This application would create a new CCBHC entity in LaSalle, Bureau, Putnam and Marshall Counties (LBMP, State of IL) that would serve a minimum of 1,250 unduplicated rural consumers annually through various combinations and intensity levels of integrated mental health (MH) and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, regardless of one's ability to pay or place or residence. In parallel, this would serve approximately 4,000 annually with prevention services in schools, justice systems, and social service organizations. LBMP are HPSAs in MH, with 78 providers per 100,000 (national: 203, IL: 208). Few providers take public aid insurance, few are MAT-trained and services for the seriously mentally ill are scarce. No providers deliver the nine required CCBHC wraparound services for MH/SUD. However, momentum for the CCBHC has been building over the past year through multiple federal awards to the Lead Applicant and DCOs, and the foundation has been laid for the first inter-organizational collaborative care effort for MH/SUD in the LBMP region.
Our CCBHC leverages the combined strengths of the Lead Applicant (SMH, rural hospital) and a Lead Partner/DCO (Arukah Institute, community behavioral health and wellness center), who plan to co-localize to facilitate integration of services. Moreover, it recruits the social relevance and unique MH/SUD expertise of 19 additional DCOs. The primary location would provide 24/7 crisis intervention/stabilization services; screening, assessment and diagnosis; patient-centered treatment planning including risk assessment and crisis planning; comprehensive outpatient MH/SUD services; screening for key health indicators; targeted case management; psychiatric rehabilitation services; peer and family supports; and intensive, community-based MH care for members of the armed forces and veterans. Unique aspects of our implementation model include prevention and complementary health/wellness services throughout the clinical care paradigm, as well as the targeting of high-risk or vulnerable groups (schools, justice system, and homeless population) in our delivery. Project goals include: (1) Increase access. Increase the number of people with MH/SUD receiving timely and appropriate care, both on-site and in our DCO's, to reduce the prevalence of untreated illness; (2) Increase capacity and improve quality. Increase the MH/SUD workforce, enabling implementation of new and expansion of pre-existing activities for wraparound, patient-centered treatment; and (3) Enhance self-driven wellness. Empower and activate consumers to self-drive their health, form healthy habits and coping skills, and engage in high-frequency, lived-experience social connection. This CCBHC would provide sustainable answers to longstanding behavioral health issues, enabling reduced episodes of mental illness, fewer hospital and ER admissions, and lower risk of comorbid disorders, thereby reducing the economic and social burden on distressed rural communities.