Top Priority Care Services offers a variety of services to both children/adolescents and adults. Evidence-Based Treatment approaches are utilized to provide the most appropriate treatment relating to Substance Abuse, Mental Illnesses, Family Crisis, Behavioral Problems, and Developmental Disabilities.

Admission Criteria

All services begin with a Diagnostic Assessment or a Comprehensive Clinical Assessment.  These assessments are conducted by a Licensed Professional. The Clinician may meet with you in the office or in your home to gather information about the concerns that you are seeking treatment for. After reviewing the information, the Clinician will make recommendations and discuss various treatment options with you and or your family/guardians.
Child Services

Child and Adolescent Day Treatment:

This program provides a combination of both clinical and educational services in a highly structured group setting. In partnership with local school systems, Top Priority Care Services operates an array of day-treatment programs for students with mental-health problems that interfere with their ability to function successfully in regular school classrooms settings. This service is offered to children and adolescents through age 20.

Individual/Group Therapy

This service provides therapeutic weekly/bi-weekly counseling sessions both individually or as a group.

Medication Management

Provided under the medical direction of our Medical Director, this service is provided based on the needs of the consumer to assist in managing or alleviating the concerning symptoms.

Intensive In-Home

This is a highly intensive service, delivered by a three-person team that is designed to help diffuse crises, stabilize the living situation of the youth, and prevent the need for more restrictive services. This service is offered to children and adolescents up to age 18. Top Priority Care Services utilizes treatment approaches from various Evidence-Based Practices to identify and address the current concerns for both the child and their family.

Substance Abuse Services

The ultimate goal of our SA Program is long-term abstinence from drugs and alcohol. This is achieved through individualized treatment planning, group education and individual counseling.

Our goal is to assist each consumer in sustaining sobriety and becoming successful at implementing the tools provided for recovery in their lives.

Urinalysis Screening

This screening provides evidence of illegal drugs such as  alcohol, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, marijuana, cocaine, and opioids (narcotics) and prescription medicines.

Once these problems are identified and monitored, doctors can start a treatment plan.

NC Innovations Waiver for Children “CAP I/DD”

In Home Skill Building

In Home Skill Building is an Individual or Group Service that provides habilitation and skill building to enable the participant to acquire and maintain skills, which support more independence. In-Home Skill Building augments the family and natural supports of the participant and consists of an array of services that are required to maintain and assist the participant to live in community settings.

In-Home Skill Building consists of:

  •  Training in interpersonal skills and development and maintenance of personal relationships.
  •  Skill building to support the participant in increasing community living skills, such as shopping, recreation, personal banking, grocery shopping and other community activities.
  •  Training with therapeutic exercises, supervision of self-administration of medication and other services essential to healthcare at home, including transferring, ambulation and use of special mobility devices.
  • Transportation to support implementation of in-home skill building.

In-Home Skill Building is provided when a primary caregiver is home or when that primary caregiver is regularly scheduled to be absent. In-Home Skill Building is individualized, specific, and consistent with the participant’s assessed disability specific needs and is not provided in excess of those needs.

In Home Skill Building is furnished in a manner not primarily intended for the convenience of the participant, primary caregiver, the provider, employer of record or the managing employer. This service is distinctive from personal care by the presence of training. The mixture of in-home skill building and personal care must be specified in the Individual Support Plan. It is anticipated that the presence of In-Home Skill Building will result in a gradual reduction in hours as the participant is trained to take on additional tasks and masters skills (fading plan). A formal fading plan is not required. These services are provided in the participant’s private home and not in the home of the direct service employee. In-Home Skill Building Services must start and/or end at the home of the participant.

BoywithBall

Nursing Respite (Services are conducted by a LPN or RN)

Similar to regular Respite service as a periodic support and relief to the primary caregiver(s) from the responsibility and stress of caring for the participant. This service enables the primary caregiver to meet or participate in planned or emergency events, and to have planned time for him/her and/or family members. Respite may include in and out-of-home services, inclusive of overnight, weekend care, emergency care (family emergency based, not to include out of home crisis) or continuous care up to ten consecutive (10) days. The primary caregiver is the person principally responsible for the care and supervision of the participant and must maintain his/her primary residence at the same address as the participant.

Personal Assistance

Personal Assistance is a teaching service that helps develop skills to help the recipient become independent in the home and community.

Personal Care Services

Personal Care Services offers support, supervision and engaging participation with eating, bathing, dressing, personal hygiene and other activities of daily living.

.

Respite

Respite provides periodic relief for the family or primary caregiver.

Specialized Consultative Services

Specialized Consultative Services provides expertise, training, and technical assistance in a specialty area to assist family members, caregivers and other direct service employees in supporting individuals with developmental disabilities who have long term habilitative treatment needs.

