Mental Health: Systems Transformation

PENNSYLVANIA

Grant Information

Name of Grantee

Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS)

Title of Grant

Real Choice Systems Transformation Grant

Type of Grant

Mental Health: Systems Transformation

Amount of Grant

$300,000

Year Original Funding Received

2004

Contact Information

Carol J. Ward-Colasante
Project Director
717-772-7913
ccolasante@state.pa.us

Bill Boyer
OMHSAS
PO Box 2675
Beechmont Building, 2nd Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17105
717-705-8181
wboyer@state.pa.us

Subcontractor(s)

Jeanie Whitecraft
Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania
1211 Chestnut Street, 11th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-751-1800
jwhitecraft@mhasp.org

Target Population(s)

Persons with mental illness.

Goals

  • Select, engage, and prepare counties in the northeast, central, and western regions of Pennsylvania to implement a Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) program.
  • Conduct CPS training in the selected counties.
  • Support and expand CPS activities.
  • Develop a State Plan Amendment for Medicaid reimbursement of peer specialist services and to provide ongoing program support.

Activities

  • Select counties for participation in a CPS program.
  • Identify and educate local stakeholders, form local CPS planning teams in the selected counties, and determine opportunities to create CPS employee positions.
  • Recruit consumer trainees to serve the county programs, train and certify peer trainers, and conduct regional CPS training programs in each of the three regions.
  • Establish a CPS self-help network for CPS graduates.
  • Draft State Plan Amendment language for Medicaid reimbursement of psychiatric and peer specialist services, conduct complete fiscal analysis, and submit for approval.

Abstract

Through the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS), Pennsylvania develops programs and policies, allocates funds, and develops guidelines for county planning and outcome reporting. County government, through the Mental Health/Mental Retardation Act of 1966 and the Mental Health Procedures Act of 1976, has the responsibility to provide a full array of mandated services to its citizens within each county area. OMHSAS has a long-term commitment to the development of a comprehensive array of mental health and substance abuse services and supports.

The Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania (MHASP), in partnership with the Montgomery County Office of Mental Health/Mental Retardation/Drug and Alcohol Services, local providers, consumers, and other stakeholders, has implemented in Montgomery County a CPS Program similar to those developed in other states. Through this program, current or former mental health clients are being trained and certified to function as Peer Specialists. These programs assist consumer trainees to better understand peer support, communication skills, cultural competency, outreach, engagement, conflict management, crisis intervention, setting up and sustaining mutual self-help groups, helping clients build their own self-directed recovery tools, and navigating the work place. In Montgomery County, a protocol has been developed for engaging community stakeholders to support this new recovery workforce, a recovery training curriculum has been produced, training strategies are finalized, and a class of 18 consumers is now certified and functioning as the county and State's first Certified Peer Specialists. Montgomery County is using these Certified Peer Specialists in various service settings, including Targeted Case Management, Community Treatment Teams, and Mobile Psychiatric Rehabilitation programs.

Based on this successful program in the Southeast region of Pennsylvania and the accolades Peer Specialist Certification programs have received in other states (e.g., Georgia, South Carolina, Arizona, Vermont, New Mexico), OMHSAS will use this project to introduce and support a Peer Specialist Certification program in the northeast, central, and western regions of the State. Under the grant, the program will be developed in selected counties and then expanded to the rest of the State. A support network will also be developed for CPS training program graduates. OMHSAS will simultaneously work on a State Plan Amendment to win approval to support a continuing program by Medicaid reimbursement of peer specialist services through the Mental Health Rehabilitation Option.