Thursday, May 2, 2024
5/2/2024
Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services, Inc. (CCNS) is seeking funding to support the creation of the CCNS Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) to restore, strengthen, and expand the delivery of clinical services that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to effectively address the needs of individuals with serious emotional disturbance (SED), serious mental illness (SMI), and co-occurring disorder (COD) in Queens, NY. The proposed CCNS CMHC will leverage our established and successful network of programs which include crisis, mental health, substance use treatment, and social support services. The CMHC will serve children and adults, prioritizing our efforts in the Queens neighborhoods of Corona and Jamaica, which continue to be severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the CMHC, individuals will receive a comprehensive and focused suite of services that includes trauma-informed supportive outreach and engagement, risk assessment, and individual and group services to facilitate successful engagement in behavioral health services, as well as targeted treatment that uses evidence-based practices to build resiliency. CCNS is well positioned to offer CMHC services to individuals impacted by the COVID pandemic in our community. We are one of the largest behavioral health and social service providers in Brooklyn and Queens. Our primary service area includes 23 zip codes across the two boroughs, and the area is home to 1.48 million people with a wide range of socioeconomic and health disparities. The impact of the pandemic has been particularly hard on the Jamaica and Corona communities. Jamaica has the second highest concentration of frontline worker residents in New York City, and compared to nonessential workers they are more likely to report symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder, starting or increasing substance use, and suicidal thoughts during the pandemic. Children in our community have also suffered—from March to July 2020 alone, one in 520 children had lost a parent or caregiver due to COVID. To address these and other needs, our primary goals include increasing access to treatment to improve BH outcomes for the target population and improve the health and well-being of our staff through wellness enhancement and training. To accomplish this we propose to use grant funds to improve our telehealth infrastructure, provide enhanced outreach and crisis services to the target population, and increase our clinical capacity by attracting and retaining qualified, resilient clinical staff in our three clinics that serve the Jamaica and Corona communities. Our strategy to address our staffing needs includes providing protected time for staff to enhance wellness and providing access to training and providing augmented, customized supervision focused on building the clinical skills needed to adequately address the complex needs of the target population that have been exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of this funding, we will serve a total of 650 unduplicated clients over the two-year grant period (325/year) plus support to 25 staff members to address their mental health needs.
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).
