Saturday, April 26, 2025
4/26/2025
Knowledge is Freedom - Mile High Behavioral Healthcare (MHBHC), serving the metropolitan Denver area proposes the Knowledge Is Freedom project to support client engagement in HIV preventative, medical, and behavioral health care, decrease risk-taking behaviors and improve behavioral health treatment outcomes. Over 5 years, 300 clients will receive trauma-informed, "one-stop" peer-informed preliminary and confirmatory testing, SBIRT, and behavioral health treatment services. . The population of focus is 300 (60/yr) racially/ethnically diverse individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) and SUD with co-occurring mental health disorders (MHD) who are homeless or are at risk of homelessness, as well as the LGBTQ+ and transgender populations. 33.8% will identify as Hispanic, 11.8% as African American, and 5.9% as Native American / Alaskan Native. As the Denver area's only provider of Ryan White services dually licensed by the Colorado Office of Behavioral Health as a mental health ad substance use disorder treatment provider with a specialty clinic designation for LGBTQ+ subpopulations, clients will be enrolled through two branches of the organization: LGBTQ+ behavioral health programs and emergency, day, and transitional housing programs. Knowledge Is Freedom will attain the following goals: 1) Increase behavioral health and medical treatment engagement by building MHBHC'c capacity to conduct trauma-informed, culturally relevant, peer-supported in-house, onsite HIV, HBV, and HCV rapid and confirmatory testing with linkage to medical care; ; 2) Using a Treatment as Prevention (TasP) approach, increase access to and retention in SUD/MHD and medical treatment for racially and ethnically clients who test positive for HIV, HVB, and/or HVC; 3) Increase access to and retention in behavioral health treatment for racially and ethnically diverse high risk clients who test negative for HIV, HVB, and/or HVC. These goals will be achieved through staff expansion to include a 1.0 FTE onsite phlebotomist, 1.0 FTE case manager/project coordinator, 1.0 peer recovery specialist and 2.0 FTE licensed therapists. Evidence based practices will be delivered through MHBHC's harm reduction, person-centered treatment philosophy and delivered by a peer-led workforce and include fourth-generation HIV testing and on-site PrEP service as well as Colorado SBIRT for clients in MHBHC homeless programs. . In addition, Sisters Informing Sisters about Topics on AIDS (SISTA)/Transgender Women being Informed by Sisters about Topics on AIDS (TWISTA), Healthy Relationships, Spiritual Self-Schema (3-S), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Seeking Safety (SS), intensive case management (ICM), telehealth and medication assisted treatment will be provided. Key outcomes include number of clients served (including new clients served as a result of this funding) and tests completed, number of clients with HIV linked to HIV services, diagnoses, reduction of viral load, PrEP adherence, treatment access, retention and engagement, reduction in viral load, decreased SUD/MHD symptoms and improved psychosocial functioning including improved social connectedness.
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).