Licensed Program Type Definitions

You may view a list of any of the following programs for your county, by visiting the Find a Program page. Please refer to Title 14 of the NYS Codes, Rules and Regulations to obtain more specific program definitions/information.

• Licensed Outpatient Programs
  • Assertive Community Treatment - Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is a comprehensive and integrated set of psychiatric, psychosocial rehabilitation, case management and support services. These services are provided by a mobile multi-disciplinary mental health treatment program mainly in the client's residence or other community locations.
  • Clinic - A program for adults, adolescents, and/or children which provides an array of treatment services for assessment and/or symptom reduction or management. Services include but are not limited to individual and group therapies. The purpose of such services is to enhance the person's continuing functioning in the community. The intensity of services and number/duration of visits may vary.
  • Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) - A hospital based program which offers/provides access to crisis outreach, intervention, and residential services; and/or provides beds for the extended observation (up to 72 hours) to adults who need emergency mental health services.
  • Continuing Day Treatment - A program which provides seriously mentally ill adults with the skills and supports necessary to remain in the community and or work toward a more independent level of functioning. Participants often attend several days per week with visits lasting more than an hour.
  • Day Treatment - A program which integrates mental health and age appropriate education services for children and adolescents living in the community until they can attend regular classes. It usually operates five full days per week during the school year and on a curtailed schedule during the summer. It may or not be school based.
  • Intensive Psychiatric Rehabilitation Treatment - A time limited rehabilitative program for adults and/or adolescents which focuses on building skills and developing community supports to assist individuals to attain a specific residential, learning, working or social goal(s).
  • Partial Hospitalization - A program for adults or adolescents which provides active treatment designed to stabilize or ameliorate acute symptoms in a person who would otherwise need hospitalization.
  • Personalized Recovery Oriented Services (PROS) is a comprehensive recovery oriented program for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness. The goal of the program is to integrate treatment, support, and rehabilitation in a manner that facilitates the individual's recovery.
• Licensed Residential / Housing Programs
  • Apartment, Support Community Residence - A program which provides adults an apartment in the community and staff visits as necessary to address behavioral or environmental issues and to provide supportive services designed to improve or maintain the resident's ability to remain in the community.
  • Apartment, Treatment Community Residence - A program which provides adults an apartment, in the community with staff visits as necessary to provide rehabilitative services designed to improve functioning and develop greater independence.
  • Children and Youth Community Residence - A single site residence that provides group living for six to eight children and or adolescents. The program provides a supervised, therapeutic environment which seeks to develop the resident's skills and capacity to live in the community and attend school/ work as appropriate.
  • Congregate, Support Community Residence - A single site residence that provides group living for adults, three meals a day, 24 hour supervision/staff, activities geared toward maintaining or improving functioning.
  • Congregate, Treatment Community Residence - A single site residence that provides group living for adults, three meals a day, 24 hour supervision/ staff, and rehabilitative activities.
  • Crisis Residence - A single site residence designed to provide 24 hr supervision, generally for up to 30 days, to adults or children/adolescents experiencing acute symptoms or a temporary disruption in community supports. Services are designed to avoid hospitalization, and return the resident to a stable environment.
  • Family Based Treatment - A residential program for children or adolescents with serious emotional disturbances which allows a child to move into the home of specially trained teaching parents.
  • Teaching Family Home - A home which provides specially trained teaching parents who provide individualized care for up to four children/adolescents with serious emotional disturbances at a time in a family setting.
  • Service Enriched Single Room Occupancy - A program that provides adults private living units at a single site; and on-site staff and support activities to assist residents to negotiate routine challenges of living in the community.
• Licensed Inpatient Hospital Programs / Hospitalization Programs
  • Inpatient Treatment Program - A 24 hour a day hospital based program which includes psychiatric, medical, nursing, and social services which are required for the assessment and or treatment of a person with a primary diagnosis of mental illness who can not be adequately served in the community. Such programs may be offered to adults, adolescents, and/ or children by general hospitals, private hospitals for the mentally ill, and state operated psychiatric centers. Residential Treatment Facilities (RTF's), which are a specialized type of inpatient treatment program for children and adolescents, are described below.
  • General Hospital Inpatient Programs - 24 hr. inpatient treatment programs that are jointly licensed by the New York State Office of Mental Health and the New York State Department of Health and operated in medical hospitals.
  • Hospital for Mentally Ill Persons Inpatient Programs - 24 hr. inpatient treatment programs that are licensed by the New York State Office of Mental Health and operate in private hospitals that provide behavioral health services exclusively.
  • Residential Treatment Facility for Children and Youth - A 24 hr. inpatient treatment program which provides intensive treatment services to children and adolescents age 5 - 21 who need longer term treatment than would be provided on an inpatient psychiatric program operated by a general, private mental hospital, or state psychiatric center.
  • State Psychiatric Center Inpatient Programs, please go to OMH Facility Directory for a list of state operated psychiatric centers.