The expansion grant funds the Counseling Associates (CA) to become a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) to advance primary care and behavioral health integration and use evidence-based practices to increase services to 600 clients of all ages in 5 Arkansas counties with mental or behavioral health disorders, including opioid use disorders. The catchment area is the following 5 counties in Arkansas: Conway, Faulkner, Pope, Perry, and Van Buren. Four counties are Medically Underserved Areas and Health Professional Shortage Areas in the primary health and behavioral health domain, and the 5th (Pope) has areas designated as such (HRSA, 2020).
The majority of the geographic area is rural/non-metro with urbanization in Faulkner. The target population is comprised of the following individuals in the catchment area: children (0+) with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) and persons of all ages who have or are at-risk for: 1) Serious Mental Illness (SMI) 2) Substance Use Disorders (SUD), including Opioid Disorders 3) Co-Occurring mental health and SUD (COD). The target population also includes persons of all ages in crisis in Faulkner County, adults on the Johnson County Mental Health Docket and in the Faulkner County Mental Health Court, and youth in the Faulkner County Juvenile Detention Center, as well as those post-release. The target area's county demographic percentages are the following ranges: 80-94 White, 2-11 Black, 3-9 Hispanic, 1 Asian, 1 Native American. Additionally, Faulkner County has 1,200 Marshallese residents. All of these groups, with the exception of children and juveniles, include veterans and servicemembers.
CA will become a CCBHC to advance primary care and behavioral health integration and use evidence-based practices (EBPs) to increase services to 600 unduplicated additional people of all ages in the target population (Y1: 200; Y2: 400). CA will increase treatment quality and capacity to the target population through the: (1) Certification of CA as a CCBHC (first 4 months of Y1), (2) Creation (Y1) and deployment (Y1,Y2) of integrated physical and behavioral health treatment to the 5-county catchment area via the mobile health unit and mobile team, (3) Provide evaluations (initial and follow-up) and individual and group therapy to juveniles in the Faulkner County Juvenile Detention Center as well as follow and provide services to them in the community post-release, and provide vaping cessation programming, (4) Creation (hiring and training) (Y1) and deployment (Y1,Y2) of the ACT Team in Faulkner County, (5) Screen, connect to insurance, and refer for CA services adult participants in the Johnson County Mental Health Docket and the new Faulkner County Mental Health Court (Y1,Y2), and (6) Integrative care and EBP training (Y1,Y2) of all personnel involved in the treatment and care of the target population.