Community Mental Health Services for Adults

At LifeWays Community Mental Health (CMH), we understand that asking for help isn’t always easy. We’ve made it our goal to ensure you receive confidential, person-centered healthcare in a comfortable setting and are treated with the respect and dignity you deserve, at all times. Along the way, you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions, make choices and help decide what your plan of care will be, in order to provide you or your loved one with the most appropriate services for your condition with the best quality of care and service possible.

If you are a Medicaid beneficiary and have a serious mental illness, serious emotional disturbance, developmental disability, or substance use disorder, you may be eligible for some of the mental health Medicaid specialty supports and services listed below.

When you call, you will take part in a brief assessment to find out if you are eligible for services. It will also identify the service(s) that can best meet your needs. You need to know that not all people who come to us are eligible, and not all services are available to everyone we serve. If a service cannot help you, LifeWays will not pay for it. Additionally, Medicaid will not pay for services that are otherwise available to you from other resources in the community. (If you are uninsured or have insufficient insurance, you may be eligible for services as well. Just give us a call.)

Services Available

Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) provides basic services and supports essential for people with serious mental illness to maintain independence in the community. An ACT team will provide mental health therapy and help with medications. The team may also help access community resources and supports needed to maintain wellness and participate in social, educational and vocational activities.

Assessment includes a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation, psychological testing, substance abuse screening, or other assessments except for physical health, conducted to determine a person’s level of functioning and mental health treatment needs.

*Assistive Technology includes adaptive devices and supplies that are not covered under the Medicaid Health Plan or by other community resources. These devices help individuals to better take care of themselves, or to better interact in the places where they live, work, and play.

Behavior Management Review: If a person’s illness or disability involves behaviors that they or others who work with them want to change, their individual plan of services may include a plan that talks about the behavior. This plan is often called a behavior management plan. The behavior management plan is developed during person-centered planning and then is approved and reviewed regularly by a team of specialists to make sure that it is effective and dignified, and continues to meet the person’s needs.

Clubhouse Programs are programs where members (consumers) and staff work side by side to operate the clubhouse and to encourage participation in the greater community.  Clubhouse programs focus on fostering recovery, competency, and social supports, as well as vocational skills and opportunities.

Community Inpatient Services are hospital services used to stabilize a mental health condition in the event of a significant change in symptoms, or in a mental health emergency. Community hospital services are provided in licensed psychiatric hospitals and in licensed psychiatric units of general hospitals.

Community Living Supports (CLS) are activities provided by paid staff that help adults with either serious mental illness or developmental disabilities live independently and participate actively in the community. Community Living Supports may also help families who have children with special needs (such as developmental disabilities or serious emotional disturbance).

Crisis Interventions are unscheduled individual or group services aimed at reducing or eliminating the impact of unexpected events on mental health and well-being.

Crisis Residential Services are short-term alternatives to inpatient hospitalization provided in a licensed residential setting.

*Enhanced Pharmacy includes doctor-ordered nonprescription or over-the-counter items (such as vitamins or cough syrup) necessary to manage your health condition(s) when a person’s Medicaid Health Plan does not cover these items.

*Environmental Modifications are physical changes to a person’s home, car, or work environment that are of direct medical or remedial benefit to the person. Modifications ensure access, protect health and safety, or enable greater independence for a person with physical disabilities. Note that other sources of funding must be explored first, before using Medicaid funds for environmental modifications.

Family Psychoeducation (FPE) is a specific method of working in partnership with consumers and families in a long-term treatment model to help them develop coping skills to deal more effectively with a serious mental illness.  Families participate in multi-family groups for problem-solving, or as an individual family in single-family FPE.  Family is defined as any support person in the consumer’s life.

Fiscal Intermediary Services help individuals manage their service and supports budget and pay providers if they are using a “self-determination” approach.

Health Services include assessment, treatment, and professional moni­toring of health conditions that are related to or impacted by a person’s mental health condition. A person’s primary doctor will treat any other health conditions they may have.

Home-Based Services for Children and Families are provided in the family home or in another community setting. Services are designed individually for each family, and can include things like mental health therapy, crisis intervention, service coordination, or other supports to the family.

Housing Assistance is assistance with short-term, transitional, or one-time-only expenses in an individual’s own home that his/her resources and other community resources could not cover.

Integrated Dual Disorders Treatment (IDDT) provides basic services and supports essential for people with serious mental illness AND a substance use diagnosis to maintain independence in the community. An IDDT team will provide treatment that addresses co-occurring symptoms simultaneously and help with medications. The team may also help access community resources and supports needed to maintain wellness and participate in social, educational and vocational activities.

Intensive Crisis Stabilization is another short-term alternative to inpatient hospitalization. Intensive crisis stabilization services are structured treatment and support activities provided by a mental health crisis team in the person’s home or in another community setting.

Medication Administration is when a doctor, nurse, or other licensed medical provider gives an injection, or an oral medication or topical medication.

Medication Review is the evaluation and monitoring of medicines used to treat a person’s mental health condition, their effects, and the need for continuing or changing their medicines.

Mental Health Therapy and Counseling for Adults, Children and Families includes therapy or counseling designed to help improve functioning and relationships with other people.

