Keystone Community Mental Health Services

Keystone Community Mental Health Services (KCMHS) is committed to supporting and empowering individuals on their personal journey of recovery. While working together, we explore opportunities for the development of community-based, hope-filled relationships. We intend to support growth and positive individual choices that lead to lives filled with dignity, respect and valued social roles.

Through our commitment, we encourage individuals to grow and follow their own unique path to recovery. We believe the path to recovery must be walked in partnership and we are dedicated to ensuring individuals have a voice in the ways we support them. Our Purpose Statement, developed by members of the Leadership Council who are traveling their own paths to recovery, is a true reflection of our dedication to providing services that genuinely address the unique needs of those we support.

KCMHS has a long history of providing services for individuals, reaching back to the foundation of Keystone Human Services. Originally a part of Keystone Residence, we became our own agency in 1997, and we are continually growing and expanding our services and supports. We now serve individuals in 11 counties in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Among the services we provide are supportive living, case management, community residential rehabilitation, domiciliary care, peer support, specialized community residence and structured residential services. In addition, we manage the vocational services through Gateway Employment Group, supporting people with disabilities to locate meaningful employment opportunities. The Keystone Center in Chambersburg is a licensed psychiatric rehabilitation program, which offers strength-based psychiatric rehabilitation services.

A Word from the Chief Executive Officer

Michael Grier, Chief Executive Officer

Keystone Community Mental Health Services (KCMHS) is committed to the belief that people can and do recover. We have a responsibility to live our purpose every day, always supporting and empowering individuals on their personal journey to recovery. We intend all of our services and programs to reflect this purpose.

We see recovery as a partnership between individuals and KCMHS, and we believe that meaningful employment is a crucial component of recovery. We seek to support individuals to find meaningful employment. In September, several members of our Leadership Council and staff attended training workshops presented by Cary Griffin, the senior partner at Griffin-Hammis Associates, a consultancy specializing in community employment for individuals with disabilities. He spoke about customized employment, a method of assisting people to find jobs that are the best match for them. During the workshops, our staff spoke with Mr. Griffin about systematic changes regarding employment that we can make in our services and programs.

KCMHS was one of four mental health agencies in Pennsylvania to be awarded a Beacon of Employment Grant in October 2009. With this grant, we will implement a new employment plan as part of our services, in which we discuss employment opportunities as part of the individual recovery plans of the people we serve. Additionally, our staff will receive education to increase their knowledge about employment.

I invite you to watch the video Inviting the Day, in which one of our Peer Support Specialists shares her story of recovery and how finding meaningful employment was an important part of her path to recovery.

If you would like to read other stories of recovery, please read our book, Recovery: In Our Own Words, a compilation of true stories written by our Leadership Council and Recovery Specialists about their personal journeys of recovery. These stories are an inspiration and full of hope for the future. This book is available through Keystone Human Services.

We are currently accessing Keystone's policies and procedures online. Having these policies easily accessible and searchable is a key element of our Mission of supporting and empowering people on their personal journeys of recovery.

We are proud to say that we are continuing to walk side by side with the people we serve as they travel their road to recovery.

Michael Grier, MSA,
Chief Executive Officer

Archive of past messages

Service Spotlight

Gateway Employment Group

Meaningful employment is often an important part of a person's journey to recovery. Gateway Employment Group supports individuals with disabilities, including mental illness, to find and maintain meaningful work. Gateway professionals are dedicated to offering employment opportunities for all.

Gateway offers Transitional Employment and Supportive Employment services. Through the Transitional Employment program, individuals have the opportunity to develop or polish their work habits and skills. Supportive Employment services offer job search assistance, job coaching support and work assessments in the community to identify job interests. Participants in Gateway Employment learn about the job search process and employment application procedures. They are also given opportunities to develop computer skills.

Gateway is currently participating in the Works for Me program, an online resource where people with disabilities can find agencies and programs to support them finding a job. As part of Works for Me's employment network in the Ticket to Work program, Gateway serves individuals in South Central Pennsylvania.

Industry Highlights

Recovery: In Our Own Words: Keystone Community Mental Health Services believes that people experiencing mentail illness can and do recover. To express this belief, members and alumni of our Leadership Council and Recovery Specialists have written a book, Recovery: In Our Own Words, sharing their personal journeys toward recovery. These inspiring stories of recovery and transformation work to dispel the stigmas of mental illness and share a message of hope for the future. Though we each walk our own personal road to recovery, we do not walk alone. We journey together, sharing our trials and triumphs, growing and exploring opportunities to build on strengths and share our voice. May this book offer you hope for the future and strength for your journey!; Read more about Recovery: In Our Own Words.; Purchase your copy of Recovery: In Our Own Words.
Employment: KCMHS was one of four mental health agencies in Pennsylvania to receive a Beacon of Employment Grant in October 2009. With this grant, we will build on our existing capacity to increase opportunities for employment for all people.
Video: Inviting the Day: Invite the day into your life! Janine, one of our Peer Support Specialists, shares her personal story of recovery in an inspiring video, Inviting the Day. Janine shares the challenges she faced as she recovered, and the triumph of reaching her goals. We encourage you to watch the video, and we hope that it inspires you and fills you with hope for your own journey to recovery.
Developing Services for the Future: Two members of KCMHS are part of a state-appointed work group headed by the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS). This work group is developing regulations for psychiatric rehabilitation services, with the goal to have psychiatric rehabilitation covered under Medical Assistance as part of individuals' service plans. If psychiatric rehabilitation becomes part of Medical Assistance, it could have a significant impact on KCMHS'ss service delivery.