The Village for Families & Children’s (The Village) proposed CCBHC-IA project will build on the successes and learnings of the prior CCBHC Expansion Grant to further expand access to supports and services for adults with serious mental illness (SMI), substance use disorders (SUD), and co-occurring disorders (COD), as well as children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED) in Connecticut’s capital city of Hartford. Within this broad category, the agency will target services for subpopulations that experience disparities in rates of these conditions including racial/ethnic minorities, Veterans/active-duty military, and those experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Using focused, evidence-based interventions, the project will improve outcomes and address barriers to effective treatment and recovery, including social determinants of health. Throughout its more than 210 years of multi-faceted service delivery, The Village has developed extensive experience, infrastructure, and capacity to provide a wide range of services and improve well-being for its clients. Working with our DCO, Capitol Region Mental Health Center, the agency will serve a minimum of 861 individuals over the course of the four-year grant period:
Year 1: 18 children/adolescents; 144 adults (162 individuals)
Years 2-4: 25 children/adolescents; 208 adults (233 individuals)
The goals proposed for this project are advancements of the services The Village currently performs under its 2020 CCBHC Expansion Grant. They have been developed based on data and experience gained through that work. The goals of “The Village CCBHC: Advancing Community-Based Behavioral Health Care in CT’s Capitol Region” are:
Goal 1: Increase engagement and treatment completion among Veterans/active-duty military personnel and other individuals with SMI, SUD, COD by screening clients for risk factors that may lead to early treatment termination and offering individualized support and connections to resources to promote treatment participation and retention.
Goal 2: Increase access to supportive housing for individuals with SMI, SUD, or COD
Goal 3: Decrease ED utilization and inpatient stays by providing community-based interventions for individuals with SMI, SUD, COD
Goal 4: Improve outcomes for adolescents with SED who are at risk of SUD.
These goals will be achieved through a variety of targeted activities including:
- Development and proactive use of an Engagement Capacity Screening to identify and mitigate barriers to treatment engagement.
- Increased outreach to community organizations targeted at the Veteran/active-duty military population.
- Partnership with affordable housing managers and developers to provide services and increase availability of supportive housing.
- Creation of an Acute Community Services Team to provide community-based care for individuals with SMI who are unable to access in-clinic care.
- Individualized after-care planning for clients preparing to discharge from subacute care facilities.
- Increased promotion and provision of in-clinic Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) for adolescents with SED and their families.