Sunday, May 11, 2025
5/11/2025
Fortification of Community Mental Health Services, Nassau/Suffolk (NY) - Working with partners, led by CN Guidance & Counseling Services—a community-based behavioral health center in a region severely impacted by COVID-19—this project will uphold local capacity to deliver and enhance clinical services to effectively address the needs of individuals with serious emotional disturbance (SED), serious mental illness (SMI), and individuals with co-occurring disorders (COD, including substance use). Compared to our region’s general population, our target population disproportionately comprises adults, adolescents, and children who are economically disadvantaged and who face unmet needs that include: timely access to behavioral health intervention, (b) treatment for the mental health impact of the pandemic; (c) treatment for worsening of pre-existing mental health and substance use conditions; (d) access to timely medications (including injectables); and/or (e) increased crisis resources and other mental health / substance use services that feel easy and safe to access. The desired OUTCOMES for this program are: (a) uninterrupted and extensive outreach to the population of focus; (b) uninterrupted outpatient mental health and substance use treatment and referral to other needed services, to be received by the population of focus; (c) increased number of individuals in the mental health and related workforce trained in mental health-related practices and activities; and (d) resilience of key indicators spanning retention in treatment, housing stability, social connectedness, and other social determinants of health. This funding will enable CN Guidance/our community to: (1) provide uninterrupted outpatient services for local individuals with SED, SMI, and COD; (2) boost infrastructure to provide telehealth; (3) provide trauma-informed, evidence-based screening, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning and delivery; (4) provide clinical and recovery support services; (5) develop and provide resources to address the mental health needs of behavioral health clinic staff; (6) expand the capacity to address crisis/emergency response; and (7) expand capacity of crisis beds and associated supports. In a coordinated way, this project will use evidence-based tools (such as the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale, PHQ-9, DAST, and AUDIT-C) to screen individuals in the population of for possible Substance Use Disorders (alcohol, opioids, and various others), depression, suicide risk, and/or co-occurring disorders. It will also deploy Evidence-Based Practices in behavioral health (tailored to each client), including but not limited to: (1) Stanley-Brown Safety Plan; (2) Motivational Interviewing; (3) Peer Support; and/or (4) Integrated Treatment for Co-occurring Disorders, including linkage to Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) when appropriate. Over two years, this project will contact/engage 1,000 individuals experiencing SED, SMI, or COD, serving at least 600 of them with outpatient behavioral health services, providing 100% of clients with trauma-informed care and offering all clients a choice of receiving services via audio or audio-visual HIPAA-compliant telehealth.
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).