Northwest Essex CCBHC Expansion Program - Northwest Essex Community Healthcare Network (Northwest Essex) CCBHC Expansion Grant will increase access to CCBHC services in Essex County to serve expanded populations with serious mental illness (SMI), substance use disorders (SUD), co-occurring disorders (COD) and to children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances (SED) and Veterans. Northwest Essex will further develop and expand our services, focusing on the use of Evidence-Based Practices, to address key areas of need within Essex County. Our service hours will be expanded to seven days a week, including evenings, and include all CCBHC services with increased case management, Ambulatory Withdrawal Management (AWM), SUD services for adolescents and adults, Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) and Tobacco Cessation, crisis intervention/stabilization services and primary care screenings. Our 24/7 crisis services will be enhanced to utilize the Living Room Model, providing an environment with supportive staff to address issues that may place consumers at risk for hospitalization. Additional nursing staff will support clinical monitoring for adverse effects of medications and expanded screenings for HIV and Hepatitis, followed by linkage to appropriate care by our medical staff. We will be able to connect more individuals to specialized care as needed through additional hours for medical staff to provide primary care screenings, vaccinations, and monitoring of key health indicators and health risk, and ensure positive outcomes through implementing coordination and follow-up protocols. Case managers will provide services to obtain entitlements, housing, and access to transportation and community supports. We will emphasize hiring bilingual staff whose language and culture is representative of the community we serve. All treatment will be provided through our integrated model of care as is the case with our current provision of CCBHC services, and through collaboration with four Designated Collaborating Organizations (DCOs) in Essex County: Clara Maass Medical Center, Mental Health Association of Essex County, CSP-NJ and Bridgeway Rehabilitation Services, as well as with other Essex County agencies which we have long time partnerships for referrals. Northwest Essex will measure our success monthly upon project implementation, supported by Rutgers University, using clearly defined performance measures to ensure we are meeting our goals: 1) Increase access to behavioral health and primary healthcare for SMI, SUD, COD and SED populations; 2) Improve the quality of treatment by expanding and developing services; 3) Enhance our integrated healthcare model to better coordinate care for target populations across mental health, SUD and physical health services systems; and 4) Improve consumers’ behavioral and physical health outcomes. Northwest Essex will provide these services to 2,200 consumers with grant funds throughout the project period (1,000 additional consumers in Year 1 and 1,200 additional consumers in Year 2).
