County Mental Health Plan Guidelines

For Adults, Older Adults, and Transition-Age Youth with Serious Mental Illness and Co-occurring Disorders

Department of Public Welfare

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

FISCAL YEARS 2013-2017

(2012/2013, 2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2016/2017)

Issued November 2010

COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH PLAN

GUIDELINES

FOR FISCAL YEARS 2013-2017

TABLE of CONTENTS

TOPIC / PAGE
GENERAL INFORMATION
OMHSAS Vision and Guiding Principles
I / Background to the Plan Guidelines / 4
II / General Expectations / 4
III / Packaging/Submission Requirements / 5
IV / Review Process / 8
V / Time Frames / 9
VI / Technical Assistance/Feedback / 10
COUNTY PLAN OUTLINE
1 / Executive Summary / 11
2 / Vision & Mission Statement / 11
3 / Process Used for Completing the Plan / 11
4 / Overview of the Existing county Mental Health Service System / 12
5 / Identification and Analysis of Service System Needs / 13
6 / Identification of the Recovery-Oriented Systems Transformation Priorities / 14
7 / Fiscal Information / 16
8 / Supplemental Planning Guidelines / 17
9 / Attachments to CountyPlan / 18-82

COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH

PLAN

Fiscal Years2013-2017

GENERAL INFORMATION

Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Vision, Guiding Principles, and Goals

Vision Statement

Every individual served by the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service system will have the opportunity for growth, recovery and inclusion in their community, have access to culturally competent services and supports of their choice, and enjoy a quality of life that includes family members and friends.

Guiding Principles

The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service System will provide quality services and supports that:

  • Facilitate recovery for adults and resiliency for children;
  • Are responsive to an individual’s unique strengths and needs throughout their lives;
  • Focus on prevention and early intervention;
  • Recognize, respect and accommodate differences as they relate to culture/ethnicity/race, religion, gender identity and sexual orientation;
  • Ensure individual human rights and eliminate discrimination and stigma;
  • Are provided in a comprehensive array by unifying programs and funding that build on natural and community supports unique to each individual and family;
  • Are developed, monitored and evaluated in partnership with consumers, families and advocates, and
  • Represent collaboration with other agencies and service systems.

OMHSAS Goals

  • Treatment, services and supports are provided where, how and when needed.
  • A qualified and competent workforce is recruited and retained.
  • Funding will support the OMHSAS Vision.
  • Services and supports will be monitored, evaluated and managed for quality outcomes.

I. Background to the Plan Guidelines

Although one of the primary purposes of the County Mental Health Plan is to satisfy the legal requirement pursuant to the MH/MR Act of 1966,its value extends well beyond any regulatory mandate. CountyMental Health Plans serve as blueprints for the development of comprehensive service delivery systems that are responsive to the current, as well as the emerging,needs of individuals with serious mental illness and co-occurring disorders. The Mental Health Plans are critical instruments that the counties utilize to conceptualize and build the framework for the transformative changesthat evolve within their service systems.

The Mental Health County Plan Guidelines for Fiscal Years 2013-2017 establish a newly designed planning process built upon a five-year planning cycle. OMHSAS convened a broad-based stakeholder committee in 2010 to redesign the guidelines that would steer the county mental health planning process. Thenew guidelines have been developed by building upon the process established three years ago in the FY 2009-2012 County Plan Guidelines. OMHSAS and the stakeholder workgroup that was instrumental in the development of the new guidelines expect that the FY 2013-2017 guidelines, by focusing on targeted priorities relevant to each county,would further enhance the value of the Planning instrument to the counties as well as the populations they serve.

Counties will be required to submit a full five-year plan the first year, with updates in the following four years. The focus of the guidelines will continue to highlight county driven needs. Each county will identify 3-5 transformation prioritiesaround which the plan will be developed.

