Circles of care - indian health council, INC. (IHC) proposes to plan and develop a comprehensive blueprint for a system of care (SOC), focusing on american indians up to age 25

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded $1.05 million to Indian Health Council Inc. on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532).

IHC will plan and develop a comprehensive system of care blueprint focused on American Indians up to age 25, coordinating mental health and essential supportive services. The project activities include convening a tribal community board to plan the system of care, conducting a tribal SWOT analysis, holding annual community gatherings, developing cross-system partnerships, and finalizing the system of care blueprint by the end of year three. The initiative addresses gaps in trauma-informed mental health crisis response for tribal members, particularly the need to improve referrals to crisis stabilization units currently characterized by inadequate handoffs and lack of orientation for what to expect in such settings.

IHC is a nonprofit federally qualified health center founded in 1970, serving nine federally recognized tribes in Northern San Diego County. The organization operates two clinic facilities and maintains a behavioral health department; however, it must refer out mental health crises requiring hospitalization.

The award period runs through September 29, 2029, with place of performance in Valley Center, California.

This SOC will coordinate effective mental health and essential supportive services. Goals/activities in this program include convening a tribal community board to plan the SOC, conducting a tribal swot analysis, holding annual gonas, developing cross-system partnerships and finalizing a SOC blueprint by the end of year 3. Indian health council, INC. (IHC) is a nonprofit federally qualified health center run by and serving nine federally recognized tribes in northern SAN diego county. Founded in 1970, IHC provides primary care services from two clinic facilities. Although there is a daytime behavioral health department, the tribal consortium has to refer out when there is a mental health crisis requiring hospitalization. Therefore, there are needs for improving a trauma-informed response for tribal referrals to crisis stabilization units in the area, which presently involves cold handoffs and no orientations for what to expect in such settings. In the age group under age 25, there were 878 unduplicated females and 815 unduplicated males in IHC clinic visits over the past year. IHC's behavioral health department had 734 visits by females in that age range, compared to 393 by males. There were 46 substance abuse diagnoses in that age range, split between 22 females and 24 males. In a recent review of IHC diagnoses, depression was the most commonly experienced mental health issue and is associated with suicidal ideation and alcohol and drug abuse. Of 12-24 year-olds (n=537) screened for depression at IHC in the past year, 40% (n=124) had results consistent with moderate to severe depression, but these are indicators, not diagnoses. The proposed required activities address mental health crisis response center referral SOC development through tribal advisory councils creating messaging campaigns, needs assessments in the first year, overdose response plan develop-ment and deployment, and thorough evidence-based training in motivational interviewing for IHC staff members as well as a number of community members living with at-risk children/young adults. Goal 1: to identify members and then convene a tribal advisory board who meet quarterly to design a culturally relevant SOC that will guide referrals to and partnerships with regional behavioral health crisis response centers. Goal 2: this tribal advisory board and IHC's board will conduct a tribal swot analysis: in the first quarter of the project, the boards will meet to carry out a tribal strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats analysis. Goal 3: holding annual gonas: focusing upon different age groups of youth (high school, elementary school, and transition age youth) in three annual gonas facilitated by experienced local indigenous leaders, insights from participants will be recorded for potential SOC incorporation goal 4: developing cross-system partnerships: particularly with local crisis response centers and the intertribal court system, the IHC project team will confer with these partners to standardize referrals. Goal 5: finalizing a SOC blueprint by the end of year 3, building upon the information generated in this project, with the guidance and the assistance of tribal advisory board/tribal councils. We shall record measures of participation in all required activities, and the project director will submit quarterly reports to samhsa on the relevant metrics via spars, FED from project records.