The PLACE

Life can challenge us sometimes. At those moments, trained professionals who can help us find our balance and the light along our journey’s path are invaluable. The PLACE at MHDS has a complement of resources to help persons achieve their best behavioral health goals with services tailored to specific needs. Additionally, MHDS has a 45+ year history of services to persons with intellectual differences if that is a co-existing condition. Our staff is well qualified to attend to the needs of individuals with a dual diagnosis. The programs you can benefit from at The PLACE located at the MHDS facility at 38 Garland Drive include:

Intensive Outpatient Program

Small Group (maximum of 6 persons) or individual counseling three hours per day, 3 days per week (Monday, Wednesday & Friday) for 8 weeks from 9 am – 12 pm. Persons must be 18 years or older.

Participants will explore skills enhancements, develop coping techniques and receive psychotherapy in a group environment that you can trust is safe and offers the structured programming needed to see results.

Programs provide persons the opportunity to:

Increase self-awareness and socialization
Benefit from psychoeducation improving knowledge, normalize treatment issues, and motivate towards positive changes
Practice coping strategies in a safe, real-world environment
Improve decision-making skills
Master existing skills and learn new skills to replace inappropriate coping strategies
Observe healthy behavior modeling
Improve symptom management with appropriate expression and regulation
Learn healthy interpersonal boundaries
Learn how diet and exercise contribute to wellness and increased quality of life
Learn productive ways to manage triggers and symptoms related to diagnoses
Learn skills tailored to the specific person-centered goals of the individual
Provide interventions to prevent relapse
Learn cognitive processing and cognitive restructuring skills to promote positive behaviors
Learn relapse prevention skills and refusal training, stress management, and assertiveness training
Receive support for increased growth and development
Use enabling technologies to promote independence & self-reliance

Core topics include but are not limited to:

Grief Counseling
Getting Along With Housemates
Sexual Abuse
Community Socialization
Healthy Lifestyle (Nutrition & Exercise)
Developing Coping Skills

One on One Talk Therapy

This service, also known as psychotherapy, involves talking over the specific issues you wish to address to improve your life or determine skill gaps that you can work on to achieve a higher level of functioning related to the issue. Our Therapist works with individuals to cope with feelings, problem solve and change behavior patterns related to defined issues. Sessions will address matters of importance to the person seeking treatment and help them put matters in perspective. Once issues are identified as priorities, the therapist helps the person to resolve them or develop coping techniques.

Talk therapy can help you:

understand your mental health condition;
define and reach wellness goals;
overcome fears or insecurities;
cope with stress;
make sense of past traumatic experiences;
separate your true personality from the moods caused by your condition;
identify triggers that may worsen your symptoms;
improve relationships with family and friends;
establish a stable, dependable routine;
develop a plan for coping with crises; and
understand why things bother you and what you can do about them.

Talk therapy services and medication are often used in combination to address emotional issues. Medications management is referred to an independent practitioner. A comprehensive treatment plan is the collaborative effort of all behavioral health professionals involved.

All persons on our behavioral health team are licensed and have extensive experience. In addition to providing talk therapy, they may specialize in a particular behavior issue such as anxiety, depression, mood stability, aging, chronic mental illness or more.

Psychosocial Rehabilitation Day Services

Meets three days weekly (Monday, Wednesday & Friday) in a community environment with session size averaging 6 participants with two sessions from 9 am – 12 pm and 1 pm – 4 pm. Program focus will be on strengthening individual social skills related to some identified behavioral issue. Emphasis is on the person’s strengths, needs, abilities and preferences rather than treatment for symptoms of mental illness. Duration of participation is related to progress made toward an individual goal. Persons must be 18 years or older.

Core topics include but are not limited to:

Enhancement of the understanding of and ability of persons served to manage & cope with a psychiatric diagnosis using:

Mental Health apps on electronic devices
Online Websites & Forums
Topic of the Hour would include group discussion of matters of importance including diet, exercise, medications, sleep, oral care, etc.
Development of a Health Passport for each person to create personal health goals & track their own habits related to exercise, sleep and diet. Weekly progression can be monitored at the facility with checks of weight and blood pressure.

Entitlement/Income Budget Maintenance including:

Computer Training
Understanding the difference in SSI and SSA
Awareness of health insurance provider including how to access my doctors
Utilizing food stamp benefits & commodities
How to develop a personal budget
How to track spending compared to budget
Consulting with benefits counselor to determine how employment affects benefits

Self-Care & Independent Living Skills emphasizing:

Utilizing public transportation
Options to secure transportation to medical appointments
Ride-sharing options in your community
On-premises cooking classes
On-premises laundry instruction
Practice on living skills including making the bed, washing dishes, using phone/cell, clothes selection for season/occasion, keeping a clean living space, grocery shopping, using technology to broaden independence, etc.

Incorporating enabling technologies into daily living to increase independence including:

SMART Board which allows for hands-on learning on an extra-large screen for low vision or can give verbal instruction for non-readers. A wide variety of software options are available to accommodate IDD learners as well.
Learn how to use personal Alexa, tablet or smartphone reminders and prompts to wake up, take meds, keep appointments, make your day flow from beginning to end, etc.
How to choose from the technologies & devices available to help you achieve maximum self-reliance

Socialization & Use of Leisure Time may include:

Art Therapy
Music Therapy
Horticulture Therapy
Animal Therapy
Meditation/Yoga
Ecotherapy
Spiritual/Church engagement
Card/Board Games
Sports

Vocational Development/Employment Exploration for those interested:

“I Want To Work” 3-week curriculum
Job sites tours and/or vocational assessments
Interest inventories related to work
Volunteer activities at local community locations

Standards of Excellence in Care

Person Centered service delivery is a mandate for all our programs. Ensuring the services they receive are those that are relevant and important to them is our goal.

The Mandt System of Crisis Intervention is exclusively utilized by our staff. This technique is a relationship based method to overcome challenging behaviors with positive results. Two of our staff are also certified trainers.

The PLACE is a Preferred Provider for ECF Choices & Choices services through your MCO assigned by the Division of TennCare.

Person Centered service delivery is a mandate for all our programs. Ensuring the services they receive are those that are relevant and important to them is our goal.

Contact:

Deana Shephard, Director of Operations

MHDS The PLACE
59 Conrad Drive
Jackson, TN 38305
Office: 731-984-6457
dshephard@mhds.org