Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program (PRP/CPST)
Mission: To provide evidence-based, rehabilitation-focused, and trauma-informed services to individuals with significant mental health functional impairments, aiming to restore stability and independence in the community.
Approach: CPST is a community-based, goal-directed, and rehabilitative service. Unlike traditional therapy, it uses a "walk-life-with-you" approach, delivering practical, hands-on support in the patient's natural environment (in homes or communities).
Underlying Principles: All services are delivered through a trauma-informed lens, utilizing strengths-based, goal-directed supports and solution-focused interventions. They are grounded in the principles of safety, choice, collaboration, and cultural humility.
About PRP/CPST Program
Community Psychiatric Support and Treatment (CPST) is a multi-component, team-based service for adults and youth that recognizes the widespread impact of trauma and prioritizes safety, trustworthiness, and collaboration. CPST consists of assessment, counseling, therapeutic interventions, care coordination, crisis and functional supports, all delivered through a trauma-informed lens. In partnership with the individual, CPST services concentrate on strengths-based, goal-directed supports and solution focused interventions, which focus on restoring functional skills of daily living, building natural supports, and achieving identified person-centered goals and objectives as identified in the Individual Service Plan (ISP). These individualized, trauma-informed interventions are grounded in principles of safety, choice, collaboration, and cultural humility and are designed to assist the individual in achieving stability and functional improvement in daily living, family/caregiver and interpersonal relationships, and personal recovery and resilience. CPST services prioritize the individual's inherent strengths and ability to succeed in the community while recognizing that trauma responses are normal adaptations to abnormal circumstances. Services support individuals in identifying and accessing needed resources, demonstrating improvement in school, work, and family/caregiver functioning, and enhancing the family/caregiver's capacity to provide supportive environments that promote healing and successful community integration.
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program (PRP/CPST) for
Children & Youth
The provision of Community Psychiatric Support and Treatment (CPST) services requires careful consideration when addressing the needs of transition age youth (TAY), generally defined as individuals between the ages of 16 and 25. For agencies delivering CPST to this demographic, service delivery shall be rigorously evaluated on an individualized basis to determine the most clinically appropriate placement, whether within Youth or Adult service settings.
A specific protocol is established for individuals who commenced their journey in Youth services prior to their eighteenth birthday. In such cases, the agency is obligated to provide the individual with the ongoing opportunity to remain within their existing, established therapeutic services. This continuation is contingent upon a clinical assessment that confirms the established service setting remains clinically appropriate and is demonstrably in the individual's best interest, recognizing the importance of continuity of care during a vulnerable transitional phase.
Furthermore, providers of CPST services who work with transition age youth are held to a comprehensive standard for professional development. They are explicitly required to complete all mandated training modules applicable to both the Adult and Youth service populations, as specified and referenced in relevant regulatory guidelines, ensuring they possess the full range of competencies necessary to support this diverse age group effectively.
Service Goals for Youth
The goal of CPST services for youth is restoration to a youth’s best level of functioning by restoring the youth to their best developmental trajectory. This includes consideration of key developmental needs and protective factors such as:
-
1. Restoration of positive family/caregiver relationships,
-
2. Prosocial peer relationships,
-
3. Community connectedness/social belonging; and
-
4. The ability to function in a developmentally appropriate home, school, vocational and community settings.
Youth shall be served within the context of the family/caregiver relationships to assure that family/caregiver dynamics are addressed and are a primary part of the treatment plan and approach. The family/caregiver or other legally authorized representatives of youth participating in the service are expected to have an integral role in the youth’s treatment.
Adult Mental Health Rehabilitative Supports and Services
Adult Mental Health Rehabilitative Supports and Services training. This curriculum is designed to establish a common baseline of knowledge and competence, and it includes core modules on the following essential topics:
-
Crisis Skills: Training in recognizing, assessing, and effectively de-escalating acute psychiatric crises, including the use of least restrictive interventions and appropriate linkages to higher levels of care.
-
Fundamentals of Psychiatric Rehabilitation (PSR): A deep dive into the principles and practices of PSR, focusing on skills training and environmental supports to help individuals achieve their chosen life goals. This module specifically includes best practices related to Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) models and tenancy support.
-
Fundamentals of Serious Mental Illness (SMI): Comprehensive education on the etiology, symptomatology, course, and treatment of SMI, with a particular focus on Severe and Persistent Mood Disorders (e.g., Bipolar I and II, Major Depressive Disorder with psychotic features).
-
Listening and Engagement Skills: Techniques for building therapeutic alliance, active listening, validating client experience, and ensuring the client feels heard and respected in the collaborative process.
-
Motivational Interviewing (MI): Training in the spirit and core skills of MI (OARS—Open-ended questions, Affirmations, Reflective listening, Summarizing) to help clients explore and resolve ambivalence and enhance intrinsic motivation for change.
-
Person-Centered Planning (PCP): Instruction on developing collaborative, individualized treatment plans that prioritize the client's goals, preferences, strengths, and cultural background, ensuring the client is the driving force behind their recovery journey.
-
Professional Ethics: A thorough review of ethical principles, professional boundaries, confidentiality (HIPAA), mandatory reporting requirements, and managing ethical dilemmas within the context of CPST.
-
Recovery Principles: An understanding of the core tenets of mental health recovery, including hope, self-direction, personalized care, holistic health, peer support, and a non-linear path to wellness.
Specific Elective Training Requirements
Beyond the mandated foundational topics, agencies are required to offer training in a range of clinical areas, allowing for specialization based on population need. The training on the following broad domains:
Mood, Psychosis, Trauma, Anxiety, and Substance Use.
Agencies are granted the flexibility to select specific evidence-based practices (EBPs) and didactic content within these domains. For example:
-
Anxiety trainings can be tailored to include specific intervention techniques such as:
-
Anxiety psychoeducation and normalizing the stress response.
-
Developing and utilizing a fear ladder or hierarchy for systematic exposure.
-
Teaching and encouraging self-monitoring of anxiety triggers, thoughts, and symptoms.
-
Relaxation techniques and diaphragmatic breathing exercises.
-