenges.

Life skills and goal setting

We help kids struggling with specific social, emotional, or other life challenges create achievable plans to grow their skills and confidence.

Routine health care

Regular checkups, preventive screenings, immunizations, and other health services focused on wellness and prevention from doctors who specialize in working with adolescent and young adult patients.

Substance abuse counseling

Strategies to prevent or treat drug, alcohol, or tobacco use.