Support Services

Supporting individuals is what CICS is all about. We are happy to direct individuals to a variety of programs to help them with day-to-day living, housing, employment and health challenges. By doing so, CICS strives to strengthen the community in which these individuals are proud to call home.

• Assertive Community Treatment

  Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is designed to improve outcomes for people with severe mental illness who are most at risk of homelessness, psychiatric crisis and hospitalization, and involvement in the criminal justice system. People receiving these services tend to utilize fewer intensive, high-cost services such as emergency department visits, psychiatric crisis services and psychiatric hospitalization. They also experience more independent living and higher rates of treatment retention.

• Community Drop-In Centers

  Centers throughout CICS’s 15-county region provide a place for individuals to be with others dealing with mental health concerns in a safe and supervised setting. Individuals can enjoy games, puzzles and other available activities or just sit, read or chat.

• Day Habilitation

  Day habilitation is the provision of regularly scheduled activities in a non-residential setting. The activities are designed to help an individual improve their social development.

• Family Support

  You are not in this alone. Family support specialists provide needed support for the family of individuals with mental health or intellectual and other developmental disabilities. This support can include education and information, advocacy, family support groups and crisis response.

• Group Supported Employment

  Individuals with mental health and intellectual and other developmental disabilities are given the real-world opportunity to work in enclaves, mobile crews and other business-based groups to benefit from the experience of sustained and paid employment.

• Home and Vehicle Modification

  Proper modifications to an individual’s home environment and/or vehicle can have a dramatic impact on their health, welfare and safety. Best of all, it provides them with a greater sense of independence.

• Homemaker — Home Health Aid

  Services are available to provide direct personal care, including assistance with activities of daily living, exercise and taking medications.

• Job Development

  Job developers work with the businesses in your community to educate them about the benefits of hiring an individual with a disability.

• Peer Support

  Facilitated by peer support specialists, this service promotes recovery and enhances hope and social networking through socialization with other individuals with similar mental health or development challenges.

• Prevocational Services

  Everyone has the potential to enjoy the personal and financial rewards of being employed. Prevocational services help individuals build the skills needed to tackle their first job — finding and applying for employment.

• Psychiatric Rehabilitation

  Psychiatric rehabilitation can serve the needs of individuals in two important ways. It prevents or reduces the need for hospitalization or residential care. More importantly, it allows individuals to work on their own or with groups to identify and work toward goals that provide individuals with a sense of independence as they pursue a valued role in the community.

• Respite

  Individuals who lack an adequate support system may benefit from a variety of respite settings available in CICS’s 15-county region. Planned or provided in response to a crisis, respite services provide temporary relief and support for these individuals and their families.

• Supported Community Living

  Cooking, cleaning, money management and other day-to-day living skills are vital for an individual with mental health or intellectual and other developmental disabilities to maintain their sense of independence. These skills are taught one-on-one in an individual’s home or in a community setting.

• Supported Housing

  Supported housing programs seek to provide a private and secure place for individuals and families to make their homes, with the same rights and responsibilities as other members of the community, while providing access to the support services needed and wanted to retain housing.

• Supported Employment

  It takes certain skills to land a job and even more skills to stay on the job. Supported employment helps individuals with mental health and intellectual and other developmental disabilities with the entire job-finding process. That level of support and encouragement continues after they are hired.