1929 W. 21st
Street, Wichita, KS 67203
316-660-7700
316-838-2115 (Fax)
Contact: Karen McNally, LMSW, Director
CSS Mission:
To help adults with serious mental illness meet their desire to be healthy and live in the community.
What is Community
Support Services? Research has indicated that one percent of the U.S.
population suffers from schizophrenia sometime in their life, and that as
high as nine percent of Americans have some type of disability associated
with mental illness. Such illnesses have a devastating impact on
individuals and their families. In 1990, the Kansas Legislature enacted new
mental health legislation that began downsizing the state mental hospitals
and shifting treatment back into local communities whenever possible. For
Sedgwick County, that responsibility rests with COMCARE’s Community Support
Services (CSS).
Community Support Services provides a full array of
mental health rehabilitation services for adults who have serious mental
illness and are at risk for admission to the state hospital.
Community Support Services clients want to be healthy
and be able to live independently in their own communities. CSS
professionals strive to help them overcome the barriers of their illness,
and, if they have been hospitalized for a time, to assist them to full
transition back into the community, with a focus on long term life goals.
Community Support Services serves a target population
of individuals who meet specified criteria that includes a mental illness
diagnosis, duration of illness and degree of disability the illness has
caused, as well as imminent risk of institutionalization. Consumers of CSS
services will have been diagnosed with serious psychiatric conditions such
as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression; may have been
hospitalized at least once in their lifetime or who have been
institutionalized for long periods of time; have difficulty with social
relationships, meeting their basic needs, maintaining a home or a job; or
require court ordered treatment.
When a person is assessed to have a serious mental illness requiring
psychiatric rehabilitation, the work begins to design a treatment program.
Staff conducts a strengths assessment to determine the consumer’s interests,
goals, desires and current and previous sources of support. The staff and
consumer also consider the barriers to success. This information leads to
the development of a plan that the case manager and consumer then use when
working together on the recovery goal process.
Many in this specialized segment of the population in
Sedgwick County can be helped. 1,247 people were enrolled in services at
Community Support Services in 2007. Of those served, 20% returned to work,
4% attended school or vocational training, and 87% achieved independent
living.
Safety Net of
Support Services: CSS uses the following support services to help
clients remain in the community and out of institutions:
-
Case Management/Community Psychiatric Supportive
Treatment
-
Medication Management
-
Individual & Group Psychotherapy
-
Life Skills Groups
-
Supported Education & Employment Services
-
Attendant Care (by
contract)
-
Crisis Intervention Services (through COMCARE )
A Look at Individual Services:
Case Management - Case management services are
provided to individuals to help them obtain and learn to use needed
community resources in the areas of housing, medical services, financial
support, social interaction, education, and employment, as well as how to
cope with symptoms and stigma of mental illnesses. Some examples of
assistance include: How to get back into school, care for a pet, obtain
Social Security benefits, use a food bank or get food stamps, arrange for
nursing services, explore new life goals related to rehabilitation and
recovery.
Discharge Team: This is a specialized team that
works directly with the state mental hospital staff to carry out the most
effective and timely return of a patient to his or her community. This team
includes an Osawatomie State Hospital liaison that goes to the state
hospital each week to participate in the discharge planning. Case managers
support the discharge plan and assist the consumer in becoming stable and
active in their treatment locally, including providing specialized life
skills training as needed.
Community Integration Program – This program
involves a variety of treatment groups that help consumers manage their
mental illness. The primary groups are focused on symptom management,
social and recreational skills, pre-vocational skills training, and
programming for those with substance abuse disorders. These services focus
on helping consumers practice social and practical skills through
interaction in natural community settings. They are designed to assist
individuals in moving beyond the more restrictive treatment settings and
reintegrate back into their community. The groups are structured to help
consumers gain more knowledge of the community, practice more difficult
daily living skills, expand pre-vocational and educational knowledge and
experience, and participate in non-mental health settings. Peer Support
Specialists bring the added dimension of having lived the experience
themselves in helping to support others in their recovery process.
The CSS Medical Clinic – The Clinic staff
consist of Psychiatrists, Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNP) and
Registered Nurses (RN) who provide medication and wellness education for
symptom management. Master level therapists provide individual and group
therapy designed for CSS consumers, including specialized programs for
self-harming behaviors and addictions.
Community Nursing –Registered Nurses and
Licensed Mental Health Technicians provide consumer supports from a nursing
perspective, offering in-home assessments, medication planner set-up,
medication and related health education, and home visits.
Mental Illness/Chemical Addiction (MICA) – The
CSS Medical Clinic and Community Integration Group work in collaboration to
provide daily individual and group treatment of co-occurring mental illness
and chemical addictions. Staff members are cross-trained in dual diagnosis
issues and conduct in-service training for other staff.
Supported Employment and Education Services (SE/ES)
- Employment and Education Specialists provide direct assistance to overcome
the symptoms of mental illness related to skill and interest assessment,
resume writing, interview practice, career exploration, job placement,
workplace and classroom accommodations, student financial assistance,
coursework selection and other supports related to returning to work or
school. Specialists work closely with employers and consumers to enhance
job retention.
Occupational Therapy - The Occupational
Therapist (OT) conducts individual assessments of consumer skills as
requested and develops strategies to improve learning and practice of
specific skills. The OT also works with group treatment teams to build
skill-based methods into group activities. The OT facilitates the use of
cognitive skills software for practice to build specific cognitive abilities
such as memory retention, hand-eye coordination speed, word recognition,
etc.
Respite Beds – Twelve supervised respite beds
are available for use by Community Support Services mental health consumers
through a contract with the Mental Health Association. These beds are used
primarily to avoid hospitalization or help consumers make a transition from
state hospital to the community. Length of stay is limited to three weeks
and consumers must have a daytime structured activity in the community while
staying in these transitional group homes.
Attendant Care – Attendant care is provided by
contract with the Mental Health Association. Attendants provide
individualized support in the person’s home or while participating in
community activities. They also contribute needed assistance with daily
living activities, work towards goals developed by the consumer and case
managers, and provide social support needed to participate in normal
community activities.
The expected outcomes for Community
Support Services include increased independence in living
arrangements, continued stabilization of symptoms, improved self-management
of mental illness, improved access to community resources and decreased use
of mental health services with expanded skills for work, education, and
recovery of a fuller quality of life.
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