| Statewide Initiatives
> Other OMHSAS Initiatives |
Children's
Respite
Report on Respite Services, 2008-2009
When you compare the respite statistics from 2007-2008, the first year the Commonwealth budget included funding for respite services for families of children with emotional and behavioral needs, with the most recent statistics from this past year, 2008-2009, the growth is clear.
In each of the past two fiscal years, $500,000 has been allocated to counties for respite services. All counties/joinders received at least $5,000 and no county/joinder received more than $112,116. The chart below shows significant growth in the program from one year to the next.
| |
Fiscal Year 2008-2009 |
Fiscal Year 2007-2008 |
Amount of allocation spent |
95 percent |
77 percent |
Number of counties spending entire allocation |
32 |
25 |
Number of children served |
1,559 |
1,066 |
Number of hours of respite provided |
52,038 |
39,704 |
Number of days/weeks of respite provided |
2,143 days/night |
309 days/nights; 1,440 weeks |
Unspent allocation |
Only 6 counties/joinders spent less than half the money allocated to them (reasons for not spending the allocation included liability issues, criminal clearance issues, and lack of providers) |
8 counties/joinders spent 10 percent or less of the money allocated to them (reasons for not spending the allocation included initial start-up of program, liability issues, criminal clearance issues, and miscommunication) |
Resources
PA
CASSP Newsletter, June 2008, “Providing Respite Services
for Families of Children with Special Needs”
Compeer
Who are WE? Compeer matches caring, sensitive,
and trained volunteers in one–to-one friendships with children
and adults referred by mental health professionals. Compeer is
considered an adjunct to therapy and is based on the concept that
a volunteer’s friendship and support can offset the loneliness
and isolation that accompany mental illnesses. Volunteers visit
their Compeer friend for a minimum of four hours a month for a
year and share a variety of social, recreational, and educational
activities with their friends.
History: Compeer was established in 1973 in
Rochester, NY. In 1980 the NYS Office of Mental Health became
interested in replicating this innovative volunteer program and
sponsored two workshops for mental health professionals on “Compeer
– A Model Program.” Based on New York State’s
success, Compeer received a National Institute of Mental Health
grants, which provided funding to establish an international Compeer
office. The office of Compeer International provides consultation,
training, and support to affiliates as well as assisting in the
development of new affiliates.
Today: Compeer affiliates are sponsored by a
variety of mental health and volunteer non-profit agencies throughout
the nation. Today, there are 80 Compeer programs in 16 states
— Pennsylvania has the second largest Coalition which includes
14 Compeer affiliates throughout the state, Australia (11 programs),
and Canada (1 program). In 200, 3,471 volunteers provided 124,895
hours of advocacy and support to 4,432 children and adults diagnosed
with mental illnesses. Based on the estimated value of volunteer
time for 2006, of 18.77/hr (Independent Sector research; value
of volunteer time based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics), Compeer
volunteers’ time is valued at $2,428,030.80.
Cost Containment: Health care cost containment
continues to be an area of concern, particularly to the non-profit
sector. Compeer has provided a creative solution to deteriorating
support systems through the utilization of trained volunteers.
Psychiatric hospitalization cost can range as high as $200,000
annually. The cost of a Compeer friendship best practice is $1,500
per person or less. Cost per person averages between $375 - $1,100
depending upon area of the country. Compeer volunteer friendships
have been shown to save mental health dollars and favorably alter
utilization of other costly services.
Recognition: Compeer has been recognized as
a model mental health volunteer program and has been highlighted
in print and electronic media including CBS Morning News, NBC
Nightly News, Sally Jesse Raphael, Newsweek, Family
Circle, Psychology Today and recently in Self.
In addition, the program has received the Presidential Recognition
Award by the Department of Health and Human Service, the first
Eleanor Roosevelt Community Service Award, the Presidential Volunteer
Action Award, four Points of Light awards, and recognition from
the American Psychiatric Association.
How to Start a Compeer Program in Pennsylvania:
Mental health professionals, administrators, and community leaders
interested in beginning Compeer in their county should submit
a proposal to the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Services (OMHSAS) and Compeer Inc. Upon approval, OMHSAS will
help with start up fees and technical assistance. A Service Mark
Agreement is completed by Compeer Inc. Startup fees provide material
and forms on program procedures, recruitment, training, evaluation,
and staff development; technical assistance and on-site consultation;
and one registration at a Compeer Annual Conference. Written,
telephone, and on-site consultation, monthly newsletters, program
public relations, and media development are all part of the ongoing
support offered by Compeer International Office.
