Wednesday, April 30, 2025
4/30/2025
WJCS Total Care - Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS) plans to implement its CCBHC program, WJCS Total Care, to expand the accessibility of our results-driven, comprehensive, quality integrated services, augment our portfolio of services to enhance care coordination, and intensify our focus on SDoH. The program will be launched in two MUA-designated locations, Mt. Vernon and Peekskill in NY and aims to serve an additional 605 unduplicated clients over 2 years. Populations in both cities share common negative social determinants of health (SDoH) that are known to exacerbate poor behavioral health (BH) and physical health, including high levels of poverty, lack of access to care, including substance use (SU) and opioid use prevention, treatment, and recovery supports. While there are other BH providers in both cities, currently their services are siloed with little integration, no coordination and a lack of recognition of the role that trauma plays in BH. WJCS clinics have historically expanded to provide services to clients with SMI as 2 other MH clinics and a local hospital have closed or are scheduled to close. Six of the 8 zip codes in Peekskill and Mt. Vernon experience disproportionate opioid burden, including deaths and non-fatal outpatient ED visits and hospital discharges. Michael Orth, Westchester County’s current Commissioner of the Department of Community Mental Health, has expressed specifically to WJCS that the shortage of psychiatric staff across all agencies results in frustration for hospital discharge planners who are denied timely appointments because psychiatric staff at most local BH organizations are overbooked. WJCS' "no-wrong door" philosophy, compassionate, trauma-informed care and disciplined evidence-based programming for vulnerable individuals and community healthcare providers that need BH services, ensures that we are well positioned to provide CCBHC services to our target population of children, adolescents, and adults in Mt. Vernon and Peekskill who experience SMI, SED and/or substance use (SU) disorders. WJCS is a well-known and trusted provider in the community, currently operating 4 NYS Office of Mental Health licensed clinics, 9 satellite clinics in public schools and FQHCs, 86 programs throughout Westchester county which address trauma, racism, and stigma, and serves a total of 745 unduplicated individuals in Peekskill and 629 unduplicated individuals in Mt. Vernon (1,374 total). WJCS currently provides >60,000 behavioral health services per year to >3,500 unique individuals in Westchester county. WJCS Total Care will (1) increase access to CCBHC services for focus populations by strengthening referral relationships with local FQHCs and DSRIP PPSs; (2) improve outcomes through enhanced integration of BH needs with physical and social needs by hiring a Coordinator of Integrated Services, providing staff with cross-discipline training (BH/ SUD), expanding care management staff (peers and case managers) and enhancing care coordination/health monitoring protocols and peer/social supports; (3) improve care quality by increasing meaningful engagement in treatment through enhanced peer supports and care coordination. We anchor our care with a strong emphasis on engagement and comprehensive assessment of SDoH to ensure that more clients with unmet needs can access quality MH and SUD treatment.
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).