Development and Implementation of Family Involvement Standards for Behavioral Health Provider Programs

Abstract

The support and understanding of families, relatives, friends, and others can be of great importance in the treatment and recovery of people with mental illness (known hereafter as “service participants.”). However, behavioral health provider programs vary widely in the extent to which they contact, engage, and utilize these “significant people” (SPs) of behavioral health service participants in productive ways that are also supportive of SPs. Organizations and individuals who provide support and education for participants’ SPs in the Philadelphia area formed the Family Resource Network (FRN), acquired city funding, and developed a set of specific family involvement (FI) standards for providers. However, even with extensive city support and clear standards, most service providers have been slow to make a policy of contacting all identified SPs designated on signed release forms to elicit their concerns and discuss ways they can help their loved ones in their recovery. The authors review the barriers to implementing the FRN FI standards, and describe a new strategy underway to promote changes in provider FI practices through family involvement pilot projects with provider programs.