Silver Hill Hospital is a non-profit psychiatric hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut established in 1931. The hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission and provides behavioral health care treatment. This includes psychiatric and addiction services. From 2010 to 2018, Silver Hill Hospital hosted the annual Giving Hope Gala, a fundraiser to benefit the Patient Financial Aid Fund, which assists patients lacking funds to cover the costs for the hospital's long-term residential treatment programs. The gala was founded by Michael Cominotto and husband Dennis Basso.

History

The Silver Hill Foundation was established by Dr. William B. Terhune in 1934 as a "medical and psychotherapeutic unit to diagnose and treat functional nervous disorders". Terhune was the founder of the psychiatric department at Yale University and had promoted the idea that psychiatric patients not be treated differently than other patients with a medical condition. The original facility was established as a non-profit, voluntary psychiatric hospital and was a member of the American Hospital Association. It could treat up to 60 patients at a time. In 1958, the foundation dedicated a community clinic building. It was located on the site of the former Silver Hill Inn as a setting to help patients described as "nervous, depressed, anxious, or malingering." It was located in the Silvermine River Valley of Fairfield County, straddling the borders of Wilton and New Canaan, Connecticut. Starting in 1971, focus was placed on building the hospital's substance abuse program. By 1984, that program included a psychiatrist, an associate psychiatrist, a psychologist, substance abuse counselors, nursing staff, and a recreational and occupational therapist.'' The inpatient acute care unit was built in 1985 to provide treatment to patients whose mental illness call for constant supervision. In 2012, The Chronic Pain and Recovery Center program launched. In 2015, both an eating disorder program for adults and an outpatient opioid addiction program launched.

Facilities

The hospital's 42-acre campus includes former family homes acquired by the hospital's board over time. These include: In addition, Dr. Terhune built a chapel on the property, which was later named in his honor.

Notable patients