PSY664 | Community Health | Behavioural Health And Family Support

1. Summary of the services provided or how the program works.
2. Describe the target population and how many people are served by the service or program.
3. Explain the positive outcomes of the program.
4. Explain challenges for implementation.

Type of Service or Program #2:

Website Link:

1. Summary of the services provided or how the program works.
2. Describe the target population and how many people are served by the service or program.
3. Explain the positive outcomes of the program.
4. Explain challenges for implementation.

Answer:

Program: Behavioral Health Clinic

Website Link:https://mihs.org/behavioral-health/behavioral-health--outpatient

Desert Vista is a behavioral medical clinic that provides treatment to the mentally ill persons experiencing emotional, psychological, psychiatric and behavioral difficulties. In relation to the treatment, they offer full assessment, symptoms analysis, medication, management and psychotherapy to the victims. Therapies include individual, group and family therapy. The common symptoms experienced by such individuals include notable anxiety, hallucinations, depression and lack of attention. The victims also face difficulties addressing their relationship with peoples and in most cases portray grief. The dedicated team of doctors at Desert Vista provide prescriptive medication aimed at addressing the needs of every patients. Most importantly, their services are affordable and for convenience, client’s prescriptions can easily be filled at any MIHS pharmacy or any other pharmacy of their choice (Geller 2000).

2. Target Population

Desert Vista offers behavioral health care to over 1,500 adolescents and adults in need of comprehensive mental care at their outpatient clinic. They target individuals who seeks medications following a court order where a judge orders a criminals suffering from severe mental illness to seek a treatment plan with the aim of preventing dangerous deterioration. Such deteriorations are not only very harmful to the individuals as well as their communities but can result in the victims being detained in medical facilities. The behavioral health care offers involuntary treatment to such individuals with fully assisted outpatient commitment (Bachrach, 2016).

3. Positive Outcomes of the Program

The medical clinic has collaborated with other health care providers with the main aim being provision of excellent services to the client’s. A good example here is the Maricopa Health Care Systems where they demonstrate a safe, high quality and comprehensive outpatient services. In additional to the client-centric setting in these clinics, they present an Assertive Community Treatment Program to benefit the mentally ill persons. Treatment and medication in Desert Vista is anchored on evidence based practice which is a new way of integrating nursing knowledge with client’s experiences and preferences.

4. Challenges Facing Program Implementation

No single program not even the most successful has ever lacked its set of challenges. With regard to Desert Vista, the main challenge is the shortage in community resources that could otherwise be used in substance abuse-detox services. The health care unit handles thousands of patients suffering from various substance related illnesses but it becomes difficult to serve persons unwilling to accept their mental condition or who are abusing alcohol and drugs. Like any other project, this program requires a lot of capital to implement. Outpatient services are overly expensive and consumes a great deal of funds thereby limiting the capacity for service delivery (Belluck, 2013).

Program: Family Support and Education

Website Link:

https://mihs.org/behavioral-health/outpatient-services

1. Services Provided by the Program

The program known as Family Support and Education by MIHS aims at educating individuals and families about mental illnesses. With this program, people are equipped with the knowhow of the cause and effects of mental diseases and how to address their loved ones who could be suffering from the same. Most important is the self-care and self-renewal that comes with the knowledge of mental diseases and its relationship with drugs and substance abuse. The participants of this program benefit from improved problem solving skills, enhanced family relations, self-worth and improved personal coping strategies. These virtues are acquired from the alliance formed between the participants and the program staff whose aim is to restore hope and alleviate depression amongst the victims.

2. Target Population

As a Health Care Centre, MIHS provides health services to citizens of Maricopa County. From its records, MIHS has made over 20,000 impatient admissions and attended to approximately 300,000 outpatient clients per year. As the numbers suggest, the health care unit attends to people of all races, nationalities and cultural backgrounds. Also, the unit caters for patients with all medical conditions ranging from light to complicated medical conditions. Medics here are dedicated to providing culturally appropriate medical care to its patients (Hopper et al., 2012).

3. Positive Outcomes of the Program

MIHS has joined hands with MMIC and through that collaboration, three programs have emerged, with Family Support and Education, discussed above, being one of them. The other two are Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Early Psychosis Intervention Program, a program meant to clients and family members of MMIC. ACT aims at addressing the needs of a 100 individuals suffering from serious mental illnesses. Early Psychosis Intervention Program treats young citizens diagnosed with psychotic disease.

4. Challenges Facing Program Implementation   

While deinstitutionalization of persons with mental disorders has made remarkable progress, a large number of the victims still face the challenge of substance abuse. While the various institutions have been successful in helping these victims, their programs are a catastrophe to a majority of them. Challenges in deinstitutionalization can best be explained by the number of suicide deaths, acts of violence and homelessness by the mentally ill. The numbers are alarming. Further, despite the attempts to restore normalcy to the patients, several of them are frequently re-admitted to the same hospitals while others are in jail. To sum it up, several challenges faces these programs hindering their implementation (Flory and Friedrich 1999).

References

Bachrach, L. L. (2016). Deinstitutionalization: What do the numbers mean?. Psychiatric Services, 37(2), 118-121.

Belluck, P. (2013). Program compelling outpatient treatment for mental illness is working, study says". The New York Times. Retrieved July 30, 2013 from https://mihs.org/includes/templates/latest/interior.html

Flory, C., & Friedrich, R. (1999). Where did deinstitutionalized mental patients go? (Report). Retrieved August 08, 2017, from https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/imd/deinstitutionalizationflory.html

Geller, J. L. (2000). Excluding institutions for mental diseases from federal reimbursementfor services: strategy or tragedy?. Psychiatric Services, 51(11), 1397-1403.

Hopper, K., Baxter, E., & Cox, S. (2012). Not making it crazy: the young homeless patients in New York City. New Directions for Student Leadership, 2012(14), 33-42.

Lamb, H., Weinberger L. (2008). Persons with severe mental illness in jails and prisons: a review. Psychiatric Services 49:483–492.