TRANSITION TO INDEPENDENCE PROCESS (TIP) MODEL
The goal of the TIP Program is to prepare youth and young adults with emotional and behavioral disorders to move into adult roles through an individualized
process, engaging them in their own futures planning process as well as providing developmentally-appropriate services and supports.
CONTEXT
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Transition age Young Person (YP) with
emotional/behavioral disorders often
lack positive guidance and support to
prepare them for transition to
adulthood.
The TIP Process is used to help YP
(ages 14-29), their families, and key
supports in moving YP towards greater
self-sufficiency and achievement of
personal goals.
YP explore interests in
employment/career, education, living
situation, personal effectiveness, wellbeing, and community-life functioning.
TIP uses seven guidelines to drive
practice-level activities with YP and
provide a framework to support and
facilitate this effort.
INPUT
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TIP Principles
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Young Person
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Parents
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Key Natural Supports
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Programs and Services
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Flex Funds/Mileage
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TIP Trained Staff
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Training-Curriculum/Modules
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TIP Consultants
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Outcomes-driven CQI Process
OUTCOMES
 Young Person (YP) will be
present and participate in desired
community settings
 YP will gain and maintain
satisfying relationships
 YP will learn to express
preferences and make life choices
daily
 YP will fulfill respected roles and
live with dignity
 YP will develop personal
competencies and leadership
skills
 YP will maintain connection with
workforce and/or education
completion
Title/Name: McHenry County Family CARE Transition to Independence Process (TIP) Model
Getting Starting:
 Why did this become a priority of the community initiative?
Transition age youth are a specific population of focus for the cooperative agreement SAMHSA awarded to our
community in October, 2005. There was a considerable lack of appropriate services and supports for youth who
were aging out of adolescent mental health services and going into adult services. Adult services were focused on an
older adult population; frequently young adults dropped out of mental health services resulting in homelessness
and/or criminal activities.
 How did the community get started (and key early steps) towards current accomplishments?
 Identified transitional age youth with serious emotional disturbance as a focal population in 2005
 Parents, youth, and community members attending SAMHSA’s training conferences and seminars leaned about
the TIP Model
 Our Transitional Age Youth Work Group (parents, youth and professionals) was developed in 2006 and came to
endorse the TIP Model as a preference for working with transitional age youth.
 Rusty Clark Ph.D., developer of the TIP Model, presented it to our community at the large Child/Adolescent
Symposium our community hosted in October 2007
 Through Family CARE, the community was able to bring a TIP consultant/trainer to our community.
 Developed a TIP Logic Model with Evaluator and partner youth agencies to guide development of the process
 Initially broad community-wide training in the TIP Model was offered to the community; specific TIP training was
then required for the Family CARE program (Family Resource Developers, Wraparound, and Crisis Stabilization
Program) personnel.
Process: How has the work been accomplished? What was the process like?
As the TIP Model began to be used in our adolescent programs and youth aged out of adolescent services, it became apparent
that the adult programs lacked similar/reciprocal programming, and young adults were not being successful after entering
adult services. We approached the adult programs and Special Education Transitional Programs of the school district and
offered a Train the Trainer training cycle in the TIP Model. The adolescent and adult programs and special education transition
program staffs have received their training simultaneously as a single group. A large collaborative meeting in our community
in 2010 broadly endorsed the development of a Transitional Age/Young Adult Program. A small work group has been
established, and is currently working to develop a program description along with the TIP Train the Trainer group and with
parents, youth, a local community college representative, and representatives of the McHenry County Mental Health Court.
Challenges/Barriers/Obstacles:
It became apparent that it was necessary to engage both the adult and adolescent programs that affected transitional age
youth in order to provide a community environment that would be able to address the issues related to the transitional age
youth. The magnitude of the problem could not be addressed solely by the adolescent programming in the community.
What potential pitfalls can be identified that others can avoid?
Our system of care community would recommend that adult mental health and special education services be brought into the
evidence-based trainings and development of the TIP Logic Model at a sooner date.
Sustainability/Funding Considerations:
 An effort to secure a blend of Medicaid, private insurance and local tax funding streams will be pursued to finance a
sustainable Transitional Age/Young Adult Program. The TIP Train the Trainer process will ensure that local experts can
continue to train staff and the community as personnel naturally turn over, and to boost the skills of experienced staff.
Future Steps:
 The local community will continue to rely on the TIP Train the Trainer Model to ensure that local staff will maintain the
expertise they need to continue and sustain supportive training within their own agencies and schools. In addition, the
community, as a group, will develop the Transitional Age/Young Adult Program to further enhance the success of our
transitional age youth as they move forward into adulthood.
 The local community stakeholder group has developed an Evaluation Plan, and will establish a CQI process to regularly
review outcomes data to modify and improve programming.
 The TIP Logic Model will continue to be re-evaluated and updated as needed to reflect current needs of the community.
Basic Community Information:
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McHenry County Family CARE (Child/Adolescent Recovery Experience)
Crystal Lake, IL (approximately 45 miles northwest of Chicago, IL)
Year Cooperative Agreement Was Initially Funded: October 2005
Four Population(s) of Focus: Youth with Co-occurring Disorders, Transition Age Youth (16-21), Early Childhood (0 – 7), and
Latino Youth with serious emotional disturbance
Exemplar Details:
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Liz Doyle, LCPC, Clinical Director, Telephone: 815-788-4360, email: ldoyle@mc708.org
Website: www.McHenryCountyFamilyCARE.org
Key Tips/Strategies for Success:
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Develop a Transitional Age Work Group of youth, parents and professionals to inform your community on the current issues
within the targeted population.
Engage adolescent and adult serving agencies, and education, child welfare and juvenile justice partners to develop a Logic
Model that includes training and program planning for the community. A single, stand-alone agency program cannot
sufficiently serve the needs of transitional age youth.
Develop a Community Stakeholder group including parents and youth to be the steering committee for the implementation of
programming for transitional age youth.
Additional Resources:
Copy of TIP Logic Model is available. email: ldoyle@mc708.org
Rusty Clark, Ph.D., Developer of the TIP Model, email: clark@fmhi.usf.edu
Marc Fagan, Ph.D. Consultant/Trainer on the TIP Model, email: faganmarc@aol.com
http://tip.fmhi.usf.edu;http://nnyt.fmhi.usf.edu