FY 2024 behavioral health service expansion - charter OAK health center, INC. (cohc) is proposing to expand mental health (MH) and substance use disorder (SUD) services through the expansion of 1)…

FY 2024 behavioral health service expansion - charter OAK health center, INC. (cohc) is proposing to expand mental health (MH) and substance use disorder (SUD) services through the expansion of 1) MH services at three new school-based health centers (sbhcs) and one existing sbhc and 2) MH and SUD services with the purchase of an additional mobile van. Expansion of MH services at sbhcs: america's youth are in crisis. Report after report details the sense of loneliness and despair that our children are facing. Connecticut (CT), in spite of regularly ranking among the healthiest and wealthiest states in the country, is no different. The 2021 CT school health survey showed that more than a third of high school students in the state stated they had felt SAD or hopeless, more than a quarter reported their mental health as 'not good most of the time,' and 'about one in seven had seriously considered suicide.' in spite of the increase in resources being expended in the area of youth mental health, only 22.3% of respondents 'said they can often or always get the help they need.' when broken down by race/ethnicity, the disparities in responses is startling. For instance, 42.6% of latino and 34.0% of black students reported feeling SAD or hopeless compared to 31.8% of white and 25.3% of asian students. Further, 7.6% and 7.5% of latino and black students respectively attempted suicide compared to 4.0% of white students. Further, only 17.2% and 20.7% of latino and black students compared to 25.8% of white students felt they get the help they need most of the time or always. While data for hartford is not specifically available, given that 85% of community members in the city identify as black or latino, IT is safe to say that this data is representative of what is happening in the city. To address these issues, cohc proposes to expand mental health services at global communications academy, alfred e. Burr middle school, and thirman l. Milner middle school. Additionally, cohc would expand services at t he existing A.I. Prince technical high school (A.I. Prince tech) location. Cohc currently provides mental health services at A.I. Prince tech three days per week; the expansion would add two more days for a total of five days per week. Cohc expects to provide school-based services to 20 students at each new school per year and 10 additional students at A.I. Prince tech for a total of 70 students. Expansion of MH and SUD services via mobile van: the hospitals in hartford are seeing an increase in the number of patients with SUD and are collaborating with local health centers to offer same-day access for medication assisted treatment (mat) services. Cohc primary care and psychiatric providers can prescribe suboxone and licensed alcohol and drug counselors can offer individual therapy and mat groups to address this growing need. To bring these services to public housing residents and individuals experiencing homelessness, cohc is proposing to purchase an additional mobile van dedicated to providing these services starting in september 2024. IT is anticipated that cohc would be able to serve 90 clients annually with the additional van. This funding would enable cohc to expand services to households in hartford's north-end low-income neighborhoods (ZIP codes 06120 and 06114). The proposed sites will serve neighborhoods with a total population of approximately 40,000 individuals, of which 51% are low-income households and 23% are uninsured (WWW.geocarenavigator.hrsa.GOV). Funding would be used to increase the number of behavioral health, outreach, and care coordination staff, a second mobile van, and training will be provided for primary care providers on effective SUD treatment. Established in 1978, cohc is a joint commission-accredited federally qualified health center serving the greater hartford community with twenty sites. Cohc operates the only healthcare for the homeless and public housing primary care programs in hartford.