Nursing Home Mental Health Assessment and Monitoring includes a review of a nursing home resident’s need for and response to mental health treatment, along with consultations with nursing home staff.

*Occupational Therapy includes the evaluation by an occupational therapist of an individual’s ability to do things in order to take care of themselves every day, and treatments to help increase these abilities.

Parenting Education includes in-home parent training for families.

Partial Hospital Services include psychiatric, psychological, social, occupational, nursing, music therapy, and therapeutic recreational services in a hospital setting, under a doctor’s supervision. Partial hospital services are provided during the day – participants go home at night.

Peer-Delivered and Peer Specialist Services. Peer-delivered services, such as drop-in centers, are entirely run by consumers of community mental health services. They offer help with food, clothing, socialization, housing, and support to begin or maintain mental health treatment.   Peer Specialist services are activities designed to help persons with serious mental illness in their individual recovery journey and are provided by individuals who are in recovery from serious mental illness.

Personal Care in Specialized Residential Settings assists an adult with mental illness or developmental disabilities with activities of daily living, self-care and basic needs, while they are living in a specialized residential setting in the community.

*Physical Therapy includes the evaluation by a physical therapist of a person’s physical abilities (such as the ways they move, use their arms or hands, or hold their body), and treatments to help improve their physical abilities.

Respite Care Services provide short-term relief to the unpaid primary caregivers of people eligible for specialty services. Respite provides temporary alternative care, either in the family home, or in another community setting chosen by the family.

Skill-Building Assistance includes supports, services and training to help a person participate actively at school, work, volunteer, or community settings, or to learn social skills they may need to support themselves or to get around in the community.

*Speech and Language Therapy includes the evaluation by a speech therapist of a person’s ability to use and understand language and communicate with others or to manage swallowing or related conditions, and treatments to help enhance speech, communication or swallowing.

Substance Abuse Treatment Services

Supports Coordination or Targeted Case Management: A Supports Coordinator or Case Manager is a staff person who helps write an individual plan of service and makes sure the services are delivered. His or her role is to listen to a person’s goals, and to help find the services and providers inside and outside the local community mental health services program that will help achieve the goals. A supports coordinator or case manager may also connect a person to resources in the community for employment, community living, education, public benefits, and recreational activities.

Supported Employment Services provide initial and ongoing supports, services and training, usually provided at the job site, to help adults who are eligible for mental health services find and keep paid employment in the community.

Transportation may be provided to and from a person’s home in order for them to take part in a non-medical, Medicaid-covered service.

Treatment Planning assists the person and those of his/her choosing in the development and periodic review of the individual plan of services.

Wraparound for Children and Adolescents with serious emotional disturbance and their families that include treatment and supports necessary to maintain the child in the family home.

Some Medicaid beneficiaries are eligible for special services that help them avoid having to go to an institution for people with developmental disabilities or nursing home. These special services are called the Habilitation Supports Waiver and the Children’s Waiver. In order to receive these services, people with developmental disabilities need to be enrolled in either of these “waivers.” The availability of these waivers is very limited. People enrolled in the waivers have access to the services listed above, as well as those listed here:

Chore Services (for Habilitation Supports Waiver enrollees) are provided by paid staff to help keep the person’s home clean, and safe.

Non-Family Training (for Children’s Waiver enrollees) is customized training for the paid in-home support staff who provide care for a child enrolled in the Waiver.

Out-of-home Non-vocational Supports and Services (for HSW enrollees) is assistance to gain, retain or improve in self-help, socialization or adaptive skills.

Personal Emergency Response devices (for HSW enrollees) help a person maintain independence and safety, in their own home or in a community setting. These are devices that are used to call for help in an emergency.

Prevocational Services (for HSW enrollees) include supports, services and training to prepare a person for paid employment or community volunteer work.

Private Duty Nursing (for HSW enrollees) is individualized nursing service provided in the home, as necessary to meet specialized health needs.

Specialty Services (for Children’s Waiver enrollees) are music, recreation, art, or massage therapies that may be provided to help reduce or manage the symptoms of a child’s mental health condition or developmental disability. Specialty services might also include specialized child and family training, coaching, staff supervision, or monitoring of program goals.

*In addition to meeting medically necessary criteria, services marked with an asterisk require a doctor’s prescription.

If you receive Medicaid, you may be entitled to other medical services not listed above. Services necessary to maintain your physical health are provided or ordered by your primary care doctor. If you receive community mental health services, LifeWays will work with your primary care doctor to coordinate your physical and mental health services. If you do not have a primary care doctor, your local community mental health services program will help you find one.

Note: Home Help Program is another service available to Medicaid beneficiaries who require in-home assistance with activities of daily living, and household chores. In order to learn more about this service, you may call the local Michigan Department of Human Services at the phone numbers listed below or contact LifeWays Customer Services for assistance.

Michigan Department of Human Services:

40 Care Dr., Hillsdale (517) 439-2200

301 E. Louis Glick Hwy., Jackson (517) 780-7400

 

 

The Michigan Medicaid Provider Manual contains complete definitions of the following services, as well as eligibility criteria and provider qualifications.

You can access the manual online here.