Get Involved

Role of Family Members

Guide for Family Members (1724K PDF)

As a parent or family member of a service recipient, you have a big responsibility and are an important part of helping this person reach his or her recovery and resiliency goals. If you have a child, youth or adult in your life who is receiving behavioral health services, we invite you to take an active role in their care by getting involved with the Magellan RBHA.

In particular, you have valuable information about what care and services would be most effective for the person you know and care about. You can offer invaluable insights into the mental health care delivery system. You can help us decide what services are needed and how we can better support people who receive services and family members like you.

There are many ways to get involved with Magellan and help us improve our program and services:

• Join one of the many Advisory Committees listed here. Applications for these committees must be received by September 28, 2007.
• Attend our quarterly "How Are We Doing?" meetings. These town hall meetings will keep you informed of what's happening in the RBHA and offer another opportunity for you to give us your thoughts and provide your input. Click here for the schedule of meetings and plan to attend!
• Participate on child-family teams and support individual treatment decisions. If you are a family member of an adult recipient, he or she must give Magellan and/or his or her provider permission in order to share information with you. It is important that your adult family member (18 years or older) sign a Consent to Treatment form and specify on a Release of Information form which family members or friends can receive information about his or her treatment. This way, you can be an effective advocate on his or her behalf. Once these forms are signed, you will be able to work with providers to make sure the recipient continues to receive treatment and services. You will also be able to share medical information with identified behavioral health care providers and discuss behavioral health information, (including prescribed medications), with his or her primary care physician.
• Connect with peer-to-peer support systems. We also encourage you to get connected and stay connected with your peers. Working together with other family members of recipients, you can help each other navigate through the system, share what's working best and find support in each other - all of which can make your job a little easier. Beginning September 1, 2007, call Magellan of Arizona's Member Services team at 800-564-5465 to find out more about advocacy organizations in your area, or to learn how to reach a Family Mentor at the direct care clinics.
• Get to know local and national advocacy groups. There are local and national organizations that provide resources and advocate for persons with behavioral health needs, family members and caretakers of persons with behavioral health needs. Learn more about them here.
• Send us an e-mail at MagellanofAZ@magellanhealth.com to share your thoughts and ideas or to ask questions.

We can't do it without you!

Stay in touch with us. Magellan's intention is to include the family perspective in our RBHA operations. We encourage you to share your knowledge with us to help us make the RBHA better.

We appreciate your efforts. We are here to help and support you. And, we hope that you'll share what you have learned with us!

For more information on the roles of family members in the RBHA, please contact Magellan’s Chief Recovery and Resiliency Officer, Gaye Tolman, at MagellanofAZ@magellanhealth.com or you can reach her by calling the Magellan Member Services line at 800-564-5465.

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