Tuesday, May 13, 2025
5/13/2025
Embrace OK - The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) will implement the Embrace initiative to provide services to children in the 2019 disaster declared areas affected by the severe storms and floods. The months long onslaught of storms inundated the ground, flooded rivers and streams, and taxed levees across northern Oklahoma. With damage estimates at $22 million, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved disaster assistance for 27 Oklahoma counties. Children in these counties are at heightened risk of developing anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress, impacting their mental and physical health, quality of life, and school success. Embrace OK goals are to: 1. Develop and implement a school wide referral process for students identified as needing mental health or substance use treatment as a Tier 3 intervention. 2. Rapidly provide direct treatment services in schools to school age youth to maximize student’s social, emotional and behavioral self-management skills utilizing evidence-based practices and best practice models. 3. Develop community and family mental health awareness and outreach campaigns to increase knowledge of issues and awareness of school and community based resources. 4. Increase school’s capacity to respond and prevent mental health problems associated with disaster by equipping school districts with comprehensive, multi-tiered plans. Partnering with 20 Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and 6 Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs), Embrace will offer mental health and substance use disorder treatment, crisis services, and other related support services for school-aged youth from the 27 disaster-affected counties. Embrace will rapidly deploy evidence-based treatment and crisis services and equip school districts with a multi-tiered plan and a sustainable infrastructure for a continuum of treatment, intervention, and preventive services to mitigate the development of future behavioral health problems associated with the disaster. LEAs will select best-fit, developmentally appropriate, and evidence-informed prevention and treatment interventions based on the varying student needs, grade levels, and other issues (i.e. readiness, capacity, sustainability) at each school. Interventions will include practices and services to identify acute clinical needs and provide early interventions for those at high risk and/or developing signs of distress. ODMHSAS will facilitate impactful and effective working partnerships between LEAs and CMHCs to identify early indicators and mental health and substance use problems, rapidly complete clinical assessments, and seamlessly establish clinical treatment plans and services. Embrace OK will partner with Oklahoma State University (OSU) to assist the LEAs in developing comprehensive, sustainable Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) plans, conduct local needs assessments, and connect LEAs to state and local training and programming. Embrace LEAs will develop a Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) to guide referral and treatment planning and practices with the CMHC and address individual student mental health needs and a planning committee to develop a comprehensive, multi-tiered plan for implementation. Embrace will partner with the University of Oklahoma E-TEAM to evaluate outcomes of individual students and families, community outreach, and teacher professional development to assess the impact of the model and ensure sustainability for Embrace LEAs, teachers, students, families, and communities.
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).