	Outpatient Mental Health Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

MH 5: Clinical Counseling Services

Counseling Services:

provide an appropriate level and intensity of support and treatment;
recognize individual and family values and goals;
accommodate variations in life style; and
emphasize personal growth, development, and situational change.

NA The organization provides Diagnosis, Assessment, and Referral Services only.

MH 5.01

Personnel engage and motivate individuals and families by demonstrating:

sensitivity to the needs and personal goals of the service recipient;
a non-threatening manner;
respect for the person’s autonomy, confidentiality, socio-cultural values, personal goals, life style choices, and complex family interactions;
flexibility; and
appropriate boundaries.

MH 5.02

Therapeutic and educational interventions may include individual, family, or group therapy and self-help referrals and are:

based on research or clinical practice guidelines where they exist; and
matched with the assessed needs, age, developmental level, and personal goals of the service recipient.

MH 5.03

Personnel assist service recipients to:

explore and clarify the concern or issue;
voice the goals she or he wishes to achieve;
identify successful coping or problem-solving strategies based on the individual’s strengths, formal and informal supports, and preferred solutions; and
realize ways of maintaining and generalizing the individual’s gains.

Research Note: Research suggests the most successful interventions are those driven by the client’s goals and utilizing the client’s strengths, coping mechanisms, and support networks. Assisting individuals and families to identify the concern that brought them into treatment, their goals for treatment, and the tools they have to successfully accomplish their goals leads to greater self sufficiency and fewer treatment needs in the future.

MH 5.04

If a service recipient is a trauma survivor or a victim of violence, abuse or neglect, the organization provides:

a protection plan, as needed;
more intensive services;
trauma-informed care;
more frequent monitoring of progress toward service goals; and
a referral.

Research Note: Literature suggests that victims of violence should undergo an early assessment, and interventions should focus first on basic needs such as survival, food, safety, and shelter.

MH 5.05

Clinical personnel:

determine the need for a different level or intensity of care;
follow up when an evaluation for psychotropic medications is recommended;
use written criteria for determining when the involvement of a psychiatrist is indicated; and
coordinate care with other service providers, including substance use and primary health care providers, when appropriate and with the individual’s consent.

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	PURPOSE: Individuals who receive Outpatient Mental Health Services that target goal-directed interventions for diagnosable conditions make gains in symptom reduction, improved self-management, and restored or enhanced daily functioning.

RELATED FILES


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	DIAGNOSIS The process by which a social, physical, or mental health problem and its underlying cause are identified and a plan of action formulated toward resolution of the problem. The diagnostic process involves collection and analysis of relevant information. See also ASSESSMENT.


	ASSESSMENT An evaluation, which utilizes professional expertise and skills in the collection and analysis of data to understand and describe the nature of service needs of an individual, family, or group. Assessment, as in needs assessment, is also used to determine priorities of program planning and service development for the organization as a whole. See also DIAGNOSIS.


	PERSONNEL The body of employees and/or volunteers that carries out the organization's tasks under the organization's administration and/or supervision. This definition does not include foster parents who are specifically referenced in relevant standards


	SERVICE RECIPIENT The individuals, groups, organizations, or communities that use, receive, or benefit from programs and services. Service recipients can include consumers, patients, family members, legal guardians, advocates, public/private organizations, employers, and purchasers. All are regarded as significant stakeholders served in a variety of agencies and practice settings.


	CONFIDENTIALITY An ethical and practice principle that requires the protection of information shared within a professional-client relationship. An organization that upholds confidentiality prohibits personnel from disclosing information about persons served without their written consent.


	REFERRALS Resource suggestions provided to consumers to address problems or needs that are beyond the scope of the organization's mission.


	RESEARCH For purposes of COA accreditation, all forms of internal or external research involving persons served except internal program evaluation and outcomes research, or educational projects performed by students and interns that are part of their professional training.


	CLINICAL The study, assessment, and diagnosis of the client situation followed by direct treatment to help the client achieve prescribed goals.


	MANAGEMENT See ADMINISTRATION


	PRACTICE Established actions or ways of proceeding in the regular performance of organizational duties. Policies and procedures often guide practice.


	CLIENT See service recipient.


	MONITORING An evaluation involving a periodic review of consumer services, organizational activities, or conduct. Specifically, monitoring is an activity of case coordination, whereas more broadly, monitoring is an evaluation technique used in overall quality assurance.


	SERVICE GOALS Broad, issue-oriented statements that reflect the realistic achievements to be accomplished in the short or long term. Goals are achieved through the accomplishment of specific quantifiable objectives.


	CLINICAL PERSONNEL Qualified and trained professionals who provide the treatment services of an organization. Clinical personnel who assume case responsibilities must meet the applicable regulatory requirements and the minimum standards set by their respective professional organizations. Clinical personnel generally include clinical social workers (MSW or DSW/PhD in social work), clinical or counseling psychologists (PhD or PsyD), psychiatric nurses (MSN), certified marriage or family therapists, certified pastoral counselors, and board eligible or certified psychiatrists. Where additional disciplines or degrees are acceptable, it is stated in the standard for each service section. "Clinical personnel" and "mental health personnel" may be used interchangeably.


	EVALUATION The review and assessment of organizational operations, programs and services.


	PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATION Medications used by psychiatrists and other physicians to help people achieve psychological or emotional changes, including reduction in depression, anxiety, and other manifestations of mental or emotional disturbance.


	CRITERIA Systematically developed, objective, and quantifiable statements used to assess the appropriateness of specific decisions, services, and outcomes.