CHILD AND FAMILY MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT SERVICES

PROGRAM MISSION: To promote the emotional and psychological well being of children and families, develop their capacity for healthy, adaptive functioning, and prevent the progression of mental health and substance abuse disorders by providing accessible, high quality therapeutic services to families with the most severe or persistent impairments and the most limited resources.

Services are targeted to families of children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance and those at risk due to trauma or parental impairment. Services are also targeted for families of adolescents experiencing substance abuse problems and for children who have been negatively impacted by the substance abuse of a parent or caretaker. Services include:

• Assessment consists of mental health and substance abuse screening and diagnostic evaluation; psychiatric consultation and evaluation; treatment recommendations for the child and family; limited psychological testing; and outreach services to include screening and supportive intervention for high risk youth provided at particular school sites (currently at Family Center and Arlington Parenting Teen programs).

• Outpatient Treatment and Care Coordination includes individual, group or family therapy; multifamily group therapy; psychiatric and medication evaluation and monitoring; psychoeducation and urinalysis monitoring for substance abusing teens; specialized assessment and treatment for youth with sexually inappropriate or aggressive behaviors; case management and service coordination with collaborative providers; linkage and referral to community resources as needed; discharge planning for youth returning to the community upon discharge from the Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents.

• Professional Consultation and Collaboration is provided to parents, other child-serving agencies and community providers to increase awareness of mental health and substance abuse treatment needs of children and families and to develop effective interagency strategies for prevention and management.

More intensive services are available through purchase with contract providers if weekly outpatient treatment is insufficient. These alternative treatment models are used to prevent out-of-home placement for the most seriously impaired youth and for those returning to the community from residential or hospital care. Services are short-term and intensive. They include:

• Home-based Services offers limited therapy sessions, care coordination and consultation in the home for several hours per week by trained contract providers.

• Respite Services are provided to families of children with serious emotional disturbance who are also receiving outpatient treatment. Services are provided in the home of a trained contract provider for brief, flexible time periods.

• Substance Abuse Intensive Outpatient and Residential Services include two to five days per week of substance abuse-specific services and time limited contracted residential services, case management, and aftercare for adolescents and families to support reintegration into the community.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS:

• Non-personnel expenditures increase due to an increase in building rent charges.

• Purchase of service expenses and other grant revenue increase due to an additional $50,000 from the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services for mental health non-mandated services.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

• Benefit from services is determined by consumers meeting all or most of the service plan goals with a reduction of symptoms and/or increase in level of functioning on the standardized assessment scale, i.e. Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Disorders, Fourth Edition – DSM IV R).

• Internal standards derived from "Sizing Components of Care", by Sheila Pires, a subsection of "A System of Care for Children: Youth with Severe Emotional Disturbances", prepared by Beth Stroul, Robert Friedman, of the CASSP Technical Assistance Center, Center for Child Health and Mental Health Policy. This monograph describes a model system of care for children and adolescents with emotional disturbances, endorsed by the National Institute of Mental Health and Substance Abuse/Mental Health Services Administration.

• Total consumers receiving services reflects only those receiving face-to-face therapeutic services for whom individual clinical records have been opened. Services may include screening, diagnostic assessment, treatment, case coordination and management, psychoeducation, psychological testing, brief supportive intervention. The total number of additional family members participating in face-to-face services is not reflected.