Psychiatric Disabilities/Mental Illness

An exciting new trend in community mental health services is the increasing use of "Peer Specialists" on treatment teams serving people with mental illness. Peer Specialists use their own recovery experiences, along with specialized mental health training, to provide services that are strengths based and recovery oriented. To learn more, explore the attached presentation, article, and mentoring plan.

How can states provide outreach and resources to employers in order to encourage and support them in hiring individuals with disabilities? Explore the "Abilities" newsletter archive in order to see examples of the electronic newsletter to employers produced every other month by the state of Vermont. May be helpful for other MIG states working to reach out to employers.

Contained in this research report are the results from a survey conducted with adults receiving mental health services in North Dakota and professionals who administer mental health services. Reviewing this information may be helpful for agencies, policymakers, and advocates seeking to build on the current system of mental health services.

The AoA, CMS, and VA National Grantee Meeting was February 14-17, 2011. Use the attached links to find presentations from the 2011 sessions, available in PDF. Topics range from home and community-based services, evidence based care transition models, person-centered planning, aging and disability partnerships, and supporting caregivers. Full titles are available in the keywords section.

Find three examples of outreach materials put out by Northern Human Services, a mental health center agency. These brochures offer resources and supports for supported employment for individuals living with mental illness, as well as outreach to family members and potential employers.

How is Maine disseminating information related to the employment of workers with disabilities? This website is a portal page for job seekers and workers with disabilities, Maine employers, as well as organizations that provide services for workers with disabilities and job seekers with disabilities. Visit the site to find resources and consider ways you states might share more information electronically.

Oregon’s CLP Options Counseling Protocol provides guidance for receiving, contacting, meeting and communicating with referrals for options counseling through the Community Living Program (CLP) grant. This could serve as a template for other organizations seeking to develop Options Counseling procedures.

Are you looking to develop an Options Counseling training program? Explore Nevada's training materials including a presentation with information on what options and benefits counseling are, efficient ways to establish dialogue with a consumer, tips on conducting the Nevada Options Assessment, a listing of public resources and funding options. Also included are a role playing activity and a pre-test to obtain a baseline measure of knowledge.

Most literature focuses on long-term services and support utilization rather than awareness. This Canadian study used a series of 12 vignettes to describe common situations faced by older adults for which community support services (CSSs) might be appropriate. The findings showed that awareness of CSSs is much lower than previously thought, and that the most important sources of information were information and referral sources, the telephone book, doctors’ offices, and word of mouth.

PSWH is a person-centered planning process that looks comprehensively at a person’s health life-style, focuses on a person’s strengths, interests and natural supports, stresses creating new health life-style habits and disciplines, and provides peer support delivered by peer specialists to promote self-directed whole health. Attached find a presentation given at the 2010 HCBS conference and an information sheet.