Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services

Adult rehabilitative mental health services (ARMHS) is a range of services that helps an individual develop and enhance psychiatric stability, social competencies, personal and emotional adjustment, and independent living and community skills. Whether the person is returning home from a State hospital or working to improve their skills at independent living, ARMHS meets each person with mental illness where they are at with services tailored to them.

How ARMHS helps
Basic living and social skills:
ARMHS providers help individuals build skills in areas of life essential for every day, independent living, when symptoms of their mental health have decreased functioning abilities. ARMHS helps people improve their skills in:
- Interpersonal communications
- Using community resources
- Budgeting, shopping and healthy lifestyles
- Mental illness symptom management
- Household management
- Employment-related skills
Basic living and social skills may be provided individually or in a group setting.

Functional Assessment:
Through building rapport with each client, an understanding is gained about how symptoms of mental health impact each individual uniquely in many areas of their life. This gained understanding helps shape the treatment planning process.

Individual Treatment Plan:
A client centered approach is essential to the development goals and the small steps needed to achieve goals.

Treatment planning may involve other members of the individuals’ family and community.

Community intervention:
Community interventions mean working with an agency, institution, employer, landlord or the person’s family to allow the person to function more independently.

Medication education:
Instruction may be provided to the individual receiving ARMHS services, their family or significant others in how to maintain a person’s prescription medication regimen. A physician, pharmacist, registered nurse or physician’s assistant provides this service.

Certified peer specialist services:
Certified peer specialists can help people receiving services by using a non-clinical approach that helps the person discover his or her strengths and develop unique recovery goals. The peer specialist models wellness, personal responsibility, self-advocacy and hopefulness through appropriate sharing of his or her story.

Transition to community living services:
Transition services help ease the transition from a higher level of care, such as a regional treatment center, Community hospital or Intensive residential treatment program.
Receiving ARMHS services
Eligible recipients for ARMHS must be:
- Be 18 years old or older
- Be diagnosed with a serious mental illness
- Have a significant impairment in functioning.
ARMHS services may be provided:
- At the person’s home or the home of a relative or significant other
- In community locations such as a mental health program, drop-in center or classroom.
Mental Health at DHS

The Department of Human Services (DHS) is dedicated to supporting adults, children and youth with a mental illness in their personal journey toward recovery, as well as preventing mental illness whenever possible.

People with mental illness have the same rights as anyone. DHS is committed to making sure individual choice is respected and that people with mental illness are able to live, learn, work and enjoy life in their community to the best of their ability.

DHS oversees a number of publicly funded programs offering community-based mental health services, creating a continuum of services designed to meet the needs of individuals.