Getting Help

If you are concerned about a child’s development or mental health, you can get help from:

• Anoka County Children's Mental Health Services. See Services Provided below.
• Other resources in the community, including Children's Crisis Services. See Community Resources.
• Your health care provider or a mental health professional. A mental health professional is a person who provides clinical services in the treatment of mental illness and who is qualified in one of the following ways:
  • Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
  • Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker
  • Licensed Psychologist with competencies in diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.
  • Psychiatrist
  • Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

 

Services Provided by Anoka County Children's Mental Health Services

Requests for assistance begin with a call to:

Anoka County Intake at 763-712-2722.

An intake social worker will talk with you about your child’s needs and advise you of the application process for voluntary county services.

 

Children’s Mental Health Services include:

• Intake and Screening
• Case Management
• Family Community Support
• Diagnostic Assessment
• Transition Services

See Eligibility for more information about who can receive services.

Intake and Screening

This VOLUNTARY service must be requested by a parent or legal guardian. The Anoka County Intake Social Worker will ask a variety of questions, such as:

• What are the concerns?
• What behaviors are the parents or others seeing?
• What has been tried so far?

Anoka County first looks to the community for appropriate resources for the family. If the child has health insurance that covers outpatient mental health resources, a referral may be made to the provider of the family’s choice. That may be all that is needed. The county seeks to start with the least restrictive resource. If more help is needed, the intake social worker will gather additional information in a formal intake process, often meeting the family in their home.

For more information, call Anoka County Intake at 763-712-2722.

Case Management

County case management helps families assess children’s mental health needs, develop an individual family community support plan, and help children and families get the services they need. The case manager must assess and reassess the delivery, appropriateness, and effectiveness of services over time.

For more information, call Anoka County Intake at 763-712-2722.

Family Community Support

Anoka County’s Family Community Support Worker helps children and their families. Workers provide:

• Informal mental health case management for children in Anoka County
• Prevention services so these children will need less intensive case management
• Support on a short-term basis.
• Information and referral for families to schools in Anoka County
• Liaison between families and Anoka County schools, informing staff and families of services available in the community
• Information regarding mental health practices, support, and treatment for children

For more information, call Anoka County Family Community Support at 763-712-2705.

 

Diagnostic Assessment

A diagnostic assessment is defined as a written evaluation by a mental health professional that includes:

• A child’s current life situation and sources of stress, including reasons for referral
• The history of the child’s current mental health problem or problems, including important developmental incidents, strengths, and vulnerabilities
• The child’s current functioning and symptoms
• The child’s diagnoses including a determination of whether the child meets eligibility criteria
• The mental health services needed by the child as provided for by State Statute, MN Statute 245.4871,Subd.11. (http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/245/4871.html)

For more information, call Anoka County Intake at 763-712-2722.

Transition Services

Program Opportunities Supporting Transition (POST) provides services that may help youth transition successfully into adulthood.

POST components include:

• Transition Planning and Screening
• Assessing of Independent Living Skills (ILS)
• Identifying and accessing funding resources to support ILS
• Referrals to resources for ILS Training
• Exploration of Transitional Housing Options

For more information about POST, call 763-712-2706.

 

Eligibility

To be eligible for Children’s Mental Health Services, a child must be an Anoka County resident under the age of 18.  Also, Anoka County Children's Mental Health Services will review the outcome of a diagnostic assessment to determine eligibility.  Children can be assessed by a mental health professional of your choosing.

Children with severe emotional disturbance may be eligible for an array of mental health treatment, counseling, and supportive services.  “Severe emotional disturbance” is defined by Minnesota Statute, MN Statute 245.4871,Subd.6. (http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/245/4871.html) , and may include:

• children with psychosis or clinical depression
• youth at risk of harming self
• youth with significantly impaired home, school, and community functioning that lasts more than one year.