LOUISIANA Community Mental Health Services Block Grant ...

of Public Health, and Citizens with Developmental Disabilities. Elements of the ECSS Program
include integrated and comprehensive local systems of care for young children, early identification
and intervention, state and local collaboration, healthy brain development, and school readiness.
ECSS provides infant mental health screening and assessment, counseling, therapy, child abuse and
domestic violence prevention, case management, behavior modification, parent support groups, and
use of emergency intervention funds to purchase supports and services that are not otherwise
available.
Louisiana Youth Enhanced Services (LA-Y.E.S.) Project
LA-Y.E.S. is a system of care established for children and youth with serious emotional and
behavioral disorders funded through a cooperative agreement between the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Louisiana Department of Health and
Hospitals, and the Office of Behavioral Health, formerly the Office of Mental Health. LA-Y.E.S.
builds upon prior federal initiatives partnering with state and local public mental health programs
for improving mental health services for children and youth. It is a Louisiana cooperative
agreement between the Center for Children‟s Mental Health Services of SAMHSA and local
partners where the values and principles of systems of care are implemented. The stated values of
LA-Y.E.S. are as follows: “Services are youth guided and family focused, community-based, and
culturally and linguistically competent.” The principles include: Access to comprehensive array of
services; individualized service plans; services delivered in the least restrictive environment; family
participants in all aspects of service planning; service systems integration; all children and families
receive care management; children‟s problems are identified early; youth entering adulthood
transitioned into adult care; the rights of service recipients are protected; and services are nondiscriminatory.
LA-Y.E.S. has joined with community partners to work with families and youth addressing
children‟s mental health. Critical collaboration partners include mental health, juvenile justice,
child welfare, education, health, local universities, and human services (social services) areas.
Service integration may start in family courts or in schools, or from a wide variety of other
community portals. Services are characterized by coordination, multi-disciplinary teams,
comprehensive array of services, community-based, culturally and linguistically competent,
evidence-based, and outcome oriented. This “wraparound” approach itself is an evidence-based
model based on national evaluations funded to evaluate all federally funded systems of care. LA-
Y.E.S. is a child-focused and family-driven organization that aims to meet the mental health needs
of youth, ages 3-21, and their families in Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, and St.
Tammany parishes.
The LA-Y.E.S. system of care aims to address three main obstacles that citizens of Louisiana,
including children and adolescents with mental illness, face when getting the care they need:
o The stigma associated with mental illness;
o The unfair treatment limitations and financial requirements placed on receiving care; and
o The fragmented mental health service delivery system.
Due to Louisiana‟s monumental need for systems reform, the Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ),
formerly the Office of Youth Development (OYD) began implementation of a plan to address
juvenile justice reform and adopt models of change, as well as evidence based interventions.
Multi-systemic Therapy (MST) is one such evidence based therapy that is provided by LA-
Y.E.S. partners, and specifically recommended by OJJ. This evidence-based practice, now
PART C LOUISIANA FY 2011 PAGE 251
SECTION III: ADULT & CHILD/ YOUTH PLAN – CRITERION 3
CHILDREN’S SERVICES -- SYSTEM OF INTEGRATED SERVICES