The National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that one in every four adults has a major psychiatric disorder and the burden of illness is particularly significant among those who are afflicted by the disability due to serious mental illness.The recent spate of high-profile shootings in Arizona, Colorado and Wisconsin are painful reminders that when left untreated, the burden of psychiatric disorders becomes the burden of every sector and affects every fabric of our society. Unfortunately, these national tragedies have once again put mental illness in a negative light – blaming the individual rather than focusing on the treatment of the disease, criminalizing mental illness, and further negating the reality that treatment and recovery from mental illness is possible and that those people afflicted are capable of living satisfying and productive lives.
At Jackson Mental Health Hospital (JMHH), part of Jackson Health System in Miami, our mental health practitioners recognize that recovery from mental illness and substance abuse disorders is not only possible but is a process of change. Every individual is empowered to reach their full potential through the pursuit of self-directed life that preserves one’s personal health and wellbeing. Guided by the principles of recovery and resiliency, JMHH, through its continuing organizational transformation efforts, strives to incorporate person-oriented and recovery-focused dimensions of treatment throughout its entire care and service delivery continuum. In addition to continuing to provide clinical excellence in crisis intervention services offered in our psychiatric emergency services department and inpatient programs, JMHH has also embarked on re-tooling its outpatient services using the following person-centered approaches, which promote patient access and engagement as service priorities:
• Fast Track Behavioral Outpatient Services: Our practitioners are recovery-oriented, meaning we promote access to care by facilitating swift and uncomplicated entry and removing barriers to receiving care. We do not exclude people from care based on symptomatology or substance use. Services are designed to be welcoming to all individuals and there is a low threshold for entry.
• Enhanced Provider-Patient Relationship: We believe in engagement with the person rather than the diagnosis. People have a flexible array of options for which to choose. Our fundamental construct for intervention is the relationship between provider and the person in recovery.
• Recovery-Oriented Assessments and Empirically Driven Care: Our clinical assessments are based on the stages of change model and interventions that incorporate motivational enhancement strategies. Providers assess where a person is in relation to various stages of change with respect to different dimensions of recovery. Most importantly, a discussion of strengths is central to assessments, care plans, treatment and documentation.
• Individualized-Care Plan: We provide a comprehensive and culturally sensitive treatment plan of a person’s goals, objectives and strengths.
• Continuity of Care and Continued Treatment: Relapses in substance use and exacerbations of psychiatric symptoms are viewed as need for continued treatment and support. We continue treatment over time and across relapse episodes.
Every year, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) celebrates the month of September as “Recovery Month” to promote the benefits of recovery and treatment of individuals with mental illness and substance abuse disorders, while focusing on their potential contributions to our local communities. It is important to recognize that behavioral health is integral to one’s overall health and that underneath the disturbing layers of stigma and distressing symptoms of mental illness, is an individual who has a choice and the freedom to determine his or her own path to recovery.