Further information is available from Compeer, Inc., 400 Andrews
St., Rochester, New York 14704, 800-836-0475 or www.compeer.org.
Pennsylvania Compeer Coalition
- Please visit the PA Compeer Coalition web site - www.pacompeercoalition.org.
- The mission of the Pennsylvania Compeer Coalition is to provide
support to affiliate programs whose volunteers foster mental
health recovery through friendship.
- The vision of the Pennsylvania Compeer Coalition strives to
provide access to Compeer services for people in mental health
recovery.
- The
Friendship Express: Newsletter of the Pennsylvania Compeer
Association, Spring 2009
- The
Friendship Express: Newsletter of the Pennsylvania Compeer
Association, Winter 2008
- The
Friendship Express: Newsletter of the Pennsylvania Compeer
Association, Fall 2008
- The
Friendship Express: Newsletter of the Pennsylvania Compeer
Association, Summer 2008
- The
Friendship Express: Newsletter of the Pennsylvania Compeer
Association, Spring 2008.
Local Compeer Links
Return to Top
Deaf
and Hard of Hearing
Pennsylvania Office for the Deaf
and Hard of Hearing
The PA Office for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing,
or ODHH, provides advocacy, information, and referrals for Pennsylvanians
who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or deaf blind, and their families
and caregivers.
Online Community
HearingExchange is an online community for people with hearing loss and their family members. HearingExchange has been offering information, support, and advice since 2000. HearingExchange now also has two groups on Facebook, one of which is specifically for teens or young adults. Facebook is one of the largest online social networking groups. HearingExchange Teens on Facebook is moderated by Mel Paticoff, a college student studying to become a teacher of the deaf. HearingExchange Teens is an excellent way for teens and young adults to connect and socialize with others who completely "get" what it's like to have a hearing loss.
Center for Hearing and Deaf Services Receives Special Grant
The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services is pleased to announce a special projects grant to the Center for Hearing and Deaf Services to enable continued development and maintenance of a web site that provides behavioral health care information and related resources in a fully accessible format for individuals who are Deaf, Deaf-Blind, and hard of hearing, and for health care providers. The grant is also offered in support of ongoing efforts to provide educational opportunities and advocacy strategies to enhance understanding and access to mental health services by individuals who are Deaf or hard of hearing. Explore the web site at www.ddbhhpgh.info.
Mental
Health/Mental Retardation Positive Practices Resource Team
The Positive Practices Resource Team (PPRT) is a joint initiative
between the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
(OMHSAS) and the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) to assist
individuals with a dual diagnosis of MH/MR. The purpose of the
PPRT is to identify and develop system capacity and resources
that will be dedicated to addressing issues pertaining to a person’s
behavioral support needs. This initiative addresses those issues
that, in the past, often resulted in state hospital/center admissions
or incarceration. The PPRT assists providers in continuing to
serve those individuals who are experiencing difficulties and
enhancing the provider’s ability to provide comprehensive
services in the future.
PPRT members include the following: State Hospital and State Center
Staff, ODP and OMHSAS field office staff, pharmacists from the
State Hospitals and State Centers, a sexual consultant from ODP,
the Bureau of Autism Services, Health Care Quality Unit staff,
and advocacy groups.
If you would like to request assistance from PPRT, please contact
your local county
MH/MR office who is responsible for making referral.
Return to Top
Older
Adult Efforts
Behavioral Health and Aging Resource Manual
The Resource Manual Workgroup of the Older Adult Advisory Committee is pleased to announce that the Behavioral Health and Aging Resource Manual is now available. The manual is not meant to diagnose disorders or recommend treatment. The intent of this manual is to provide information regarding the common behavioral health issues of older adults. Please select the link to access the manual.
