Abstract: Bridgeway Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic in Hudson County, NJ
Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services (BBHS) will use SAMHSA Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Improvement and Advancement funding to enhance the programming of its CCBHC which launched in Hudson County (HC), NJ in 2021. The CCBHC will be able to increase its offerings to include 8 of the 9 required CCBHC services on-site, and at a single location, improving access and continuity of care for its consumers.
Our populations of focus (POF) will be children/adolescents; senior citizens; those with substance use disorder (SUD); the Hispanic/Latino community, particularly those for whom Spanish is their primary language and are not English proficient; the Black community; and the LGBTQ+ population. The CCBHC will address the following health disparities among subpopulations of focus in HC: rate of psychiatric hospitalizations among Black individuals which is 70% higher than the county average for all individuals in the catchment area (CA);2 chronic depression among Hispanic/Latino individuals in HC, 51% of whom reported symptoms vs. 42% of the general population;4 chronic depression among the LGBTQ+ population, 70% of which reported symptoms;4 seniors who are “particularly affected by anxiety and depression” and have a higher rate of comorbid chronic conditions than the general population;2 anxiety and depression in youth as identified by a 2022 needs assessment; 2 and persons with SUD who are without sufficient treatment resources.2
We plan to serve 75 consumers in year 1; 125 in year 2; 175 in year 3; 200 in year 4 and a total of 575 people throughout the funding period. Our goals for the catchment area include (1) Improve the mental health (MH) and physical health of the Black population, (2) Improve access to care MH/SUD/physical health care for the Hispanic/Latino population, especially Spanish speakers with limited English proficiency, (3) Improve whole-person outcomes for the LGBTQ+ population, (4) Improve whole-person health for Seniors ages 65+, (5) Provide high-quality MH care to children and adolescents, (6) Improve access to SUD treatment, (7) Improve access to care for all of our Populations of Focus (POF).
These goals will be accomplished by adding, on-site for the first time, outpatient SUD treatment for adults and seniors; outpatient MH treatment for children/adolescents; primary care screening and services across the lifespan; peer services; Spanish-language options in all our service lines. We will tailor our services to be effective, responsive, and evidence-based in relation to our POF.
BBHS is committed to delivering culturally and linguistically appropriate and accessible care. This is driven through the QI Dept., an internal Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) committee, charged with ensuring all BBHS programs adhere to the National Standards for Cultural and Linguistically Appropriate Services, and that all staff are trained annually on cultural competency. We will prioritize the recruitment and hiring of practitioners who have similar identities/demographics as our POF including those who are bilingual, practitioners who are Black and/or Latino, and those who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community.
This service expansion will significantly improve access to comprehensive care for the community in Hudson County. We intend to ensure that all our clients have their whole-person health and recovery needs met through our CCBHC program. Through this effort, our agency will reduce health disparities in our POF and improve the MH/SUD/physical health outcomes for our consumers.