Services to treat mental illness at Behavioral Healthcare Corporation

Behavioral Healthcare Corporation has several treatment options to treat mental illness.

Mental Health / Mental Illness

There’s a lot more to mental health than simply not having a mental illness. Likewise, not having a mental illness does not necessarily mean you are mentally healthy.

What do the terms really mean? What is mental health? What is mental illness? How can you tell if you have a mental illness or not? And, if you do, what can you do about it?

Mental HealthCall us

Think of mental health as a continuum, or a spectrum: a series of related things with one end being one extreme and each step increasing slightly to the other end, which is the opposite extreme. For example – think about how comfortable you feel disagreeing with people. People at one end are so uncomfortable they avoid it at all costs. At the other end are people who welcome the opportunity to play the devil’s advocate. We all fall somewhere on that spectrum, and most of us fall somewhere in the middle.

“Mental health” involves our whole selves – our emotional, physical, psychological and social well-being. Our degree of mental health affects how we think, feel and act. It impacts how we handle stress, relate to other people and make choices. People who have mental health (or, mental wellness) usually have a sense of confidence in themselves – including a sense of humor that allows them to laugh at themselves. They are able to love others, to work effectively and to enjoy play. They are also able to maintain productive activity such as a hobby or a job, and maintain healthy family, work and friend relationships. People with mental health generally find satisfaction in several areas (personal, occupational, social, etc.) and deal with the challenges of life effectively – with or without support from others (professional or otherwise).

Mental Illness

At the other end of the spectrum, “mental illness” is often characterized by having difficulty functioning or meeting responsibilities in different areas of life. People with mental illness are likely to take things personally; over-react to situations, making them more than they really are; experience distorted thinking or exhibit “cognitive distortions” like black & white thinking, over-generalizing, jumping to conclusions, blaming others or always being right. To someone with a mental illness these are rational and accurate ways to view situations, but are really distortions that only serve to keep them feeling bad or stuck.

Having poor mental health or a mental illness can affect your thinking, mood, and behavior. Many factors contribute to mental illness, including:

  • biological factors, such as genes or brain chemistry.
  • life experiences, such as neglect, trauma or abuse.
  • family history of mental health problems.

Because we all fall on that spectrum of mental health, it is not uncommon to experience a mental health problem at some point in your life. But help is available. People with mental health problems can get better and many recover completely.

Behavioral Healthcare Corporation provides a number of services that can address mental illness and help you improve or restore your mental health.

Mobile Clinical Services

Mobile Psychiatric Nursing

Mobile Psychiatric Nursing Services (MPNS) provides psychiatric nursing service to clients in their home. MPNS provides initial and ongoing medical and psychiatric nursing assessments, medication management support and monitoring, administration of injectable medications, general health education and on-call telephone support during non-office hours. At the time of admission to MPNS, and every three months thereafter, a Treatment/Recovery Plan is developed by the client and the nurse, identifying individual goals and strategies to help clients attain their stated goals.

This service is funded by Perform Care or by Lancaster County Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (BH/DS).

Mobile Psychotherapy

At Behavioral Healthcare Corporation most of our clients come to our offices (to our main office at 822 Marietta Avenue, Lancaster, PA, 17603 or to our satellite office at 535 Locust Street, Columbia, PA 17512.) for psychotherapy. In some situations where physical or mental illness is debilitating the psychotherapist might need to meet individuals in their homes until they are well enough to come to the clinic.

Mobile Social Rehabilitation

Mobile Social Rehabilitation (MSR) provides community-based social and leisure activities with particular outreach to individuals who might be under-served. Activities are designed to increase socialization, independence, quality of life and community resources. Activities are chosen by clients and facilitated by staff. They might include, though not be limited to, excursions, dining, outdoor events and craft projects.

Mobile Social Rehabilitation is funded by Lancaster County Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (BH/DS).

Do you or someone you know need mobile clinical services? Contact us for information on how to make a referral!

(Be sure to check out our self-help page, too!)

Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy can be helpful in many situations.

Couples counseling: Let’s face it – relationships can be challenging! And mental health isn’t only about us as individuals – if we’re in a relationship it also relates to us as part of a couple. As much as you love your partner, significant other or spouse, chances are pretty good that there are some issues the two of you have a hard time resolving. In couples counseling a trained psychotherapist helps you identify what those issues are – the ones that are on the surface, and the ones that are underneath. Couples counseling isn’t about pointing fingers or blaming either of you for the issues you face. It is about working together in ways that help you become stronger individually and as a couple.Behavioral Healthcare Corporation provides couples and family therapy.

Family therapy: Families are a type of system. In a system, something that affects one part of the system affects every part of the system. That’s how it is with families. Often there is an “identified person” who brings attention to an issue the entire family must deal with. Whether the identified person is a parent or a child, the focus in family therapy is how the entire family can work together to resolve communication problems or other conflicts.

Individual therapy: Individual therapy is just that – therapy (or “psychotherapy”) that focuses on an individual’s personal struggles and challenges. Individual psychotherapy helps individuals restore their mental health by understanding what contributes to the issue and identifying practical, concrete ways to address it and move beyond to restored mental health.

Mobile therapy: At Behavioral Healthcare Corporation most of our clients come to our offices (our main office at 822 Marietta Avenue, Lancaster, PA 17603 or our satellite office at 535 Locust Street, Columbia, PA 17512) for psychotherapy. In some situations, though, the psychotherapist will meet with clients in their homes until they are able to come to the clinic.

Network Intervention Therapy: Network Intervention is a crisis approach to help families struggling with.

Woman talking to her psychotherapist.

In Network Intervention, the identified person usually continues in psychotherapy but their “network” is involved in the recovery process. The network includes family members, friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, other professionals (such as nursing home staff) and significant others.

Network Intervention involves a team of professionals – not just one individual psychotherapist – that serves more as guides than traditional therapists. The team guides the network in identifying concrete ways they can support the individual and provide ongoing support to the family.

If you believe couples, family, individual or network therapy would be helpful for you and/or your family please contact us for more information!

Psychiatric evaluations and medication management

Psychiatric evaluations are medical evaluations conducted by a physician who specializes in psychiatry (the science devoted to mental illness). An evaluation is done to determine if medication is indicated.

At Behavioral Healthcare Corporation treatment begins with an evaluation with one of our psychotherapists. If the psychotherapist sees a need for a psychiatric evaluation they will make the referral to Dr. Yaroslavsky (“Dr. Y”).