Kennebec Behavioral Health (KBH) seeks to enhance and expand evidence based practices to individuals with serious mental illness (SMI), children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances (SED) young adults with emerging SMI, and chronically homeless adults with SMI. With two collaborators (MaineGeneral Health, Crisis and Counseling Services, Inc.), KBH will provide expanded and enhanced CCBHC services to 11,300 people in Kennebec and Somerset counties in Maine during the first year of the project. A total of 14,500 (unduplicated) people will be served over two years. The project will expand evidence based behavioral health practices to adults, children and families who currently do not have access to these services.
Covering an area of 4,792 square miles and a population of 172,316, Kennebec and Somerset counties exhibit high rates of behavioral health issues.
The project has six main goals: 1.)implement a fully operational CCBHC, providing the complete scope of CCBHC services to individuals eligible for Medicaid as well as those who are uninsured or under insured within 4 months of funding. 2) Enhance existing CCBHC Services by expanding/ initiating seven evidence-based practices to address the needs across the lifespan. EBPs targeted for expansion include 1) Multi-Systemic Therapy;; 2) Parent-Child Interaction Therapy; 3) Trauma-Focused CBT 4) Attachment Biobehavioral Catch-Up (ABC); 5) Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT); 6) Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA); and 7) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). 3) Implement infrastructure enhancements to improve the overall quality and coordination of care. Infrastructure enhancements include staff training on Trauma-informed care principles and culturally competent care, deployment of a recovery-oriented, person-centered HER, training on The Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATX) Model of Process Improvement, and implementation of a ZERO Suicide approach at KBH and the participating DCOs. 4) enhance recovery oriented and person-centered programming by hiring an additional Peer Support Worker and a Peer Support Services Coordinator. 5) Provide enhanced care coordination to increase access to care, client engagement, and rapid response for clients transitioning between levels of care. 6): provide integration or coordination between the care of substance use disorders, mental health conditions, and healthcare for active military or veterans.
KBH consistently strives to develop practice expertise that support better health outcomes, better care, and lower cost through improvement. Over time, these efforts of KBH will contribute to the improved health of future generations by effectively responding to the adverse health and social consequences of trauma and contributing to the increased resiliency of children, adults, and families within our communities. CCBHC funding will enable KBH and its partners to develop an integrated system of care where trauma-competent practice, person centered planning, and recovery-oriented care is the organizational norm.