At The Woodlands psychiatry and counseling we do things differently from the traditional outpatient psychiatry.In addition to assessing, diagnosing and treating mental illness, behavioral health issues, relationship difficulties, emotional issues or other mental health challenges, we provide holistic medical and psychiatric care specifically addressing the social determinants which must be addressed in psychiatric rehabilitation. Our focus is on wellness, holistic care and the development of coping skills required for successful community living. It is truly individual and respects our patient’s rights to participate and direct their own care.
Our approach includes the following:
1. Integration of Mental Health and Physical Health Care. The model grew from an extensive five year research study designed to integrate primary health services with mental health services. This approach, along with other integration of care studies, informed our approach to integration of services model. The body and mind are inextricably intertwined and as such much be addressed in a comprehensive holistic model of care.
2. Strengths Based Model of Organizational Management. This approach empowers employees to identify, develop and employ their specific strengths toward achieving the goals of the organization. Staff morale is substantially enhanced, thus enhancing outcomes for our patients.
3. Interagency Collaborative Care Model. Interagency engagement is designed to facilitate creative networking with other agencies and organizations. No single provider can offer the array of services required for positive outcomes, consequently other providers must be engaged to meet our patients' needs for reintegration to the community. The model teaches staff specific skills and approaches required for successful outcomes.
4. The Social and Personal Competency Model. This method provides an approach to more fully understand the patients’ needs. Using in-depth assessment tools, specific needs are linked to individual opportunities provided within the program which produce individualized outcomes. These opportunities are designed to ameliorate issues which interfere with the patients ability to cope and to be successful in the community. The system directly links needs, issues, assessment information to treatment interventions which result in achieving the guest’s goals. The model truly empowers the patient through involvement, input and the right to direct their treatment.
5. The Engagement Approach. This approach provides the staff with tools, methods and techniques to engage the patient who is hesitant to becoming involved with the program. This approach is based on the belief that a patient's resistance to engage is our program and therefore must be addressed as a clinical issue; not by blaming the patient.
6. The Recovery Model of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Peer Support. Through employing persons with lived experience, the patient participation is elevated through a combination of empowerment and engagement. Peer support, as a best practice, has been found to markedly improvement patient outcomes while creating a healing environment.
While the traditional psychiatric outpatient care addresses the medical aspects of psychiatric illnesses, our approach addresses the same issues in additional to the social determinates necessary for successful community coping.
Our approach reduces the return to hospital rate while assisting the guest in developing effective coping skills required to live successfully in the community.