The county mental health plan will continue to focus on adults, older adults and transition-age youth (18-26) with serious mental illness, including individuals with co-occurring substance use disorders, served by both the county based system and HealthChoices managed care delivery system.Individuals with co-occurring substance usedisorders, who represent a large percentage of persons with serious mental illness, should be a focus of planning. Planning for children is to be included in the Integrated Children’s Service Plan.

The Plan should describe the status of, plans for, and any modifications to the county’s efforts to enable adults, older adults and transition-age individualswith serious mental illness, including individuals with co-occurring substance use disorders, to “live, work, learn, and participate fully in their communities” as described in the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health Report released in July of 2003 titled Achieving the Promise:Transforming Mental Health Care in America. Further, the Plan should serve as a tool to translate the recovery philosophy embodied in the landmark OMHSAS document “Call for Change” into tangible transformational effortsat the local level.

II.General Expectations

In order to complete the Mental Health Plan the county should:

1.Engage the target planning populations: adults, older adults and transition-age youth with serious mentalillness, including individuals with co-occurring substance use disorders and individuals that reflect the cultural makeup of the county. Other stakeholders should include family members,advocacy groups, providers, behavioral health managed care representatives, and cross-systems partners. Stakeholders should be included in the development of the county plan, monitoring of community treatment programs, services and supports, and in providing ongoing input into the county’s system for recovery-focused services. Counties should demonstrate and document in their Plan how they outreached to and engaged, the target planning groups and other stakeholders in the community. Individuals requesting accommodations to participate in the process shall be afforded those accommodations as required by the Americanswith Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and any amendments to ADA thereafter.

2.Demonstrate how the county partnered with their counterparts in Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, Drug and Alcohol, County Probation, State and County Corrections, Aging, Housing, ,relevant Offices/Bureaus within the Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) that include the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR)/Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services and OVR/Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation Services as well as the Office for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Veterans Administration, andrepresentatives of the Behavioral Health Managed Care Organization,to develop a plan for services that integrates federal, state, and county funding sources to make the most effective use of public funds. To help facilitate these collaborations, OMHSAS would send a copy of the final Guidelines with a forwarding letter to these agencies requesting their cooperation and partnership with the County MH/MR programs. In addition to the agencies/entities listed in this paragraph, the other entities offering services to mental health consumers should also be engaged by the counties in the planning process.

3.Describe the strategy to continue to shift the mental health service delivery system away from reliance on large institutions and towards an array of community services and supports to address the needs of adults, older adults and transition-age individuals with serious mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorders.

III. Packaging/Submission Requirements

The plan should communicate the county’s vision for meeting the treatment, services,and support needs of adults, older adults, and transition-age youth with serious mental illnessand co-occurring substance use disorders and their family members. Counties are encouraged to use bulleted lists, charts, or tables to summarize information and to cross reference larger reports/documents, if necessary.

Descriptions requested in each section of the plan outline should be brief, concise, andsummarize the information requested.

  1. General Formatting Instructions
  • The plan narrative must be single-spaced and should use Arial 12 point font size. Font size not smaller than Arial 8 point font may be used for charts and spreadsheets
  • If acronyms are used, please define the acronym the first time it is used.
  • The CountyPlanmust have a table of contents indicating topic and page numbers. Each section should be divided and labeled for easy reference.
  • The county plan narrative response must be numbered consecutively.
  • The electronic copy of the plan must be emailed as a Microsoft Word document. If the county encounters problems in transmitting it as a single Word document, the document may be separated into two documents, one with the narrative and the second documentwith the attachments. OMHSAS will not accept Plans that are submitted as more than two Word documents (not including thepublic hearing notice, any public testimony that the county chooses to include, and signature pages that may be sentin PDF format). Avoidingthe inclusion of unwarranted pictures, images, and logos that substantially increase the size of the documentshould ensure trouble-free electronic transmission of the Plans. Should you have questions regarding packaging and emailing of the plan, please contact Jennifer Parker at 717-214-9837 or by email at . If other easier and more efficient options to submit the Plans electronically become feasible in the future (like uploading directly on a website), OMHSAS will make those options available to the counties.

