NORTH TEXAS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AUTHORITY

A Psychiatrist specializes in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders, emotional disorders, psychotic disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, substance-related disorders, sexual and gender identity disorders and adjustment disorders. Biologic, psychological, and social components of illnesses are explored and understood in treatment of the whole person. Tools used may include diagnostic laboratory tests, prescribed medications, evaluation and treatment of psychological and interpersonal problems with individuals and families, and intervention for coping with stress, crises, and other problems.

An organization that is responsible for providing case management services. The agency provides services which assist an individual in gaining access to needed medical, social, educational, and/or other services. Case management services may be used to locate, coordinate, and monitor necessary appropriate services. It may be used to encourage the use of cost-effective medical care by referrals to appropriate providers and to discourage over utilization of costly services. Case management may also serve to provide necessary coordination of non-medical services such as vocational rehabilitation, education, employment, when the services provided enable the individual to function at the highest level.

Child & Adolescent Psychiatry is a subspecialty of psychiatry with additional skills and training in the diagnosis and treatment of developmental, behavioral, emotional, and mental disorders of childhood and adolescence.

A private or public agency usually under local government jurisdiction, responsible for assuring the delivery of community based mental health, intellectual disabilities, substance abuse and/or behavioral health services to individuals with those disabilities. Services may range from companion care, respite, transportation, community integration, crisis intervention and stabilization, supported employment, day support, prevocational services, residential support, therapeutic and supportive consultation, environmental modifications, intensive in-home therapy and day treatment, in addition to traditional mental health and behavioral treatment.

Community health workers (CHW) are lay members of communities who work either for pay or as volunteers in association with the local health care system in both urban and rural environments and usually share ethnicity, language, socioeconomic status and life experiences with the community members they serve. They have been identified by many titles such as community health advisors, lay health advocates, "promotores(as), outreach educators, community health representatives, peer health promoters, and peer health educators. CHWs offer interpretation and translation services, provide culturally appropriate health education and information, assist people in receiving the care they need, give informal counseling and guidance on health behaviors, advocate for individual and community health needs, and provide some direct services such as first aid and blood pressure screening. Some examples of these practitioners are Community Health Aides or Practitioners established under 25 USC 1616 (l) under HHS, Indian Health Service, Public Health Service.

Individuals certified to perform peer support services through a training process defined by a government agency, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs or a state mental health department/certification/licensing authority.

A residential treatment facility (RTF) is a facility or distinct part of a facility that provides to children and adolescents, a total, twenty-four hour, therapeutically planned group living and learning situation where distinct and individualized psychotherapeutic interventions can take place. Residential treatment is a specific level of care to be differentiated from acute, intermediate, and long-term hospital care, when the least restrictive environment is maintained to allow for normalization of the patient's surroundings. The RTF must be both physically and programmatically distinct if it is a part or subunit of a larger treatment program. An RTF is organized and professionally staffed to provide residential treatment of mental disorders to children and adolescents who have sufficient intellectual potential to respond to active treatment (that is, for whom it can reasonably be assumed that treatment of the mental disorder will result in an improved ability to function outside the RTF) for whom outpatient treatment, partial hospitalization or protected and structured environment is medically or psychologically necessary

A person who provides case management services and assists an individual in gaining access to needed medical, social, educational, and/or other services. The person has the ability to provide an assessment and review of completed plan of care on a periodic basis. This person is also able to take collaborative action to coordinate the services with other providers and monitor the enrollee's progress toward the cost-effective achievement of objectives specified in the plan of care. Credentials may vary from an experience in the fields of psychology, social work, rehabilitation, nursing or a closely related human service field, to a related Assoc of Arts Degree or to nursing credentials. Some states may require certification in case management.

Source: NUCC, CMS