FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion - Christopher Greater Area Rural Health Planning Corporation (CGARHPC), a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in southern Illinois, is applying for HRSA-24-078, FY 2024 Behavioral Health Service Expansion funding. CGARHPC is a current recipient of HRSA grant funding (H80CS00726). Christopher Greater Area Rural Health Planning Corporation (CGARHPC) is proposing to expand behavioral health and substance use disorder services by increasing the number of sites offering these services. CGARHPC plans to open a Mental Health Wellness Center in Franklin County, IL, specifically the city of Benton. Franklin County and the neighboring counties of Jefferson, Wayne and Hamilton are all located in medically underserved areas. Of the 29 cities or townships located within these counties, only one city (Mt. Vernon) offers mental health services for low-income population. Health Resources Services Administration’s (HRSA) latest data from 2022 shows nearly 10,000 low-income residents live in the identified service area who are not seeking primary care services from a safety-net provider, much less receiving mental health or substance use disorder services. The proposed Mental Health Wellness Center will employ qualified mental health professionals including psychiatrists, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners clinical social workers and professional counselors. These mental health professionals will utilize the latest treatment modalities for mental health and substance use disorders. This will significantly increase the number of patients who have access to and receive mental health and substance use disorder services for this patient population. The mental health wellness center will provide services to both new patients not currently seeking treatment from a safety net provider as well as patients who currently see CGARHPC’s providers for primary care services in the identified service area. In addition to clinic site expansion, CGARHPC also proposes to increase the number of patients receiving treatment for substance use disorder services by increasing the number of existing primary care providers in CGARHPC’s ten-county service area who prescribe medications for opioid use disorder.
