Here for You Project - The "Here for You" project will strengthen the ability of Summit county, Ohio's community mental health system to provide care for indigent, low and moderate income people, minorities, and other vulnerable populations who are experiencing serious mental illness, serious emotional disturbance, and co-occurring disorders, while restoring and supporting clinical services that were impacted by COVID-19.
The project will establish, strengthen and sustain telehealth capabilities, expand capacity to address crisis and emergency response, engage with the community to create referral pathways to gain and retain minority and disadvantaged clients so that they can receive high quality patient centered outpatient services, trauma-informed screening, assessment, diagnosis and patient centered treatment planning and treatment delivery, and clinical and recovery support services. In support of those services, resources to address the mental health needs of our CMHC staff will be developed and made available to team members.
Strategies and interventions to be employed include public education, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Screening Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT), Peer Support, training of staff, and implementation of a Living Room Model Drop in/Police Drop Off Center. Project goals are to expand access to trauma informed, patient centered outpatient services and recovery support services for the target populations, to expand capacity to address crisis and emergency response, and to develop resources to address the mental health and wellbeing of our CMHC team members.
Measurable objectives include strengthening and sustaining telehealth capabilities by replacing necessary electronic infrastructure and by intensively training all applicable staff placement of clinical professionals and/or telehealth capabilities in at least five locations convenient for low to moderate income families, racial minorities and other vulnerable populations, provide all staff specific training on behavioral health disparities, including cultural and linguistic competence and strategies to enhance client experience, and engage and retain diverse client populations, create and implement an ongoing cycle of training that includes robust programming in self-care, meditation, physical exercise, lunch and learn sessions and other activities intended to boost mental health and decrease compassion fatigue, enhancing diversion from jails and hospitals by implementing a Living Room Model drop in/police drop off center, and to plan and implement an ongoing Community Education & Outreach effort that engages the target population and partners, and creates referral pathways to gain and retain minority and disadvantaged clients that were lost during the pandemic.
The number of people to be served annually and over the life of the program is expected to be 1,000 unique clients and 160 staff team members.
