Samhsa cmhc - southeast healthcare proposes to use FY21 samhsa community mental health centers grant funds to expand current services to people with serious mental illness (SMI), CO-occurring disorder…

Samhsa cmhc - southeast healthcare proposes to use FY21 samhsa community mental health centers grant funds to expand current services to people with serious mental illness (SMI), CO-occurring disorder (COD) and serious emotional disturbance (SED), especially in restoring services to those who disengaged during the covid-19 pandemic. The project will address unmet needs by reaching people in the community with integrated health care, people within the court and prison systems, individuals with a recent psychiatric hospitalization, walk-in, and first-episode psychosis clients, and students in a local school. Primary populations to be served include low-income, those with SMI, COD and SED. Southeast also serves a large number of homeless, incarcerated and underserved individuals with challenging social determinants of health. The project spans many of southeast's locations including central and eastern ohio counties that operate in large urban, rural impoverished, appalachian and homeless communities. Southeast intends to take a community and evidence based, integrated approach to expansion of services and RE-engagement of clients. All services will be provided directly by southeast. In addition to staff connecting with people in the community and various underserved spaces, southeast will participate in community education that targets populations who have decreased utilization of services and will enhance our EHR to streamline registration processes. Staff on the project will also be supported by wellness windows, an opportunity to confidentially meet with a contracted therapist. A contracted project evaluator will also be utilized to ensure outcomes are met and the cmhc evaluation plan is implemented. Project goals are as follows: goal 1- restore engagement in services to individuals with SMI, COD and SED who were impacted by the covid-19 pandemic to effectively address their needs by providing integrated care in the community and increasing community education and outreach. Some outcomes for this goal include decreases in severity of mental health symptoms, a higher proportion of clients followed-up within 7 days of hospitalization, and the number of community education activities. Goal 2- increase access to care for underserved justice-involved populations by enhancing services focused on the criminal justice system. Relevant outcomes to be tracked include the proportion of those referred to the prison in-reach staff that are successfully linked and the percent of people referred to the court navigator that successfully link. Goal 3- increase southeast's capacity to serve people with SMI, COD and SED while maintaining a high level of satisfaction with services. Objectives include the implementation of an EHR enhancement and high levels of client satisfaction. In total, the project will serve 1,000 unduplicated clients (500 during year one and 500 during year two).