Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc.
(Publication Archives)

Community Connections, Fall 2002

Families Find Support and Empowerment Through NYC CCSI
By Delores Tibbets, CSW, Director, NYC CCSI

Families with children who have serious emotional disturbances often do not know where to turn. Their children's needs may be complex, and parents frequently feel overwhelmed, isolated and afraid. The prospect of locating appropriate mental health services and educational placements is uppermost in their minds but frequently challenging to accomplish. The stress of dealing with the mental health needs of children may be further challenged when parents themselves have psychiatric disabilities.

Concern for such children and their families led New York State to establish a special initiative in 1993 called Coordinated Children's Services Initiative (CCSI). Along with most counties throughout NYS, New York City became a CCSI locality which has encouraged representatives from its child-serving systems to work collaboratively to better respond to the multiple needs of children at risk.

How is CCSI different from traditional responses to families with children in crisis? One vital difference is in CCSI's approach. It requires the active involvement of consumers of services at every level - state, city, borough, as well as in the direct practice of CCSI's "wraparound" model, Family Network, at the community level. Consumer voices enable CCSI to advocate strongly for the development of systems of care which are family-driven, strength-based and individualized. Service providers routinely sit at the table with consumers and work in partnership with families to address a range of concerns. Providers do not talk about families but talk with families as equal partners.

CCSI is also committed to focusing on the strengths of each family member, not on perceived deficits. Families are asked to identify their needs. Working together with resource people and other family supports, a plan is developed that empowers the family, and specific tasks are outlined to assure follow-up. The service plan is shaped to wrap the services around the family in a supportive and effective way, which meets the unique needs of each family member.

CCSI is not a program nor an agency - it is an initiative in New York City that is committed to building bridges across systems to meet the needs of many of its most vulnerable children. Through monthly meetings of child serving agencies in each borough, CCSI attempts to chip away at many obstacles to family-friendly service delivery. CCSI's goal is to foster effective systems of care which enable children with serious emotional disturbances to remain at home in their communities, living happy and productive lives.

While CCSI works consistently to improve service delivery within NYC's child serving agencies, it also strives to assist its most troubled children through local Family Networks which serve one family at a time. For more information about New York City's CCSI effort and how to access its consumer-friendly Networks, contact Dolores Tibbets at the Mental Health Association of NYC Inc. at (212) 614-6320.

posted 9/17/02