Strive for social resources and help for children with mental illness
The sky is high and the sky is pale
We Chinese have a saying, "We rely on our parents at home and friends when we go out."So, when our child unfortunately got "encephalopathy" and was discharged from the psychiatric hospital, there is still a long way to recover.Who should I call for help on this journey?In fact, in the United States, the government and society have provided a lot of professional and practical help for the treatment, rehabilitation and development of these young people, and most of them are free. Unfortunately, not many people of Chinese descent know about it.I will introduce it here.
• Local mental health management department: When we are seeking help in this area, the first step may be to consult with the local mental health management department, such as the Texana Center in Fort Bend County in Houston, and the Harris Center in Harris County.They have many support programs and resources for patients of different ages.Among them is a CRCG community resource coordination meeting, which is held at regular intervals (such as a month). CRCG brings together all relevant local non-profit organizations and government agencies.You can directly provide consultations on social resources suitable for patients and families at the meeting.It should be noted that this coordination meeting requires an application and an invitation to participate.
• Psychotherapy and community life support: When it comes to rehabilitation of encephalopathy, the United States and China have different views.The United States pays more attention to rehabilitation in the community (home), while the so-called "psychiatric hospital" type rehabilitation is more common in China.Logically speaking, home rehabilitation should be better and more respectful to patients, but it is not easy for parents to do it, especially for teenagers who are already in the rebellious period.If the parents do not have special guidance, it may make the family relationship more tense and increase the stress and illness of the child.Texas has a community service program that specifically helps patients and their families under the age of 18: Youth Empowerment Services Waiver (Youth Empowerment Services Waiver).This project assigns professional psychological counselors to the home to help parents and children throughout the whole process, using the most popular animal therapy, music and art treatment methods, combined with conversation therapy to attract the interest of young people.A team follow-up meeting is held once a month, and the whole family participates together to affirm the advantages of the children and everyone in the family, encourage good behaviors, correct bad behaviors, and gradually propose new behavior goals, so as to drive everyone to continue to develop in a good direction.At the same time, it also pays special attention to the self-care of parents, and provides "respite" services, so that tired parents can rest assured to go out and relax alone.What is particularly rare is that the application for this program waived the traditional Medicaid requirement for low income. It is not based on family income, but only looks at the income of the child.So that more children and families can benefit.
• Educational support: In addition to the family environment, for young people in school, the other most important factor is the school.For children undergoing brain rehabilitation, if they want them to be the same as ordinary children, they will have different degrees of difficulty (side effects of drugs, symptoms of the disease, etc.), depending on the symptoms of each person, there will be different degrees The land needs special care (accommodations) from the school, and for ordinary public schools, if parents do not go through the education legal process to advocate for their children, the school will not cooperate, and Chinese parents often do not understand the equality and acceptance given to us by the U.S. Education Law. The right to free public school education, do not know how to claim the rights of oneself and their children, this will cause conflicts with the school and a deadlock in which children are unwilling to go to school.There are many non-profit organizations in the society, such as the Partners Resource Network for children in special education. You can consult and help parents for free, guide them on how to use legal weapons to protect their children’s legal rights, and provide them with a suitable educational environment. .
• Transition planning: This transition refers to an important period (from 18 to 14 years old) for a minor under 22 to grow into an independent and legally responsible adult. It can be said that it determines a person’s life, if not Early planning may result in children being unable to realize their potential after graduating from high school, dropping out of college, unable to work, and even becoming homeless.There are many organizations in society that provide assistance in this regard, such as schools, local mental health management departments, YES Waiver, Partners Resource Network, etc.The Department of Labor’s Assisted Employment Services and Training (Texas Workforce Solutions-Vocational Rehabilitative Services) has assisted employment and higher education support programs for adults and minors with encephalopathy. Another important aspect is Guardianship.This is a set of protective legal procedures that give parents the right to assist their children in making decisions after they become adults.Non-profit organizations such as Disability Rights of Texas have free lawyer services.
• Income support: To take care of such children, parents may not be able to work and pay a lot.For example, patients with low family income or over 18 years of age can apply for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) with Social Security.
The above are more important social resources for your reference.Applications are handled individually, and the results will be processed differently according to the patient's illness.