Rural communities opioid response program-child and adolescent support - leigh-anne white and company is submitting a rural communities opioid response program (rcorp) child and adolescent…

Rural communities opioid response program-child and adolescent support - leigh-anne white and company is submitting a rural communities opioid response program (rcorp) child and adolescent behavioral health grant application to the federal office of rural health policy, on behalf of the toombs county prevention, treatment and recovery consortium to fund the proposed toombs county child and adolescent behavioral health initiative. Our target population is children and adolescents, ages 5 - 17 years, who live in toombs county who are at risk for, have, or are recovering from a behavioral health disorder and their families. Established in august 2020, we are a broad, multi-sector consortium comprised of the following organizations: leigh-anne white and company; toombs county family connection; toombs county school system; vidalia city school system; mercy medical clinic; toombs county health department; toombs county department of family and children services; toombs county EMS; toombs county judicial system; toombs county sheriff's office; lyons police department; pineland bhdd; vidalia police department; safe kids; and toombs county recovery community. All of our consortium members are located in our target geographic rural service area, (toombs county, georgia). Our consortium includes members from multiple sectors and disciplines and has a history of collaborating to address behavioral health issues (which may include substance use and mental health disorders). We are essentially the only safety net providers in toombs county and, for the past several decades, we have relied upon each other to work together to attempt to address the needs of toombs county's residents. Because of the lack of resources and increasing budgetary constraints, before august 2020, we had been overwhelmed and unable to adequately address the issue of behavioral health related prevention, treatment and recovery in toombs county. While we are pleased with our initial progress and the behavioral health services we can currently provide (especially for our adult population), we realize that the most significant existing service delivery GAP is the lack of behavioral health services targeting children and adolescents, ages 5 - 17, in toombs county. Our initiative's goals are: goal #1: provide new behavioral health prevention, treatment and recovery support services for children and adolescents who reside in toombs county, and to prevent substance misuse. Goal #2: provide training and peer mentorship to improve the capacity to care for and support our children and adolescents with behavioral health needs, through providing training and peer mentorship opportunities. Goal #3: continue to build community partnerships to ensure that our local children and adolescents and their families, have access to community resources and human services that support prevention of, treatment of and recovery from behavioral health disorders.