B. Packaging

The plan should be organized and submitted in the following order:

  1. Narrative (required all five years – see instructions in the narrative sections 1 through 8)
  2. Signatures of Local Authorities (Attachment A – new required all five years)
  3. Public Hearing Notice (Attachment B – new required all five years)
  4. PATH intended use plannotice (Attachment C – new required all five years) - Required for counties that receive PATH funds
  5. Completed and signed CSP Plan Development Process Review Form (Attachment D – new required all five years)
  6. Existing County Mental Health Services Form (Attachment E – new required in the first year; for every update yearchanges should be noted in bold for each subsequent update year)
  7. Evidence Based Practices Survey (Attachment F - new required in the first year; for every update yearchanges should be noted in bold for each subsequent update year)
  8. County Development of Recovery-Oriented/Promising Practices (Attachment G - new required in the first year; for every update yearchanges should be noted in bold for each subsequent update year)
  9. Service Area Plan Chart (Attachment H – new required every year)
  10. Older Adults Program Directive (Attachment I – new required every year)
  11. Top Five Transformation Priorities (Attachment J – updates as applicable)
  12. Expenditure Tables and Charts (Attachment K – new required every year, please see the Attachment for details)
  13. Housing Plan (Attachment L – new required in the first year; need to submit in update years only if revised since the previous submission, other wise only updates are required in the narrative section)
  14. Forensic Plan (Attachment M - – new required in the first year; need to submit in update years only if revised since the previous submission, other wise only updates are required in the narrative section)
  15. Employment Plan (Attachment N – new required in the first year; need to submit in update years only if revised since the previous submission, other wise only updates are required in the narrative section)
  16. CountyPlan Feedback Form (Attachment O– Optional)
  17. County Mental Health Plan Review Form (AttachmentP – To be completed by OMHSAS staff)
  1. Distribution
  • One electronic copy mustbe emailed and one hard copy of the plan, in a binder, should be mailed or delivered to Jennifer Parker, OMHSAS Bureau of Policy and Program Development, 21 Beech Drive, 2nd Floor Beechmont, Harrisburg, PA 17105. Email copy to .
  • One electronic copy of the Plan mustbe emailed and one hard copy of the plan, in a binder, should be mailed or delivered to the OMHSAS Field Office Manager.
  • One electronic copy of the Plan must be emailed to the CEO of the state hospital serving the county.

All copies of the 2013-2017 plan must be received by OMHSAS no later than May 31, 2011.

Mailing addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers of field office managers as of August 2010 (please check with your OMHSAS Field Office for the current contacts):

Leigh Ann Ksiazek

Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

Northeast Field Office

ScrantonStateOfficeBuilding, Rm. 321

100 Lackawanna Avenue

Scranton, PA 18503

Phone: 570-963-4942

Email:

Ms. Thomasina Bouknight

Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

Southeast Field Office

NorristownStateHospital, Bldg. 57

Stanbridge & Sterigere Streets

Norristown, PA 19401

Phone: (610) 313-5844

Email:

Mr. Ray Jaquette

Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

Western Field Office

413 Pittsburgh State Office Building

300 Liberty Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Phone: (412) 565-7825

Email:

Ms. Kellie Wayda

Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

Harrisburg Field Office

2ndFloorLoganBuilding

P. O. Box 2675

Harrisburg, PA 17105

Phone: (717) 346-5943

Email:

Email Addresses of State Hospital Chief Executive Officers (CEOs):

NAME

/

HOSPITAL

/

EMAIL ADDRESS

Monica Bradbury / ClarksSummit /
Linda Lesher / Danville /
Gerald Kent / Norristown /
Edna McCutcheon / Torrance /
Charlotte Uber / Warren /
Andrea Kepler / Wernersville /

IV. Review Process

OMHSAS Field Office staff, Bureau of Policy and Program Development staff, and stakeholders will review the CountyPlan based on the County Mental Health Plan Review Form(Attachment P).

