Page Posted: 5/2012
Page Reviewed: 08/2014
Page Updated:
Chapter 2 - Mission and Values for Children's and Adult Mental Health Divisions
Adult Mental Health Mission and Values
Mission
Values
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Recovery
Hope
Personal Choice
Holistic Approach
Evidence Based and Best Practice Services
Children's Mental Health Mission and Values
Mission
Values
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Emphasizes resilience
Integrates mental health into the broader system
Guided by youth, driven by family
Developmentally appropriate
Uses evidence-based practices
Culturally competent
Supports family involvement
Provides a complete service array
Serves a broad population
Adult Mental Health
Mission
The Adult Mental Health Division promotes and supports recovery and mental wellness, and works to ensure that recovery based
programs and services are available throughout the state. The division administers policy and practice to ensure consistent,
effective and accessible mental health services and supports for individuals. In Minnesota, individual's access publically funded
mental health services in several ways. Some mental health services require approval through the individual's county of
residence and some services require approval through an individual's designated managed health care plan. Minnesota has a
wide range of service providers, including non-profit health clinics and centers, independent licensed mental health professionals,
county-run services and state-run services.
Values
Recovery
The guiding principle for mental health services in Minnesota is people can and do recover from mental illness. . Recovery is
defined as a journey of holistic healing and discovery that leads to personal growth and life satisfaction.
Hope
In a recovery-focused mental health service system, people living with mental illness are encouraged, supported, and empowered
to build meaningful lives. A recovery-based system is person-centered and fosters personal responsibility. It offers hope that
things will improve and that life’s goals can be met.
Personal Choice
Treatment planning and services should build on the person’s strengths, and acknowledge the individual’s right to make choices.
Providers will encourage and welcome peer and family involvement.
Holistic Approach
Mental health providers will recognize the whole person, mind, body, spirit and connection to community. Understanding of and
respect for the person’s beliefs, values, customs and traditions are necessary to support recovery.
Evidence Based and Best Practice Services
The Adult Mental Health Division is committed to implementing a number of evidence-based practices (EBP) in the array of
services. Evidence-based practices provide research-based strategies to help people living with mental illness to achieve the goal
of recovery.
Individual Placement Support (IPS)/Supported Employment (SE), Illness Management and Recovery (IMR), Integrated Dual
Diagnosis and Treatment (IDDT), and Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) are four evidence-based practice approaches that
the Division has promoted through statewide staff training and funding. In 2009, Minnesota added Certified Peer Support (CPS)
services to its state plan. The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Service (CMS) states that, "Peer support services are an evidencebased mental health model of care...the experience of peer support providers, as consumers of mental health and substance use
services, can be an important component in a State's delivery of effective treatment." Starting in 2011, Minnesota will add Certified
Dialectical Behavioral Treatment (DBT) intensive outpatient services to its service array.
Children's Mental Health
Mission
The Children’s Mental Health (CMH) Division at the Department of Human Services is the state mental health authority for
children. The division administers policies and recommends practices to ensure consistent, effective, and accessible mental
health services and supports for Minnesota’s children and families. CMH works with many public and private partners across the
state so that children and adolescents with mental health needs can develop and function as fully as possible in all areas of their
lives.
CMH implements technical assistance, funding, training, infrastructure development, as well as standards of delivery and
professional service. These services are used by MCOs, counties, tribes, providers, schools, and families to help fulfill the mission
of the public mental health system.
CMH also guides numerous strategic initiatives to better meet the needs of children and adolescents who are at risk for, or are
struggling with, mental health issues. The division invests resources to transform the children’s mental health system by
 Identifying issues and intervening earlier and earlier in their development
 Improving access to the right services at the right time
 Establishing best practices and improving standards of care
 Coordinating mental health care with schools, medical practice, and communities
These efforts are grounded in the division’s values.
Values
Emphasizes resilience
Mental health services are most effective when they support the healthy growth and development of children and adolescents.
This means, for example, recognizing and cultivating their strengths, multiple developmental needs, and capacity to develop
coping skills that are sufficient to manage their current mental health issues.
Integrated
Children’s mental health services must be integrated with the other systems of care, including primary health care, education
(from early childhood to post-secondary), child welfare, juvenile justice, and social services. Integration will help ensure that
children’s mental health needs are addressed at the right time and place with appropriate, clinically informed supports.
Youth guided, family driven
Guidance from youth and families informs effective mental health services. Communities must develop an array of services for
consumers and families that is flexible and appropriate (including level of intensity).
CMH supports families and communities in creating service delivery mechanisms that are locally appropriate and culturally
competent. CMH supports services such as home-based services, parent support groups, day treatment facilities, mobile crisis
support, partial hospitalization, and respite care as part of this effort.
Developmentally appropriate
To be effective, mental health services must be developmentally appropriate. Individualized service plans should reflect the
developmental needs of the child or adolescent, whether emotional, intellectual, physical, social, or cultural.
Children’s cognitive, social, and language skills develop over time; their developmental stages must be recognized. Services must
be (a) described in ways that do not go over the child’s head and (b) delivered in ways that do not underestimate the child.
Providers must assess whether their services are developmentally appropriate for adolescents who transition into the adult mental
health system.
Uses research informed and evidence-based practices
CMH is committed to ensuring that children and adolescents receive excellent mental health care. Thus, the organization is
moving toward an “evidence-based” culture. Research informed and evidence-based practices account for the latest research
when selecting the most effective course. CMH promotes evidence-based practices to improve the quality and increase the
number of effective treatments.
Using research informed practice means that providers and parents have the latest scientific evidence on which to base clinical
decisions and evaluate treatment outcomes. It means that provider and family can account for a child’s unique characteristics,
circumstances, and culture; it means they can combine their expertise and experiences with evidence in order to determine the
best approach for a child or adolescent. For further information, please visit the Children's Evidence-Based Practices webpage.
Culturally competent
Culture influences (a) individual and family beliefs about mental health and mental illness, and (b) how families and practitioners
perceive and respond to emotional problems. If care is to be individualized and culturally appropriate, it must address needs as
they are understood in the child’s and adolescent’s culture. Mental health services cannot be effective unless they are culturally
competent.
Supports family involvement
As primary caregiver and coordinator of care, a child’s family is an invaluable source of information. The family’s expertise must
be allowed to drive the child’s assessment, care planning, service delivery, and service evaluation. All service planning should
actively address the needs of children and adolescents for security, permanence, and cultural ties within family relationships.
Provides a complete service array
CMH is committed to ensuring that, for children and adolescents with mental health needs, the right services are available at the
right time and in the right setting, from birth to age 18. Services range from community-based rehabilitation services to inpatient
services. Minnesota is a leader in building the community-based service side of the continuum in order to support children in their
normal environment and thus avoid more intense services whenever possible.
Serves a broad population
The children's public mental health system must support children and adolescent’s healthy growth and development at all stages.
The system must promote optimal health for each child, including those who experience moderate symptoms of mental distress.
To that end, state and federal efforts supported expansion of the children’s mental health service population. In 2003 federal
legislation increased the flexibility and scope of the rehabilitation option benefit under Medicaid. As a result, Children’s
Therapeutic Services and Supports became available to children and adolescents who meet the criteria for emotional disturbance
(as defined by state law) rather than being limited to severe emotional disturbance.