Adult Services

Substance Abuse Intensive Outpatient Program (SAIOP)

SA Intensive Outpatient Program (SAIOP) means structured individual and group addiction activities and services that are provided at an outpatient program designed to assist adult and adolescents individuals to begin recovery and learn skills for recovery maintenance. The program is offered at least 3 hours a day, at least 3 days a week, with no more than 2 consecutive days between offered services, and distinguishes between those individuals needing no more than 19 hours of structured services per week (ASAM Level II.1). The individual must be in attendance for a minimum of 3 hours a day in order to bill.

 

SAIOP services shall include a structured program consisting of, but not limited to, the following services: Individual counseling and support; Group counseling and support; Family counseling, training or support; Biochemical assays to identify recent drug use (e.g. urine drug screens); Strategies for relapse prevention to include community and social support systems in treatment; Life skills; Crisis contingency planning; Disease Management; and Treatment support activities that have been adapted or specifically designed for individuals with physical disabilities; or individuals with co-occurring disorders of mental illness and substance abuse or dependence; or an intellectual or developmental disability and substance abuse or dependence.

Community Support Team

CST provides mental health and substance abuse rehabilitative services and supports. This service is conducted by a team approach with the primary goal of assisting consumers to reach their recovery goals.

Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR)

My Friend’s House is a structured therapeutic program designed to help adults with psychiatric disabilities increase their functioning so that they can be successful and satisfied in the environments of their choice with the least amount of ongoing professional intervention. PSR focuses on skill and resource development related to life in the community and to increasing the participant’s ability to live as independently as possible, to manage their illness and their lives with as little professional intervention as possible, and to participate in community opportunities related to functional, social, educational and vocational goals.

 

The service is based on the principles of recovery, including equipping individuals with skills, emphasizing self-determination, using natural and community supports, providing individualized intervention, emphasizing employment, emphasizing the “here and now”, providing early intervention, providing a caring environment, practicing dignity and respect, promoting individual choice and involvement in the process, emphasizing functioning and support in real world environments, and allowing time for interventions to have an effect over the long term.

 

The following are classes, skills and pre-vocational trainings to assist each participant in successful developments:

  • community living – such as housekeeping, shopping, cooking, use of transportation facilities, money management;
  • personal care – such as health care, medication self-management, grooming; social relationships; use of leisure time;
  • educational activities – which include assisting the individual in securing needed education services such as adult basic education and special interest courses; and
  • prevocational activities – which focus on the development of positive work habits and participation in activities that would increase the individual’s self-worth, purpose and confidence; these activities are not to be job specific training.

Assertive Community Treatment Team ACTT

Assertive Community Treatment Team is a more intensive service than Community Support Team provided 24/7 days per week. ACTT is designed for individuals who have a serious and persistent mental illness and are in need of intensive mental health services. These individuals often have difficulty taking care of their basic needs such as; maintaining adequate housing and employment, connecting and completion of educational/vocational goals, substance abuse, medication management and issues relating to probation or other legal concerns.

 

The goals of ACTT services are addressed by the individual’s  needs such as;  promoting symptom stability, appropriate and consistent use of medication(s), promoting and maintaining physical health through linkage and coordination of primary care attention; establishing access to entitlements such as; housing, work and social opportunities while promoting and maintaining the highest possible level of functioning in the community. ACTT services are offered in the homes, workplace and other settings where problems occur or where support is needed.

 

ACT teams give consumers whatever services and supports they need for as long as they need them. With ACTT, consumers benefit from services most because they are hospitalized less often and have more stable housing. 

Substance Abuse Services

The ultimate goal of our SA Program is long-term abstinence from drugs and alcohol. This is achieved through individualized treatment planning, group education and individual counseling. Our goal is to assist each consumer in sustaining sobriety and becoming successful at implementing the tools provided for recovery in their lives.

Camel Avenue Transitional Home For Men

The Camel Home is currently a transitional housing program designed for highly functioning adult males. This program aims to provide a temporary place of residency while the individual is in the process of securing permanent housing. The length of stay will be determined by each referring professional, the resident and TPCS staff.

 

The Camel Home is a traditional style 4 bedroom home with a common area for all the residents to share, kitchen and dining room. There is one bed per room. There will only be one occupant per room at a time. The home has 1 full bath. The home also has a washer and dryer located in the kitchen of the home. All living areas are located on the main level. Rent, utilities, access to a washer/dryer, land line, cable and a PC is provided in the home for one weekly fee.

