Community Support Services
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
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
successfully 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.
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 specific to that
person. 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
2,051 people were enrolled in services at Community Support
Services in 2009. Of those served, 17% returned to work, 4% attended school or
vocational training, and 86% 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
-
Peer Support
-
Supported Education & Employment Services
-
Crisis Intervention Services
-
Attendant Care (by contract)
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,
problem-solve and cope with new events, and 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
Community Integration Program – This program
involves a variety of psychosocial rehabilitation 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.
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.
Integrated Dual
Disorder Treatment (iDDT) – One specialized case management team, the CSS
Therapy Clinic and Community Integration Groups work in collaboration to provide
daily individual and group treatment of co-occurring mental illness and
substance abuse disorders. Staff
members are cross-trained in dual disorder issues and conduct in-service
training for other staff. In 2011
this team was certified as an evidence-based IDDT program.
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.
Transitional Support Group Homes – Twelve
supervised short-term 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 and personal health and wellness, 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.
COMCARE
of Sedgwick County
First
Appointment – 316-660-7540
24-Hour Crisis Intervention Services – 316-660-7500
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