UCFF Benioff

About UCFF Benioff

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital is a pediatric hospital in Oakland, California offering behavioral-health and substance-use services for children, adolescents and young adults.

Through its Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine Clinic the hospital provides substance-use assessment, counseling and treatment recommendations alongside care for anxiety, depression, trauma, ADHD and eating disorders.

The hospital's approach is strengths-based, trauma-informed and community-rooted, meeting young patients where they are within a comprehensive medical setting.

Adolescent and Young Adult Substance-Use Care

I noted that the hospital's core specialty is integrated substance-use care for young people ages 11 to 26.

Its Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine Clinic offers evaluation, diagnosis, counseling and medication therapy for addiction when appropriate, all delivered within broader pediatric and adolescent medicine.

Care is confidential, gender-affirming and trauma-informed, with California confidentiality protections available for qualifying patients ages 12 to 17.

Substance use concerns are addressed alongside primary care and mental health, so underlying issues like trauma or depression are treated together rather than in isolation.

Integrated Behavioral Health and Crisis Support

Beyond substance use I appreciate that the hospital provides crisis intervention, case management and trauma treatment, including brief trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy.

Additional services include family psychoeducation, peer support, tobacco-cessation therapies and behavioral health telehealth evaluations for eligible emergency department patients.