North
Carolina Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and
Substance Abuse Services
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Staff
Training:
The revision is to add to the Budget Section to collect
information about the number of trainings provided by PATH funded
staff. The question about training had been removed as it really
is not in line with what PATH staff do. The intensity it takes to
work with individuals literally homeless with serious mental
illness to connect to all the needed services, placed in supported
housing and connected to mental health services prevents time for
PATH staff to train. I understand that some states may do this,
but it is not connected to reach the outcome of living in
supported housing and transitioned to community mental health
services. I recommend this be an optional question so as not to
have it appear that this is a major role for PATH funded staff.
I
want to extend a huge thank you for removing the data collection
under services, referrals and demographics.
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An
issue is raised related to the addition of staff training and one
recommendation is offered.
Respondent
reports that training the community is not the primary objective
of many PATH programs and is not connected to the PATH program’s
intended outcomes of connecting individuals to housing and
community mental health services.
Respondent
offered a recommendation to make tracking staff-funded training
optional for all PATH programs.
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SAMHSA
offers the following responses to the concerns and recommendations
raised by the respondent:
Providing
training to community support networks is included in the PATH
legislation as an appropriate use of PATH funds. While this
service is not required of PATH programs, it is important to
track the activities of providers that train others in their
community. Though not directly related to PATH-funded services,
staff training indirectly serves and improves the community’s
homeless services system by providing information about working
with individuals who have a serious mental illness and improving
services to the PATH target population.
Information
has been added to the proposed PATH Annual Report Manual to
provide additional clarification on this data element. The PATH
Annual Report Manual will reflect that PATH providers are not
required to provide this service. However, if the service is
provided, the collection and reporting of this service is
required. Making the element optional will not allow for
meaningful data to be collected.
SAMHSA
will allow the recording of this data element to be optional for
the initial year of its implementation to allow providers of this
service to put a mechanism in place to accurately track the
information. Community training provided by PATH staff will remain
an optional service while the recording of such activity will be
required after the initial year.
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New
York State Office of Mental Health
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Staff
Training
– an element has been added to collect info on the # of
trainings provided by PATH-funded staff. In NY, our PATH funds are
used primarily for support services, with some funds going towards
training. I would not like to see SAMHSA’s efforts in this
area make our PATH service providers feel they need to shift some
of their resources to training.
#
8 – Demographics, 1st
paragraph last sentence—an element has been added to report
on the # of clients connected to their benefits using the SAMHSA
funded SOAR model. In NY, SOAR is utilized but so are many other
models to connect folks to SSI, etc. I would not like to see PATH
sponsors feel they are limited to SOAR only. In fact, I have just
learned from the SOAR TA Center that in NY, regional in person
SOAR trainings will no longer be available. All available SOAR
training will only be accessed thru the SOAR website.
Lastly,
the estimated annual burden table on the bottom of the page is not
clear. If it is suggested that OMH and the local providers spend @
20 hours on annual reporting for PATH, that is inaccurate. The
annual report process is time consuming and takes weeks to
accomplish.
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The
respondent raised four issues regarding the new report form. The
issues include:
Training
the community is not the primary objective of many PATH programs
and is not something that is often provided in New York.
Focusing
on PATH-funded community training may pressure projects to divert
resources from working with individuals in need to providing
training to communities.
The
respondent is concerned that PATH providers will feel they are
limited to SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR)
programs when seeking to connect individuals with Supplemental
Security Income (SSI)/Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)
benefits. New York uses other models in addition to SOAR to
connect individuals to SSI/SSDI benefits.
The
respondent is concerned that providers and State PATH Contacts
(SPCs) spend much more than 20 hours when completing the PATH
Annual Report.
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SAMHSA
offers the following responses to the concerns raised by the
respondent:
Providing
training to community support networks is included in the PATH
legislation as an appropriate use of PATH funds. While this
service is not required of PATH programs, it is important to
track the activities of providers that train others in their
community.
Information
has been added to the proposed PATH Annual Report Manual to
provide additional clarification on this data element. The PATH
Annual Report Manual will reflect that PATH providers are not
required to provide this service. However, if the service is
provided, then the collection and reporting of this service is
required.
Information
has been added to the proposed PATH Annual Report Manual to
provide additional clarification on this data element. In the
“Outcomes” section, the new report form proposes to
collect information on all connections to SSI/SSDI regardless of
the model used. The SOAR-specific data element is intended to
determine the extent to which PATH is connected to SOAR and is
not intended to limit PATH to only using the SOAR model.
The
burden estimate is intended to reflect the time required for
states/territories and providers to complete the PATH Annual
Report form itself. If providers are consistently collecting
accurate data throughout the year, it is estimated that the
burden would be 20 hours for each provider agency and 20 hours
for each state/territory. These estimates were based on feedback
from providers and states regarding the burden associated with
the PATH Annual Report.
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