Bismarck  (CSi)   The advisory group for the North Dakota Department of Human Services’ South Central Regional Human Service Center (SCHSC) will meet on Wednesday April 19, 2017  at 10 a.m. in room 126 at the center located at 520 Third St. N.W., in Jamestown.

Members will receive updates on center staffing, operations, and clinical developments including new evidence-based behavioral health practices the center plans to implement this summer, which support individual recovery and reduce relapse and crises and related negative outcomes.

 

Extended Care and Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment Services Supervisor LeAnn Pollert will give an overview of Illness Management and Recovery, which staff will begin implementing in May. This evidence-based behavioral health practice involves providing clients with information about mental illness and helping them develop coping skills they can use to decrease their symptoms, reduce relapses and hospitalizations, and continue to progress toward their individual goals and recovery.

 

Pollert will also brief members on Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) that can benefit individuals with both severe mental illness and substance use disorder who are at a higher risk of homelessness, hospitalizations, and legal involvement. The human service center plans to implement ACT services later this summer using an outreach team of behavioral health professionals.

 

Center Director Dan Cramer, Ph.D., will review recovery management. Members who represent Barnes, Dickey, Foster, Griggs, LaMoure, Logan, McIntosh, Stutsman and Wells counties will also have an opportunity to share announcements, discuss local needs, and make recommendations about the planning, funding and array of services in the region.

 

A complete agenda is available online at www.nd.gov/dhs/info/publicnotice/index.html. The meeting is open to the public.

 

Individuals who need assistance to participate can contact the center at 701-253-6300, toll-free 800-260-1310, Relay ND TTY 800-366-6888, or dhsschsc@nd.gov. Contact information is also available online at www.nd.gov/dhs/locations/regionalhsc/.

 

SCHSC served about 2,315 people during the 2016 State Fiscal Year in the nine-county region, and employs about 80 individuals. Staff members provide behavioral health services, disability services, and other human services directly or in partnerships with county social services and other agencies.