Center for Healthy Adolescent Transition

Transition Support for Adolescents and Young Adults

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles offers support for adolescent and young adult patients with chronic illnesses and disabilities to prepare them for adulthood and their transition to adult-focused care. A successful transition occurs when providers, families and patients work in partnership to ensure as smooth a passage into adult life as possible and access to quality adult care.

Our transition programs focus on empowering patients approaching adulthood with:

• Knowledge about their conditions and how to manage them
• Skills to advocate for themselves
• Resources to help them realize social, educational and vocational goals.

Our specialists have expertise in offering age-appropriate transition support to emerging adults who will responsible for navigating adult healthcare systems themselves and independent living. 

Core components of these programs include:

• Coaching patients to understand their diagnosis, condition and treatment
• Provide patients with skills and support to manage their condition, adhere to treatment requirements, communicate effectively with their providers
• Understanding each patient’s unique needs and abilities, and putting strategies in place to promote self-care early on
• Empowering and preparing young people to manage their own care, live independently and seek the resources they need for successful transition
• Teaching patients to advocate for themselves, navigate adult care systems and to help them become confident pursuing their adult life goals
• Supporting parents in the transition process
• Provide support and guidance to families of selected patients with complex care needs

Services

The Center for Healthy Adolescent Transition brings together specialists from across Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to support and prepare all patients and their families to transfer to adult health care. We want to empower our adolescent and young adult patients to learn the skills they need in the future to manage their health care to the best of their abilities and maximize their quality of life, potential and functioning in adulthood.

The Center for Healthy Adolescent Transition works with each patient’s medical team to make sure that transition education and support are included in their care. The Center also builds partnerships to support a smooth transfer from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to adult primary and specialty care. To further assist our patients and families, the Center offers workshops and direct support.

Our Center for Healthy Adolescent Transition Navigation Hub provides one-on-one support to patients ages 16 years old and older and their families. Our navigators help patients and families:

• Transfer to adult care
• Apply for public benefits
• Navigate health insurance and troubleshooting
• Understand conservatorship and health care power of attorney options