River Edge Behavioral Health CMHC Grant Program - River Edge Behavioral Health CMHC Service Recovery Project - Project Abstract The River Edge Behavioral Health CMHC Service Recovery Project will use grant funds to restore COVID-impacted services for uninsured individuals with severe emotional disturbance, mental illness, or co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorder who reside in the 7 central, rural/suburban Georgia counties. Project goals and measurable objectives are to: 1. Strengthen/sustain HIPAA compliant audio & audio-visual telehealth infrastructure by purchasing equipment and subscribing to cloud based telehealth software. 2. Expand clinical & support capacity to serve 1,500 individuals with SED, SMI or COD in financially viable ways long-term by hiring & training budgeted clinical & support positions. 3. Provide trauma-informed screening, assessment, diagnosis and patient-centered treatment planning and treatment as well as peer specialist training and support to address possible COVID-triggered mental health needs related to trauma, grief, loneliness, isolation, etc. by hiring a clinical trainer and training him or her in trauma-related evidence-based practices so that he/she may deliver training to team members. 4. Provide clinical and recovery support services like psychosocial rehabilitation, case management and peer supports by hiring, training and deploying budgeted team members. 5. Address the mental health needs of team members by contracting for employee assistance services and making a healthy lifestyle virtual platform available to team members. 6. Provide staff training on behavioral health disparities, cultural and linguistic competence and strategies to engage and retain diverse client populations by hiring a clinical trainer to update existing trainings per AHRQ toolkits, to a trainer in other evidence-based strategies, and to implement trainings for all staff. 7. Expand capacity to respond to crises and emergencies by hiring a clinical trainer, training him/her as a trainer of the evidence-based interventions: Mindset(TM), Question-Persuade-Refer, and Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale so that he/she may train all staff. 8. Establish/restore strong referral pathways with the region's crisis centers/hotlines by updating referral lists, building relationships with individuals currently in referral roles, conducting annual satisfaction surveys and follow-up. 9. Develop/implement zip code outreach strategies to engage referent neighborhood leaders and build relationships to better outreach minority or economically disadvantaged populations into care. The two year project will serve 1,500 individuals: 700 in year 1 and 800 in year 2.
