The Mental Health Rehabilitation (MHR) program provides services to youth with emotional/behavior disorders and to adults with chronic mental illness. Services are provided in the home and community based on an individualized service recovery plan (ISRP).

The program’s guiding principles are based on recovery and resiliency.

What is recovery?

Although there are many perceptions and definitions of recovery, William Anthony (1993), identifies recovery as "a deeply personal, unique process of changing one’s attitudes, values, feelings, goals, skills and/or roles. It is a way of living a satisfying, hopeful, and contributing life even with limitations caused by the illness. Recovery involves the development of new meaning and purpose in one’s life as one grows beyond the catastrophic effects of mental illness."

For more information about recovery, click here for links and resources.

What is resiliency?

Resiliency is the ability to “bounce back” from and successfully adapt to adversity. After a semester of resiliency training, a 15 year old high school student described resiliency as: "Bouncing back from problems and stuff with more power and more smarts. Each person has an innate capacity for resiliency, "a self-righting tendency" that operates best when people have resiliency-building conditions in their lives.

Program Implementation

The MHR program is implemented by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals through a partnership which includes the Medicaid Behavioral Health Section (MBHS), a fiscal intermediary (Unisys) and the provider network.

Medicaid Behavioral Health Section: Develops program rules and regulation, provides direct payment to providers for services approved and prior authorized and implements the program through provider certification (enrollment), recertification, prior authorization, training and monitoring.

Fiscal Intermediary: Enrolls providers in Medicaid, process claims payments, assists providers with billing problems.

Providers: The provider network includes certified and enrolled providers located throughout the state. Providers offer prior authorized services to youth and adults (members) who meet medical necessity criteria for MHR services.

Program Goals

Services are expected to achieve the following outcomes:

	Assist members in the stabilization of acute symptoms of mental illness
	Improve social skills
	Improve parenting skills
	Improve basic needs
	Improve behavior at home, school, and in the community
	Refer and coordinate with natural and community supports
	Improve family relationships
	Reduce symptoms of emotional disorders
	Ensure access to physical health services
	Improve daily living skills
	Achieve employment/educational goals
	Provide 24 hour crisis intervention services
	Assist members in coping with the chronic symptoms of their mental illness
	Minimize the aspects of mental illness that make it difficult for a member to live independently
	Reduce or prevent psychiatric hospitalizations
	For children, minimize the amount of time spent in out-of-home placement and disruptions in school.

Links to other About Us pages:

  Go to Covered Services Page

  Go to Eligibility Criteria Page

  Go to Program Statistics Page