“The Iowa Department of Human Services – Mental Health and Disability Services Division (MHDS) has developed the framework for a five year plan to transform Iowa’s mental health and disability service system. I invite you to take a look at the State Plan Framework and our Action Agenda.”

— Rick Shults,
Mental Health and Disability Services Division Administrator

 

Our Vision: A Life in the Community for Everyone

Our Mission: To build a consumer- and family-driven system that expands people’s choices about the supports and services they need, where they are provided and by whom… In other words, a system that operates the way the U.S. Supreme Court says it should in its landmark Olmstead decision, where people with disabilities, of any age, receive supports in the most integrated setting consistent with their needs.

DHS’s Olmstead Plan for Mental Health and Disability Services is the result of hard work and commitment from hundreds of stakeholders, including people with mental illness or other disabilities and their families, advocates, and service providers, as well as representatives of state agencies and county government.  We were very fortunate to hear from so many people who shared openly and honestly about their lives, hopes, struggles and dreams.  Thank you for taking time to attend our Public Forums, to read the Plan as it was being developed and share your comments on this website. Very special thanks go to the Olmstead Consumer Task Force, the Mental Health and Disability Services Commission and the Mental Health Planning Council for their assistance in coordinating the stakeholder input process.

We consider this five year plan to be a living document that will be altered from time to time, depending on new challenges and opportunities, and new learning from those with whom we work and those we serve.  Our system and the environment in which it operates don’t stand still!  Many action steps listed in the State Plan Framework are already well underway.  Some action steps are especially important in expanding choices for people and preventing unnecessary institutionalization.  If we have identified resources to support those action steps, they have been put in bold font in the State Plan Framework document and are included in our 18-month Action Agenda (1/1/11 through 6/30/12).

Please take a look and tell us what you think!

We continue to encourage you to make comments throughout this website on our Plan Documents, on the challenges you face as a person with a disability or family member, on what works for you and what doesn’t, or on related matters that you think we need to hear.

To learn about what happens next, visit Moving Forward.