MSW6003:Week 5 - Assignment: Assess an Organization

RUNNING HEAD: EXPLORE AN ORGANIZATIONAL and POLICY SOLUTION for a COMMUNITY NEED3

Community Need: Mental Health Services

Torri Sims

Northcentral University

MSW 6003 Professional Practice with Organizations and Communities

Community Need: Mental Health Services

Mental illness is a critical issue in Oklahoma. Oklahoma has a population of around 3.9 individuals. Over 4% of adults in this population live with serious mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, major depression, and bipolar disorder (World Population Review, 2022). Reports indicate that a large percentage of adults and youths in Oklahoma who need mental health services do not receive them. The lack of access to mental health services contributes to several social issues, including high rates of school dropouts, a high percentage of neglected and abused children, and crowded prisons. Mental health illnesses also contribute to chronic conditions and diseases in the state. Hope for All organization is dedicated to provide mental health services to the people of Oklahoma.

Organizational Mission

The organizational mission is “to improve the mental health and wellness of individuals, their families, and the community through education, prevention, treatment, and intervention.” To achieve this mission, the organization has established strong partnerships with local hospitals, practitioners, and clinics. These connections will allow the organization to provide proper intervention, education, and the best possible treatment to individuals, families, and the community as a whole. The members of the organization are guided by the following values: compassion, respect, empowerment, diversity, teamwork, honesty, and accountability.

Services Offered and the Population to be served

The organization will provide a wide range of mental health services to youths and adults in Oklahoma. These services fall into three main areas: prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. The organization will work with social workers in providing these services. An individual social worker will work within one area of practice or across all three areas.

Prevention aims to minimize the incidence (the number of new cases) of mental health illnesses in Oklahoma (Colizzi et al., 2020). It entails the maintenance and promotion of mental wellbeing through client and public education on healthy relationships and emotional/mental self-care, building community skills and knowledge, advocacy for social justice, and social action. Treatment, on the other hand, aims to minimize the prevalence (the number of existing cases) of mental health disorders in Oklahoma. Treatment activities will focus on persons experiencing severe signs of mental illness, relationship problems, emotional trauma, stress, and distress. They will include individual, family, couple, and group counseling or therapy; interventions; as well as advocacy. Rehabilitation will emphasize helping individuals develop skills and access resources required to increase their ability to succeed and live a normal life (Luo et al., 2018). Rehabilitation will also focus on helping clients manage their symptoms and develop healthy coping habits. Rehabilitation activities will include individual, couple, family, and group interventions to establish skills and knowledge; leisure and vocational resources; specialized residential services; and advocacy.

As indicated earlier, the organization intends to work with a group of social workers to provide necessary services to the people. Some of these services include:

· Case management: The coordination of community-based services to offer clients quality mental health care that is tailored according to an individual’s persistent challenges or setbacks (Arya, 2020).

· Direct Services to individuals and families in the form of crisis intervention, counseling, advocacy, or therapy.

· Community Development: Partnering with the community to identify mental health issues and develop mental health resources/tools from a local needs perspective.

· Educating clients and the public through conferences and workshops.

References

Arya, D. K. (2020). Case management, care-coordination and casework in community mental health services. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 50, 101979.

Colizzi, M., Lasalvia, A., & Ruggeri, M. (2020). Prevention and early intervention in youth mental health: is it time for a multidisciplinary and trans-diagnostic model for care?. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 14(1), 1-14.

Luo, H., McNeil, E. B., Feng, Q., Li, H., Chen, Q., Qin, X., ... & Assanangkornchai, S. (2018). Utilization of psychiatric rehabilitation services and influencing factors among people with psychotic disorders in rural communities of Guangxi, China. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 12(1), 1-8.

World Population Review. (2022). Mental Health Statistics by State 2022. Retrieved from: https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/mental-health-statistics-by-state