Community-Based Outpatient Services
Early Childhood Mental Health Services – birth to six years of age
Early Childhood Mental Health Services provides services to children between birth and six years of age with emotional disturbance or high risk factors for emotional and behavioral disturbance and associated developmental delays. The goal of services is to strengthen parent-child relationships, support the family’s capacity to care for their children and to enhance the child’s social and emotional functioning.
- Behavioral and psychological assessments
- Individual, family, and group therapies and behavioral management
- Psychiatric services
- Day treatment
- In-home crisis intervention
- Childcare and pre-school consultation, outreach, and training
- Clinical case management
Outpatient Services/Children’s Clinical Services
The Outpatient Services/Children’s Clinical Services provides community-based outpatient, individual and family oriented mental health services for children from 6 through 17 years of age. These services include:
- Individual, family, and group therapies and behavioral management
- Psychological assessment and evaluation
- Psychiatric services
- Clinical case management
- Consultation with other child serving entities involved with the child and family
- 24-hour on-call emergency professional coverage
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Wraparound in Nevada for Children and Families (WIN)
DCFS’ nationally recognized “promising practice” program, Wraparound in Nevada (WIN), provides intensive community-based services to Severely Emotionally Disturbed Children (SED) who are in the custody of the Child Welfare system. These behaviorally challenged youth come from families who struggle with complex personal challenges in addition to difficulties keeping their children safe and free from harm. In addition to addressing mental health needs, services support the achievement of permanency for these youth through reunification with their families, guardianship with relatives, adoption or successful emancipation in all three regions statewide. Mental health care for these youth is essential to the success of achieving permanent placements. The WIN program achieves powerful outcomes in unique ways.
- WIN focuses on the strengths of each family member to move them forward to independence and self-sufficiency without life long dependence on mental health professionals. Families become equal participants in their plan of care as they move towards independence.
- WIN uses common sense interventions to help families overcome barriers to caring for SED children at home. Helping families address basic needs (e.g. housing and transportation) and reestablishing community support from extended families, friends, and the faith community are two primary ways that WIN empowers families to achieve independence and meet the needs of SED children.
- WIN ensures that all community members and professionals work together in a seamless way to streamline services, avoid duplication of services, and communicate clearly with families and children.
- WIN ensures that relative, guardians, and adoptive parents identify needs and find solutions that insure permanency when a child cannot return home.
Untreated Severe Emotional Disturbance in children is a major reason for disrupted permanency. The following outcome data exemplifies the point that addressing mental health needs is essential to achieving these permanent placements for youth in the child welfare system.
- Fact: 68.5% of the 216 youth discharged from WIN achieved permanent living environment placements.
- Fact: 43.1% of the 216 children discharged from WIN were placed back in their family homes.
- Fact: 25.4% of the 216 children discharged from WIN were placed with guardians, relatives, and adoptive homes or were established in independent living.
Promising Practices Network