Alternative Services

Center for Behavioral Medicine operates a series of six programs within the greater Kansas City Area. These homes provide clinical care to psychiatric clients in the community in the least restrictive setting possible. Clients come into our services through referrals from Community Mental Health Centers in our region.

Alternative Services Facilities

Services are provided at six sites:

• Benton (11 beds)
• Crossroads (11 beds)
• Esperanza House (8 beds female MI/MRDD)
• Lakeland (9 beds male MI/MRDD)
• Highlands ( 8 beds male MI/MRDD )
• Peery Apartments (21 beds/11 semi-independent apartments)

are community based facilities designed to promote patient stability and maximize independent living skills through 24/7 structured oversight, therapeutic interventions, medication management and education and case management, coordinated by the patient’s primary CMHC care provider. Admissions, evaluated independently to match patient’s clinical need with least restrictive living environment and skill enhancement capability, are coordinated through the Alternative Services Director. It is anticipated that patients will gain the necessary skills to live independently, locating to the community of their choice on discharge from the group residential environment. As noted above three of our facilities address dual diagnosed patients carrying a MI & MRDD diagnosis. Staff in these facilities are trained to address the clinical care needs of this population with the hope of moving them forward into an independent living setting.

• Mission

The mission of Alternative Services programs is to provide comprehensive, primary treatment and/or adjunctive services and supports which are individually tailored to facilitate the recovery, stabilization, personal growth and maintenance of patients challenged by mental illness. Services, provided by a competent, culturally responsive, interdisciplinary staff, are accessible to adult psychiatric patients throughout the DMH CPS Western Region.

• Vision

Western Missouri Mental Health Center’s Alternative Services will be provided in philosophical and operational concert with the patient’s community-based continuum of care, services and supports, enhancing a holistic approach to treatment, habilitation and/or rehabilitation, and case management. Interagency and interdepartmental partnerships will foster maximum positive outcomes while facilitating residence in the individual’s community of choice, at the least restrictive level of care.

• Values

Western Missouri Mental Health Center’s Alternative Services are committed to the inherent worth of individuals, patients and staff, and to fostering/enhancing through collaborative efforts beneficial living, working and learning environments.

The underlying premise of Alternative Services Residential Care programs is the need for structured outpatient living in the presence of chronic disturbances of behavior, age appropriate adaptive and psychological functioning and social problem-solving that have not resolved completely with inpatient intervention. The chronicity and complexity of the patient’s functional disturbances indicate that a specific pattern of therapeutic services be rendered in a structured, outpatient environment. These services are provided in a collaborative partnership with the community mental health provider network. The outpatient complement of services provided by the CMHC with the residential milieu in combination is referred to as residential care programming. Residential facilities provide 24/7 supervised housing and supports as part of the continuum of mental health care/service in the community.

Residential Treatment

Patients will have medical records developed detailing psychiatric histories and response to past and current treatment interventions. Available past and current assessments of social/family support systems as well as psychological, physiological, and developmental information will be included in the medical record and used to provide treatment in the residential setting. Various levels of residential care are available within the Western Missouri Mental Health Center’s continuum of care to include intermediate adult care where adults learn the skills necessary to live in a less structured environment, to and apartment program where residents continue to develop independent living skills necessary to live in their own apartment in the community. Additionally we have added Medicaid waiver homes (Highlands, Lakelands and Esperanza House) to address the dually diagnosed patient population MI/MRDD. These facilities are maintained at a higher staffing ratio to meet the clinical needs of this patient population.

Rehabilitation Planning addresses linkage of outpatient community mental health treatment as well as the patient’s current clinical responses and is created in collaboration with the patient, family/guardian, their significant others and community providers. The patient receives therapeutic milieu services provided by an interdisciplinary, culturally competent on site staff, supervised by professional staff, on a 24/7 basis.

Admission Criteria

Alternative Services settings are intended to serve those individuals who suffer from severe psychiatric disorders and currently require a self-contained residential housing environment. This service provides 24/7 supervision and care for individuals who are at risk of self harm or who are unable to safely remain in an unsupervised setting within the community. Admission to a Alternative Services Facility is always an elective admission, based on bed availability. Elective admissions allow an opportunity to assess each patient for the risk of self harm and to patient match to environment in order to promote optimal treatment outcomes. Rehabilitation Goals are based upon presenting symptoms, which may not be successfully addressed in the community yet do not require more structured inpatient hospitalization. Clients are referred to our facilities through their Community Mental Health Center Case Manager. You may obtain a form to make a referral through contacting Jacquelyn Griffin's office at (816) 512-7516. This extension will get you in contact with her secretary Dian McQuarters.

Discharge Criteria

Discharge criteria to a community environment, a less restricted level of care, are based upon the patient’s ability to achieve and maintain their Rehabilitation Goals with regard to maintaining stable, independent functioning, responsible medication and physical health management, and linkage with the community mental health care provider network. Should the patient’s condition deteriorate while in a Alternative Services Residential Facility, they may be assessed and moved to an appropriate inpatient setting for stabilization.