Older Adult Peer
Specialist Initiative
Pennsylvania Department of Aging Web Site
Long Term Living in PA Web Site
Return to Top
OpenMinds/OpenDoors
- Anti Stigma/Anti Discrimination
OpenMindsOpenDoors
is a Pennsylvania initiative aimed at ending discrimination against
people with mental illnesses. Approximately one in five people
in this country live with a mental illness. People who have needs
just like everyone else, and demand basic rights just like everyone
else.
PA CARES
Task Force: Returning Military Personnel
P Pennsylvania
A Americans showing
C compassion
A assistance, and
R reaching out with
E empathy for
S service members
Background: As military personnel return home
to Pennsylvania from their duties in the US War on Terror (GWT)
and other duties, these individuals and their family members may
experience a variety of readjustment challenges. In response to
this, the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, Office of
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, the Department of
Military and Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Veterans
Affairs, have joined with various state and local agencies to
form a voluntary advisory and action task force to assist these
veterans and their families with a successful reintegration back
to their families and communities.
Vision: Returning veterans and their families
will have access to resources that address their needs to facilitate
a successful reintegration back to their family and community.
Mission: To network and work collaboratively
to develop initiatives to meet the needs of service members, veterans,
and their families.
Goals:
- The Task Force will meet monthly to network and work collaboratively
to develop initiatives to meet the needs of service members,
veterans, and their families. Initiatives can include pre-deployment,
deployment and post deployment strategies addressing community
supports, medical health care, substance abuse, employment,
education, mental health, and readjustment and reintegration.
- The Task Force will identify avenues to bring resources to
service members, veterans and their families.
- The Task Force will respond to requests for assistance.
- The Task Force will conduct evaluations of its initiatives
and use consumer feedback to improve its initiatives.
Links
SAMHSA Resources for Returning Veterans and Families (www.samhsa.gov/vets)
Return to Top
Supported
Education
Coming soon...
Spiritual
Supports Facilitation
Spiritual Supports Facilitation is a new initiative developed
by the Pennsylvania Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Services to formally recognize the importance of Spiritual Supports
in the mental health recovery process. Spiritual Supports Facilitation
joins the broad-based recovery initiative by addressing issues
of spirituality in recovery and assisting consumers in connecting
with the spiritual supports of their choice. We do this by:
- Increasing awareness of the importance of spirituality. Spiritual
Supports Facilitation offers spirituality and recovery-based
education and presentations in treatment centers and in the
community. We present to consumers, providers, family, and community
supports in a variety of settings such as drop-in centers, churches,
conferences, tai chi centers, club houses, CSP groups, etc.
- Facilitating opportunities to dialog about spirituality in
treatment centers and in the community. Spiritual Supports Facilitators
attend many statewide conferences and events and frequently
facilitate workshops and presentations. Spiritual Supports Facilitators
complement and network with community-based spiritual supports
providers, local advocacy groups, peer support specialists,
local Community Support programs, and facility- based chaplaincy
to support consumers’ spiritual support choices in recovery.
- Developing resources to support spirituality perspectives.
Through discovering and sharing information and media we can
educate and support insights into the understanding of spirituality.
We share information in a variety of ways such as handouts and
Internet resources. We invite others to report and share whatever
spirituality resources they may know of or have available.
- Identifying the challenges and barriers to consumers receiving
desired spiritual supports services. Unfortunately, social stigma
continues to exist for mental health consumers in some spiritual
community settings. Many challenges exist, such as availability
of spiritual resources and supports in treatment settings and
disrespect or non-acceptance of various spiritual practices,
both traditional and non-traditional. It is important to address
these problems and enter into dialog and identify solutions
individuals may use to cope with and overcome the barriers.
For more information please contact the Spiritual Supports Facilitators:
Bob Manrodt
PO Box 300
State Route 422, Sportsman Road
Wernersville, PA 19565-0500
Phone: 610-678-3411, x362
Email: c-rmanrodt@state.pa.us
Rev. DeWayne White
DGS Annex Complex
PO Box 2675
Harrisburg, PA 17105-2675
Phone: 717-772-7625
Email: c-wwhite@state.pa.us
Return to Top
Trauma
Informed Care
Cross-Systems Collaboration
Committee
Cross-systems Collaboration Committee was created in the summer
of 2004 with the primary goals of ending violence in the lives
of persons with disabilities and promoting full access to victims’
services, wellness, and recovery. The committee is chaired by
the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania (DRN) and the
Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR). Other partners include
Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers’ Association (PMHCA),
Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV), Pennsylvania
Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS),
Pennsylvania Office of Developmental Programs (ODP), The Institute
on Disabilities at Temple University, Pennsylvania Commission
on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD), The Arc of Pennsylvania, Sexual
Assault Resource and Counseling Center (SARCC), Lebanon County,
and Drexel University College of Medicine Behavioral Healthcare
Education.
