DIVISION OF MENTAL HEALTH
The Division of Mental Health (DMH) is responsible for assuring public-funded mental health services to children, adolescents and adults, throughout Illinois. Service delivery in DMH is provided within five geographically organized service Regions, including Chicago Metropolitan and Greater Illinois, North, North Central, Central and South. This service delivery is provided through more than 162 community mental health centers/agencies, 28 community hospitals with psychiatric units and nine state-operated hospitals, the latter containing both civil and forensic beds. The DMH also provides statutorily required treatment services for sexually violent persons through its Treatment and Detention Facility. Children and dolescents and Forensic Services are organized centrally and also delivered through the DMH service Regions.
Working within the framework of the six major goals and recommendations of the New Freedom Commission Report on Mental Health (Report), the DMH, the State Mental Health Authority has as its primary Vision that all persons who experience mental illnesses will recover and that effective treatment and supports, essential for full participation in one's community, will be accessible and available at all stages of a person's life. The primary Mission of the Division is to assure that recovery/resiliency-oriented, evidence-based, community-focused, culturally-sensitive, outcomevalidated treatment and supports are accessible, through fiscally efficient use of public funds, to children, adolescents and adults most in need of mental health services, in order that they may be empowered to recover, succeed in accomplishing their goals and live full and productive lives.
The DMH administers its community-based public mental health system through its five service Regions. Its specialty Children and Adolescents Mental Health and Forensic Mental Health Services are also administered through these Regions. The DMH Regions purchase outpatient mental health services from more than 162 community service providers who served almost 175,000 persons in FY06. With the ongoing development of the Community Hospital Inpatient Psychiatric Services (CHIPS) program, an increasing number of persons with mental illnesses are receiving psychiatric inpatient services in local community hospitals, with costs for some individuals supported through the Medicaid program.
Toward the actualization of its vision, the DMH is in the midst of fundamentally significant initiatives to move the community mental health system toward transformation. The DMH System Restructuring Initiative (SRI) for example, is transitioning the DMH to a fee-for-service payment system. For FY07, the SRI will move to implement an advance and reallocation strategy, with implementation of the new fiscal system projected for FY08. In addition, the DMH is a full partner, with the Departments of Healthcare and Family Services and Children and Family Services in the Screening, Assessment and Support Services (SASS) initiative. This collaborative structure has made possible the expansion of youth mental health services by creating synergies and more effective leveraging of resources. Also, the DMH is collaborating with the Division of Rehabilitation Services in a Brand New Day Initiative, which will bring greater capacity for supported employment throughout the system. And finally, the DMH is collaborating with the Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse to implement an action plan for improving access to integrated treatment services for individuals with co-occurring substance abuse disorders and mental illnesses.
Although transforming our system to be both consumer and family-driven and recovery/resiliencyoriented presents invigorating challenges, the DMH is confident that it is prepared to face those challenges toward the achievement of a transformed mental health delivery system. With the increased collaboration of its system partners, it is expected that system challenges to be faced will ultimately result in system opportunities that are realized. Consumers served deserve no less than the realization of those opportunities.
Mental Health State Hospitals
Hospital care and treatment is a vital component in the continuum of treatment services provided to individuals with serious mental illnesses. State psychiatric hospitals, administered by the DMH, serve unique functions in the system. One function is to provide a secure, therapeutic environment to meet the needs of persons who, due to a psychiatric disorder, may be a danger to themselves or to others.
Another function is to offer inpatient psychiatric treatment that is not available in community-operated hospitals because consumers have little or no capacity to pay for the service, either directly or through an insurance plan (including Medicaid or Medicare). A third function is to provide court-ordered treatment in forensic units for persons who are found Unfit to Stand Trial (UST) or Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity (NGRI) and statutorily required treatment services for Sexually Violent Persons. The DMH strives in each of these functions to assure that evidence-based/emerging best practices are offered in state-of-the-art environments.
FY08 Highlights
* The Mental Health program budget request includes an additional $7.0M to support the Individual Care Grant program liability.
* In response to the demand for forensic placements for individuals with mental illness, the budget proposal includes $6.6M to expand forensic capacity at Chester & McFarland Mental Health Centers.
* The Mental Health budget reflects $5.4M to support an Administrative Service Organization (ASO) to further the move from a community-based grant system to fee-for-service.
* The proposed budget includes a $3.9M expansion for supportive housing services to persons with Mental Illness.
* The Treatment & Detention Facility funding request includes an additional $2.7M to serve an increasing population.
* In addition, the budget reflects $1.7M to procure additional professional staff to reduce the length of stay for the forensic population at Mental Health Facilities.
* To enhance services provided to clients in Mental Health facilities and help comply with state and federal regulations, $2.7M has been included to support a Quality Review and Training Team.
