TRACE (Transitional Recovery & Adolescent Care Expansion) Program - Children’s Behavioral Health Services (CBHS) is a department of the Behavioral Health Services (BHS) Division of Lakeview Center Inc. in Escambia County (Pensacola) FL. Lakeview Center, Inc. (LCI) is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization that began 64 years ago (1954) as a small child guidance clinic and is now a comprehensive community behavioral health center. The proposed (TRACE) project will be responsible to the LCI Behavioral Health Services (BH) Division/Children’s Behavioral Health Services Department. Through the TRACE Program, LCI proposes to expand and enhance SUD/MH treatment services.
Project services will be provided in Escambia County, Florida. The population of focus (POF) for the proposed TRACE (Transitional Recovery & Adolescent Care Expansion) Program is Transitional aged youth (16-21) with substance use disorder, serious mental illness or co-occurring disorders, emphasizing female and ethnic minority access to services.
Over the 5-year project period the proposed TRACE Program, with supporting services from community partners, will provide services for 450 persons (minimum of 50 persons year 1, minimum of 100 persons annually years 2-5). Transitional youth and their families will receive evidence-based services through a number of modalities. These modalities include: Wrap Team services (WRAP model adaptation that incorporates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Seeking Safety and Trauma Informed Care Approach); Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Comprehensive Case Management (CCM) services.
The TRACE Program will focus on assisting clients in developing coping skills for mental health and substance use triggers; imparting accurate, comprehensive information about available support services; involving family and significant others in the therapeutic and educational processes to gain their support for treatment; encouraging family members to participate in any SAMH treatment services they have been assessed as needing; and providing crisis intervention as required, as well as supportive counseling services.
NSDUH 2014 data demonstrates that among older adolescents with a major depressive episode (MDE), 60.1% did not receive treatment and that among young adults with any mental illness (AMI), that 66.6% did not receive mental health services. Further, Escambia County, Florida’s 2014 Youth Substance Abuse Survey highlights that 38.1% of teens report lifetime use of alcohol, 16.3% report blacking out after drinking on one or more occasions and 19.7% report past-30-day use of marijuana. And locally, Lakeview Center, Inc. (LCI) Behavioral Health Services Division provided treatment services to a total of 1,522 persons aged 16-21 years, from 2016-17, who were dually diagnosed. The need for expanded access to services, and enhancement of the services provided, is evident among the transitional aged youth of Escambia County and the TRACE Program will seek to fill this service gap.
The evaluator for this project will be Dr. Susan Walch (University of West FL), who has over 20 years of experience in programmatic assessment and evaluation. Dr. Walch is a professor of abnormal psychology, health psychology and behavior modification. She is a clinical psychologist specializing in psycho-oncology, cognitive-behavioral therapies and women’s health (among others). She has (co)written numerous peer-reviewed journal articles on the social factors of homophobia, attitudes toward transgendered persons and managing diversity in the workplace. Supporters of her research on HIV/AIDS prevention and interventions have included: the FL Department of Health, Southern REACH and the EJAF (et.al.).
