The Oregon Health Authority is seeking funding to implement two community-based programs in a rural county in Southern Oregon. The local community mental health program (CMHP), the circuit court, and the sole emergency room for the county will partner to implement outpatient civil commitment and assisted outpatient treatment (AOT), both serving adults with serious mental illness. These court-ordered mental health treatment programs are designed for individuals unwilling to engage in treatment voluntarily and who experience either a level of dangerousness or inability to meet their own basic needs severely enough to put themselves or others at risk of harm. The court and civil commitment investigators will refer people into these programs by way of civil commitment proceedings, starting either at the hospital or as a diversion from competency restoration orders. The CMHP will offer and provide peer support services to every participant and, if eligible, participants will be enrolled in ACT or EASA. The project will utilize the START and CSSR-S as a standardized risk assessment tools and help participants complete Declarations for Mental Health Treatment to prevent inpatient hospitalizations when in distress and preserve choice. The project will serve approximately 40 adults with serious mental illness in one year. For this population of focus, it aims to reduce incidence of inpatient hospitalizations, reduce incidence of homelessness, reduce incidence of incarceration, and reduce contacts with law enforcement. It also seeks to increase the number of community-based monitoring and reduce the number of individuals remaining in competency restoration for 12 or more months. Project staff will utilize tools specific to Oregon like the Measures and Outcomes Tracking System and the Acute Care Reporting system, and data available in the state's Behavioral Health Data Warehouse, along with the IPP and NOMs from SAMHSA, to assess the project’s progress, revise and refine over time, and report outcomes.
