The CMHC Community Diversion Program will develop strategic plans to identify and divert people with mental and substance abuse problems away from the justice system and into treatment. - Project Abstract
OBHAW CMHC Community Diversion Team Project
Ouachita Behavioral Health and Wellness [OBHAW], an experienced CMHC serving 5 Counties in west-central Arkansas, will implement the Community Diversion Team Project, providing warm line telehealth services, outreach, engagement, COD treatment, case management, peer support, and recovery housing for adults across the region with untreated SMI/COD and criminal justice system involvement. The Project will provide dedicated services to people diverted from justice system involvement, services to people within jails and at community sites, and intensive case management using the Critical Time Intervention model to adults with SMI/COD released from local jails. The area has very high rates of opioid prescriptions and suicide, and rates of depression and diabetes are significantly higher than national rates. Total area population is 174,513, County populations range from 72 to 92% white, <1 to 24% African-American, and 3 to 7% Hispanic. Project goals are: 1) Implement a coordinated system of behavioral health care for rural adults with serious mental illnesses (SMI) / co-occurring disorders (COD), and criminal justice involvement; and 2) Provide self-care training for clinical staff and increase knowledge about coping methods for secondary trauma. Objectives include: Objective 1.1: By the end of each Project Year, provide warm line consultation and service linkage to a minimum of 60 clients in the population of focus who have criminal justice involvement; Objective 1.2: 50% of COD clients engaged in SUD or OUD treatment will indicate no past 30-day substance use, excluding tobacco, after 6 months of outpatient treatment, as measured by the NOMS; Objective 1.3: 60% of clients engaging in project services after community reentry from a jail stay and with problems with social connectedness, as demonstrated in Section G of the NOMs, will show improvements in social connectedness after 6 months of outpatient treatment and support services; Objective 1.4: 70% of clients with criminal justice involvement who engage in outpatient treatment for COD/SMI and support services will have no past 30-day arrests at 6 and 12 months, as measured by the NOMS; Objective 1.5: By the end of the first Project Quarter, staff from OBHAW and local criminal justice agencies will complete a diversion and reentry plan with referral pathways for people with COD/SMI/SED and criminal justice system involvement; Objective 2.1: Each Project Year, the OBHAW clinical trainer will provide 3 workshops on trauma-related stress and staff self-care to promote wellness and recovery for clinical staff; Objective 2.2: 75% of clinical staff will attend at least one of the self-care/trauma-related workshops during each Project Year; Objective 2.3: 80% of clinical staff attending self-care workshops will indicate an increase in knowledge about methods for coping with secondary trauma, based on pre- and post-training surveys. A total of 250 adults with SMI/COD will be served during the life of the project, with 125 served each Project Year.
