Friday, April 4, 2025
4/4/2025
Identify and Treat Substance Abuse Disorders Among American Indians in Central Oklahoma - The Central Oklahoma American Indian Health Center, Inc., doing business as Oklahoma City Indian Clinic (OKCIC), has provided American Indians (AIs) with culturally appropriate health and wellness services from devoted providers for nearly 50 years. It is the nation’s largest urban Indian clinic, employing more than 300 dedicated staff who serve more than 20,000 active patients from 200+ tribes, most of whom live in central Oklahoma. For this project, OKCIC will address mental health issues and substance use disorders. The counties in Oklahoma targeted will be Logan, Cleveland, Lincoln, Oklahoma, Pottawatomie, Canadian, Kingfisher, Grady and McClain. There is a significant need for increased access to therapists and referrals for AIs struggling with substance use disorders. This gap is exacerbated by a lack of culturally sensitive therapists and psychiatrists who treat AIs, particularly in the Oklahoma City area. OKCIC is the only clinic in Oklahoma City with a behavioral health department focused solely on treating AIs. The demand for counseling and psychiatry are great in our community and finding culturally appropriate individuals to treat AIs is equally challenging. At OKCIC, therapists have a high caseload, but we are committed to treating AI patients who need treatment, interventions, and postvention management to address substance use disorder. As part of its medical home model, OKCIC’s Behavioral Health Department works closely with medical providers to screen, triage, intervene and offer needed mental health services. Currently, our mental health providers have an average caseload of 60 patients - far beyond the recommended caseload of 30. Through this grant opportunity, OKCIC will more effectively identify and treat substance abuse disorders in our patients with evidence-based and culturally appropriate treatment, therapy, and support. The goals of the project are: 1) Increase access to behavioral health therapy by 15% by targeting evidence-based mental and/or substance abuse disorder (SUD) treatment services; 2) Increase screening and assessment of patients for mental and/or SUD through evidence-based screening practices; 3) Increase patient access by 30% for basic services needed through appropriate case management and referral best practices; 4) Significantly increase family and community involvement through family support services; 5) Expand culturally appropriate evidence-based and practice-based services for the OKCIC population and Native youth in the service area; 6) Increase the number of patients who have insurance coverage, so that 100% of behavioral health services will be covered by third-party insurers.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).