Consumer/Participant Direction

SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) webcasts were broadcast March 16, April 6 and May 25, 2005. Titles Included: 1. Self-Direction and Its Relationship to Mental Health-Principles: Tools of Self-Direction. 2. Models of Self-Direction in Mental Health: What's out there? 3. Self-Direction in Mental Health-From Ideas to Action: Funding Self-Directed Care in Mental Health and Helping People Make It Happen. Materials include presentation slides, resource links and discussion questions.

The main aims of this paper are to categorize and analyze different types of arrangements allowing home-care users choice and map the prevalence, to review outcomes in terms of flexibility, care quality, satisfaction and conditions for care givers, and to analyze the implications for employment and fiscal sustainability. This paper covers services in 12 OECD countries (Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States).

Medicaid is the major public payer of community services and supports for working age adults with serious mental illnesses. This handbook explains how existing Medicaid options and waivers are used by states to finance a broad range of community services and supports for adults with serious mental illnesses, and demonstrates what aspects of state-of-the art community services and supports for this population are funded by Medicaid.

The 2004 Consumer Direction Initiative Summit convened 79 recipients of mental health, addiction services, families, policymakers, and providers to develop recommendations for SAMHSA’s next steps towards fostering consumer-directed approaches in behavioral health care services for people with substance use disorders, mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbances. The report from the summit reviews issues raised in working papers and at the meeting.

The purpose of this 2001 Real Choice System Change grant project is to review personal assistance services policies across departments and programs to identify unnecessary inconsistencies and opportunities to maximize consumer choice and control. This comparative analysis identifies opportunities for increasing consumer choice and control across Maine’s personal assistance services (PAS) program and offers additional findings and recommendations.

The Department of Education has announced an invitation for applications to support Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers focused on Mental Health Consumer-Centered and Community-Based Practices and Supports. Applications are due August 16, 2005. Estimated Available Funds: $1,300,000. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.133B-3

Informal family assistance is often a key factor in determining whether a person with a disability can live in a community setting. However, the practice of paying relatives as caregivers remains controversial. This article reports findings from the Cash and Counseling Demonstration and Evaluation (CCDE) in Arkansas, in which consumers receive a cash allowance to purchase personal assistance services. The article appeared in Marriage and Family Review, Vol. 1, No. 1/2

To assist states in developing and implementing home and community-based waiver programs, CMS has developed a Quality Framework. The purpose of this background memo is to help Cash and Counseling states apply the framework and incorporate the necessary waiver assurances as they develop their quality management plans for consumer directed programs. This paper offers examples that operationalize the quality framework and tables about participants: Access, Safeguards, Outcomes and Satisfaction.

Communities for Everyone is a two-day institute held June 23rd and 24th that will explore innovative approaches to building inclusive communities and creating sustainable systems change to support all residents to be full participants in community life. Workshops and keynote presentations will provide information that reflects current practices as well as future designs to create welcoming, accessible, and inclusive communities that support all residents.

This ILRU publication addresses common myths about abuse against people with disabilities by personal assistance providers and family members. The newsletter also addresses the personal barriers to stopping abuse and violence. This issue is Vol. 3, Issue 1.