Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment. The Empire Plan shall continue to provide comprehensive coverage for medically necessary mental health and substance abuse treatment services through a managed care network of preferred mental health and substance abuse care providers. In addition to the network care, limited non-network care will be available. Benefits shall be as follows:
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment. Non-Network
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment. Denial and Limited Options Case managers generally concurred that the New Day Program was more effective at connecting clients to mental health treatment than substance abuse treatment, but they also said that compliance was often difficult for clients to maintain. Case managers identified client denial and a dearth of quality services as the primary factors that usually prevented clients from connecting to substance abuse treatment. However, case managers felt they experienced some success in convincing clients to reduce their use of substances by using Harm Reduction. Though Harm Reduction is controversial for some, SAMHSA views it as an alternative approach to abstinence for those who are not yet willing or able to 16 Most program staff participated in SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR), a national project funded by SAMHSA to teach those who work with homeless, mentally ill clients, strategies for connecting their clients to SSA disability programs. Though they did not elaborate on the experience in their interviews, they generally all mentioned it as a helpful component of the program. xxxx://xxx.xxxxxx.xxx/soar/cms- assets/documents/74698-354068.backgroundandcosts081512.pdf. Retrieved September 4, 2014. Also see xxxx://xxx.xxxxxx.xxx/soar/about/. pursue treatment. Premised on the belief that individuals must choose treatment for themselves, the approach resonates with that of Housing First.17 Though case managers reported more success in connecting clients to mental health treatment, they felt that some clients did not always adhere to their treatment regimen, which jeopardized their ability to maintain housing. While one case manager thought it might be easier to get a client to go to a first mental health appointment than a substance abuse clinic, she said, “to keep someone enrolled in mental health is like just as hard as keeping someone enrolled in substance abuse.” When asked to explain, she said “just a lot of people in denial . . . saying they aren’t sick, and that they shouldn’t have ever been diagnosed with that, and they don’t want to take meds, and the meds make them crazier, or too tired or sick or whatever.” Finally, one case manager simply responded that some clients “just don’t want treatment. I mean, I’ve had them flat out tell me no.” Case managers could not always explain why clients did not seek substance abuse treatment, but they often indicated that clients were simply in denial that they had a problem. One person who ...