FTER many years of obvious need, an inpatient unit for emotionally disturbed adolescents was opened in the summer of 1964 in the psychiatric unit of Los Angeles County General Hospital. The 16-bed unit is part of the child psychiatry service, which also includes a children’s inpatient unit and an outpatient unit, all of which offer a variety of services. The service is an integral part of the hospital’s psychiatry division, with its treatment and teaching programs, and of the department of psychiatry of the University of Southern California School of Medicine. The psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychiatric social workers of the child psychiatry service work in all of its three units, which results in an effective, cohesive operation. Personnel include resident psychiatrists who spend six months on the service and career residents in the two-year child psychiatry training )rogram. There is a large staff of attending and supervising psychiatrists. The psychiatric unit is located on the eighth floor, and the adolescents are housed in an area formerly used for occupational therapy, meetings, and a school. The space has been remodeled into two eight-bed wards, one for boys and one for girls, separated by a foyer and the nursing station. Each ward has bedrooms for two, three, or four patients; each room contains individual bedstands and chests of drawers and offers a maximum of privacy. The furniture and colors are cheerful, with emphasis on individuality. Patients and ward staff have made colorful drapes for all the windows. There is a spacious and well-furnished recreation room, and a dining area with tables seating four. Both areas are also used for high school classes and some occupational therapy, because, unfortunately, no other