The Federal Government is providing an additional $69 million in funding for Mental Health Community-Based Services, which SAMHSA has indicated will provide a significant increase. The primary recipients of these grant funds will be three major initiatives: The Children’s Mental Health Initiative; Zero Suicide; and Assisted Outpatient Treatment. All three of these programs target areas in need of Mental Health Services and were created to help meet this need.
This new funding will enable additional community-based mental health services to be created for children and their families so that they can access these services closer to their homes, rather than relying on Emergency Rooms or entering the juvenile justice system. Additionally, for adults, the Zero Suicide initiative will help ensure that all health care delivery systems will provide Suicide Prevention activities, regardless of the manner in which health care is provided (Primary Care and Specialty Mental Health Care).
The aim of the Assisted Outpatient Program will be to provide ongoing support and structure to individuals living with Serious Mental Illness, who often access the health care system via Emergency Departments, experience homelessness, and/or have been incarcerated, so that these individuals can live in the community without crisis.
District clinicians agree with the funding, but underlined that mental health services are still under strain; Numerous practitioners holding cumbersome loads of clients are from a bottom-end of the spectrum. Likewise, rural or underserved areas of our country continue to experience significant shortages of workers. To offset that tightness, this grant will go to evidence-based strategies to help produce more effective and integrated, while levelling the playing field for all those who utilize mental health services. Client advocates stress that integrating this funding with equal-access insurance coverage and enforcement of mental health parity will be critical to the projects’ success.
Families impacted by suicide and/or serious mental illness are closely monitoring the progress of this funding; sharing their past experiences of extended waits for treatment, loss of family members, etc., and will quickly call upon states to pursue this grant funding as states work to develop partnerships amongst community-based organisations already familiar with their region’s needs. At its core, this infusion of funds is not only about physical systems; it is about creating real opportunities for people to heal, connect, and achieve the life they desire.
Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services – SAMHSA Funding Announcement
Leave a Comment