Oklahoma Code § 43A-5-502

Title 43A. Mental Health: Definitions
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As used in the Inpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Treatment of Minors Act:
1.  "Minor" means any person under eighteen (18) years of age;
2. a. "Minor in need of treatment" means a minor who because
of his or her mental illness or drug or alcohol
dependency:
(1) poses a substantial risk of physical harm to self
in the near future as manifested by evidence of
serious threats of or attempts at suicide or
other significant self-inflicted bodily harm,
(2) poses a substantial risk of physical harm to
another person or persons in the near future as
manifested by evidence of violent behavior
directed toward another person or persons,
(3) has placed another person or persons in a
reasonable fear of violent behavior or serious
physical harm directed toward such person or
persons as manifested by serious and immediate
threats,
(4) is in a condition of severe deterioration such
that, without intervention, there exists a

substantial risk that severe impairment or injury
to the minor will result in the near future, or
(5) poses a substantial risk of serious physical
injury to self or death in the near future as
manifested by evidence that the minor is unable
to provide for and is not providing for his or
her basic physical needs.
b. The mental health or substance abuse history of the
minor may be used as part of the evidence to determine
whether the minor is a minor in need of treatment as
defined in this section.  The mental health or
substance abuse history of the minor shall not be the
sole basis for this determination.
c. The term "minor in need of treatment" shall not mean a
minor afflicted with epilepsy, a developmental
disability, organic brain syndrome, physical
handicaps, brief periods of intoxication caused by
such substances as alcohol or drugs or who is truant
or sexually active unless the minor also meets the
criteria for a minor in need of treatment pursuant to
subparagraph a or b of this paragraph;
3.  "Consent" means the voluntary, express, and informed
agreement to treatment in a mental health facility by a minor
sixteen (16) years of age or older or by a parent of the minor;
4.  "Individualized treatment plan" means a specific plan for
the care and treatment of an individual minor who requires inpatient
mental health treatment.  The plan shall be developed with maximum
involvement of the family of the minor, consistent with the desire
of the minor for confidentiality and with the treatment needs of the
minor, and shall clearly include the following:
a. a statement of the presenting problems of the minor,
short- and long-term treatment goals and the estimated
date of discharge.  The short- and long-term goals
shall be based upon a clinical evaluation and shall
include specific behavioral and emotional goals
against which the success of treatment can be
measured,
b. treatment methods and procedures to be used to achieve
these goals, which methods and procedures are related
to each of these goals and which include, but are not
limited to, specific prognosis for achieving each of
these goals,
c. identification of the types of professional personnel
who will carry out the treatment procedures including,
but not limited to, appropriate licensed mental health
professionals, education professionals, and other
health or social service professionals, and

d. documentation of the involvement of the minor or the
parent of the minor or legal custodian in the
development of the treatment plan and whether all
persons have consented to such plan;
5.  "Inpatient treatment" means treatment services offered or
provided for a continuous period of more than twenty-four (24) hours
in residence after admission to a mental health or substance abuse
treatment facility for the purpose of observation, evaluation or
treatment;
6.  "Least restrictive alternative" means the treatment and
conditions of treatment which, separately and in combination, are no
more intrusive or restrictive of freedom than reasonably necessary
to achieve a substantial therapeutic benefit to the minor, or to
protect the minor or others from physical injury;
7.  "Less restrictive alternative to inpatient treatment" means
and includes, but is not limited to, outpatient counseling services,
including services provided in the home of the minor and which may
be referred to as "home-based services", day treatment or day
hospitalization services, respite care, or foster care or group home
care, as defined by Section 1-1-105 of Title 10A of the Oklahoma
Statutes, through a program established and specifically designed to
meet the needs of minors in need of mental health treatment, or a
combination thereof;
8.  "Licensed mental health professional" means a person who is
not related by blood or marriage to the person being examined or
does not have any interest in the estate of the person being
examined, and who is:
a. a psychiatrist who is a diplomate of the American
Board of Psychiatry and Neurology or American
Osteopathic Board of Neurology and Psychiatry,
b. a physician licensed pursuant to the Oklahoma
Allopathic Medical and Surgical Licensure and
Supervision Act or the Oklahoma Osteopathic Medicine
Act,
c. a clinical psychologist who is duly licensed to
practice by the State Board of Examiners of
Psychologists,
d. a professional counselor licensed pursuant to the
Licensed Professional Counselors Act,
e. a person licensed as a clinical social worker pursuant
to the provisions of the Licensed Social Workers Act,
f. a licensed marital and family therapist as defined in
the Marital and Family Therapist Licensure Act,
g. a licensed behavioral practitioner as defined in the
Licensed Behavioral Practitioner Act,
h. an advanced practice nurse, as defined in the Oklahoma
Nursing Practice Act, specializing in mental health,

