Crisis Center Follow-Up Expansion - Common Ground will organize its entire crisis services continuum to implement the “Air Traffic Control” model in Oakland County of 1.2 million people accounting for 18% of the deaths by suicide in the state of Michigan. Funding from this grant, will centralize the identification, tracking, and follow-up for all who are at risk of suicide, working closely with our local Emergency Department, Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, and other agencies.
Through funds from this grant, Common Ground will focus on children and adults at risk of suicide in Oakland County regardless of insurance type, with priority given to those who have Medicaid, or uninsured/underinsured.
We will hire a Project Director, Crisis Traffic Coordinators (24/7), and a part-time Data Analyst to implement the “Air Traffic Control” (ATC) model. The Project Director will supervise the Crisis Traffic Coordinators (CTCs) and work closely with the emergency departments, starting with McLaren Hospital ED and Beaumont Hospital ED. Our goal is to have MOUs with each of the 15 EDs in our area. In real time, the Crisis Traffic Coordinator will track 3,500 high risk children and adults for the first two years of the grant. Our electronic system will be fully operational in the third year, which will allow us to utilize the ATC model with all 30,000 people per year thereafter who are identified as high risk (calls, texts, chat, walk-ins, mobile) tracking them through the crisis services continuum (including removing barriers to services) and arrange for follow up. The follow up may include calls/texts/chats from the Resource & Crisis Helpline, visits from the mobile team, and/or through the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic or other community provider.
The Crisis Traffic Coordinators will arrange for 24/7 follow-up at 24 hours, 7 days, 15 days, 30 days, 60 days and 90 days, via chat, text phone, mobile team, letter, etc. We will also provide coordination of care within 24 hours linking them to service providers. We will use a manual system while we purchase/implement software (provided in-kind) that allows us to electronically collect SAFE-T scores and track those who have high risk factors through the continuum, follow up, and until securely connected to a community provider. However, we are not going to be able to do this without the funding to hire staff in order to address the gaps throughout the community.
