New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 10 - HUMAN SERVICES
Chapter 37 - COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ACT
Subchapter 6 - GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL STATE-FUNDED COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM ELEMENTS
Section 10:37-6.49 - Least restrictive setting
Universal Citation: NJ Admin Code 10:37-6.49
Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) Services shall be organized to meet the comprehensive needs of individual clients and shall be offered in the least restrictive environment possible, dependent on the client's functional level and emotional and psychiatric needs. Agencies shall:
1. Develop an intake procedure which, prior
to the development of an Individual Service Plan (ISP), and after crisis
stabilization, identifies a particular client's strengths and weaknesses, using
a Level of Functioning and Companion Environmental/Natural Supports Assessment
tool (see Division Service Dictionary for definitions);
2. Consider the range of services available
within that Service Area and identify:
i. The
service needs of that client; and
ii. The least restrictive setting available
to meet those needs.
3.
Consider alternatives in the following sequence:
i. Natural support systems: The client's
living arrangement and the people who usually provide support to him/her in
crisis. If no such people are readily identified, the staff may help the client
to develop a natural support network with someone with whom there seems to be
good potential for supportive contact.
(1) If
the natural support system is unable to meet the client's needs in a timely
manner, formal community services should be explored and used.
ii. Community services: These
services should be explored and arranged as follows:
(1) Generic services/community supports:
Income maintenance, housing, health, transportation, etc., shall be arranged
when necessary, with the mental health Program Element acting as advocate and
service procurer. In the cases of DYFS clients who are children, the primary
advocate and service procurer/coordinator should be the DYFS worker.
(2) Mental health services: If the client's
needs cannot be met by his/her natural environment or by the generic services
available in the Service Area and client need dictates, the client shall be
provided with local community mental health services, either by the intake
agency, or through alternative arrangements with other mental health Program
Element providers in the Service Area. The least restrictive alternative, i.e.,
ambulatory Outpatient Program Elements, should be emphasized over more
restrictive, i.e., inpatient alternatives, as appropriate.
iii. Division of Youth and Family Services
(DYFS) residential network: Residential services provided directly and through
contract by DYFS are appropriate for placement of children whose natural
support setting is no longer sufficient to maintain a child in his/her home.
Mental Health support services shall be provided, as needed, by mental health
providers.
iv. Institutional:
Local, inpatient units in general hospitals should be emphasized over less
local settings, such as a county hospital. County psychiatric hospitals shall
be the preferred setting, rather than a Regionalized State hospital, in Service
Areas where General Hospital inpatient units are not available. The community
mental health agency in that Service Area shall then work with the Hospital to
maximize the therapeutic benefit of the IPU stay while also beginning discharge
planning as quickly as possible.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. New Jersey may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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