Description | Signs and Symptoms | General Eligibility | How to Apply
Services | Cost | Additional Help | Contact

Description

The Children Youth and Families Division offers a variety of mental health services for children and youth via a purchase of service system. Service areas include individual, group, and family counseling, day treatment, crisis services and risk assessment, advocacy and support services for parents, wraparound services and case management, and community support programming for teens with a severe and persistent mental illness.

Signs and Symptoms

Children and youth with a severe emotional disturbance (SED) can demonstrate a wide variety of behaviors, symptoms and functional impairments. Children with a SED generally have functional problems in several life domains. Signs and symptoms related to children with a SED can include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Significant school problems
• Sleep disturbances
• Inability to pay attention
• Aggressive Behaviors
• Self-harm Behaviors
• Thought Disturbances

General Eligibility

• Dane County Residency
• Age 17 or under
• Significant functional impairments within the home, school and/or community
• Most services require involvement of a Dane County Dept of Human Service Child Protective Services or Delinquency Social Worker

How to Apply

The majority of mental health programs provided by Dane County Department of Human Services are reserved for children, youth and their families assigned to Child Protective Service and Delinquency case loads. The program exceptions to this rule include the following:

• Youth Crisis Screening for admission to State Mental Health Institutes. If you are looking to admit your child voluntarily to one of the State Institutes you would contact the Youth Crisis Unit M-F at 280-2610.
• PACT services can be accessed by contacting the Youth Crisis Unit at 280-2610. (Unfortunately, PACT is closed to admissions until further notice.)
• Children Come First can be accessed by contacting the Youth Crisis Unit at 280-2610 or Dane County Department of Human Services, CYF Intake at 261-9900 (However, if children are accepted and enrolled in Children Come First their parents must agree to assignment of Dane County Human Services social worker)

Services

Mental Health Crisis Services and Risk Assessments are provided by the Youth Crisis Unit of the Mental Health Center of Dane County. The Youth Crisis Unit provides mental health risk assessment and hospital screening for children and youth and screens for admission to the Children Come First and PACT programs.

Individual Therapy for Children and/or Teens, Group Work and Family Therapy is offered via contract at the following agencies:

• The Rainbow Project (age 2-9) - Rainbow specializes in working with young children who have experienced traumatic events in their lives.
• The Mental Health Center of Dane County (age 3-17) - The Mental Health Center provides comprehensive mental health treatment for children and teens including psychiatric care.

In-home Family Counseling is offered via contract by the following agencies:

• Family Service Inc. (in conjunction with Lutheran Social Services) provides two in home counseling programs one for teens (Families in Transition) and one for families of younger children (Safe at Home). Therapists in these programs work in teams and conduct sessions in families' homes.
• The Mental Health Center of Dane County provides in home family counseling services for a limited number of consumers. In addition they are the designated vendor for the Family Preservation program. This is an intensive 8 week in-home counseling and parenting program targeting families with young children who are at imminent risk of out of home placement.

Day Treatment is provided by the following agencies:

• Family Service Inc. provides year round, comprehensive day treatment services for middle school youth in their Steps to Success Program.
• Tellurian offers day treatment for teens with dual diagnosis mental health and substance abuse issues in their Network Program (Important note: Teens must have a primary substance abuse concern to qualify for this program.)

Anger Management Groups for Teens are provided by:

• Family Service Inc. through their Alternatives to Aggression program. This program offers structured groups to assist teens with anger management issues.
• Wraparound Case Management for Children with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness is provided jointly by Community Partnerships and Dane County Department of Human Services within the Children Come First Program. The primary goal of the Children Come First Program is to provide comprehensive case management and wraparound services in an effort to avoid institutional placements for children with a severe emotional disturbance.

Community Support Programming for Teens with a Severe and Persistent Mental Illness is provided by PACT (The Program of Assertive Community Treatment). PACT provides comprehensive support, case management, vocational training and medication management for teens and young adults with a severe and persistent mental illness.

Support Education and Advocacy for Parents of children with a SED is provided by Wisconsin Family Ties. Wisconsin Family Ties provides resource and referral information, educational programming and consumer advocacy services to parents of children with a SED.

Cost

Most mental health services are provided on a sliding fee scale. Individuals with limited income and assets will pay little or no fee. When people have health insurance, their insurance company is billed for covered services. The State of Wisconsin's Uniform Fee Schedule is used for many services, and is available at http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/bfs/UniformFee/index.htm.

Additional Help

Other Resources

NAMI Dane County NAMI Dane County provides useful information regarding mental illness as well as advocacy and support services.

United Way of Dane County - First Call for Help First Call for Help is a free phone referral service for Dane County citizens. They provide resource listings descriptions and contact information for a wide array of Dane County service providers.

Contact

Marykay Wills
CYF Human Services Manager for Mental Health and Alternative Care
Dane County Department of Human Services
1202 Northport DR, 4th FL
Madison, WI 53704
(608) 242-6404

Last Revised 04/24/2009