Services

    Cultural Competency

What services are available for children, adolescents and families?

Mental Health Services may include -

• Assessment - A complete mental health assessment will be completed to determine if your child meets the criteria for receiving mental health treatment at Tulare Youth Service Bureau.  The assessment process includes meeting the child and key family members or caregivers, as well as talking with important people in the child's life who may be helpful in developing a plan for treatment. During the assessment phase, a lot of information is gathered as well as the therapist observing the family interactions to help in learning how mental health treatment will benefit the child and family.  The assessment process may also determine if the child may need to be seen by the agency's child psychiatrist for further evaluation.  Sometimes the assessment helps to decide that Tulare Youth Service Bureau is not the best place for your child to get services.  If this happens, we will work with your family to refer them to the appropriate agency in the community.

• Mental Health Services - These services include mental health treatment services, such as counseling, rehabilitation and psychotherapy provided by a wide array of clinical staff, including, Marriage and Family Therapists, licensed Clinical Social Workers, Registered Interns with the Board of Behavioral Sciences, and Mental Health Rehabilitation staff. The services may be provided individually, as a family, or in a group setting, depending on the needs of the child and family. Mental health services may be provided at the clinic, the child's school, in the home or other community setting, or on the phone.

• Targeted Case Management - This service helps with getting medical, educational, social, rehabilitation, or other community services when these services may be hard for people with mental illness to do on their own. Targeted case management includes plan development, communication, coordination, and referral, monitoring service delivery to ensure the person's access to services and monitoring the person's progress.

• Medication Support Services - These services include the prescribing and monitoring of psychotropic medicines, medication management by Tulare Youth Service Bureau's Board Certified Child Psychiatrist, and education and monitoring related to psychotropic medicines.

• Crisis Intervention - This service provides mental health treatment for children with a mental health problem that can't wait for a regular, scheduled appointment. Crisis intervention can last up to eight hours and be provided in a clinic or provider office, over the phone or in the home or other community setting. Crisis stabilization allows for time to work with the child and caregivers to assure stability and safety.

  Return to Top

Cultural Competency

A culturally competent mental health system includes skills, attitudes and policies that make sure the needs of everyone are addressed in a society of diverse values, beliefs and orientations, and different races, religions and languages.  It is a system that improves the quality of care for all of Tulare County's many different peoples and provides them with understanding and respect for those differences.

Tulare Youth Service Bureau (TYSB) is responsible to provide the people it serves with culturally and linguistically competent specialty mental health services.  For example:  non-English or limited English speaking persons have the right to receive services in their preferred language and the right to request an interpreter. If an interpreter is requested, one must be provided at no cost.  People seeking services do not have to bring their own interpreters.  Written and verbal interpretation of your rights, benefits and treatments are available in your preferred language.  Information is also available in alternative formats if someone cannot read or has visual challenges.  TYSB is require to:

• Provide specialty mental health services in your preferred language.
• Provide culturally appropriate assessments and treatments.
• Provide a combination of culturally specific approaches to address various cultural needs that exist in Tulare County to create a safe and culturally responsive system.
• Make efforts to reduce language barriers.
• Make efforts to address the cultural-specific needs of individuals receiving services.
• Provide services with sensitivity to culturally specific view of illness and wellness.
• Consider your world view in providing you specialty mental health services.
• Have a process for teaching TYSB employees about what it means to live with mental illness from the point of view of people who are mentally ill.
• Provide oral interpretation services free of charge.  This applies to all non-English languages.
• Provide written information in threshold languages, alternative formats, and in an appropriate manner that takes into consideration the special needs of those who, for example, are visually limited or have limited reading proficiency.

                                                                                                                              Return to Top