ACIDD Maryland currently provides a cluster of programs and services to individuals with Intellectual Disability and co-occurring Mental Illness and to people with severe and persistent mental illness. Our Disability programs are mainly in the Southern Region of Maryland, and our mental health programs are mainly in the Central and Southern regions of Maryland.
We use an integrated behavioral healthcare approach for our participants. We employ a systematic, person-centered, integrated healthcare approach that is unique to the population. Our behavioral health care addresses mental health, substance use conditions, behaviors due to chronic mental illness, life stressors and crises, stress-related physical symptoms, and ineffective patterns of health utilization. For good health care, ACIDD Maryland focuses on behavioral health and mental health. Some of the preventive strategies are a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program (PRP), Mental Health Vocational Program (MHVP) which includes an evidence-based Employment service, holistic psychiatry, psychotherapy, Outpatient Mental Health services that include assessments, medication monitoring, and non-physician primary care service and primary nursing care.
All our services are currently CARF International accredited.
Besides PRP and MHVP services that we have been offering to people with severe mental illness since 2013, we began our Outpatient mental health treatment for adults in August 2018. ACIDD also has been serving individuals who have a dual diagnosis of Intellectual Disability and co-occurring Mental Illness since 2015. We offer them residential services and integrated day services. Our residential services include Personal Support (PS), Family and Individual Support Services (FISS) besides 4-person Group Homes, and 2-to-3-person Alternative Living Units (ALU). Our Day services currently include Vocational Day, Day Habilitation, Supported Employment, and non-site-based services to people receiving day habilitation services such as Community Learning Services (CLS) and Employment Discovery & Customization (ED&C).
All services that are provided under DDA are also CARF International accredited.
ACIDD for Counseling began collaborating with different psychotherapy providers to support our integrated care approach to our individuals. We continue to adopt a holistic approach to the treatment of individuals we serve. ACIDD has expanded its services to PG County and established the on-site services facility at 300 Thomas Drive in Laurel. At 300 Thomas Drive, we are set up to offer PRP, MHVP, psychotherapy, diagnostic assessment, and medication monitoring through our Outpatient Treatment Center, non-physician primary care, and primary nursing care, including skilled nursing and training and various training programs.
The statistics are that people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) are at a significantly higher risk of mental illness. The prevalence is conservatively estimated at 33% to 35%, with some sources reporting much higher rates. This population’s susceptibility is increased by biological and social factors. As more mental illnesses are understood to be caused or aggravated by biochemical irregularities, an already damaged brain is at higher risk of biochemical imbalances.
As we are aware, people with IDD are often ostracized and have few, if any, social networks of support. Children with IDD are often treated differently and excluded from social activities. Among young adults, this isolation becomes more pronounced when students graduate without work prospects or established social circles. Social isolation and exclusion with no hope of change, combined with already-existing brain differences, set the stage for mental illness.
People with IDD often increase or decrease already-existing behavior anomalies (e.g., hand flapping, making loud noises, pacing). These baseline exaggerations are routinely mistaken for learned behaviors that are part of the developmental delays and not assessed as possible symptoms of an emerging mental illness (Silka and Hauser).
Our trained clinicians in individuals dually diagnosed with IDD and mental illness are aware of the possibility of co-occurring conditions. They ask the appropriate clinical questions and create circumstances in which these individuals are treated with effective or appropriate methods.
Our Program Model has a holistic approach. The bio-psycho-social approach of our programs helps adults develop coping and self-management skills and access local resources needed to learn, work, and live as contributing members of their communities.
A team of clinicians, case workers, and administrators, along with direct-care counselors, work with program participants in providing residential services and community-based day services, including CLS, vocational and employment services, psychotherapy, medication monitoring, and PRP services in PG County. We are growing. In 2018 we opened our first Outpatient mental health clinic in Laurel. Our wrap-around services, combining psychiatric and primary care, will be the model that we will recognize all over Maryland.
From a clinical perspective, it will be exciting to see advancements in the understanding of both mental illness and IDD. However, the need for community services and support for people with a dual diagnosis is still significant. Certainly, communities across the counties would benefit from more programs like ours.