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Community mental health services are usually provided at an office, at a school, or in the home. Services support families to make positive changes that help children recover from mental illness and foster resilience.

Mental health services start with a thorough assessment and developing a plan to address goals identified by the child and family. Services to the child and family may include:

• Crisis intervention
• Skills training and development
• Counseling
• Supportive employment
• Medication training and support
• Case management
• Peer services (family partner support services)

What Are the Benefits of Child or Youth Mental Health Services?

National statistics show that one out of four children will have a mental illness during childhood. Children diagnosed and treated are more likely to succeed at home and in the community.

These services are based upon the child’s strengths, needs and preferences. The benefits include:

• Reduction of mental health symptoms
• Development of new communication skills
• Development of new ways to manage emotions
• Development of new ways to relax and create
• Improved social functioning at home and the community
• Services that fit into the child’s and family’s schedule
• Services provided where the child and family live

Who Is Eligible for Community Mental Health Services for Children?

Children’s Mental Health serves children 3 to 17 with a mental health diagnosis who:

• Are at risk of having to move away from their home or school
• Are enrolled in special education

What is the intake process?

To begin intake process, call 325-646-9574 to schedule a screening.

Crisis Hotline – A telephone service available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week that you can call to get help if you or your child is experiencing a psychiatric crisis. Locally, this number is 1-800-458-7788. This hotline is available for anyone to call, regardless of if they are receiving services or not.

Assessment – There are several steps to completing an assessment. The first part is to determine whether or not your child is eligible for services from the local mental health authority. A licensed professional will meet with you and your child face-to-face to ask you questions about your child’s mental health, emotional and behavioral issues, their relationships at home and with friends, their health, their development, their schoolwork and other information needed to complete the assessment.

Requirements for Services

• (We provide a free assessment to determine the following)
• Must have a mental health diagnosis
• Must reside in Brown, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland, McCulloch, Mills, and San Saba Counties.
• Parent must complete a rating scale that points out problematic areas.
• Must have one of the following:
• GAF of 50 or below
• At risk of being removed from the preferred living environment
• Considered E.D. special education in school

If your child has more than one of the following symptoms, we may be able to help:

• Wants to sleep all the time
• Has trouble getting to sleep
• Argues with adults
• Fighting
• Does not mind adults
• Problems with behavior at school
• Poor appetite
• Overeating
• Low energy
• Poor concentration
• Depressed mood
• Feelings of worthlessness
• Loses temper often
• Defies adult’s requests or rules
• Blames others for mistakes
• Deliberately annoys others
• Touchy or annoyed by others
• Does not pay attention to details
• Does not listen when spoken to
• Does not follow through on instructions
• Difficulty organizing tasks
• Loses thing required to complete a task
• Easily distracted
• Runs, climbs excessively
• Difficulty engaging in leisure activities quietly
• Blurts out answers
• Difficulty waiting turn
• Interrupts others

Child and Youth Mental Health (MH) Priority Population –

The children’s mental health priority population are children ages 3 – 17 with serious emotional disturbance (excluding a single diagnosis of substance abuse, intellectual or developmental disability, or autism spectrum disorder) who have a serious functional impairment or who:

(1) Are at risk of disruption of a preferred living or children care environment due to psychiatric symptoms, or 2) Are enrolled in special education because of a serious emotional disturbance excluding a single diagnosis of IDD  ASD, or SUD and reside in our service area.

For more information regarding Child and Adolescent services, call (325) 646-9574

The Youth Empowerment Services (YES) Waiver allows for more flexibility in the funding of intensive community based services to assist children and adolescents with severe emotional disturbance to live in the community with their families. To learn more, call 1-888-609-6467.

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/mhsa/yes/