News Releases
AVON, Conn., Sep 13, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Magellan Health Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: MGLN), an industry leader in behavioral health care management, is supporting the National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health on a groundbreaking initiative to enhance and standardize the knowledge, skills and competencies of parents who have experience with the children's behavioral health system so they can effectively provide support services to other families.
Parent support providers--parents who have children with behavioral health challenges who help other families through similar situations--have been providing these services informally for decades. The wide array of functions performed by parent support providers is crucial, as studies show that children whose parents receive support have better outcomes in terms of residential status, law enforcement contact, academic performance and school attendance than those whose parents do not.
As the specialized knowledge, skills and abilities of parent support providers become more formally recognized in several states, Magellan's support of the National Federation lays the groundwork for a consistent national approach to training and certification for these roles.
"Advancing parent provider roles with national consistency is essential and supports Magellan's commitment to making sure children and their families have the services they need to be resilient and successful," said Pat Hunt, Magellan's director of child and family resiliency services. "Our support of the National Federation on this landmark initiative will set the bar for other states across the country to enable families, providers and the systems that support them to benefit from the unique expertise of parent support providers."
Through its National Initiative for Parent Support Partners, the National Federation will use Magellan's resources to develop three briefs that outline best practices in supervising and coaching parent support providers, identifying the core competencies needed for their roles and assessing agency readiness for hiring. Magellan will advance the use of the briefs with families, providers and community agencies throughout its public sector contracts area and promote them nationally.
"Magellan's support will help us ready the field to employ highly qualified and well-prepared parents as support providers by setting standards of quality, expertise and performance in this type of service and establishing, promoting and protecting parent-to-parent peer support as a recognized profession," said Frances Purdy, director of the National Parent Support Provider Initiative.
The National Federation also intends to advance the field of parent support providers by:
- Identifying criteria for the interventions and services they provide
- Developing standards and capacity for national professional certification
- Establishing a national association of parent support providers
- Continuing to contribute to the field's capacity to evaluate family-to-family peer support services
The National Initiative for Parent Support Partners is part of the National Federation's multi-year process to clearly define and standardize the emerging best practice of family-to-family support in order to validate this addition to the nation's behavioral health workforce, ensure families' high-quality service, and provide guidance and support to payers and agencies contracting for these types of services.
About Magellan: Headquartered in Avon, Conn., Magellan Health Services, Inc. is a leading specialty health care management organization whose customers include health plans, employers and government agencies nationwide. Magellan's public sector behavioral health services assist approximately 1.9 million individuals in managing mental illnesses and substance abuse through innovative, community-based programs that deliver measurable outcomes and are grounded in the principles of recovery, resiliency and personal choice. In addition to behavioral health, the company manages radiology benefits, specialty pharmaceuticals and administers public sector pharmacy benefits programs. Visit www.MagellanHealth.com for more information.
About the National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health: The National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health is a national family-run organization dedicated exclusively to helping children with mental health needs and their families achieve a better quality of life. The National Federation provides leadership to develop and sustain a nationwide network of family-run organizations and helps policy-makers, agencies, and providers become more effective in delivering services and supports that foster healthy emotional development for all children. Visit www.ffcmh.org for more information.
SOURCE: Magellan Health Services, Inc.
Magellan Health Services, Inc. Media Contacts: Muriel Ashley, 410-953-2431 or Christine Barnhart, 410-953-2421
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