Peer Support Services

Peer Support Services are structured activities for adults age eighteen (18) and older with a Mental Health and/or Substance Abuse disability. Peer Support Services are provided by Peer Support Specialists. Peer Support Service is an individualized, recovery-focused service that allows individuals the opportunity to learn to manage their own recovery and advocacy process. Interventions of Peer Support Specialists serve to enhance the development of natural supports, as well as coping and self-management skills. Interventions of Peer Support Specialists may also provide supportive services to assist an individual in community re-entry following hospitalization.

Peer Support Services emphasize personal safety, self-worth, confidence, and growth, connection to the community, boundary setting, panning, self-advocacy, personal fulfillment, and development of social supports, the helper principle, and effective communication skills. Services emphasize the acquisition, development, and expansion of rehabilitative skills needed to move forward in recovery.

Examples of specific interventions include:

  1. Self Help: Cultivating the individual’s ability to make informed, independent choices. Helping the individual develop a network of contacts for information and support based on experience of the Peer Support Specialist.
  2. System Advocacy: Assisting the individual to talk about what it means to have a mental illness to an audience or group. Assisting the individual with writing a letter or making a telephone call about an issue related to mental illness or recovery.
  3. Individual Advocacy: Discussing concerns about medication or diagnosis with the Physician or Nurse at the individual’s request based on experience of the Peer Support Specialist. Helping the individual make appointments for psychiatric and general medical treatment when requested. Guiding the individual toward a proactive role in health care.
  4. Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis Support: Assisting the individual with the development of a personal crisis plan, and/or a Psychiatric Advance Directive (PAD). This includes help in developing the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP). Giving feedback to the individual on early signs of relapse and how to request help to prevent a crisis. Assisting the individual in learning how to use the crisis plan. Supporting the individual in seeking less restrictive alternatives to locked hospital facilities and Emergency Department evaluations.
  5. Housing: Assisting the individual with learning how to maintain stable housing through bill paying, cleaning, and organizing his or her belongings. Assisting the individual in locating improved housing situations. Teaching the individual to identify and prepare healthy foods according to cultural and personal preferences of the individual and his/her medical needs.
  6. Education/Employment: Assisting the individual in gaining information about going back to school or job training. Facilitating the process of asking an employer for reasonable accommodation for psychiatric disability (mental health day, flex time, etc.).
  7. Meals and Social Activities: To Build peer relationships where eating is not the core activity offered. The focus of the meal in a social setting is skill maintenance and enhancement.
  8. Peer Support Whole Health Integration: Supporting the individual in setting personal expectations and health objectives to help accomplish overall life, health and wellness goals. Support the individual in learning and implementing incremental and measurable objectives to manage co-occurring MHSA and medical illnesses through best practice models of integrated health care.
  9. Wellness and Recovery Support: Implementation of community engagement and support activities to enhance wellness and social engagement, reduce isolation, promote social and other skill development in the setting of a community wellness center.

Respite Services

Respite services are designed to provide periodic support and relief to primary caregivers who care for children (ages 3 to 20) with mental health (MH), substance abuse (SA) and/or intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) diagnoses, and for adults with I/DD. Persons receiving this service must live in a non-licensed setting, with non-paid caregiver(s). This service enables the primary caregiver(s) to meet or participate in scheduled and unscheduled events away from the child or adult consumer described above, while still insuring care is delivered by an appropriately trained staff. Respite may include in and out-of-home services, activities in a variety of community locations, and may include overnight services.

Respite services may be provided according to a variety of models. These may include weekend care, emergency care (family emergency based, not to include crisis respite), or continuous care up to ten (10) days. The respite provider addresses the health, nutrition and daily living needs of the child with MH, SA and/or I/DD diagnoses or the adult with I/DD. The individual does not need care that requires nursing oversight as defined by the NC Board of Nursing.

The primary caregiver is defined as the person principally responsible for the care and supervision of the child with MH, SA and/or I/DD diagnoses or the adult with I/DD and must maintain his/her primary residence at the same address as the child or adult.

Individual Support Service (Personal Care)

Individual Support is a “hands on” service for persons with Serious and Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI). The intent of the service is to teach and assist individuals in carrying out grocery shopping and managing money, so they can live independently in the community. The goal is that the need for this service will decrease over time as the individual becomes capable or performing some of these activities more independently.

Individual Support interventions must be based on the Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Recovery model (Http://cpr.bu.edu/) The goal of psychiatric rehabilitation is to help people with serious and persistent mental illness develop the skills needed to live, learn and work in the community with the least amount of professional support possible.

Individual Support uses the basic Tenancy Support within the Permanent Supportive Housing model per the toolkit through SAMHSA, to help individuals choose their home, learn skills to maintain their home, and ensure long term housing retention in the community with the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else.

Individual Support is a direct, one-on-one service. Individuals may receive this service up to 90 days prior to transitioning into independent housing. This would include individuals who live in private homes, licensed group homes, adult care homes and hospitals. Individuals who live in independent housing may receive this service with a plan to fade or decrease services over time.

