[I received this information via a Special Education listserv in which I participate, as I am also active in the field of Special Education. This information is critical for teachers, social workers, police, parents, and others. I hope you find this information helpful.]
Shared with permission…
New Mental Health Services Available July 1, 2009 for MassHealth-Eligible Children!!
Beginning July 1, 2009, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will provide access to expanded services for MassHealth eligible children that have mental/behavioral health or substance abuse needs.
These services, developed as part of Governor Patrick’s Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI), are an initiative of the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) to ensure that families and their children with significant behavioral, emotional, and mental health needs obtain the services necessary for success at home, in school/programs, and in the community.
By knowing about these new services (often referred to as the “Rosie D. remedies” as they result for a lawsuit, Rosie D. v. Romney, http://www.centerforpublicrep…. and http://www.masspsy.com/leading… ), and how families can access them, early education and out-of-school time providers can help children and families connect with the services they need.
The first three services to be implemented are:
(1) an intensive case management service called Intensive Care Coordination*;
(2) a service to help parents and caregivers of students with behavioral health needs called Family Support and Training, and
(3) Mobile Crisis Intervention*, an enhancement of the Commonwealth’s psychiatric emergency services program which will deploy mobile teams of mental health professionals trained to work with children and youth having a behavioral health crisis. The Mobile Crisis team will come to wherever the child having the crisis is located, including at school or at an early education or out-of-school time program.
Other services that will be available later in 2009 are: In-Home Behavioral Services and Therapeutic Mentoring* on October 1; In-Home Therapy Services* on November 1 and Crisis Stabilization Services* on December 1. (For more information on the new services, please visit the CBHI website:
www.mass.gov/masshealth/childbehavioralhealth.)
These services, part of a child’s MassHealth benefit, are accessed for the child by their parent or guardian. (Early education or out-of-school time providers may not directly refer a child to services.) To access any of these new services, a parent or guardian can:
* Ask their child’s primary care physician or nurse for help getting services,
* Call the child’s MassHealth Health Plan Customer Service line for help, or,
* Contact a behavioral health provider directly.
Additional information about the services is available now at www.mass.gov/masshealth/childbehavioralhealth.
It is important that the word get out as to these newly available services so they will be used. In the Rosie D. suit the court found that our state was totally failing to meet the mental health needs of indigent children and adolsecents, and this initiative is part of the remedy promised by our state government.