i. a physician assistant, who is licensed in good
standing in this state, or
j. a licensed alcohol and drug counselor/mental health
(LADC/MH) as defined in the Licensed Alcohol and Drug
Counselors Act.
For the purposes of this paragraph, "licensed" means that the person
holds a current, valid license issued in accordance with the laws of
this state;
9.  "Mental health evaluation" means an examination or
evaluation of a minor for the purpose of making a determination
whether, in the opinion of the licensed mental health professional
making the evaluation, the minor is a minor in need of treatment
and, if so, is in need of inpatient treatment and for the purpose of
preparing reports or making recommendations for the most appropriate
and least restrictive treatment for the minor;
10.  "Mental health facility" means a public or private hospital
or related institution as defined by Section 1-701 of Title 63 of
the Oklahoma Statutes offering or providing inpatient mental health
services, a public or private facility accredited as an inpatient or
residential psychiatric facility by the Joint Commission on
Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, or a facility operated by
the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and
designated by the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health
and Substance Abuse Services as appropriate for the inpatient
evaluation or treatment of minors;
11.  "Mental illness" means a substantial disorder of the
child's thought, mood, perception, psychological orientation or
memory that demonstrably and significantly impairs judgment,
behavior or capacity to recognize reality or to meet the ordinary
demands of life.  "Mental illness" may include substance abuse,
which is the use, without compelling medical reason, of any
substance which results in psychological or physiological dependency
as a function of continued use in such a manner as to induce mental,
emotional, or physical impairment and cause socially dysfunctional
or socially disordering behavior;
12.  "Parent" means:
a. a biological or adoptive parent who has legal custody
of the minor or has visitation rights,
b. a person judicially appointed as a legal guardian or
custodian of the minor, or
c. a relative within the third degree of consanguinity
who exercises the rights and responsibilities of legal
custody by delegation from a parent, as provided by
law;
13.  "Person responsible for the supervision of the case" means:
a. when the minor is in the legal custody of a private
child care agency, the Department of Human Services or

the Office of Juvenile Affairs, the caseworker or
other person designated by the agency to supervise the
case, or
b. when the minor is a ward of the court and under the
court-ordered supervision of the Department of Human
Services, the Office of Juvenile Affairs or a
statutorily constituted juvenile bureau, the person
designated by the Department of Human Services, the
Office of Juvenile Affairs or juvenile bureau to
supervise the case;
14.  "Initial assessment (medical necessity review)" means the
examination of current and recent behaviors and symptoms of a minor
who appears to be mentally ill, alcohol-dependent, or drug-dependent
and a minor requiring treatment, whose condition is such that it
appears that emergency detention may be warranted by a licensed
mental health professional at a facility approved by the
Commissioner of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, or a
designee, as appropriate for such examination to determine if
emergency detention of the minor is warranted, and whether admission
for inpatient mental illness or drug- or alcohol-dependence
treatment or evaluation constitutes the least restrictive level of
care necessary;
15.  "Ward of the court" means a minor adjudicated to be a
deprived child, a child in need of supervision, or a delinquent
child;
16.  "Treatment" means any planned intervention intended to
improve the functioning of a minor in those areas which show
impairment as a result of mental illness or drug or alcohol
dependence; and
17.  "Prehearing detention order" means a court order that
authorizes a facility to detain a minor pending a hearing on a
petition to determine whether the minor is a minor in need of
treatment.
Added by Laws 1992, c. 298, § 2, eff. July 1, 1993.  Amended by Laws
1994, c. 156, § 1, eff. July 1, 1994; Laws 1995, c. 254, § 3, eff.
Nov. 1, 1995; Laws 1998, c. 144, § 3, emerg. eff. April 22, 1998;
Laws 2000, c. 49, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2000; Laws 2002, c. 327, § 2,
eff. July 1, 2002; Laws 2003, c. 130, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2003; Laws
2003, c. 394, § 1; Laws 2005, c. 110, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2005; Laws
2006, c. 97, § 25, eff. Nov. 1, 2006; Laws 2009, c. 234, § 138,
emerg. eff. May 21, 2009; Laws 2016, c. 280, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2016;

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