Thursday, May 2, 2024
5/2/2024
WellLife Network (WLN) proposes to provide comprehensive, high-quality coordinated behavioral health care in Nassau County, NY by planning for, developing, and implementing a new Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) that meets SAMHSA’s updated CCBHC Certification Criteria. WLN will provide a comprehensive range of person- and family-centered outreach, screening, assessment, treatment, care coordination, crisis services, and recovery supports based on a community needs assessment. WLN’s CCBHC will serve Nassau County’s more than 1.38 million residents, including children, adults, families, and veterans diagnosed with serious emotional disturbance (SED), serious mental illness (SMI), and co-occurring (COD) mental health (MH) and substance use disorders (SUD) experiencing isolation and loneliness post-COVID-19 pandemic. Residents’ median age is 42 years and 50.8% of the population identifies as female. Its racial distribution is 72.2% White, 17.6% Latino, 11.9% Asian, and 13.1% Black. More than 22% are foreign-born and 28.8% speak a language other than English at home. More than 38,000 are veterans. While county-level data is not available, more than one million adults in NY identify as LGBTQ+. Nassau’s primary care provider-to-population ratio is 143:100,000 and the mental health (MH) provider-to-population ratio is 314:100,000. One-quarter of Long Island families are unable to find a mental health provider who takes their insurance and 3.6% of Nassau County residents are uninsured. Recent studies show the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated SUD and MH issues among youth, children, and adults, with approximately 25% of residents indicating that drug and alcohol abuse and mental health depression/suicide are two of Nassau County’s biggest ongoing health concerns. Despite its affluence, Nassau County lacks sufficient services to address the myriad needs of child and adult residents with SMI, MHD, SUD, and COD, including community-based services that support peer connection, medication-assisted treatment (MAT), and 24/7 mobile crisis services. To offer a comprehensive array of services to Nassau County residents, WLN will: 1) Develop a staffing and training plan reflective of community needs; 2) Increase availability and accessibility of service to the population of focus by developing and implementing a service delivery plan based on the community needs assessment and hiring and training the appropriate staff to deliver those services; 3) Improve care coordination for clients to ensure seamless transitions across myriad health services by implementing electronic health record (EHR) improvements for data collection and analysis, executing Memorandums of Agreement with Designated Collaborating Organizations (DCOs), and updating care coordination protocols; and 4) Increase compliance with CCBHC Certification Criteria by providing mobile crisis services, incorporating screening tools in the EHR, providing primary care screening and monitoring, developing and implementing a targeted outreach plan to veterans, and establishing a clubhouse model of psychosocial rehabilitation for children/youth in WLN’s pediatric community residences and in its supported housing for adults with SMI. Evidence-based practices include Assertive Community Treatment, the Clubhouse Model, Cognitive Behavioral Treatment (CBT), Family Psychoeducation, Integrated Dual Diagnosis Treatment, MAT, Motivational Interviewing, Seeking Safety, and Trauma-Focused CBT. Five of nine CCBHC Certification Criteria will be in place within 6 months of the grant award and all criteria will be met within 12 months of award. WellLife Network’s CCBHC will provide a continuum of evidence-based approaches to 415 unduplicated individuals: 75 in Year 1, 100 in Year 2, 115 in Year 3, and 125 in Year 4.
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).
