Contra Costa County has billed both types of programs/services to Medicaid under the State's Rehabilitation Option for many years. The key is having the
Rehabilitation Option (as opposed to the Clinic Option) for your State; or, alternatively, getting a 1915c waiver (I think that's the correct designation)
from the feds.
Contra Costa Mental Health has certified specific school sites as Medicaid clinics and specific staff (school psychologists primarily) as Medicaid service
providers. They do individual therapy, collateral work with parents, and wraparound and bill these services through Contra Costa Mental Health. We also have school-site-based day treatment programs that are staffed by community-based organizations (501c3's) under contract to Mental Health; they work collaboratively with the school districts where they are sited to provide the day treatment services.
Our Family Partners are County employees, and also are qualified as service providers under the Rehabilitation Option. (I think they have to be "waivered"
by the Mental Health Director if they do not have college degrees.) They bill and chart for all services they deliver to parents and families as long as they meet Medicaid service guidelines. All their charting notes have to be reviewed by a licensed clinician/supervisor and signed off by same. Obviously they cannot diagnose, provide therapy, or anything else outside scope of practice.
I am happy to provide more details to any community who wants to email or call me with more specific questions.
Hope you are doing well!
Rich
Rich Weisgal, MFT
Program Manager, Children's System of Care
Contra Costa County Mental Health
2425 Bisso Lane, Suite 280
Concord, CA 94520
tel: (925) 646-5120
fax: (925) 646-5115
email: rweisgal@hsd.cccounty.us
We do!
Contact Ann Boerth or call her at 651-431-2340. We also have Mental Health Behavioral Aides funded by Medicaid in the schools.
What is a Mental Health Behavioral Aide
What Are the Qualifications of the Mental Health Behavioral Aide
The MHBAs get 30 hours of per-service training and 8 of those hours are in parent teaming training. Parents are the trainers delivering our Parent Teaming training curriculum. We now have 29 trained parent trainers in MN. I wrote this curriculum with the input of other family members so this has been an all family thing. Very cool. The Parent Teaming training is mandated training for all MHBAs funded by Medicaid. Let me know if you'd like more information on the Mental Health Behavioral Aides.
Scott,
I believe Arizona funds a variety of such activities. Jane Kallal said that one or more medicaid payers (valueoptions, carveout?) actually employed a range of family members in positions to do mentor work with youth, and peer-to-peer support with family members. I imagine they could work in schools as well? I don't know all the details but Jane Kallal and Frank Rider, RTAC, probably do.
Gene
Washington State provides peer support (one of the modalities in our state plan amendment) to parents raising children with SEDs. Although peer support through Medicaid has to be provided through a licensed CMHA. Passages, a family organization in our state provides that via Medicaid. Passages went through the hoops of becoming a licensed CMHA. Contact person is Becky Bates. For general info on Peer Support provided through CMHAs, contact person is Karie Castleberry.
Sandy Gregoire
Mental Health Division
360-902-0838 x 3
Please contribute to the knowledge of the Alumni Network!
Scott - I received your Alumni newsletter and it is awesome! I work for Choices, Inc. which is the care management entity for the Dawn Project, a system of care site that was federally funded in 1997. Our family support organization, Families Reaching for Rainbows, Inc. has had great success in growing its organization.
Rainbows started right after we received our federal grant and began offering a monthly support gathering for Dawn families. It quickly grew beyond Dawn to serve all families in Indianapolis who have a young person in their family with a mental health challenge. Rainbows became its own 501c3 a couple of years ago and about that same time began providing peer to peer mentoring services to Dawn Project families. This was their first step toward sustainability. Rainbows has sense added a Common Sense Parenting Class, which is based on a curriculum from Boys and Girls Town USA. Rainbows has contracts now with the Marion County Department of Child Services as well as Dawn. The newest addition to Rainbows is a program called WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) for Kids. It is based on Mary Ellen Copelands' model which was developed after 12 years of conducting nationwide studies about what helped mental health consumers maintain wellness in their lives.
I have attached a brochure about Rainbows. I hope you will consider sharing our success with others. If you would like more information, please let me know, or you can contact Craig Andler, Director of Rainbows at 317.205.8281.
Courtney Kasinger
Communications Director
Choices, Inc.
4701 N. Keystone Avenue
Suite 150
Indianapolis, IN 46205
317.205.8268
Scott:
I am Doug Ward, fiscal/contract manager, for Circle Around Families in Lake County Indiana. We are a 2004 graduate site. Our family organization is called Family Action Network (FAN). It is a free-standing 501(c )(3) organization that has successfully made the transition from a grant-supported entity to a self- supporting organization.
Our strategy from the beginning was to position FAN as a separate organization that provides a valuable service to parents of children enrolled in our program. We helped them with the incorporation process including completing their IRS not-for-profit application. We originally supported them with Grant funds, but we treated them for all other purposes just like any other of our vendors such as our mentors and tutors. The service they provide is called ‘parent support’ which in simplified terms is a mentor to the parent(s) of clients enrolled in our System of Care. We pay them on a fee for service basis at a rate equal to what our community based mentors receive for mentoring our clients.
There are only two direct employees of the organization (Exec. Director, Admin. Assist.), but they provide services through independent contractors, which are graduated parents of the System of Care. They pay these independent contractors at a rate of a couple of dollars less per hour than we pay FAN.
The key to getting this system in place was to convince our county Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice systems that this peer-to peer counseling was a valuable service to allow the family to understand and to develop strategies for coping with the various problems and challenges confronting families of children whom are Seriously Emotionally Disturbed. The System of Care enrolled parents responded well to the interaction from other parents who had and were in their shoes so to speak. The contractors work closely with the mental health case coordinators in providing the services which vary from family to family.
This service is now ingrained in our System of Care, and is provided to about 1/3 of all enrolled families. In addition, FAN also receives referrals directly from our county Child Welfare system serving families who are not enrolled in Circle Around Families through Child Welfare’s regular service contracting process.
FAN also has received a contract from the State of Indiana DMHA to create and advise other parent organizations within the State through the TA Center operated out of Indianapolis in conjunction with Choices and the Dawn Project.
It has been very satisfying for Circle Around Families to see FAN become self-sustaining and become a recognized partner in providing services to families in Lake County.
Please contribute to the knowledge of the Alumni Network!
