Frequently Asked Questions
Child/Adolescent Issues
- What is an IEP?
- Where can I find updated information about the state's budget crisis and how it may affect services for special needs children?
- Are there resources that can help me be an effective parent?
- How can you explain mental illness to a child?
- Should I force my child to visit a sibling in hospital?
Insurance
- Do I need permission from my insurance company to be admitted to an ER Hospital?
- How can I learn about our rights as healthcare consumers, and how to pursue legal action if necessary?
- I am confused by the bills from my loved one's stay in the hospital. Who can I talk to at UCLA about this matter?
- My loved one is financially struggling and doesn't have insurance - where can he or she be treated?
Seeking Treatment
- How do I find treatment for my loved one suffering from a mental illness?
- I live in a geographically isolated area - is there any way I can find my loved one a closer therapist?
- As a caregiver of someone with a mental illness, how can I find a therapist for myself?
- Recommended therapist not taking new patients. What do we do now?
- My discharge summary has not been sent to me. How do I follow up?
- Where can I go to find reliable information on a diagnosis of mental illness?
- Is it possible to have more than one diagnosis?
- How do I contact local shelters and how long can someone stay in one?
- What does a 5150 mean?
- Where can I find out about obtaining additional social skills training for my child?
- Where can I find details of private treatment facilities?
- Where can I go for tips about talking with my teen about drug use?

