Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services

A strengths perspective is woven throughout these system transformation efforts. Services are focused on identifying and building strengths, assets, resources and protective factors within the individual, family, peer group and community, rather than focusing solely on identifying and addressing problems or challenges in the individual’s or family’s life. These strengths are mobilized to support the individual’s and the family’s journey to wellness. A focus on hope is equally essential—the message that people can and do show resilience in the face of adversity, and can and do recover from behavioral health conditions. Change is always possible, and the extent to which people’s lives can change is often beyond what we can imagine. We learn hope by seeing others lead meaningful lives in their communities, listening to their stories and having opportunities to give to others. Hope inducing environments can help people of all ages in their recovery processes.

The focus of care is on integrating individuals and families into the larger life of their communities, connecting with the support and hospitality of the community, developing community resources that support recovery and resilience and encouraging service contributions to and from the larger community. Resilience, recovery and wellness can be tapped, initiated, catalyzed and promoted in care settings, but can be maintained only in the context of people’s natural environments. Connecting services, individuals and families with the community is no longer considerer optional, but is understood as an integral factor in sustaining wellness.

In recovery and resilience oriented systems, service designs shift from an expert model to a partnership/consultation model, in which everyone’s perspective, experience and expertise is welcomed and considered. Each person’s and each family’s values, needs and preferences are respected and considered central to any decision-making process. Services and supports are individualized, built with and around each person and family. All parties in the system recognize that there are many pathways to recovery and that people have a right to choose their own paths. People have the opportunity to choose from a diverse menu of services and supports and to participate in all decisions that affect their lives and those of their children. Multidisciplinary teams that include participants and family members reduce fragmentation and ensure the delivery of comprehensive, effective services.

Family members are actively engaged and involved at all levels of the service process. Families—and particularly parents of children and youth—are seen as an integral part of policy development, planning, service delivery and service evaluation. Assessment and service planning are family focused. The system and its providers recognize that families come in many varieties. Families of birth, foster and adoptive families and families of choice are respected, valued and involved in meaningful ways. When multiple family members are involved in care in different programs and agencies, providers take steps to ensure that services are integrated.

Service systems and providers recognize the power of peer support and affirm that recognition by: a) creating environments in which peers can support one another in formal and informal ways and providing opportunities for that support; b) hiring people to provide peer support to individuals and/or families; c) ensuring representation of youth and people in recovery at all levels of the system; d) developing respectful, collaborative relationships between behavioral health agencies and the service structures of local recovery mutual-aid societies and assertively linking people to peer-based support services (e.g., mutual/self-help groups, other recovery community support institutions and informal peer support); e) acknowledging the role that sharing stories of lived experience can play in helping others initiate and sustain the recovery process; and f) developing opportunities for people in recovery and youth to engage in active leadership roles at all levels of the system.

The title of this core value reflects the fact that services that are appropriate to and respectful of culture—often referred to as “culturally competent”—must also respect the individuality and centrality of each unique individual. In a person-first (culturally competent) service system, all staff and volunteers are able to work effectively with individuals and families from different cultures. They possess knowledge of the values, worldviews and practices of the major cultural groups they serve—and, equally important, the humility to know the limits of their knowledge. They address culture broadly, not forgetting the importance of ethnicity, nation of birth and primary language, but also acknowledging the implications of gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic factors and other key characteristics. Rather than merely developing a generic understanding of the people they serve, however, they are also skilled at using cultural knowledge to develop an accurate and individualized understanding of each person they serve, each family and each community. Providers also possess an understanding of their own cultural worldview, the ways in which it enriches their work and the ways in which it may constrain their work.

All components of the service system are designed with an understanding of the role that serious adverse experiences can play in the lives of individuals and families. Services are delivered in safe and trustworthy environments and through respectful, nurturing relationships, to promote healing and avoid inadvertent re-traumatization. Individuals and families are always assessed for the extent to which the spectrum of traumatic experiences may have affected their lives and their ability to participate safely in care and establish recovery. They are offered services and supports that will help them reduce the destructive effects of traumatic experiences and maximize the growth that can emerge from the healing process.

Services and supports are designed to enhance the development of the whole person. Care transcends a narrow focus on symptom reduction and promotes wellness as a key component of all care. In attending to the whole person, there is an emphasis on exploring and addressing primary care needs in an integrated manner. Providers and peers also explore, mobilize and address spirituality, sexuality and other dimensions of wellness in service settings.

Service systems and providers recognize the incredible resilience of children and adolescents, along with their unique vulnerabilities and the complexities that attend their need for services and support. As a result, providers employ a developmental approach in the delivery of services. Like adults, children and their families are shown respect and given a partnership role in services and supports. Screening and assessment processes are informed by knowledge of the ways in which children’s and adolescents’ strengths, symptoms, needs and progress tend to differ from those of adults, and of ways in which those differences can be honored. Providers also recognize that attention to the safety, needs and well being of children and adolescents includes attention to the safety, needs and well being of their families—and back up that recognition with concrete action.

This system transformation effort is built upon the values of transparency and partnership at all levels of the system. This applies to the ways in which system administrators strive to work with providers, as well as the ways in which providers aim to collaborate with the individuals and families receiving services.