UBH SM-21-014 cmhc - unison behavioral health (UBH) is the public safety net provider of mental healthand substance use disorder services for 8 rural counties in south georgia

With a cmhc grant, UBH will restore and sustain access to behavioral health services which were restricted during the covid-19 pandemic for children and adults with serious mental illness (SMI), serious emotional disturbance (SED) and CO-occurring disorders (COD) residing in the UBH region. The UBH service area includes the counties of atkinson, bacon, brantley, charlton, clinch, coffee, pierce, and ware, and covers 4,538 square miles with a total population of 156,920. Health status and access to care are below state averages; all counties are designated health professional shortage areas, and there are high rates of uninsured persons. The area is also characterized by high rates of poverty, single parent families, alcohol and illegal drug use, teen pregnancies and child abuse and neglect. Access to and quality of services via telehealth during the pandemic was constrained by inadequate domestic broadband internet services across the UBH region, and the limited data and voice plans that most clients could afford for their cellular phones. With cmhc grant funding, UBH's goals will be to improve access to quality telehealth services by acquiring telehealth carts for 6 outpatient clinics and 18 schools, lease and equip 2 community-based telehealth access centers, and install secured WI-FI coverage for clinic parking lots where clinics lack sufficient space indoors. UBH's parking lot WI-FI will give clients access to telehealth using WI-FI enabled portable devices such as smart phones in their vehicles. UBH will hire 7 additional case managers to enhance in-person case management and transportation services delivered in the community by increasing client contacts from once monthly during the pandemic to twice monthly, and restoring average client contact times to pre-covid levels. UBH will increase clinicians' competence in assessing and treating clients' needs for trauma-informed care, and will provide trauma-informed care to over 200 persons over the lifetime of the project. UBH will work to increase psychosocial rehabilitation and peer support services for both adults and children with 2 additional vans and drivers to increase capacity to transport clients to the programs while maintaining infection controls. In response to the stressors imposed by the covid-19 pandemic, UBH will increase support for direct care personnel to encourage self-care and alleviate work-related stress. UBH will also screen clients who have tested positive for covid-19 for long-term neurological after-effects, and refer for treatment. UBH will serve 900 persons with SMI, SED, or COD in year 1 of the project, 1200 in year 2, and an unduplicated total of 1,500 persons over the two-year lifetime of this project.