Mental Health Services
Mental Health Services
Mental Health Services are planned, face-to-face therapeutic interactions between a trained and qualified clinical professional and an individual recipient, a family unit, or a group of recipients with similar clinical needs. Services at SCYAP use a range of clinical techniques, strategies, and modalities depending on the recipient’s needs and diagnosis, and are aimed at:
Helping the individual, family, or group achieve and maintain stability; and
Improving the mental and emotional health of the individual, family, or group and assisting them to cope or gain control over the symptoms and effects of their illness or life stressors.
Mental Health Services can be delivered in a community setting or in the recipient’s home and are made available to the client, family or group of clients at times that are most convenient to them, such as after school, work or on weekends. All Therapy Services are available on a statewide basis and include:
SCYAP believes that this is true for both behavioral health and human services. Treatment and service interventions are most effective when the nature, cause, and potential effects of a youth’s presenting problems are identified and a corresponding course of treatment is developed from this knowledge, making Diagnostic and Clinical Assessment Services critical in the treatment planning for youth and families.
Diagnostic and Assessment Services are applicable to and appropriate for youth who are just beginning to receive treatment services and for youth who require a redetermination of the appropriate course of Mental Health Services that will best meet their needs.
Individual Therapy
Individual therapy can be used to assist the individual in identifying maladaptive behaviors and cognitions, identifying more adaptive alternatives, and learning to use those new adaptive behaviors and cognitions.
Positive outcomes of individual therapy include:
Learning and practicing adaptive coping and problem solving skills;
Promoting cognitive and emotional development;
Resolving inner conflicts or dysfunctional thinking;
Learning to express feelings in an appropriate manner; and
Improving ability to relate to others and developing healthy relationships.
Family Therapy
Family therapy involves face-to-face clinical mental health services that are facilitated by a specially trained mental health clinician and members of a family unit. In family therapy, the clinician assists the family members with identifying maladaptive interaction patterns between family members and developing competence in utilizing more adaptive patterns of interaction. Family members are assisted in understanding and improving the ways in which they interact and communicate with each other. Treatment is focused on changing the family dynamics by revealing areas of strength and reducing and managing conflict. The goal of family therapy is to get family members to recognize and address problem areas by establishing roles that promote autonomy and individual membership while maintaining a sense of family cohesion and solidarity and rebuilding positive family relationships.
Behavioral Health Screening (BHS)
The purpose of a Behavioral Health Screening (BHS) is to provide early identification of behavioral health issues and to facilitate appropriate referral for either a more focused/detailed assessment and/or for treatment. BHS is designed to identify behavioral health issues and/or the risk of the development of behavioral health problems. BHS is conducted using a standardized clinical assessment tool through client interviews and/or self-report.
Group Therapy
Group therapy are face-to-face intervention sessions facilitated by a specially trained mental health clinician and a small group of recipients, who are addressing similar issues and receiving similar mental health services. The group process allows members to offer each other support, share common experiences, identify strategies that have been successful, and to challenge each other’s behaviors and cognitions. Group therapy is a useful in helping members grow emotionally, to practice new coping and decision making skills, to develop new and more positive ways of relating to people, and provide support in a safe environment that encourages the healing process.
Crisis Management
A crisis may be thought of as a dramatic emotional or circumstantial upheaval in individual or family’s life. Those experiencing a crisis event may have reactions consisting of psychological, behavioral, and/or even physiological symptoms accompanied by marked deterioration of functioning. The purpose of Crisis Management (CM) is to assist the individual or family in restoring his or her or their level of functioning. This is accomplished by: (1) evaluating the nature of the problem and determining the recipient’s mental, psychological, and/or medical status; (2) ensuring the safety of the recipient and others; (3) providing reassurance and support; (4) assisting the recipient in developing an action plan that can be used to mitigate the crisis, minimizes distress and prevent similar incidents in the future; and (5) following up with the recipient and other relevant persons to ensure follow-through, assess progress, and provide additional mental health services and support as needed, including referral to available community resources.
Diagnostic Assessment
The purpose of a Diagnostic Assessment (DA) is to determine the need for mental health services, to establish or confirm a diagnosis (diagnoses), to assist in the development of an individualized plan of care based upon the individual’s strengths and deficits, and/or to assess progress in and need for continued treatment. A DA includes evaluation of clinical considerations of the individual’s general physical, developmental, family, social, psychiatric, and psychological history and current condition and also include information on strengths, vulnerabilities, and needed mental and other services.
These services can be provided as “stand alone” services or they can be a component of a larger array of services for a youth or family, such as in-home therapy or community-based services.
Diagnostic and Clinical Assessment Services are available on a statewide basis.
