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Teaching By Doing

by: Jill Kraft

Taking a proactive approach to providing services to those suffering from mental illnesses, the local mental health department is working to provide outlets for socialization as well as continuous care and counseling.

Within the county’s Department of Mental Hygiene Services, four “subdivisions” of programming are offered that are designed to cater to individuals suffering from a wide range of mental illnesses.

One of the mental health focal areas offered locally is known as “Club,” which serves the mental health population for socialization purposes. “Club stimulates social growth while offering individuals a chance to learn new life skills and adapt to everyday situations,” said program coordinator Jo Schel. Another focus of Club is to offer pre-vocational training.

Club member Jeff F. says he enjoys having the chance to attend Club, which is provided on an optional basis. “I like to see my friends,” he said. Jeff F. has been a member of Club for 10 years and says he has made a lot of friends and has acquired many new skills while in attendance. He has been in remission, meaning he has not been hospitalized, within the past seven years. He agrees attending Club up to five days a week has helped keep his medication regulated and his life moving forward. “It has been very helpful with my illness,” he said. Jeff F. suffers from bi-polar disorder and finds the socialization he receives at Club to be highly beneficial.

Continuous Day Treatment, known as CDT, is another program that is housed within the building on East River Road in the Town of Norwich. The program is designed to meet the needs of mental health clients as well, by providing a more aggressive approach to maintaining the person’s mental health.

Unlike Club, where individuals have the option of attending, CDT requires “clients” to attend one to three days a week according to the individual’s treatment plan, which is developed with the client and approved by a staff psychiatrist.

CDT programming is based more specifically towards meeting the therapeutic needs of its clients. Schel said the CDT program is like various other mental health services which are a billed directly to the client’s private insurance carriers or to insurance providers such as Medicaid or Medicare, and attendance is based on a client’s presenting problem and diagnosis. “It is designed as a group therapy program,” she said. “We offer educational groups, focus groups and other larger group settings.”

Client Charlotte G. says her four-year experience with the CDT program has been a positive addition to her well-being. She says she likes the classes she has enrolled in and the therapists who instruct them. Throughout three 15-week sessions, offered annually, Schel says clients have an opportunity to take part in arts and crafts, games, cooking and groups. In addition, there are groups focused on topics, such as sessions that explain medication management, anger management, goal development, relationship issues, and how to manage and live life no matter what diagnosis a client has received.

Another mental health service program housed in a building adjacent to Club and CDT is the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services, designed to target individuals who suffer from drug and alcohol addiction or dependency and have either volunteered or been directed to chemical dependency treatment. This program tries to get the individual drug free and help them find balance without the use of alcohol or other substances that have taken over their life.

Another county mental health program offered locally at the County Office Building at 5 Court Street, is the Clinic Treatment Program. Individual, family, and group therapy along with other individual mental health services such as assessments, crisis services, and case management services are offered within the county offices.

Helping mental health clients to be ready to gain employment and remain employed is the goal of the mental health department’s vocational training program.

The Serendipity Café located in the Eaton Center caters to nearby merchants and Morrisville College students, as well as the public. It is run by both clients and food service workers. Job coaches and vocational counselors are also on site to assist the trainees to meet their employment goals as well as their personal goals for the program. “The program has seen some great successes,” said Schel.

“The café teaches them much more than food service work. It teaches the individual to learn how to have and keep steady employment,” said Schel. “It teaches them how to be an employee.” Not all clients choose to work at the vocational site, and according to Schel, “that is fine too;” however, she does state the skills learned while working at the café are good life skills to learn.

All four programs, Schel says, are an essential to the community and to the county’s infrastructure.

The programs, for the most part, are funded by revenues received from fees for the services, funding from the state of New York Office of Mental Health and federal money, which is designated to help aid and support people with mental illnesses locally, regionally and nationally.

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