New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 10 - HUMAN SERVICES
Chapter 37J - PROGRAMS OF ASSERTIVE COMMUNITY TREATMENT
Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 10:37J-1.2 - Definitions
The following words and terms, as used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the content clearly indicates otherwise.
"Assessment" means the ongoing process of identifying and reviewing a consumer's strengths, needs, and consumer-defined goals, based upon input from the consumer, significant others, family members and health professionals. The assessment process continues throughout the entire length of service.
"Boarding home" means a building containing two or more units of dwelling space arranged or intended for single room occupancy, exclusive of any such unit occupied by an owner or operator, offering no financial or personal services other than a room, food service, and laundry to two or more residents unrelated to the operator. Such facilities shall be licensed by the Department of Community Affairs, pursuant to P.L. 1979, c.496 (Rooming House/Boarding House Act of 1979).
"Co-occurring disorder" means the presence of both one or more substance-related disorders, as well as one or more mental illness.
"Crisis assessment and intervention" means in-home or in-community emergency care provided by a PACT team member(s) who has direct access to other PACT team members, including the psychiatrist and PACT director/coach, for consultation and assistance.
"Department" means the Department of Human Services.
"Development and support of recreational and social activities and relationships" means provision of skill training, including supervised teaching activities and experiences, provided individually or in small groups to improve communication and facilitate appropriate interpersonal behavior.
"Direct assistance to ensure that each consumer obtains the basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing, physical health and dental care, shelter and safety," means that the PACT team will maximally assist consumers in meeting their concrete needs. To the extent possible, the team will assist enrollees in securing and maintaining safe, affordable housing in settings that are clean, attractive and promote stability and well-being.
"Direct assistance with structuring and performing basic daily living activities" means the provision of hands-on assistance with a wide range of independent living tasks.
"Division" or "DMHAS" means the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services within the Department of Human Services.
"Dual disorder services" means specialized, integrated assessment and stage-based treatment of individuals who have co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorders.
"In vivo" means assistance is provided in the consumer's home and other normative community settings. Direct assistance, individualized support, supervision, problem solving and the teaching of independent living skills are provided in the consumer's natural settings.
"Level I standards" means those standards with which mental health programs must be in full compliance in order to be granted or to continue to receive a full Department of Health license. Level I standards include those standards that relate most directly to consumer rights, safety, and staffing. With specific reference to the PACT program, Level I standards are: all standards at N.J.A.C. 10:37J-2.4, Program intensity, except subsection (c); N.J.A.C. 10:37J-2.5(c), (d)1, (e), (h), and (l), services to be provided and service coordination; and N.J.A.C. 10:37J-2.8(a), (b), (c) (except for paragraphs (c)1 through 8), (d), and (i), staff requirements.
"Medication prescription, administration, monitoring, and documentation" means psychiatric assessment and the prescription of appropriate medication. PACT staff, under the direction of the team psychiatrist, shall participate in the medication-related education, delivery, administration including observed self-administration, monitoring and documentation of medication. Staff shall assess and document the consumer's mental illness symptoms and behavior in response to medication and monitor for psychotropic medication side effects. Staff shall report observations to the team psychiatrist.
"Minimizing consumer involvement with the criminal justice system" means that the PACT team collaborates with police, court personnel, and jail and prison officials to ensure appropriate use of legal and mental health services. The team informs and educates the court, corrections and police officials in regard to the consumer's needs.
"Observed self-administration of medication" means a procedure in which any medication is taken orally, injected, or topically or otherwise administered by a PACT enrollee to himself or herself under the observation of a PACT team member. The complete procedure of self-administration includes removing an individual dose from a previously dispensed (in accordance with the New Jersey State Board of Pharmacy rules, N.J.A.C. 13:39), labeled container (including a unit dose container), verifying it with the directions on the label, and taking orally, injecting, or topically or otherwise administering the medication.
"PACT" means Programs of Assertive Community Treatment.
"PACT director" means a designated manager within the administrative structure of the PA whom, although not a PACT team member, is dedicated to the success of the team(s). The director provides clinical supervision (or ensures that it takes place), leadership, support, guidance, networking, and advocacy efforts on behalf of the team(s) and the consumers that it serves.
"Primary consumer" means, for the purposes of this rule, a person who is most challenged by the need to cope with a serious and persistent mental illness and who meets the eligibility requirements set forth in this subchapter.
"Provider agency" (PA) means a public or private organization, which has a contract or an affiliation agreement with the Division to provide PACT services.
"Provision of support to consumer's family and other members of the consumer's social network" means that the PACT team directly provides support, consultation and education to the consumer's family, for example, spouses, siblings, parents and significant others.
"Recovery" means the process by which an individual, who has a mental illness, develops the skills, attitudes and knowledge base that will permit the individual to live, work, learn and participate fully in the community. Recovery may also include, but is not limited to, the following: the reduction or remission of symptoms; the development of resiliency; recognizing and accepting strengths, limitations, and losses; distinguishing between having and being the illness; re-establishing a sense of integrity and purpose within and beyond the limits of a mental illness.
"Recovery planning" means the process of organizing the outcomes of the assessment in collaboration with the consumer, and, with consent of the consumer, family members, significant others, and other service providers, to formulate a written service plan. The plan addresses the consumer's goals, services/interventions that will be employed to achieve these goals, and strategies/supports that will be utilized to engage and motivate the consumer. The recovery planning process shall continue throughout the consumer's receipt of PACT services.
"Rehabilitation and support to assist consumers to find and maintain employment" means assistance to consumers in choosing, obtaining, and keeping employment.
"Residential health care facility" or "RHCF" means a facility that provides food, shelter, supervised health care and related services to four or more persons 18 years of age or older who are unrelated to the owner or administrator.
"Symptom assessment, management and supportive counseling" means ongoing assessment of the consumer's mental illness symptoms, including the consumer's response to treatment. The concept extends to symptom education to enable the consumer to identify his or her mental illness symptoms, teaching of behavioral symptom management techniques to alleviate and manage symptoms not reduced with medication and assistance to the consumer to adapt and cope with internal and external stresses.
"Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Initiative" means a Statewide program funded by the Division and operated by an existing PACT PA to provide training and technical assistance for new and existing PACT team members, the PACT team director/coach, and appropriate PA administrators in the various components of the PACT treatment model.
"Treatment, rehabilitation, and support interventions" means the holistic array of highly individualized activities, for example, clinical, direct assistance, educational, rehabilitation, vocational, skill development, mentoring, advocacy, and coordination provided by the team in order to engage, assist, and empower consumers in attaining mutually agreed upon recovery goals.
"USTF" means Uniform Services Transaction Form.
"Wellness" means a conscious, deliberate, active, ongoing process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence. Wellness may include, but is not limited to, the following: a balance of self-defined health habits, such as adequate sleep, rest and exercise; participation in meaningful activity; improved nutrition; improved health status; greater productivity; enhanced social relationships; participation in purposeful activity; improved quality of life.
