	Outpatient Mental Health Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

PA-MH 11: Personnel

Clinical personnel are qualified to provide counseling and mental health services.

PA-MH 11.01

Clinical personnel and personnel who conduct assessments are competent, qualified by education, training, supervised experience, licensure or the equivalent, and able to recognize individuals and families with special needs.

PA-MH 11.02

Supervisors of clinical personnel are qualified, in addition, by an advanced degree, training in supervision and at least two years of supervised experience providing mental health services.

PA-MH 11.03

A senior clinician who provides supervision or training has received formal education on topics including:

psychosocial functioning;
assessment skills and intervention strategies;
mobilization of individual and/or family strengths; and
the role of social, economic, and environmental factors in the development and resolution of personal and family problems.

PA-MH 11.04

Clinical personnel include one or more professionals with an advanced degree and a specialty in clinical practice who serve in at least one of the following roles:

direct service provider;
supervisor; or
case consultant.

PA-MH 11.05

Clinical personnel have the knowledge, skills, and support to:

identify the needs of abused and neglected children and adults;
understand child development and individual and family functioning;
engage difficult to reach, traumatized, or disengaged individuals and families;
work with individuals with co-occurring health, mental health, and substance use conditions; and
collaborate with other disciplines and services.

PA-MH 11.06

Clinical personnel receive training on:

evidence based practices and other relevant emerging bodies of knowledge;
psychosocial and ecological or person-in-environment perspectives;
understanding the impact of mental illness, including stigma and labeling, on the individual and his or her family or significant others;
the importance of establishing a strong bond with the person receiving services;
crisis intervention;
criteria used to determine the need for the involvement of a psychiatrist; and
recognizing the presence of co-occurring mental health, health, and substance use conditions, as well as integrated services available to meet treatment needs.

Interpretation: Ecological or person-in-environment perspectives view social, economic, and environmental factors as critical in the development and resolution of personal and family problems. Factors may include:

poverty and lack of employment opportunities;
local mores;
language and cultural differences; and
folk medicine and traditional healing processes.

PA-MH 11.07

Clinical personnel workloads support the achievement of client outcomes, are regularly reviewed, and are based on an assessment of the following:

the qualifications, competencies, and experience of the worker, including the level of supervision needed;
the work and time required to accomplish assigned tasks and job responsibilities; and
service volume, accounting for assessed level of needs of new and current clients and referrals.

QUICK JUMP TO


	PURPOSE: Individuals who receive Outpatient Mental Health Services that target goal-directed interventions for diagnosable conditions make gains in symptom reduction, improved self-management, and restored or enhanced daily functioning.

RELATED FILES


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	CLINICAL PERSONNEL Qualified and trained professionals who provide the treatment services of an organization. Clinical personnel who assume case responsibilities must meet the applicable regulatory requirements and the minimum standards set by their respective professional organizations. Clinical personnel generally include clinical social workers (MSW or DSW/PhD in social work), clinical or counseling psychologists (PhD or PsyD), psychiatric nurses (MSN), certified marriage or family therapists, certified pastoral counselors, and board eligible or certified psychiatrists. Where additional disciplines or degrees are acceptable, it is stated in the standard for each service section. "Clinical personnel" and "mental health personnel" may be used interchangeably.


	PERSONNEL The body of employees and/or volunteers that carries out the organization's tasks under the organization's administration and/or supervision. This definition does not include foster parents who are specifically referenced in relevant standards


	ASSESSMENT An evaluation, which utilizes professional expertise and skills in the collection and analysis of data to understand and describe the nature of service needs of an individual, family, or group. Assessment, as in needs assessment, is also used to determine priorities of program planning and service development for the organization as a whole. See also DIAGNOSIS.


	TRAINING Instruction so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient in a skill or body of knowledge.


	SPECIAL NEEDS A designation used in reference to conditions or characteristics of a person that reflect a need for special care, services, or treatment. When the term is used in the context of adoption services, special needs refers to conditions that make a child harder to place for adoption. This includes children who are members of sibling groups, older children, children with disabilities, children of certain racial /ethnic backgrounds, etc. When the term is used in the context of foster care it refers to the need for a higher degree of specialized case services and attention due to mental and physical disabilities. When the term is used in the context of out-of-school time services, a child or youth may have special physical, behavioral, medical, emotional, or cognitive needs that should be addressed or accommodated. The term is also used in other contexts. See also DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.


	ADVANCED DEGREE A degree at the Master's level or beyond from an institution of higher education. An advanced degree does not include a Bachelor's degree, an associate's degree, or an educational certificate.


	SUPERVISION Assumption of responsibility for directly overseeing and evaluating the work or work products of personnel within an organization. Also includes inspecting the act or process of accomplishing a function or activity.


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	CLINICAL The study, assessment, and diagnosis of the client situation followed by direct treatment to help the client achieve prescribed goals.


	MANAGEMENT See ADMINISTRATION


	PRACTICE Established actions or ways of proceeding in the regular performance of organizational duties. Policies and procedures often guide practice.


	CONSULTANT A person who provides specialized or technical advice or services to an organization for specific purposes on a contractual or fee basis, or who provides such services as a volunteer with an agreement to provide services on a pro bono basis.


	CRISIS INTERVENTION The immediate response to the acute needs of a person in crisis including referral to appropriate community resources, advocacy, support, or direct assistance.


	CASE A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.


	CRITERIA Systematically developed, objective, and quantifiable statements used to assess the appropriateness of specific decisions, services, and outcomes.


	WORKLOAD The amount of work assigned to or expected from a person within a specified period of time. See also CASELOAD.


	REFERRALS Resource suggestions provided to consumers to address problems or needs that are beyond the scope of the organization's mission.