Friday, April 25, 2025
4/25/2025
Westbrook Health Services CCBHC Expansion - Westbrook Health Services (WHS), Inc. is one of 13 community-based, comprehensive behavioral health centers established by West Virginia State Code in the 1970's to assure that integrated substance use & mental health treatment services are available to citizens across the state. Each of the 13 comprehensives has an assigned geographic catchment area and together, they serve citizens throughout all of the state's 55 counties. West Virginia's behavioral health system is comprised of Licensed Community Behavioral Health Centers which mirror the requirements of SAMHSA's Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) initiative. The service area for WHS is the 8 counties that comprise West Virginia Region 3. The Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) considers all counties within WHS's service area to be Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) with Wood Co (WHSs CCBHC certifiable site) demonstrating the greatest shortage. Moreover, WHS maintains wait lists for services where the demand cannot be met due to staff shortage. WV Region 3 has the highest percent (6.1%) of adults aged 18 or older with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) in the Past Year of any other region in the state and also demonstrates a statistically significant increase in SMI individuals since 2008. The percent of SMI persons in WV Region III is considerably higher than the U.S. (4.12%). Region III ranks as the 6th highest SMI sub-state region in the U.S. Westbrook's CCBHC Expansion will serve individuals who 1) need mental health (MH) and/or substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services & do not have the ability to pay for those services; 2) need SUD and/or MH services not readily available due to lack of staffing to provide such services; 3) need SUD and/or MH services but live in rural locations where services are not readily available. Four goals and 25 measureable objectives are the framework for an ambitious yet feasible initiative that was designed with sustainability integrated into the implementation plan. Goal 1 include reducing barriers to behavioral health services by expanding the capacity of WHS, (hiring direct service staff, training, expanding transportation, enhancing telehealth services, outreach to local military and expanding existing social support opportunities for consumers to operate peer-run support services. WHS also plans to provide more direct therapy services in the 8 county school districts within the agency's geographic catchment area and expand outreach to the criminal justice related facilities. Goal 2 is focused on improving behavioral health outcomes for consumers as a result of the expansion efforts. It is expected that the program will demonstrate an improvement in mental health functioning & a decrease in substance use by clients as a result of expanded access. Goal 3 focuses on current practice improvement while Goal 4 revolves around developing and implementing a sustainability plan. Westbrook plans to serve 1,750 unduplicated clients with CCBHC expansion funding during Year 1 and again in Year 2 for a total of 3,500 clients served.
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).