Human Services Center (HSC)

The South Dakota Human Services Center (HSC) is a licensed specialty hospital.  The Center serves South Dakotans ranging from adolescents to geriatrics.  HSC provided state-of-the-art-treatment for the 931 persons admitted during Fiscal Year 2022 with mental illness and/or chemical dependency.  HSC is a member of the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations (SDAHO) and the Western Psychiatric State Hospital Association (WPSHA).

As of 2022 the South Dakota Human Services Center has been providing treatment to South Dakotans with mental illness for 143 years.  HSC began serving patients ten years before South Dakota achieved statehood. Today, the Center is in a state of the art psychiatric and chemical dependency treatment facility, also known as the Mickelson Center for the Neurosciences (MCN), which opened in October of 1996.  It is located on the northern part of the HSC campus. The hospital’s operating capacity is 277 beds. HSC has staffing allocation for 5 FTE Psychologists and 6 FTE Psychiatrists. HSC’s inpatient program areas include adult acute psychiatric program, adult psychiatric rehabilitation and recovery program, intensive treatment unit, geriatric program, adolescent program, and the adult chemical dependency program.

Training Opportunities:

Adult Acute Psychiatric Program

The Adult Acute Psychiatric Program provides for initial assessment and stabilization of adult psychiatric patients. The program promotes and facilitates the patients’ independent functioning in daily activities.  Emphasis is on providing care, treatment, and stabilization services that will enable the patients to return to and function in the community at the earliest possible time.

Adult Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Recovery Program

This program provides individualized and person-centered services for adult patients who are coping with persistent mental illness and who need to remain at the hospital for medication management and/or skills building.  The goal of the program is to assist the patients through strength-based treatment, while developing the skills that will help them to live in the least restrictive setting possible.

Intensive Treatment Unit

The Intensive Treatment Unit (ITU) at HSC provides closer observation for patients who pose a high risk for harming themselves or other. The ITU is structurally divided into two distinct areas. One area is designed for the care of adolescents and the second area is for the care of adults.

Geriatric Program

The Geriatric Program provides care and treatment for patients who, because of the severity of their mental illness, cannot be served by a nursing home in the community.  A psychiatrist, registered nurse, social worker, and direct-care staff develop a comprehensive individualized treatment plan for every patient on admission, with emphasis on providing the patient every opportunity to function as independently as possible in activities of daily living.

Adolescent Program

The Adolescent Psychiatric Program provides adolescents, ages 12 through 17, with inpatient psychiatric treatment. The goal of the adolescent program is to develop and initiate individualized treatment and discharge plans, provide effective treatment, and to support the patient in transition to home or another appropriate placement setting.

Adult Chemical Dependency Program

The Adult Chemical Dependency Program is designed to meet the physical, mental and social needs of each individual within a safe and therapeutic environment.  As such this program accepts and will treat patients who have co-occurring disorders.  Treatment for chemical dependency is based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA).  Additionally, this program utilizes Motivational Interviewing, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Contingency Management to assist with recovery.

Intern Experience:

Interns will have the opportunity to work with individuals from all the identified areas of programming including adolescence, adults, and geriatric populations. Clinical experiences will include psychological/neuropsychological /forensic testing, individual therapy, family therapy, case consultation, interdisciplinary treatment team meetings, and discharge planning. Throughout their time on internship our interns will be able to work closely with a multitude of disciplines in the Human Services Center including Psychiatrists, Nurses, Medical Providers, frontline staff, and support staff. Through their collaboration with various interdisciplinary opportunities our interns will become well-rounded professionals and able to understand the importance of different specialists in inpatient psychiatric treatment. In addition, while working with patients on different levels of programming interns will have the opportunity to experience and appreciate important facets of inpatient treatment including acute, intermediate length hospitalization, chemical dependency, as well as psych rehab.