Community mental health service organizations are making headway with federal assistance by increasing their visibility at the street level. On February 6th, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen (HHS) Kennedy announced the awarding of $100 million in support of the Great American Recovery to expand access to mental health care.
The STREETS Initiative and AOT (Assisted Outpatient Treatment) grants are examples of programs intended to expand access by providing mental health services outside of the office and into the community at large through street-based outreach teams connected to housing, housing-based services and intensive case management for those who are unstable and homeless or struggling to maintain stability in their community.
The STREETS Initiative is designed for those suffering from severe mental illness that are experiencing homelessness or in frequent crises. The STREETS Initiative will fund the hiring of outreach workers, provide housing assistance and intensive mental health services such as case management or peer support, to individuals in need of mental health services, where the service provider has physically met the person at the location of need, such as a homeless encampment, shelter, or public space.
Continuing with the discussion of Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) grants, they are designed to assist patients with the development and execution of supervised treatment plans under the jurisdiction of the court. This assistance is directed to those suffering from severe Mental Illness, and these individuals frequently cycle through jail, Emergency Rooms (ERs), and are often involuntarily hospitalized multiple times. When established with adequate protections and community supervision, advocates believe that community mental health services can assist individuals in accessing housing and community services and can also reduce the incidence of harm and trauma.
The assistance and services outlined above, will be provided in addition to the $794 Million that has been allotted to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) via block grants for the purpose of funding the delivery of community services for Mental Health (MH) and substance use programs. These actions reflect a change in the delivery of care and treatment of mental illness or substance use from emergency/crisis driven care delivery to early intervention/family managed, community based care delivery.
The hope for Families with this population of individuals living with serious mental illness, is that community mental health services will provide a network of support that will be strong, available, and able to assist them prior to needing intervention from any formal services.
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