1929 W. 21st
Street, Wichita, KS 67203
316-660-7700
316-838-2115 (Fax)
Contact: Karen McNally, LMSW, Director
CSS Mission:
To help adults with serious mental illness meet their desire to be healthy and live in the community.
What is Community Support Services?
Research has indicated that one percent of the U.S. population suffers from
schizophrenia sometime in their life, and as high as nine percent of
Americans have some type of disability associated with mental illness. Such
illnesses have a devastating impact on individuals and their families. In
1990, the Kansas Legislature enacted new mental health legislation that
began downsizing the state mental hospitals and shifting treatment back into
local communities whenever possible. For Sedgwick County, that
responsibility rests with COMCARE’s Community Support Services (CSS).
Community Support Services provides a full array
of mental health rehabilitation services for adults who have serious mental
illness and are at risk for admission to the state hospital.
Community Support Services clients want to be healthy and
be able to live independently in their own communities. CSS professionals
strive to help them overcome the barriers of their illness, and, if they
have been hospitalized for a time, to assist them to full transition back
into the community, with a focus on long term life goals.
Community Support Services serves a target population of
individuals who meet specified criteria that includes a mental illness
diagnosis, duration of illness and degree of disability the illness has
caused. Consumers of CSS services will have been diagnosed with serious
psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major
depression; may have been hospitalized at least once in their lifetime or
who have been institutionalized for long periods of time; have difficulty
with social relationships, meeting their basic needs, maintaining a home or
a job; or require court ordered treatment.
When a person is assessed to have a serious mental
illness requiring psychiatric rehabilitation, the work begins to design a
treatment program specific to that person. Staff conducts a strengths
assessment to determine the consumer’s interests, goals, desires and current
and previous sources of support. The staff and consumer also consider the
barriers to success. This information leads to the development of a plan
that the case manager and consumer then use when working together on the
recovery goal process.
Many in this specialized segment of the population in
Sedgwick County can be helped. 1,852 people were enrolled in services at
Community Support Services in 2008. Of those served, 19% returned to work,
5% attended school or vocational training, and 86% achieved independent
living.
Safety Net of Support Services: CSS uses
the following support services to help clients remain in the community and
out of institutions:
- Case Management/Community Psychiatric Supportive Treatment
- Medication Management
- Individual & Group Psychotherapy
- Life Skills Groups
- Supported Education & Employment Services
- Crisis Intervention Services
- Attendant Care (by contract)
A Look at Individual Services:
Case Management - Case management
services are provided to individuals to help them obtain and learn to use
needed community resources in the areas of housing, medical services,
financial support, social interaction, education, and employment, as well as
how to cope with symptoms and stigma of mental illnesses. Some examples of
assistance include: how to get back into school, care for a pet, obtain
Social Security benefits, use a food bank or get food stamps, arrange for
nursing services, problem-solve and cope with new events, and explore new
life goals related to rehabilitation and recovery.
Discharge Team: This is a specialized
team that works directly with the state mental hospital staff to carry out
the most effective and timely return of a patient to his or her community.
This team includes an Osawatomie State Hospital liaison that goes to the
state hospital each week to participate in the discharge planning. Case
managers support the discharge plan and assist the consumer in becoming
stable and active in their treatment locally, including providing
specialized life skills training as needed.
Community Integration Program – This
program involves a variety of psychosocial rehabilitation treatment groups
that help consumers manage their mental illness. The primary groups are
focused on symptom management, social and recreational skills,
pre-vocational skills training, and programming for those with substance
abuse disorders. These services focus on helping consumers practice social
and practical skills through interaction in natural community settings. The
groups are structured to help consumers gain more knowledge of the
community, practice more difficult daily living skills, expand
pre-vocational and educational knowledge and experience, and participate in
non-mental health settings. Peer Support Specialists bring the added
dimension of having lived the experience themselves in helping to support
others in their recovery process.
The CSS Medical Clinic – The Clinic
staff consist of Psychiatrists, Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners
(ARNP) and Registered Nurses (RN) who provide medication and wellness
education for symptom management. Master level therapists provide individual
and group therapy designed for CSS consumers, including specialized programs
for self-harming behaviors and addictions.
Community Nursing –Registered Nurses and
Licensed Mental Health Technicians provide consumer supports from a nursing
perspective, offering in-home assessments, medication planner set-up,
medication and related health education, and home visits.
Mental Illness/Substance Abuse – The CSS
Therapy Clinic and Community Integration Groups work in collaboration to
provide daily individual and group treatment of co-occurring mental illness
and substance abuse disorders. Staff members are cross-trained in dual
disorder issues and conduct in-service training for other staff.
Supported Employment and Education Services
(SE/ES) - Employment and Education Specialists provide direct
assistance to overcome the symptoms of mental illness related to skill and
interest assessment, resume writing, interview practice, career exploration,
job placement, workplace and classroom accommodations, student financial
assistance, coursework selection and other supports related to returning to
work or school. Specialists work closely with employers and consumers to
enhance job retention.
Occupational Therapy - The Occupational
Therapist (OT) conducts individual assessments of consumer skills as
requested and develops strategies to improve learning and practice of
specific skills. The OT also works with group treatment teams to build
skill-based methods into group activities. The OT facilitates the use of
cognitive skills software for practice to build specific cognitive abilities
such as memory retention, hand-eye coordination speed, word recognition,
etc.
Respite Beds – Twelve supervised respite
beds are available for use by Community Support Services mental health
consumers through a contract with the Mental Health Association. These beds
are used primarily to avoid hospitalization or help consumers make a
transition from state hospital to the community. Length of stay is limited
to three weeks and consumers must have a daytime structured activity in the
community while staying in these transitional group homes.
Attendant Care – Attendant care is
provided by contract with the Mental Health Association. Attendants provide
individualized support in the person’s home or while participating in
community activities. They also contribute needed assistance with daily
living activities, work towards goals developed by the consumer and case
managers, and provide social support needed to participate in normal
community activities.
The expected outcomes for Community Support
Services include increased independence in living arrangements, continued
stabilization of symptoms, improved self-management of mental illness,
improved access to community resources and decreased use of mental health
services with expanded skills for work, education, and recovery of a fuller
quality of life.
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