Question
What other professionals and community resources are available for OT mental health?
Answer
I often use clubhouses, day centers, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) support groups. As I was talking about activities that are online, I would then extend those out into the community groups. Any kind of community version of that. Libraries are a good resource for free, community programming. With the Affordable Health Care Act, I think we are going to be seeing a lot more community resources available to people. I think the answer to that question will evolve over the next year.
To answer the second question, the home health team tends to include a psychiatrist, the physician, nursing, psychiatric nursing, and social work. These are the most common members of the behavioral home health team. However, there may also be physical therapist depending on why we are seeing the person. If the behavorial health referral comes secondary to a physical health diagnosis, then we are more likely to see the addition of traditional team members like PT, speech, and a nutritionist. In behavioral health you might also see nutrition if we are working with diagnoses like dementia or an eating disorder. Other types of physicians as needed, depending on what the diagnosis is.
