Star-Center is a suicide prevention program for teens and young children within the UPMC-Western Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry. From it's inception in 1986, the program has been primarily funded through an appropriation from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the University of Pittsburgh.
STAR-Center is a program that combines clinical and outreach services designed to combat the problem of child and adolescent suicide. We provide outpatient assessment and treatment for depressed and anxious children and teens. We also offer acute treatment to depressed and suicidal teens via our Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP).
Our annual conferences strive to disseminate what we have learned about best practice clinical care into practical guidelines for educational and community settings. STAR-Center is devoted to providing training opportunities for students and psychiatric residents as well as contributing to the future development of research designed to study the pressing issues related to child and adolescent suicide.