Behavioral Health Services
HPL’s integrated approach to behavioral health ensures that inmates are properly managed from initial assessment to proper treatment congruent with their diagnoses. Services also include proper education and follow through after an inmate is reintegrated into the community. Our behavioral health professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers, are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to ensure the appropriate response should a situation occur.
Psychiatric Assessment/Intake Screening
All inmates receive a behavioral health screening and psychiatric assessment. Those with a positive screen are referred to behavioral health staff for evaluation, including a basic psychological evaluation, psychiatric history, behavioral status, diagnostic impressions and recommendation for placement and treatment. Inmates in need of psychotropic medication will meet with an onsite physician or behavioral health professional. If the clinician determines an inmate requires specialized care, a referral will be made for off-site consultation and treatment as necessary.
Documentation
In order to ensure that an inmate’s behavioral health status is available to all healthcare staff to provide continuity of care, HPL provides accurate and timely documentation in accordance with ACA and NCCHC standards. In compliance with federal and state privacy laws, information necessary to safely monitor and manage inmates with serious mental health concerns is properly documented and provided to correctional administrators.
Patient Education
As an integral part of any behavioral health treatment, HPL prepares inmates to live with their diagnosed illnesses not only during incarceration but also throughout the course of their life. Our behavioral health staff will educate inmates on the complex nature of their particular illness as well as the positives and negatives of each treatment available to them.
HPL promotes continued care upon an inmate’s release from custody by linking inmates with the behavioral health services available in their community. Our staff will establish contact with a case manager, clinician or liaison who will work with the inmate as they integrate into the community
Individual/Group Therapy
Our onsite behavioral health professionals carry a caseload of individual therapy sessions that include one-on-one supportive contact and counseling. Group therapy options include psycho-educational, anger management and substance abuse therapy.
Suicide Management & Risk Reduction
Although infrequent, suicide is one of the most serious types of emergency situations to occur in a correctional setting and therefore requires an appropriate measure of prevention and care. To mitigate the risk of a suicide, HPL provides training for all intake officers, as well as anyone who has direct or indirect contact with inmates, on prevention screening and how to properly administer a suicide assessment questionnaire to identify the signs and symptoms of self-harmful behaviors. Those inmates identified as a suicide risk are kept under an appropriate level of observation and maintained in appropriate housing. If deemed appropriate, potentially suicidal inmates, or those who have attempted suicide, are referred to outside facilities for care.
HPL will create and implement a facility-specific plan to address the handling of an attempted or completed suicide, including the notification of facility administrators, outside authorities and family members. Since witnessing a suicide can be a traumatic experience, HPL offers counseling to all facility staff and inmates involved in such a situation if a facility requests these services.
