Community Mental Health Center
Project Abstract
Egyptian Health Department (EHD), a Community Mental Health Center, proposes to expand, enhance and restore the delivery of clinical services that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. EHD will enhance the provision of evidence-based practices (EBPs) to meet the needs of people in rural Illinois with behavioral health (BH) conditions. Adults, children, and adolescents with serious mental illness (SMI), serious emotional disturbance (SED), substance use disorders (SUDs) and/or co-occurring disorders (COD) will be the population of focus. The geographic catchment area for services will include Saline, White, Gallatin, Wayne and Hamilton counties in southeastern Illinois. EHD is the only direct provider designated as a Community Mental Health Center by the State of Illinois Division of Mental Health-funded mental health services in the geographic catchment area, and there is only one other Illinois Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse licensed SUD treatment provider in the region.
Approximately 63,500 people ages five and older reside in EHD’s service region. Table 1 (below) provides estimates for the prevalence of mental health conditions and substance use disorders (SUD) among this population based on findings from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH; SAMHSA, 2020) and the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). Approximately 3,200 people in the service region were estimated to have either SED or SMI, and an estimated 1,000 of the people with SMI had a co-occurring SUD. An estimated 4,300 people in the service region had a SUD, but most were not receiving treatment. Approximately 800 people experienced bipolar disorder or a first episode of psychosis in a given year and 4,300 had a major depressive episode. As indicated later in this section (A.2), behavioral health challenges have increased during the pandemic, especially among youth.
The CMHC will serve 500 consumers per year for 2 years for a total of 1,000 unduplicated consumers.
EHD plans to use grant funds to strengthen and sustain telehealth services; to bolster existing services with additional evidence-based practices, including a small First Episode Psychosis team; strengthen peer/recovery support services for clients with COD; implement a staff mental health and wellness program; provide comprehensive school reentry services to at-risk children and youth; enhance cultural and linguistic competence of our services; and as a result of all these programmatic enhancements decrease use of restrictive settings.