Outpatient Mental Health

Imagine living with a mental illness that affects your everyday life but has no physical aspects to it. Waging a war within your own head and not being able to control your own thoughts or feelings. Millions of adolescence throughout the United States are currently sick, living with a mental illness with no idea how to treat it, or even the idea they are sick. Mental Health services on campus may be the answer to treating the diseases many children are suffering from.

The mental health professional I interviewed was Carol McClelland of Freedom House Recovery Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Carol has worked with Freedom House for a year as the directory of outpatient services and is licensed as a LPC, LPCS, LCAS, CCS, and MA. Carol’s job requires her to be responsible for the direct oversight of all clinical operations and clinical integrity for outpatient services at Freedom House. The hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm, along with a crisis and detox center that is available for contact 24/7. Carol has plenty of experience in the mental health field, such as working as a dual diagnosis/substance abuse outpatient therapist, working with the severely mentally ill, working as a criminal justice outpatient therapist, and also working in a methadone clinic. She chose this career after her experiences in working with mental health, and her extensive education in psychology and counseling. Carol stated that outpatient services was the most interesting out of her job experiences, so when she was offered the job at Freedom House, she accepted.

Mental health providers utilize many forms of research from the interventions that they use to provide care to their clients all the way to the assessment’s that they use to gauge the level of satisfaction of their clients with their services and how effective their services are in regards to their overall mental health wellness.

In the United States the Mental Health Care field is one of the most underserved areas of healthcare. The mental healthcare field faces many challenges to the proper treatment of patients from both a societal and professional standpoint. From a societal perspective a negative stereotype is associated with patients seeking psychiatric care. Patients seeking care are often labeled as defective or damaged. Add in the complication that most patients with mental illness appear to be normal, accepting that someone is ill without outward symptoms can also be difficult for a society to understand. From a professional perspective the challenges within the mental health care industry include personal prejudice, staffing issues, and problems with coordinating care. The combination of these factors has a direct negative impact on the willingness of individuals suffering from mental illness in seeking the care needed to treat the symptoms of mental illness.

New Horizons Community Mental Health Center offers is outpatient substance abuse intervention. The Substance Abuse Program (SAP) attempts to assist clients with an insight of what has lead to their addiction as well as skills to remain sober (New Horizons Community Mental Health Center, 2014).

The Olmstead case began in 1995 with two women, Lois Curtis and Elaine Wilson who had developmental disabilities and a history of institutional treatment for psychiatric disorders. They were voluntarily admitted at different times, to a secure unit of Georgia Regional Hospital to stabilize and administer to their immediate needs, then continued treatment on an out-patient basis which was the normal course of action for this hospital. Through clinical assessments, the treating physicians determined that each woman was able to receive appropriate supports and services in a less restrictive, community based setting. The hospital administrators moved Lois and Elaine to a state-run institution, and refused them placement in a community setting, apparently due to a lack of state funding to make this transition possible. (https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/98-536.ZS.html)

Resources for Human Development (RHD) is a national human services nonprofit founded in 1970. The company currently oversees and supports more than 160 programs in 14 states. The programs fall under the following categories: Intellectual Disabilities, Behavioral Health, Addiction Recovery, Homelessness, Women & Children, Family Health & Counseling, Youth Development, Returning Citizens, Economic Development, Employment & Training, Veterans, Nonprofit Incubator, and Outsider Art. Within the Behavioral Health program, there are two Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams. The ACT Program provides community-based services to individuals with severe and persistent mental illness. The mental illness may also be accompanied by a substance abuse disorder and/or a developmental disability. The program is an outpatient agency and each ACT team has about 100 clients.

Assisted Outpatient Treatment, AOT is court ordering a mentally illness person to legally attend and commit to outpatient treatment in order to remain within the community. Every state but five have agreed to AOT. The purpose behind AOT is to prevent and decrease relapse for patients who are mentally ill and are considered high risk based on their psychiatric history. We will explore the benefits and limitations of this form of treatment.

Identification of mental health services that could be utilized as part of Jared’s treatment plan.

Program evaluations have made contributions to the Mental Health field for many decades. In the past program evaluations have been conducted outside the scope of a traditional Marriage and Family therapy framework. Sprenkle (2003) elaborates that MFT’s have been trying to move towards evidence-based research and evaluations. Trying to find the balance between evidence based and a systematic approach. What is also an area that poses some challenges is counselors and therapists trying to implement programs into existing organizations (Sprenkle, 2003). Program evaluations are able to provide useful information to MFT’s to aid in making improvements (Mertens & Wilson, 2012). Merton & Wilson (2012) explain that evaluations may also interfere

Sara is in need of residential treatment due to her history of self-injurious behaviors, and multiple attempts of suicidal gestures. Sara requires a higher level of care which outpatient care is currently failing to provide her at this time. Sara continues to have depressive symptoms and anxious feelings for the last few months. The patient has had two acute inpatient admissions within the last 3 months and requires long term stabilization. At this time Sara requires 24 hour supervision and ongoing intervention and treatment.

Park City, Utah is a community which is located in Summit County, Utah and is also, is considered to a part of the Wasatch Mountains, with an elevation of 7000 feet above sea level. Park City, UT is located around 30 miles southeast of downtown, Salt Lake City, UT and sits on the edge of Interstate 80 making it a short 30 minute drive from the Salk Lake City International airport. Park City, UT was established in the early 1870’s and a mining town, and in 2002 has hosted the Winter Olympics, and today has been made popular by host the largest United States Independent film festal, the Sundance Film Festal. During the winter months Park City, UT is the home of two major ski resorts. At the time of the 2010 census Park City, UT had a population

Over a period of seven weeks, I volunteered my time to the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region at the Regina General Hospital in the Adult Mental Health Ward. This ward is generally a short-term intervention plan for adults in our community with mental health disorders. This is a broad definition to include many mental health issues from severe depression to schizophrenia to anxiety disorders. The role of the volunteer within this area of healthcare is to support the staff while providing companionship to the patients. There are several wards one may volunteer in within just the General Hospital. However, I chose Adult Mental Health for personal interest and in order to explore where I hope to be with my future career. Furthermore, I was interested

The term ‘Recovery’ carries many differing definitions both in the Medical and Mental Health domains. In medical terms, recovery is the act of regaining or returning to a normal or health state, being cured or experiencing no current symptoms (Mental Health Foundation UK, 2015).

The trend in psychiatric care is shifting from that of inpatient hospitalization to a focus of outpatient care within the community. Community mental health services include all those activities in the community connected with mental health other than the institutional or hospitalized setting. The community approach focuses on the total population of defined geographical area rather than individual patient. Emphasis is mainly on preventive services which include provision of a continuous, comprehensive system of services designed to meet all mental health related needs in the community. Mental health care is provided. through education, consultation, brief psychotherapy, crisis