	Outpatient Mental Health Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

MH 6: Mental Health Services

Mental health services provide goal-directed, psychosocial treatment and support.

NA The organization provides Clinical Counseling Services only.

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

MH 6.01

Illness management and psycho-education interventions include:

information about the nature of the illness;
illness self-management;
coping skills training;
medication education;
peer support or self-help activities; and
relapse prevention.

Research Note: Literature suggests that gaining control of symptoms and relapse episodes is critical to achieving recovery goals. Education about mental illness can facilitate a sense of control of one’s life and help establish a collaborative relationship with a provider. The five core skills individuals need for effective illness self-management include: problem solving, decision making, resource utilization, developing a client-provider relationship, and taking action.

MH 6.02

The organization works with service recipients to identify and use natural resources and peer support in creating a supportive commuity.

Research Note: Research suggests that individuals with mental illness who have larger, more satisfactory support networks report better quality of life.

MH 6.03

Individuals and involved family members participate in the development of a crisis plan and an advanced mental health directive consistent with applicable law or regulation, when appropriate.

Interpretation: Advanced mental health directives, also known as advanced psychiatric directives, enable a person with a mental illness to make decisions about the mental health care they want to receive when they may be incapacitated. Advanced directives go into effect if the person is unable to make decisions for him/herself, and are revocable. Advanced directives frequently address preferences for hospitals, medications, specific interventions, and designation of a person to make decisions about their care.

MH 6.04

With the individual’s consent, families or significant others are offered services including:

family psychoeducation;
emotional or family support and therapy;
linkage to community and support services to meet basic needs;
information, clinical guidance, support, or care coordination, as needed;
crisis intervention; and
self-help referrals.

Research Note: Some research suggests that individuals achieve better outcomes when the family’s needs for information, clinical guidance, and support are met.

MH 6.05

Service recipients are linked with needed support services, including:

supported housing;
supported employment;
medical care;
substance use treatment;
public benefits;
educational services;
child care;
respite care; and
peer support.

Research Note: The greatest need for many clients is housing. Literature suggests that when clients’ housing and other concrete needs are met, they are better engaged in treatment.

MH 6.06

The organization assists individuals with primary responsibility for children to coordinate with:

child care providers;
the child welfare system;
courts; and
the school system, as needed.

Research Note: Research suggests that coordination with the child welfare system is a crucial aspect of treatment for women with children involved with the court system. To the extent possible, services should coordinate treatment needs with court expectations. Treatment should be tailored to promote both recovery and reunification by focusing on issues such as parenting, housing, and case management along with identified goals for recovery.

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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.


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


	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.


	TRAINING Instruction so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient in a skill or body of knowledge.


	MEDICATION A prescribed or over-the-counter drug that is injected, taken orally, applied topically, or otherwise administered.


	PREVENTION Actions taken to minimize and/or eliminate social, psychological, or other conditions. Prevention can occur at the individual, group, community, and societal levels and enhances opportunities to achieve positive fulfillment.


	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.


	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.


	QUALITY In this context, the extent to which contemporary and generally recognized standards for professional practice are met and exceeded, and desirable service outcomes achieved.


	MANAGEMENT See ADMINISTRATION


	CLIENT See service recipient.


	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."


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	CRISIS INTERVENTION The immediate response to the acute needs of a person in crisis including referral to appropriate community resources, advocacy, support, or direct assistance.


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


	LINKED The means by which individuals access services that may or may not be provided by the organization itself. These terms are used interchangeably when individuals are linked to services either directly or by referral. See also CONNECTED.


	CASE A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.