HORIZONS mental health center ccbhc - HORIZONS mental health center, INC., (HORIZONS) is making application for a certified community behavioral health clinic expansion grant from the dept of HHS

The primary goals of HORIZONS as to how the grant will be used is to reduce the rate of suicide within our 5-county service area and to divert mental health consumers from admission to an inpatient psychiatric unit and/or incarceration. The first goal is to reduce the number of suicides within our service area. Of the five counties served by HORIZONS, for of them significantly exceed the state average of suicides per 100,000 people. We will educate students, teachers and communities on suicide, including early warning signs, how to talk to someone you think might be thinking of harming themselves, how to get them to the necessary help and how to remain a support for them through their treatment and beyond. The ultimate goal is to increase knowledge of suicide prevention to as many individuals and communities we can within our service area in order for individuals to have the knowledge and skill to be able to recognize when a person is at risk and how to respond appropriately. Our second goal is to divert individuals experiencing a mental health condition and having contact with law enforcement personnel from inpatient psychiatric admission of incarceration. Within our service area we have determined by cross checking the reno county jail roster with consumers served by HORIZONS within the last year, 40% of inmates were seen by HORIZONS in the last year. Our goal is to develop services which will prevent a crisis from occurring, but if not, to intervene during the crisis with law enforcement or the emergency room (ER) to either stabilize the consumer at the time or to divert them to an adult crisis stabilization unit (CSU) we will develop if we are awarded a ccbhc expansion grant. The effort prior to the need to divert to the CSU will begin early in the sequence, initially with assertive community treatment being provided to consumers of HORIZONS services. Should a crisis event occur, and if we are awarded a grant, we will fund a CO-responder position to accompany law enforcement personnel on calls which may involve a person with a mental health concern. If the CO-responder is unable to stabilize the individual then the mobile crisis team will be dispatched to the crisis in an effort to stabilize the individual and prevent a higher level of are. Should these efforts fail triage will occur to determine if an admission to the CSU would be appropriate, that is, whether the team believes the individual could be stabilized in 72 hours. If not, then the individual would be recommended for inpatient admission rather than incarceration. The CO-responder and mobile treatment team will also be available for individuals that present in local ERS without contact with law enforcement. HORIZONS efforts will be to triage the individual to determine if they can be diverted from an inpatient admission.