Behavioral Health Services of South Georgia CCBHC Planning, Development, and Implementation - Legacy Behavioral Health Services (LBHS), a public safety net provider based in Lowndes County, the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) center of a 10-county non-MSA area of southeast Georgia, proposes to establish a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic. LBHS currently delivers person-centered, evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery services and pursues this opportunity to increase behavioral health and reduce poor outcomes. Our proposal has three goals: 1) reduce crisis contacts through expanded criminal justice partnerships, expanded crisis care and aftercare and consistent application of trauma informed EBPs 2) increase physical health care access for people with behavioral health issues, who frequently have complex chronic conditions, particularly minorities, and who often lack access to traditional healthcare provider settings 3) Reduce poor behavioral health outcomes for people of Hispanic ethnicity through expanding access and engagement. Our CCBHC will deliver quality screening, assessment, and treatment, 24/7 crisis services, person centered care coordination, physical health screenings and coordination, psychiatric rehabilitation and peer support, targeted case management and integrated care for veterans for children and adults. We are partnering with our local FQHC, working closely with our VA partners, providing co-response with the police, and delivering services in schools. To support this work, we will hire additional nurses, therapists, case managers, and outreach and peer staff. We propose to reduce crisis contacts by expanding available services to people who are incarcerated and supporting them in their transition out of jail, following up on people leaving local EDs, providing peer services 7 days a week at our Behavioral Health Crisis Center and consistently delivering trauma focused EBPs: Seeking Safety, EMDR Training for Trauma, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), and QPR. We will increase physical health care access through adding resources to do our own screenings as well as primary care visits for those who wish. Lastly, we will reduce poor behavioral health outcomes for people of Hispanic ethnicity by expanding access and engagement. We will facilitate access to transportation through partners in the local Hispanic community who will help identify those in need. We will also conduct outreach and education to non-traditional behavioral health partners, e.g., barber shops and groceries to inform the community of services available. Our efforts will be conducted using evidence-based and emerging practices to support care for behavioral health conditions. In addition to the trauma-focused interventions mentioned above, LBHS will use Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT); Motivational Interviewing, a recognized engagement practice for structured communication to assess readiness and/or promote behavior change; Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) and Parent Management Training (PMT), both practices recognized to support parents coping with a children’s’ behavioral challenges; Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), effective for youth and adults with suicidal ideation and risk; Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT), a recognized intervention for youth substance use and antisocial behaviors; and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), an evidence-based practice for behavioral health disorders in adults. Throughout all CCBHC services, we will ensure that consumers receive client-centered care that is free from stigma and that is culturally and linguistically appropriate to meet the consumer’s individual context and care needs.
