Community engagement center (CEC) - baycare behavioral health (BCBH) proposes using grant funding to develop the community engagement center (CEC), which will launch in pasco county, florida

The project would serve vulnerable adults (ages 18 and older) with serious mental illness (SMI) and adults with SMI and substance use, referred to as CO-occurring disorders. CEC would mitigate barriers and reduce stressors for the population by: (1) expanding community-based direct care services for urgent and emergent responses (2) increasing access times through a centralized multiple intercept model entitled community engagement center (CEC). Through CEC, the team will launch an innovative intervention that accelerates access to care by designing a point of entry in a private and safe clinical space. The vision of the project is to increase high impact engagement and decrease the time from first contact to clinical care. This centralized approach for community-based services will expand capacity and increase show rates, treatment efficacy, and patient satisfaction. The focus is on mitigating barriers and reducing stressors that have been exacerbated by the pandemic within a county already faced with high demand for behavioral health services. The project will serve 300 unduplicated adults each year for a total of 600 unduplicated adults over the lifetime of the grant. Evidence-based services will include motivational interviewing, critical time intervention, and peer recovery. The goals and objectives are as follows: goal #1: increase number of individuals served with behavioral health conditions. Objective 1.1: serve a minimum of 300 individuals per year in years 1 and 2. Total 600. Objective 1.2: 85% of referrals will participate in screening. Goal #2: increase access to care. Objective 2.1: 85% of urgent referrals whose clinical situation is serious and expected to deteriorate if care is not provided will be screened by CEC and linked to outpatient care within 48 hours of initial contact. Objective 2.2: 90% of routine referrals whose clinical situation is not urgent or emergent will be screened and linked to outpatient care within seven days of first contact. Goal #3: increase recovery support services and well-being among participants. Objective 3.1: 75% of participants will report increased quality of life at six-month follow up. Objective 3.2: 85% of participants will increase recovery capital assets at six-month follow up. Objective 3.3: 75% of participants will live in safe/secure/stable housing during enrollment. Objective 3.4: 75% of participants with criminal justice involvement will demonstrate no RE-involvement in system during 24 months of follow along. Objective 3.5: 95% of participants will complete self-report recovery capital screening. Objective 3.6: 90% of participants will rate CEC services as good to very good.