About
Mission
Central Kansas Mental Health Center’s mission is to make life better in our communities by providing excellent mental health services, education and integrated care which exceeds patients’ expectations.
Our vision is that all residents of our service area:
know that mental health problems are real and treatable
that Central Kansas Mental Health Center is available, accessible, and affordable
seek intervention and treatment at the earliest sign of mental health problems
What Makes CKMHC Different
Central Kansas Mental Health Center is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, and is designated as the Local Mental Health Authority for the following counties: Saline, Dickinson, Ellsworth, Ottawa, and Lincoln. We are state and local leaders in the field of mental health, staying current on best practices proven to get results. We accept health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, Tricare but we also offer financial aid to make sure everyone has access to mental health services offering discounts based on ability to pay.
We are licensed by the Kansas Department of Human Services as a community mental health center. There are 26 community mental health centers across Kansas, each assigned a geographic area of the state, and collectively we provide the statewide mental health system.
We offer the widest range of mental health
services, we serve people of all ages, and have offices in all five
counties. Our offices are located in Abilene, Ellsworth, Lincoln,
Minneapolis, and our main office in Salina. We also partner with community partners to offer mobile
services in many other locations such as schools,
rural communities, homes, hospitals, jails, and even
job sites.
Besides outpatient therapy (including individual, marital, family and group therapy) we provide medication management, psychiatry, 24/7 crisis intervention services, social-emotional skill building groups, community based case management, respite and attendant care, supported employment, peer support, parent resources, wrap around supports, integrated care coordination, psychological evaluations, and access to our Martin Youth Center (including a 72 hour youth crisis stabilization house and suspension alternative program).
Any revenue is reinvested to meet the needs of the
communities we serve rather than to generate profits. For instance, we
conduct free depression screens, community needs assessments, and provide
nationally recognized public education such as Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)
and Applied Suicide Intervention and Skills Training (ASIST). As part of
our community collaboration we also provide critical incident debriefings and offer employee assistance programs for local businesses.
Our services are
delivered based on medical necessity, regardless of age, race, color, national
origin, disability or ability to pay. Any resident of the five counties we
serve are eligible to apply for a discounted rate, based on proof of income and
number of dependents.
Community based services are exclusive to CKMHC and designed to assist patients who have serious or severe mental health conditions to help them remain in their homes and communities while working toward their recovery. Evidence-based practices provide the focus for treatments, and help to ensure successful outcomes.
Central Kansas Mental Health Center has been
serving the area for over 50 years and has over 150 employees who look forward
to having a positive impact on people’s lives for many years to come.
We
are directed by a volunteer board with representatives from each county being
served that keeps us in tune and accountable to the people we serve.
We
undergo frequent audits and state licensing reviews to ensure consistent
quality and continuous performance improvement.
History
In its more than 50 year tenure, Central Kansas Mental Health Center is dedicated to its mission and getting excellent outcomes for our patients and communities. We provide a broad range of mental health services to a population of more than 91,000 people across five counties. Following the signing of the landmark “Community Mental Health Centers Act” in 1963, by President Kennedy; Dickinson, Ellsworth, Ottawa and Saline Counties joined together to create a regional Community Mental Health Center. This marked the culmination of a grass-roots public awareness campaign. Lincoln County chose to join CKMHC in 1972, expanding the reach of Central Kansas Mental Health Center to the present five counties.
Numerous milestones have marked the journey for Central Kansas Mental Health Center. Its humble beginnings as the Saline County Guidance Center evolved to become a regional hub for mental health services. To meet the increasing demands for services, numerous building expansions have taken place.
In
1977, the main office moved from a small
building at 9th and Crawford
streets to 809 Elmhurst.
Then in 1992 the state closed several state hospitals as
part of Mental Health Reform in Kansas. This
resulted in the construction of a new building that would support the addition
of more intensive programs focused on getting better results for higher risk
individuals using community based programs. The state dictates the
eligibility criteria for these programs and reserves them for individuals who
are most at risk for an out of home placement or psychiatric
hospitalization. Services for this target population are offered right in
our patients’ home and community where they live, work, go to school, and socialize.
They are proven to improve success in areas such as maintaining home
placements, employment, academic achievement, and reducing the need for
hospitalization.
In
1997 the O.L. Martin Center at 833 Elmhurst
in Salina was purchased. Today this is the location
of our youth crisis house, suspension alternative program and social emotional
skill building groups.
In
April of 2006 an 18,000 square foot addition to 809 Elmhurst was completed. Many new programs have been possible thanks to the
vision of this infrastructure. We greatly appreciate the support of our
counties, state, and board of directors who continue to believe in the
importance of mental health and our commitment to get excellent outcomes while
being very fiscally conservative.
In August of 2018, K-Prep, a therapeutic preschool, was opened in partnership with USD 305, CKCIE special education coop, and Heartland Headstart. This program has already successfully helped children who were not thriving in daycare or preschool settings. This program is housed at Heartland and requires the blending of funding from several systems. This program can reduce costs later on as the child’s needs are met and stabilized at an early age.
What Is A Community Mental Health Center?
Our state mental health authority developed a public mental health system which consists of 26 community mental health centers licensed and regulated by the State of Kansas. Collectively there is a CMHC assigned to each county of the state. Every CMHC collaborates together through their membership in the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas (ACMHCK). The primary goal of CMHCs is to provide quality care, treatment and rehabilitation to individuals with mental health problems in the least restrictive environment. CMHCs strongly endorse the use of best practices, community relationships, and fiscal responsibility in order to allow individuals to continue functioning in their own homes and communities. This includes the delivery of services at a considerably reduced cost to patients, third-party payers, and the taxpayer.
Community Mental Health Centers were originally established to improve access to preventative programs and short-term treatment. With the closing of institutional hospital beds, the need for outpatient services grew and produced a need for more intensive and lengthier services. This movement, called Mental Health Reform, was a dramatic shift based on the premise that people have the right to live in their own home and community and can expect their community to assist them. This was a humane effort to reduce institutionalization and funding was to be shifted to CMHCs. The funding did not fully follow as was intended at that time and the system has been underfunded ever since. As a result, some of the state’s prevention and early intervention programs closed.
Kansas CMHCs provide
care to over 100,000 citizens per year. Patient loads have doubled over
the past ten years largely as a result of deinstitutionalization. During
the period from 1970 to 1997, the State Hospital average daily census declined
by more than eighty percent. Many of these former hospital patients now
rely on CMHCs for mental health treatment to maintain their ability
to live in their own community.
In Kansas, more than
97 percent of all citizens seeking public mental health care are seen
at CMHCs.
The major national and state trend in mental health care over the last fifteen to twenty years has been the shift from institutional care to community based care provided by cmhcs. An estimated 18,000 are seriously emotionally disturbed children that are being served in the community, and over 18,000 are severe and persistently mentally ill adults. Growth of these types of services in the community has been dramatic. Without CMHCs, these seriously mentally ill adults and children would be confined to a hospital or other out of home placements.
Central Kansas Mental Health Center is dedicated to providing outstanding service to our patients. If you would like to make a comment, complaint or compliment on any of the services you received from CKMHC, please contact our Quality Assurance Director at 785-823-6322 .
