Evolution of wraparound services at The Menninger Clinic

The authors focus on the development of a wraparound program at The Menninger Clinic. This program explores alternatives to long-term hospitalization and residential treatment and provides comprehensive community-based services. After describing the history and evolution of this program, the authors highlight its current components (i.e., diagnostic understanding; assessment of the client's and family's strengths; identification of helpful functions of hospital or residential placement; crisis planning; family-centered community team; flexible funding; criteria for evaluating the plan's success). Each of these components contributes to a process that provides a high level of individualized treatment outside a hospital or residential setting. This process has provided a format for collaborating with families, community providers, schools, and managed care companies. It also integrates an understanding of developmental psychopathology with solution-focused, pragmatic approaches to behavior change.