	Residential Treatment Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

PA-RTX 19: Personnel

Personnel are well trained, qualified, and supervised to consistently apply the therapeutic approach the agency has identified as most effective for meeting the needs of residents and their families.

PA-RTX 19.01

Residential counselors, youth workers, adult care, and child care workers have:

a bachelor’s degree and/or are actively, continuously obtaining the degree;
the personal characteristics and experience to provide appropriate care to residents, gain their respect, guide their development, manage a home effectively, and participate in the overall treatment program;
the ability to support constructive resident-family visitation and resident involvement in community activities;
the temperament to work with and care for children, youth, or adults with special needs, as appropriate; and
the ability to work effectively with the treatment team and other internal and external stakeholders.

Interpretation: The elements of the standard will be considered together to assess implementation. Recruitment of staff with demonstrated competence in elements b.), c.), and d.), and with appropriate supervision and specialized training, sometimes available through national certification programs, can compensate for a lack of a bachelor’s degree.

PA-RTX 19.02

Supervisors of direct service personnel include:

licensed social workers with advanced degrees from an accredited program of social work with a specialty in clinical practice;
individuals with supervised post-graduate clinical experience consistent with state legal requirements for clinical practice;
individuals with experience in the field and knowledge to compensate for lack of an advanced degree or post- graduate experience; and/or
comparable mental health and human service professionals with advanced degrees from accredited institutions, clinical training, and experience, who meet the requirements of their respective disciplines and applicable legal requirements.

PA-RTX 19.03

A licensed psychiatrist with experience appropriate to the level and intensity of service and the population served assumes responsibility for the psychiatric elements of the program, develops guidelines for participation, and provides full-time coverage on an on-call basis.

Interpretation: A psychiatrist with the required qualifications assumes psychiatric responsibility for residents and provides service on a full-time basis as an employee, contractor, or through another formal arrangement, such as an on-call arrangement which ensures coverage 24-hours a day, seven days a week. There may be more than one psychiatrist fulfilling the duties outlined.

Residential treatment programs whose primary service is residential substance use treatment are not required to have full-time psychiatric coverage but may provide psychiatric services though a formal referral arrangement on an as-needed basis. Certification in child psychiatry is not applicable to programs serving adults only.

PA-RTX 19.04

A psychologist with appropriate credentials and experience is available to provide testing and psychological services, as necessary.

PA-RTX 19.05

Depending on the residents’ needs, qualified professionals and specialists provide services and support related to the following:

medicine and dentistry;
nursing;
education;
physical and developmental disabilities;
speech, occupational and physical therapy;
recreation and expressive therapy;
nutrition; and
religion and spirituality.

QUICK JUMP TO


	PURPOSE: Residential Treatment Services are delivered according to an articulated philosophy that ties individual needs to specific interventions and education, and to achievement of stated goals, such as gains in measurable skills, increased productivity and pro-social behavior, improved functioning, and a stable living arrangement in the community.

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.


	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.


	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


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	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."


	SPECIAL NEEDS A designation used in reference to conditions or characteristics of a person that reflect a need for special care, services, or treatment. When the term is used in the context of adoption services, special needs refers to conditions that make a child harder to place for adoption. This includes children who are members of sibling groups, older children, children with disabilities, children of certain racial /ethnic backgrounds, etc. When the term is used in the context of foster care it refers to the need for a higher degree of specialized case services and attention due to mental and physical disabilities. When the term is used in the context of out-of-school time services, a child or youth may have special physical, behavioral, medical, emotional, or cognitive needs that should be addressed or accommodated. The term is also used in other contexts. See also DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.


	STAKEHOLDER Any person, group, or organization that has a vested interest in the services provided by the organization. Examples: clients, consumers, personnel, funding organizations, referral organizations, vendors, and governmental bodies.


	SUPERVISION Assumption of responsibility for directly overseeing and evaluating the work or work products of personnel within an organization. Also includes inspecting the act or process of accomplishing a function or activity.


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


	CERTIFICATION Assurance from a state or professional association that a person or organization possesses certain attributes, knowledge, or skills.


	ADVANCED DEGREE A degree at the Master's level or beyond from an institution of higher education. An advanced degree does not include a Bachelor's degree, an associate's degree, or an educational certificate.


	SOCIAL WORK Professionally responsible interventions carried out by persons with formal, professional education at the BSW or MSW level from an accredited school of social work and appropriate licensing, certification, and registration credentials. Interventions are directed toward improving the transactions between people and environments to enhance the adaptive capacities of the participants and improve environments for all that function within them. Social work is a professional practice with a consumer group consisting of individuals, families, small groups, organizations, neighborhoods, and communities and involving the disciplined application of knowledge and skill.


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


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


	EMPLOYEE Paid member of an organization. Foster parents are not considered employees and are specifically referenced in relevant standards.


	PSYCHOLOGIST A qualified professional who has a doctoral degree from a program of psychology accredited by or recognized as meeting the standards set by the American Psychological Association. A master's degree in psychology is an acceptable credential for the provision of counseling services provided that licensure is attained.