Friday, April 19, 2024
4/19/2024
Through this grant, Bluebonnet Trails Community Services (BTCS) will serve 1,000 adults and youth in Central Texas who are experiencing serious mental illness (SMI), serious emotional disturbance (SED), and co-occurring disorders (COD). To address needs arising from pandemic-related pressures, BTCS will promote immediate access to routine behavioral health (BH) care; early identification of and treatment for BH symptoms; and access to community-based crisis stabilization options. BTCS will serve at least 500 individuals per project year using evidence-based practices such as psychosocial rehabilitation; case management; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment; medication evaluations; and Wellness Recovery Action Planning in both inpatient and outpatient settings. To address the unique needs of our service area, BTCS has aligned our project with two primary goals (1) Increase access to community-based crisis stabilization options for adults and children, thus providing alternatives to hospitalization and jail; and (2) Increase access to critical behavioral health services by rightsizing staffing to account for increased service volume resulting from the pandemic. To measure goal progress, BTCS has committed to eight objectives designed to promote post-pandemic service restoration and community resilience. To increase access to crisis stabilization options, BTCS identifies the following objectives: (1) Expand the adult Georgetown Crisis Respite Unit from 12 beds to 16 beds and offset the loss of uncompensated clinical care for 4 Seguin-based adult Crisis Respite Unit beds and 4 Georgetown-based Extended Observation Unit beds; (2) Establish and access up to 1.75 beds per day for in-home children’s crisis respite to include case management and family partner services; (3) Extend the Williamson County 9-1-1 Crisis Call Diversion Program to a 24/7 staffing model, supporting jail diversion and timely linkage to the least restrictive crisis stabilization option; (4) Complete follow-up risk screening and assessment within one business day for at least 75% of persons who contact the crisis hotline; and (5) Complete crisis facility discharge follow-ups within 7 days for at least 60% of persons discharging from a crisis facility in year one and at least 65% in year two. To increase access to behavioral health services, BTCS identifies the following objectives: (1) Hire and train 1.5 full-time personnel to staff the centralized intake and appointment call center for the purpose of reducing the call abandonment rate; (2) Reduce the current call center abandonment rate of 18-20% to less than 10%, ensuring quick access to a trauma-informed screening for services; and (3) Add 40 behavioral health consultation slots per week during primary care visits at rural BTCS integrated healthcare settings, ensuring at least 90% of adults and adolescents served receive a Patient Health Questionnaire to screen for depression.
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).