A copy of the completed Attachment Pwill be provided to the CountyAdministrator and the CountyPlanner. OMHSAS recommends that the counties share Attachment P with all stakeholders.

A statewide report summarizing community treatment and service requests, systems change activities, quality management activities, trends, barriers, and other items will be issued by the state and will be shared with the CountyPlanners.

V. Time Frames

The County Mental Health Plan,(or Updates during update years)must be received by OMHSAS no later than May 31st of every year. If that date happens to be a state holiday or a weekend, the Plan will be due on the next regular state work day. The time frames to fully implement the guidelines are as follows:

November2010 - Release of the FY 2013-17Guidelines for the County Mental Health Plan.

FIRST YEAR

May 31, 2011 - Submission of FY 2013-17 County Mental Health Plan (full plan)

June-Aug, 2011 - Review of plans. Feedback and plan approval provided to Counties.

August 2011 - Submission of requests for Governor’s budget consideration based on county plan information.

December2011 - Preparation & distribution of statewide aggregate report summarizing county plans.

SECOND YEAR

May 31,2012 - Submission of the May 2012 update to the FY 2013-2017County Mental Health Plan.

June-Aug, 2012 -Review of plans. Feedback and plan approval provided to counties.

August 2012 -Submission of requests for Governor’s budget consideration based on county plan information.

December 2012 -Preparation and distribution of statewide aggregate report summarizing county plans.

THIRD YEAR

May 31,2013 -Submission of May 2013 update to the FY 2013-2017 County Mental Health Plan.

June-Aug, 2013 -Review of plans. Feedback and plan approval provided to counties.

August 2013 -Submission of requests for Governor’s budget consideration based on county plan information.

December2013 -Preparation and distribution of statewide aggregate report summarizing county plans.

FOURTH YEAR

May 31, 2014 -Submission of May 2014 update to the FY 2013-2017 County Mental Health Plan.

June-Aug, 2014 -Review of plans. Feedback and plan approval provided to counties.

August 2014 -Submission of requests for Governor’s budget consideration based on county plan information.

December 2014 -Preparation and distribution of statewide aggregate report summarizing county plans.

FIFTH YEAR

May 31, 2015 -Submission of May 2015 update to the FY 2013-2017 County Mental Health Plan.

June-Aug, 2015 -Review of plans. Feedback and plan approval provided to counties.

August 2015 -Submission of requests for Governor’s budget consideration based on county plan information.

December 2015 -Preparation and distribution of statewide aggregate report summarizing county plans.

VI. Technical Assistance/Feedback

Please contact your regional Field Office staff for questions or further guidance. Feedback on the County Plan Guidelines (optional)may be submitted using Attachment O.

COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH

PLAN

Fiscal Year 2013-2017

OUTLINE

1. Executive Summary

For the first year in the five-year planning cycle, the Plan should include an Executive Summary that should be a brief, stand-alone, easy to understand, overview of the plan that counties can use as a public handout to summarize the plan’s content.

Instructions for Update Years: The Executive Summary for each Update year should be a comprehensive summary encapsulating the work for the entire time frame beginning with the first year of the Plan.

  1. Vision & Mission Statements

For the first year in the five-year planning cycle, the Plan shouldinclude the county’s Vision & Mission Statements that clearly indicate the goal of recovery for adults, older adults and transition-age youth with serious mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorders within your county mental health program. The Vision and Mission Statements should be two separate and distinct statements.

The Vision Statement should incorporate the core beliefs of the County Mental Health Program. It should be an image of the future where the counties see themselves in 10-20 years from now.

The Mission should state how the vision will be achieved. It should be the purpose and function of the County Mental Health Program.