MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

There is a wide-range of ongoing mental health services available for the people who reside and receive services at SDDC. The team of mental health service providers include behavior therapists, psychologist(s), chemical dependency counselor, and psychologist assistants. The psychologists and behavior therapists are clinically supervised by a campus-wide mental health clinical supervisor. SDDC also has a consulting psychologist and a consulting psychiatrist who maintains a regular schedule on campus.

Individual and Group Therapies
Individual and group therapy consists of helping clients break free of old ideas, patterns, and wounds that are restricting their happiness and contentment. It includes coaching them through personal challenges and life passages along with teaching skills and techniques for self-awareness, relationships, and success. Another focus is learning how to best live with or overcome mental health illnesses and disorders that may affect a person’s daily life. These therapies are positive approaches and are designed to elicit and increase appropriate behaviors and eliminate those that are harmful. Therapies are outcome-oriented with clear goals to accomplish.

Types of therapies include but are not limited to:

• Individual Counseling
• Group Counseling
• Behavior Therapy
• Reinforcement Plans
• Crisis Intervention
• Motivational Therapy
• Psycho-educational Groups/classes
  • Social Skills Training
  • Anger Management Training
  • Sexual Education Training
  • Transition Training
  • DBT Skills
• Sexual Issues Treatment
• Art Therapy
• Relaxation Training
• Sensory Activities
• Chemical Dependency Services
• Wellness Groups
• Process Groups

Mental health staff are responsible for writing Behavior Support Plans upon the recommendation of each person's Interdisciplinary Team. They are also responsible for keeping accurate behavioral data, doing initial in-servicing of behavior support plans, attending annual and special team meetings for the people assigned to their caseload, writing annual psychological assessments, participating in risk assessments for people, and providing crisis response when needed. Some mental health staff are instructors of the Nonviolent Crisis Intervention and Person-Centered Thinking Coaches. They attend monthly medication reviews, participate in various committees, assist with medication management and psychiatric consultations, and provide individual and group counseling for persons on their caseloads. Mental health staff also attend and provide required in-service training, provide consultations to community agencies, and complete functional behavior assessments, psychological assessments, competency restoration and evaluations, and board commitments.

There are positions available at SDDC for psychology interns. Internship applications are available on-line from the State of South Dakota .