Outpatient Services
Outpatient services include several treatment components. Individual, family and couples therapy is available as part of outpatient services throughout the Volunteer system. Volunteer has clinical staff trained in family therapy as well as expertise in treatment of marital and relationship issues. Individual therapy is available for children, adolescents and adults. Specialized group therapy is available at several locations. These include groups addressing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, anger management and sexual offender treatment.
Evaluation and Assessment Services
Evaluation services are available to children and adolescents throughout the Volunteer service area. Specific services include psychological evaluations, parenting assessments, alcohol and drug assessments and sexual offender assessments. We also provide consultation and evaluation services for local school systems and work with families to ensure appropriate mental health evaluations are administered.
Child and Adolescent Case Management
Case management services for children and adolescents provide the entire family system with support, linkage, referral, and advocacy. The case manager's role is to assist the family in accessing services, managing crisis and maintaining the least restrictive environment for the child/adolescent being served. Case management is a family-centered, strengths-based model specifically for families with children who are seriously emotionally disturbed.
Specialized Psychiatric Services
Many times children require medications to assist with managing emotional problems. Volunteer's medical team consists of several experts in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry. The medical team includes registered nurses, nurse practitioners and psychiatrists.
Our telemedicine program is an innovative way to ensure easy access to medical personnel. Telemedicine is a direct connection to physicians and medical staff within our system from all locations within the Volunteer coverage area. The telemedicine program provides psychiatric coverage to rural counties and enables the medical team to consult with one another on a regular basis. This program makes accessing psychiatric services for children convenient for families in our most remote communities and enhances the quality of care provided by our medical team.
Project AFFIRM
Project AFFIRM is a planned respite program for families with children who have serious emotional disturbances. The program provides families with break time and support, as well as the development of behavioral management skills with the children. The program model provides short-term relief as well as teaching an empowerment model to parents which assists the families in accessing community supports for longer-term respite care. Project AFFIRM is a grant-funded program and is available in Rutherford county.
Volunteer also provides state technical assistance and training to all state contracted planned respite programs throughout Tennessee.
Regional Intervention Program (RIP)
RIP is a nationally recognized model for assisting families with learning behavior management skills. RIP is a grant funded program providing parents with opportunities to learn and practice skills in a supportive environment. The program is designed for families with children under six years of age who are experiencing behavioral problems.
RIP is available in the following Tennessee counties: Rutherford, Williamson, Sumner, Davidson and Bradley.
Volunteer also houses the Regional Intervention Program State Coordinator. The position provides training, consultation and programmatic guidance to RIP programs throughout the state.
Project Basic (Better Attitudes and Skills in Children)
Project Basic is a school-based mental health early intervention and prevention program. This grant-funded program provides Child Development Specialists in elementary schools. The program targets students from kindergarten to third grade, providing early identification and intervention, teacher consultation and classroom programming to promote positive attitudes and mental health wellness concepts. Families with students at high risk of emotional disturbances are linked to community services and treatment services. Project Basic is available in the following Tennessee Counties: Rutherford, Warren, Marion, Macon, Cumberland, Meigs and Bledsoe.
School-based Counseling
School-based counseling provides mental health counseling services for children and adolescents in the school setting. Individual therapy, family consultation and school staff consultation is provided for targeted children and adolescents within a specific school location.
Therapeutic Foster Care and Residential Care
Volunteer administers two specialized foster care programs through a contract with the Tennessee Department of Children's Services. These foster care programs provide a highly structured, therapeutic home setting for children and adolescents with emotional disturbances. Both the Connections Program, housed in Rutherford County and Hamilton County utilize the PATH training for families providing foster care services. Both programs are licensed through the Department of Children's Services.
Adolescent Day Treatment
The Endeavor Program in Cookeville is a structured adolescent day treatment program providing A&D services to Adolescents between the ages of 13 to 18. The treatment activities include A&D groups and Individual Counseling to enhance understanding of addiction, address the individual needs and other cognitive and behavioral therapies to improve their coping skills. The Endeavor program also has an educational component and the clients may continue their school work while in the program.
Additional Contracted Services
Volunteer provides a number of additional services to community agencies. Contracted services with the Franklin Special School District include consulting, direct service and staff development training as part of the Safe Schools Healthy Students Partnership. Volunteer maintains a contract with Taft Youth Development Center for mental health treatment services to the adolescents in that program. Volunteer staff members provide psychological evaluations, individual and group counseling to adolescents as well as consultation to staff. Tennessee Early Intervention System contracts with Volunteer to provide consultation services.
Court Ordered Evaluations
Local juvenile court systems often look to Volunteer Behavioral Health Care Services clinical staff to provide evaluation services for children and adolescents involved in the court system. We provide psychological evaluations, competency evaluations and assessments of mental status as well as substance abuse. These services assist judges and court officers in planning for the care of the children and adolescents under their jurisdiction. Clinical staff who specialize in forensic evaluations work closely with the court systems in our area in providing these services. Court ordered evaluations are available in each county served by Volunteer Behavioral Health Care Services.
