Gandara cmhc covid response project - project title: gándara cmhc covid response project gándara center proposes to utilize innovative strategies to improve access to cmhc services for hispanic/latino…

Gandara cmhc covid response project - project title: gándara cmhc covid response project gándara center proposes to utilize innovative strategies to improve access to cmhc services for hispanic/latino and other ethnic and racial minority children, youth, young adults, adults, and families in hampden county, massachusetts who live with serious mental illness (SMI), serious emotional disturbance (SED), substance use disorders (SUD, and CO-occurring mental illness and SUD (COD). These populations have been disproportionately underserved during, and affected by, the covid-19 pandemic. Proposed interventions include expanding outpatient clinic hours and days of operation to include weekday evenings, saturdays, and sundays; increasing access by the target population to telehealth options on their own devices and by providing hipaa-compliant private telehealth stations in gándara social rehabilitation and recovery centers; providing outreach and peer support/recovery support services to individuals experiencing long delays to receive outpatient care due to a shortage of clinicians caused by the pandemic; and implementing an urgent on-call response team to provide 24/7 crisis intervention and recovery support services to individuals served in gándara programs, including those who are experiencing depression and anxiety as a result of covid-caused isolation. The covid response project will serve 120 individuals in the first year and 180 individuals in the second year, totaling 300 individuals served throughout the project duration. Gándara center will accomplish the following goals and objectives: (1) increase behavioral health outreach and engagement services to the target population by utilizing alternative settings, interventions, and modalities that support individuals with SMI, SED, and COD who are waiting for clinical outpatient services; (2) reduce the wait time to first appointment to no more than ten (10) business days for new individuals served by recruiting and retaining a sufficient number of outpatient clinicians and prescribers and by expanding clinic days and hours of operation; and (3) expand the 24/7 capacity to respond to individuals served in gándara programs who need immediate assistance and support in order to avert a mental health crisis by engaging an urgent on-call team comprised of a clinician and a peer support or peer recovery specialist to provide telehealth interventions.