Innovations in Care: Adult Intensive Services Making Big Difference in Care for Those with Severe Mental Illnesses

It has been an 11-year journey filled with dark moments of uncertainty, hopelessness and tears.Through many hospitalizations, involuntary commitment, crisis interventions and addiction/rehab, I searched for answers ‘til now.

I am Joeanne, and I’m Jacob’s mother.

In 2016, our lives started to change drastically for the better when my son began his journey with Adult Intensive Services (a Flexible Assertive Community Treatment Team (FACTT) model of care) thanks to his CMHA WW support worker, Ian.

A few years later, after seeing the positive changes through Adult Intensive Services, Joeanne chose to become involved in the mental health community as a peer consultant and labour community advocate. She’s a strong advocate of the program, speaks about the impact it has had on her son and provides feedback to improve service.

The Adult Intensive Services model has revolutionized the way people with severe mental illness receive care around the world. CMHA WW took the best of this model and made it suit the needs of the region’s residents. Jacob was one of the first people to participate in Waterloo program and now is alumnus.

The model includes those with addictions, who were previously excluded from complex care teams focused on mental health. It is an important addition, as many people living with severe substance use issues do not have the supports they need.

This was the case with Jacob. He had many complex diagnoses: drug onset psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder. He attended rehab and found his place in the world thanks to his workers looking at addiction and mental health in a concurrent way. He participated in post program care, confronting root causes of addiction through therapy and various groups.

People supported by Adult Intensive Services receive customized individual and group-based treatment grounded in recovery, including relationship building, personal goal and recovery planning, support with medication issues, service and system coordination, assistance with crisis management, connecting to formal and informal supports, practical supports in multiple life areas, and advocacy.

The program is expanding into Guelph and Cambridge and CMHA WW is measuring a decrease in the clients need for service to measure success. According to Joeanne, Jacob is much more self-aware than he has ever been; they have open and honest conversations. Adult Intensive Services recognizes the recurring nature of serious and persistent mental illness and is able to flex the level of care to match the needs of the person. Jacob knows when to reach out for help and that the team is there for him in those moments, they are able to wrap back around and monitor when he needs it most and encourage autonomy when he does not.