RFP for Counseling Services for Domus

							                 RFP for Counseling Services for Domus

RFP Overview:
Domus seeks to collaborate with a service provider(s) that is interested and willing to
engage our young people and their families in counseling services. We are looking for
providers who want to work with young people in non-traditional settings, who are
comfortable providing services in the home and in the community, and who are excited
about engaging a population that has been resistant to traditional therapy.

Target audience:
Youth who are enrolled in one or more Domus program, which include: Domus House,
Passages, Trailblazers Academy, Stamford Academy, Bridges, Project Hope, Westhill
Family Advocate program, Lion’s Den, Extended Day Program at Domus’ new
Lockwood Avenue location, and Chester Addison Community Center. Many of our youth
have had traumatic stress exposures, multiple losses, and insecure attachments. Services
will also be provided to the family members of the enrolled young people, through group,
individual, and/or family therapy.

Funding Source:
Domus will provide the funding for this initiative. Agencies and independent clinicians
are encouraged to help offset the cost of services by obtaining reimbursement from third-
party payers when possible.

Funding amount:
Domus will provide $50,000 for a minimum of 50 to 75 slots. At any given time during
this contract period, there should be 50 to 75 slots available for Domus youth/families. If
a young person is discharged from counseling services, an alternative youth/family
member is given that slot. For the purposes of this RFP, a young person and his family
are counted as a single slot. Agencies/individuals may propose the number of
slots/amount of funding they require. One provider need not bid on the entire project.
Funding for creative engagement activities is included in the above amount. Domus will
not be responsible for reimbursing for activity-related costs.

Period of Award:
The award period will begin on or about October 1, 2009, and will end on August 31st,
2010. We expect contracted providers to supply services through the summer months.

Scope of work:
Domus is looking for providers who are:
       Willing to provide creative approaches to engaging young people and families
       Willing to take initiative for creating relevant programming based on the
          needs of young people and families
       Willing to provide treatment in the home and/or school when needed
       Willing to provide treatment to young people in non-traditional settings
          (basketball court; diner; on a walk to get ice cream). Contracted providers are
           expected to utilize allotted funds to offset costs of non-traditional engagement
           activities. Domus will not provide additional funding for these costs
          Willing to work on a flexible schedule based on the needs of young people
           and families
          Willing to explore and utilize alternative payment methods such as VOCA
           free care services(Victim of Crimes Act) and health insurance to help offset
           the cost of services
          Willing to devote a considerable amount of time to engagement and
           relationship building (ex// no 3 missed appointments and you’re out)
          Willing to work closely with Domus staff to implement strategies for assisting
           young people in their day to day lives (school, work, community center)
          Willing to work closely with Director of Clinical Services to continuously
           evaluate and adapt services based on changing needs of our young people and
           families
          Possessed of the understanding that many of our young people have been in
           traditional therapy for much of their lives and feel it has not helped them
          Willing to approach services in a way that creates a new experience of
           treatment for young people and families
          Willing to allow Domus to interview and accept or reject any proposed
           clinicians that will be working on the project
          Committed to helping a young person obtain a higher level of care only when
           absolutely necessary and willing to continue to work with the young person
           until that alternative service has been identified and the young person has
           begun the treatment.

We are looking for the following types of evaluative services:
        Emergency mental health evaluations (with understanding that service need
          has already been deemed appropriate by an LCSW)
        Psychiatric Evaluations
        Psychological Evaluations
        Neurological Evaluations

We are looking for the following types of treatment services:
        Multi-modal treatment approaches that address physiological and
          psychological impact of trauma (especially trauma of the chronic type)
        Evidence based trauma informed interventions
        Mind/Body therapies –yoga, boxing, physical movement
        Eye Movement De-Sensitation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
        Group treatment approaches with young people and/or parents
        Dialectical Behavior Therapy
        Expressive Art Therapy
        Sensori-Motor Psychotherapy
        Mindfulness/Relaxation
        Family Work with difficult to engage families
        Psychiatric treatment and medication management
          Other services that providers believe are helpful with this population

Length of Service:
Each young person will have an individualized counseling service plan developed. This
plan will be based upon the goals of the young person, the young person’s individual
needs, and the clinical progress that a clinician believes the young person able to make.
Clinicians will work closely with the young person, the young person’s family, and the
family advocate/Domus staff member to aggressively hit the target goals that the young
person has set, so they are not indefinitely languishing in counseling.

Referrals:
Referrals will be made by Domus staff as well as: young people self referring; parent
referrals; and community referrals. Providers must be able to meet referring entities
where they are. Although every effort will be made for referrals to be complete and
thorough, an incomplete referral should not hold up the counseling process. Many of our
young people have incomplete psychological histories, and we will rely on the awarded
agency to help us secure any previously completed mental health evaluations and/or
assessments. It is our expectation that the awarded provider will actively begin the
counseling process within 2 weeks of referral (except in urgent cases in which the
provider is expected to provide more immediate assessment and intervention)and will not
delay the process due to inadequate referral information.

Timeline:
Deadline for receipt of proposals: Wednesday, October 21, 2009, at 3pm. The person
listed below must receive one original and 6 copies no later than 3pm local time,
irrespective of method of delivery, at the following location:
        Courtney Baker
        Director of Clinical Services
        Domus (at Stamford Academy)
        229 North Street
        Stamford, CT 06901
Each copy must be complete, collated, and ready for reviewers. Faxed or electronic (e-
mailed) versions will not be accepted.

Questions:
Must be submitted by e-mail by 4p.m. on Monday, October 12, 2009 and directed to
Courtney Baker (cqbaker@domuskids.org). Responses will be given on or around
October 14, 2009. All questions and responses will be e-mailed to all applicants.

Application Questions:
  1. Please provide us with a description of your agency and why you believe your
      agency is well situated to provide these services to our young people.
  2. Please talk about the ideas you have for engaging young people and their families
      in treatment in non-traditional settings and with non-traditional methods.
   3. How do you envision reaching out to a young person or family who misses
      sessions or is otherwise reluctant? What is your philosophy on why sessions are
      missed?
   4. Please identify the number of slots your organization is willing to provide and the
      accompanying budget for those slots.
   5. Please talk about how you view the partnership between the awarded agency,
      parents, the young person and the Domus staff. Are you familiar with Domus’
      philosophy? Core principles? How are these aligned with your
      agency’s/individual philosophy and core principles? What does it mean to you to
      never give up on a person?


   Proposal submission:

Page Limit                                   10 (excludes cover sheet and appendices)
Submission Format                            Clipped copies
Font Size                                    12 point
Paper Size                                   8.5 X 11 (Portrait)
Margins                                      1 inch all sides
Font Type                                    Times New Roman
Line Spacing                                 Double

Respondent will include, in order:
   1. Cover sheet
   2. Application questions
   3. Appendices

Appendix 1                                   Organizational Chart
Appendix 2                                   Staff Resumes
                        Cover Sheet
               Counseling Services RFP, Domus



Name of Agency:


Address:


Application Contact Person:


Contact person phone number and Fax:


Contact person e-mail: