Touchstone Mental Health

Program Description

Touchstone Assisted Living is a community built around hope, healing and well-being.  Residents are the heart of the long-term supportive housing program.  Staff works with each person to help them define their life-long goals and collaborates with them to meet their daily needs.  Meeting the needs of each individual makes it possible for the community of 19 men and women to thrive.

What We Offer

We offer long-term, housing with 24-hour supportive services to adult men and women living with serious mental illness. This enables residents to maintain stability, thereby enhancing the quality of their lives and furthering their capacity for recovery.

In each of our three- or four-bedroom apartments; residents share a living room, bathroom, and small kitchen and sleep in their own bedrooms. Residents find trust, friendship and interconnection are highlights of living at Touchstone.  They celebrate each other’s successes and support one another through times of challenge while living cooperatively.

Our individualized services and activities are framed in an integrated approach to a resident’s life.  We focus on assisting residents to develop a healthy lifestyle and to be involved in their surrounding community as they are able.

Staff prepares and serves lunch and dinner in a community dining room setting.  Residents give their ideas into what is being prepared.

We support each person as they work toward their personally defined goals by:

• Assisting those residents who want to connect with vocational and volunteer opportunities
• Building illness and symptom management skills with each resident
• Managing their medications and coordinating their health care as needed
• Helping each resident with personal care
• Providing health and nutrition education
• Providing opportunities to participate in regular meetings and groups
• Developing life skills, including budgeting, cooking, apartment cleaning, laundry, and grocery shopping, with assistance to persons who are unable to complete these tasks on their own
• Arranging Community Integration and recreational activities
• Providing an integrated approach to co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse

We provide these supportive services 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

Program success is measured on:

• Decreased use of hospitals for crisis or for symptom management.
• Stable housing and independent living skills
• Management of mental illness symptoms and physical health
• Community involvement

Program Team members

Each client works with a multi-disciplinary team comprised of team members that possess diverse skills, with education and experience in a variety of fields, including social work, psychology, chemical health, nursing, complementary health practices, therapeutic recreation, nutrition, and health & wellness.

Admissions

To qualify, a potential resident must have a serious and persistent mental illness diagnosis, have an assigned case manager, and has been assessed as requiring the level of services provided by the assisted living.  They must have the funding available to cover the service costs, such as, CADI (Community Alternatives for Disabled Adults)or TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) waivered service funding through Medical Assistance or other funding resources.

Residents must also be able to handle stairs safely and be able to walk between buildings during all kinds of weather. Each resident has their own bedroom, but must be able to share a townhome with roommates.  They must pass the housing requirements to qualify to rent the apartment or town home.

Touchstone Assisted Living is registered with the Minnesota Department of Human Services as a Housing with Services Establishment and is licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health as a Class F Assisted Living Home Care Provider. The program operates under a contract with Hennepin County.

The following resources cover the cost of our services:

• CADI or TBI waivered services through Medical Assistance or an individual’s other resources.

Each resident is responsible to pay:

• His or her share of the damage deposit, rent, utilities and congregate meals.
• Housing subsidies are available to assist with rent for those who qualify.  Touchstone staff work with each prospective resident to determine if they qualify.

Please contact us so we can further describe our services and requirements in more detail and help you determine if you qualify for housing and service support at the level we provide. Our Assisted Living Admissions Coordinator can be reached at 763-536-8134.