Behavioral Health Unit (BHU): A Case Study

Behavioral healthcare has morphed its face over the last century from one that was focused on inpatient psychiatric hospitals to community-based behavioral health centers. From the beginning, “notions that people with mental illness are sometimes unpredictable and perhaps dangerous to know”, has caused a large stigma associated with behavioral health (Lawrie, 2015). With these changing facets also come challenges. There are challenges of consumer expectations and the treatment of behavioral health disorders from primary care providers. Insurance access also raises another challenge, that has slowly changed, as well as the retention of staffing. The financial stability of a facility is also an important factor for healthcare and for the behavioral healthcare system.

The agency I chose to conduct my interview at was Southwest Network; they are a behavioral health agency. Southwest Network is a nonprofit charitable organization that provided services from infants to adults. They take an integrated approach to caring for the client’s mind and body for overall total health and wellness. I chose Southwest Network because I wanted to gain more knowledge on all the services they have to offer. I currently have serval clients that are serviced by Southwest Network, but wanted to gain a deeper insight on what other services they have to offer. As my clients are all different they may not receive every service that is available by the agency. Additionally, I wanted to gain more knowledge of the behavior health

Ventura County Behavioral Health is a government based service facility, it gets it’s funding from the state, at a local level and federally. VCBH funding also is provided by Medi-Cal state insurance. In most cases the agency provides mental health services or drug treatment to individuals that are covered by Medi-Cal, those client’s services are billed directly to Medi-Cal (Ventura County Behavioral Health, n.d).

At Amery Behavioral Health, the staff all work together to plan the care of the patients. There is a nurse manager who is in charge of the nursing staff on the unit, but she was more than willing to help out on the floor to get people out of bed, feed patients, hand out medications, and answer any questions. The charge nurse selects the care of a certain amount of patients, while the LPN takes a couple more than the RN depending on the amount of patients. There is also two CNA’s to help on the floor. Around 6:45 a.m. is morning report for just the nursing staff where they listen to report from night shift and then divide up the patients. At 8:30, there is a meeting with the social worker, occupational therapist, psychiatrist, and charge nurse.

The framework for telehealth builds on the successful outcomes including patient satisfaction and reductions in hospital readmissions. Veterans Health Administration’s telehealth services reported patient satisfaction levels greater than 85%, and reductions in bed days of care exceeded 40% among patients receiving the care technology. The Framework provides a vision, direction, and systematic approach for utilizing telehealth both statewide and locally. The framework will also be a tool to educate decision-makers on the impact of chronic disease, the importance of prevention, and the potential economic return of investment in a proven, community-based

Telehealth is the use of telecommunications technologies for the provision of long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional education, and health administration (Guido, 2014).

Grand Canyon University – Bachelors in Behavioral Health: Dr. Aubrey has a good relationship with Noe Vargas who is the associate dean for the counseling dept., including the bachelors in behavioral health program. Dr. Aubrey as been working collaboratively with Noe Vargas to ensure course are compatible for an articulation agreement.

Rosemont Center is located in Columbus, Ohio. It provides for the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well being of troubled youth and their families. Rosemont is committed to helping children in need; it is dedicated to healing and renewing youths with a history of trouble and abuse. Rosemont provides the unconditional acceptance, treatment, counseling, education and hope that the youths urgently need to be more productive members of the community. Rosemont had two locations, Rosemont-Bay Saint Louis and Rosemont-Jackson (Swayne, Duncan & Ginter, 2008).

Jury Nullification is the process that allows members of the juror to acquit a defendant for crimes they do not feel is grounds for punishment. Although, many jurors may not know this is an option to many cases, it is still an option. If citizens use this option in many of the courtroom proceedings, there will be fewer people who are serving time in prison. On the other hand, this does interfere with the decision- making process. This paper will explain whether ethnicity influences courtroom proceedings and judicial practices. It will summarize the arguments for and against ethnicity-based jury nullification. Including contemporary examples of

The National Council is an organization helping people with addictions to veterans with behavior health issues such as PTSD as well as spreading awareness and educating on mental first aid. The National Council for Behavioral Health prides itself on being the unifying voice of America’s mental health and addictions treatment organizations. Partnered with approximately 2,500 member organizations, the National Council claims to be committed to all Americans having access to high-quality, comprehensive, care that explores unlimited opportunities for recovery. The National Council brought Mental Health First Aid to America and has documented that more than 500,000 individuals have been trained as a mental health first aider. The National

I am interning at Pittsburgh Mercy’s Behavioral Health Service Coordination Unit (PMBH-SU). The unit serves 500-700 clients (consumers), and includes six teams. Each team includes a supervisor and 10-to-15 service coordinators (SC) and aids a specific population, such as adults, adolescents, and children. Additionally, all service coordinators’ clients have a mental health illness(s) diagnosis. PMBH-SCU provides outpatient services and individualized supportive services to clients of the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System. Employees in this unit typically obtained a social work or human services education or related professional experiences. The Unit’s goals are to coordinate services, offer support, and empower consumers to live healthy, fulfilling

Mary Pfeiffer through her journalistic anecdotal advocacy: Crazy in America: The hidden tragedy of our criminalized mentally ill (2007), have opened the proverbial Pandora’s box, depending on what sector of the society moral judgment is aligned with. The tragedy

2. Influences on behavioral health service delivery come from the combination of social, political, and economic forces. These three forces are intertwined and affect each other. For an example, legislation must be passed so that healthcare is accessible for everyone. One of the main factors preventing a person from seeking mental health is the cost.The ACA provided an opportunity to transform a fragmented and inadequate healthcare delivery system, especially when it comes to providing mental health and substance abuse services. It expanded eligibility of Medicaid, reduced the rate of Medicare rates, restricted annual limits for those with pre-existing conditions, increased accountability, encouraged an integrated continuum of care,

Telehealth has been a large topic of debate in recent years because of the economic, political, and regulatory points of view. In deciding outcomes in these areas, it is the responsibility of all healthcare professions to identify information gaps in order to come to the more rational and beneficial conclusion about telehealth (Grace, 2014). Economically, there are concerns regarding the access and affordability of telehealth equipment. At the same time, telehealth is being adapted in ways to be utilized with technological devices that many individuals already have access to like telephones, cellular phones, and personal computers/laptops. Telehealth can positively impact both clients and providers by increasing access to care and reducing the time and costs associated with traveling for health care (Allen, Aylott, Loyola, Moric, & Saffarek, 2015). As telehealth develops technological devices can be made more affordable and can be covered by insurance policies (Thomas et al., 2014). Many nurses functioning as case managers can help provide the tools and resources individuals require to manage their health.

Kino is a 23 year-old, male Haitian immigrant. He currently resides with his brother Ryan. Their mother pass away in 2013. Kino is unemployed and currently a full time student attending Miami-Dade College, his first year.