Thursday, January 2, 2025
1/2/2025
The Houston AOT Program will reduce the incidence and duration of psychiatric hospitalization, emergency healthcare service usage, homelessness, incarceration, and other interactions with the criminal justice system by improving sustained treatment engagement, treatment adherence, and functional outcomes for adults age 18 years and older with serious mental illness (SMI) in Harris County, Texas; thus, decreasing taxpayer burden and repeat emergency healthcare service usage. With one of the largest, most diverse and rapidly growing populations in the U.S., Harris County's mental healthcare services have been struggling to keep pace with the expanding demand for services, particularly for those who are high need/service consumers originating from historically underrepresented racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds and underserved communities. During the course of this 4-year project, The Houston AOT Program will serve a total of 110 (20 in year 1, 30 or more in years 2-4) unique uninsured/underinsured English and Spanish speaking residents in Harris County with SMI who have consistently demonstrated significant barriers to sustained voluntary treatment engagement and medical and mental health treatment adherence. The Houston AOT Program will leverage existing relationships between The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD (The Harris Center), the UTHealth Harris County Psychiatric Center (HCPC), and Harris County Probate Court 3 to build a coalition of stakeholders involved in the civil commitment process, thereby expanding existing collaborations between behavioral health entities and the criminal justice system to develop and fully implement and adult AOT program that holistically addresses the health and behavioral health needs of individuals with SMI in the greater Houston area. Potential candidates for The Houston AOT Program will be identified from individuals diagnosed with SMI admitted to HCPC. Also, The Houston AOT Program's Hospital Liaison will identify additional potential program candidates by reviewing HCPC admissions in conjunction with The Harris Center's list of patients who struggle with adherence to outpatient services and have frequent use of emergency psychiatric services. Individuals civilly committed to The Houston AOT Program will receive individualized treatment planning based on assessment of substance misuse and trauma, in addition to their existing mental health issues. Furthermore, comprehensive health, behavioral health, and psychosocial services will be provided through evidence-based interventions, such as case management, motivational interviewing (MI), psychosocial rehabilitation, cognitive processing therapy (CPT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and trauma-informed Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) curriculum, as indicated. Implementation and outcomes of The Houston AOT Program will be evaluated by an independent, university-based evaluation team through formative and summative evaluation components to ensure its congruence with program participants' needs, state law, and program goals, and to inform continual program improvement and quality assurance efforts.
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).