The mission of the cross system collaboration is to foster,
encourage, support, and advocate for cross-systems communication,
training, and the provision of attitudinally and physically
accessible direct care services on all levels; promote a coordinated,
statewide, trauma-informed communication network between individual
victims, survivors, and service entities; and promote and enhance
trauma-informed training and services.
Project Illumination
Project
Illumination is a statewide collaboration to promote awareness
of sexual violence towards people with disabilities. It uses
a cross- system approach through partnerships to promote awareness
and understand the impact of sexual violence on people with
disabilities. The partners include The Arc of Pennsylvania,
Institute on Disabilities at Temple University, Pennsylvania
Coalition Against Rape, Disabilities Rights Network of PA, and
Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
Resources
Responding
to Childhood Trauma: The Promise and Practice of Trauma
Informed Care, by Dr. Gordon R. Hodas.
Models
for Developing Trauma-Informed Behavioral Health Systems andTrauma-Specific
Services, July 2008. Prepared for the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration by the National Center
for Trauma-Informed Care as a follow-up to the session on trauma-informed
services presented by Terry Cline, Ph.D., SAMHSA Administrator,
during the meeting of the National Association of State Mental
Health Program Administrators in July 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee.
From the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Guide to Community Preventive Services: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Proven to Benefit Symptomatic Children and Adolescents Following a Traumatic Event
The US Task Force on Community Preventive Services recommends individual cognitive behavior therapy and group cognitive behavior therapy to reduce psychological harm to youth who show psychological symptoms following exposure to traumatic events. The Task Force recommendation and related findings are published in the September 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Every day, children witness, hear about, or directly experience traumatic events. These can be single or repeated events, on an individual or a mass scale (e.g., a homicide versus a plane crash); they can be natural or manmade (e.g., a tsunami versus a bombing); and they can be intentional or unintentional (e.g., rape versus severe illness). Before this review was conducted, many professionals who work with youth who have been exposed to trauma did not know whether the therapies they used were effective.
The Task Force—a non-federal volunteer group of public health and prevention experts appointed by the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)— assessed Community Guide systematic reviews of 7 interventions to reduce psychological harm (e.g., depression, post-traumatic stress disorder) to youth following exposure to a traumatic event. The Task Force based its findings on systematic reviews conducted by CDC’s Community Guide staff in collaboration with federal and non-federal experts in research, practice, and policy.
Based on their assessment of the evidence of effectiveness of these interventions, the Task Force recommended two interventions on the basis of strong evidence, and found insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of five others. Note that “Insufficient Evidence” does not mean that the intervention does not work, only that there is not yet enough evidence to determine whether or not it is effective.
Interventions designed to reduce psychological harm among youth who have experienced, witnessed, or otherwise been exposed to a traumatic event:
- Recommended:
- Individual cognitive behavior therapy
- Group cognitive behavior therapy
- Insufficient Evidence:
- Play therapy
- Art therapy
- Psychological debriefing
- Psychodynamic therapy
- Pharmaceutical therapy
Learn more about this systematic review and then check out the full article: Wethington, H., Hahn, R.A., Fuqua-Whitley, D., & Sipe, T.A., et al. (2008). The effectiveness of interventions to reduce psychological harm from traumatic events among children and adolescents: A systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 35 (3), 287-313. Click here for an abstract of the article and how to obtain the full text. Contact: Robert A. Hahn, PhD, CDC: 404-498-0958
Traumatic/Acquired
Brain Injury
The Brain Injury Recovery Task Force Report is now available. The report is the result of many hours of work by brain injury survivors, family members, brain injury providers, and advocates to produce recommendations to Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare Secretary Estelle B. Richman. Secretary Richman is supportive of the recommendations that have been presented. Staff within the department is pursuing activities and initiatives that can streamline processes and make access to services easier.
Return to Top
|
| |
|
