VOAMASS Integrated Care Center-Southeast - Volunteers of America Massachusetts (VOAMASS) proposes to expand its CMHC, Behavioral Health Services in Taunton, to increase access and improve community mental health (MH) and substance use disorder treatment services impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Integrated Care Center-Southeast (ICCS) will provide access to 24-hour crisis intervention and community-based, integrated treatment and rehabilitative services for serious mental illness (SMI), co-occurring disorders (COD), and serious emotional disturbance (SED). Over the grant’s two years, ICCS will serve a minimum of 600 clients, 300 per year in central Bristol and Plymouth counties including the communities of Taunton, Bridgewater, and Brockton. These communities have experienced higher rates of COVID-19, unemployment, opioid use, and poor MH days compared to other areas of MA over the past year, and the need for increased integrated MH services is immediate. The region is home to 57,167 veterans and a diverse ethnic population of Black (8.9%), LatinX (6.4%), and Asian (2%) residents who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. ICCS will serve veterans, undomiciled, racial and ethnic minorities, and criminal justice-involved persons as populations of focus. ICCS will implement clinical treatments, coordinated primary health care, and wraparound services through a distinct patient-centered, trauma-informed, culturally-competent, whole-person care approach—VOAMASS’ integrated care approach or ICA—delivered by a licensed and vetted multi-disciplinary team. Through a centralized intake, clients will receive screening/assessment for risk, MH, and primary health indicators; follow-up diagnosis and patient-centered integrated treatment and care plans (ITCPs); coordinated primary care, housing, employment and other wraparound services to address gaps in social determinants of health. The multidisciplinary team will update ITCPs with integrated care goals across CMHC services; and quarterly, clinicians and clients will review their ITCPs to assess progress, discuss any barriers to success and modify goals. CMHC staff will employ evidence-based practices for behavioral health treatment and services including Trauma-Informed Care; Motivational Interviewing; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Integrated Dual Diagnosis Treatment; Medication-Assisted Treatment; Dialectical Behavioral Therapy; and High-Fidelity Wraparound used by the agency’s community partner, Justice Resource Institute. Goals include: (1) Employ a diverse staff reflective of its population and enhance staff competencies to deliver a patient-centered, culturally competent, whole-person approach to integrated behavioral health care; (2) Create a trauma-informed organizational approach to improve client engagement, treatment, and retention of adults and children with SMI, SED, COD, and underserved populations by addressing individual, systematic, and cross-cultural sensitivity to trauma; (3) Expand capacity to deliver an integrated behavioral health model with low barrier, rapid access trauma-informed treatment to reduce traditional barriers to care for underserved populations with SMI, SED, and COD; (4) Improve whole-person health by focusing on social determinants of health for adults and children with SMI, SUD, SED, COD, and underserved populations; and (5) Ensure the continuity of integrated behavioral health services after CMHC funding, both financially and through providing support for CMHC staff.
