Friday, May 3, 2024
5/3/2024
The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is pleased to submit a request for $449,632 to the Department of Health and Human Services - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Program funding opportunity. The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, Ponca Health Services’ Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (PHS-IECMH) project will improve outcomes for 544 Ponca tribal and other tribal children and adolescents from birth to age 12 with multigenerational evidence-based treatment and services including integrated care, mental health screening, therapy services, and preventative programs within the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska’s fifteen-county service delivery area. This project will also train 143 Ponca Health Services and other community members to build service delivery capacity. Reestablished as a federally recognized tribe in 1990, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has approximately 4,200 members and its service delivery area (SDA) covers thirteen (13) counties in Eastern Nebraska, two (2) in Iowa, and one (1) in South Dakota. The Ponca IECMH project will focus on the American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) population residing in this SDA. The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska’s health care entity, Ponca Health Services (PHS), will implement this project. PHS aims to support healthy Ponca tribal and other tribal members’ children, adolescents, and families throughout its fifteen-county service delivery area. Integrating the foundational elements, priorities, and strategies of the National Tribal Behavioral Health Agenda, Ponca Health Services’ mission is to provide holistic, caring, family-centered, and culturally sensitive services through a quality clinical and educational approach. PHS offers integrated medical, dental, and behavioral health care throughout the lifespan for Ponca tribal and other tribal members. Many other services are offered by the Ponca Tribe including youth programming, social services, housing, culture education and preservation, and transportation. PHS-IECMH project goals include: 1) providing age-appropriate assessment and intervention services for children at risk of, showing early signs of, or having been diagnosed with a mental illness, including a serious emotional disturbance (SED); 2) providing infant and early childhood mental health consultation (IECMHC) to early care and education programs that work with children and families; 3) provide specialized training for mental health clinicians in infant and early childhood mental health, including specific training in promising and evidence-based practices and models for prevention, early intervention, and treatment; 4) providing training to child and family-serving professionals with expertise in infant and early childhood mental health with respect to appropriate and relevant integration with other disciplines; and 5) developing a sustainability plan to ensure that infant and early childhood mental health services and workforce development can continue when federal funding ends. Key PHS-IECMH project objectives include hiring child/adolescent therapists, expanding psychiatry availability, investing in training and tools for behavioral health and primary care staff, improving care integration, strengthening youth programming and parenting classes with evidence-based curriculum, and providing external trainings on working with Native American children and youth to care providers in Nebraska. This project will provide more impactful mental health promotion, prevention, early intervention, and treatment interventions to Ponca tribal and other tribal children and adolescents and improve service delivery through training.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