Medication Management

Provided under the medical direction of our Medical Director, this service is provided based on the needs of the consumer to assist in managing or alleviating the concerning symptoms.

Individual & Group Therapy

This service provides therapeutic weekly/bi-weekly counseling sessions both individually or as a group.

Urinalysis Screening

This screening provides evidence of illegal drugs such as  alcohol, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, marijuana, cocaine, and opioids (narcotics) and prescription medicines.

Once these problems are identified and monitored, doctors can start a treatment plan.


NC Innovations Waiver for Adults “CAP I/DD”

Community Guide:

 Community Guide is a service that provides support to participants in developing social networks in the communities. The purpose of this service is to promote self-determination, increase independence and enhance the participant’s ability to interact with and contribute to his or her local community. This service also emphasizes, promotes and coordinates the use of the natural and generic supports (unpaid) to address the participant’s needs in addition to paid services.

 

Community Guide Services are intermittent and fade as community connections develop and skills increase for the participants.  Some special functions included in this service is as follows:

  • Assistance in forming and sustaining a full range of relationships with natural and community supports that allows the participant meaningful community integration and inclusion. 
  • Support to develop social networks with community organizations to increase the participant’s opportunity to expand valued social relationships and build connections within the participant’s local community. 
  • Assistance in locating and accessing non-Medicaid community supports and resources that are related to achieving Individual Support Plan (ISP) outcomes: this includes social and educational resources, as well as natural supports.

Students talking happy outdoor

  • Advocacy and collaborating with other individuals and organizations on behalf of the participant 
  • Supporting the person in preparing, participating in and implementing plans of any type (IEP, ISP, or service plan) 
  • Providing training on the Individual and Family Directed Supports Option, if the participant is considering directing services and supports (Agency With Choice and Employer of Record Models).
  • Instruction and counseling which guides the participant in problem solving and decision making

In Home Skill Building

 In Home Skill Building is an Individual or Group Service that provides habilitation and skill building to enable the participant to acquire and maintain skills, which support more independence. In-Home Skill Building augments the family and natural supports of the participant and consists of an array of services that are required to maintain and assist the participant to live in community settings.

In-Home Skill Building consists of:

  •  Training in interpersonal skills and development and maintenance of personal relationships.
  •  Skill building to support the participant in increasing community living skills, such as shopping, recreation, personal banking, grocery shopping and other community activities.
  •  Training with therapeutic exercises, supervision of self-administration of medication and other services essential to healthcare at home, including transferring, ambulation and use of special mobility devices.
  •  Transportation to support implementation of in-home skill building.

In-Home Skill Building is provided when a primary caregiver is home or when that primary caregiver is regularly scheduled to be absent. In-Home Skill Building is individualized, specific, and consistent with the participant’s assessed disability specific needs and is not provided in excess of those needs.

In Home Skill Building is furnished in a manner not primarily intended for the convenience of the participant, primary caregiver, the provider, employer of record or the managing employer. This service is distinctive from personal care by the presence of training.

The mixture of in-home skill building and personal care must be specified in the Individual Support Plan. It is anticipated that the presence of In-Home Skill Building will result in a gradual reduction in hours as the participant is trained to take on additional tasks and masters skills (fading plan).

A formal fading plan is not required. These services are provided in the participant’s private home and not in the home of the direct service employee. In-Home Skill Building Services must start and/or end at the home of the participant.

Personal Assistance

Personal Assistance is a teaching service that helps develop skills to help the recipient become independent in the home and community.

Personal Care Services

Personal Care Services offers support, supervision and engaging participation with eating, bathing, dressing, personal hygiene and other activities of daily living.

Respite

Respite provides periodic relief for the family or primary caregiver.

.

Day Supports

Day Supports is primarily a group service for participants 18 years or older with an Intellectual  Development Disability. This service provides assistance to the participant with acquisition, retention, or improvement in self-help socialization and adaptive skills. (To learn more about our program see our Facilities page.)

Specialized Consultative Services

Specialized Consultative Services provides expertise, training, and technical assistance in a specialty area to assist family members, caregivers and other direct service employees in supporting individuals with developmental disabilities who have long term habilitative treatment needs.

Residential Supports/Group Home

This program allows adult individuals with a adult developmental disability an opportunity to become part of a family with other similar residents. This 3 bedroom home provides the benefits  and responsibilities of sharing a household and all the experiences of independent living. Intense supervision is provided to ensure the safety and the developed skills connections and friendships that enable them to thrive in the community. (See our Facilities page)

Residential Services and Facilities

J. Edwards Home for Adults

Camel Avenue Transitional Home for Men