In this month’s newsletter, we highlight several initiatives aimed at building resilience and self-advocacy, strengthening systems and improving outcomes children and youth. Highlights include:
- Resilience Learning Collaborative – This new initiative, supported by the Monroe County Office of Mental Health uses an innovative “Reaching Teens” resource guide to help adults engage more effectively with youth and build resiliency.
- Spreading Wellness Around Town (SWAT) Youth Council – Led by youth, SWAT aims to improve the services and supports from child-serving systems and community agencies by giving them a voice to be heard and influence change.
- Chautauqua Tapestry Expansion Initiative – This program builds, develops and expands a comprehensive system of care in Chautauqua County by focusing on sustainable financing, cross-agency collaboration, the creation of policy and infrastructure, and the development and implementation of evidence-based and evidence-informed services and supports for youth and their families.
- Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) – This training teaches adults to recognize mental health problems in youth, offer initial help, and connect them with the appropriate care they need.
As always, you’ll also find links to program updates, recent presentations, and other resources we hope you’ll find helpful.
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Focus on Resilience: Reaching Teens in Monroe County
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Building on the investment Monroe County has made in understanding and responding to trauma, in 2016, member districts of the
Consortium on Trauma, Illness and Grief in Schools (TIG)
asked this question, “If
Resilience trumps ACEs
, how do we build resilience in our schools?” This seemingly simple question proved to be the catalyst that launched a comprehensive new initiative aimed at improving overall mental, physical, and behavioral health among teens.
In December of 2017, over 250 educators, youth programming staff, clinicians, and key community stakeholders gathered to learn how they, as caring adult professionals, can contribute to the growth of resilience in Monroe County. This day launched a community, already committed to fostering resilience in all youth, to move forward with the understanding that they can make an impact on young people who have experienced adversity and are the most vulnerable. This movement was facilitated by the Monroe County Office of Mental Health (MCOMH), and guided by
Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg
, doctor of Adolescent Medicine and national expert on fostering resiliency in youth. In February of 2018, the Resilience Learning Collaborative held its first meeting and Monroe County has become the only community in the nation where schools are leading the charge in becoming a Reaching Teens Community.
What is Reaching Teens?
Published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Reaching Teens builds upon the three pillars of: Positive Youth Development, Resiliency Development, and Trauma-Informed Care. It is a comprehensive resource to guide increasing adult capacity to engage youth and build resiliency. Available as a text with associated digital content or accessible in an all-digital format, Reaching Teens is a practical guide to implement a comprehensive staff training initiative. Each chapter is designed to be read in less than 12 minutes! By sharing this single, well-established resource, MCOMH seeks to reinforce Monroe County’s System of Care values while creating a culture of support for the site-based teams making positive changes.
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Spreading Wellness Around Town (SWAT) Youth Council Raises Mental Health Awareness in May
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Monroe County's
SWAT Youth Council
brings together youth who have had personal experience in one or more of the child-serving systems – Mental Health, Juvenile Justice, Child Welfare, Public Schools and who are interested in helping to shape efforts to improve systems and services. The council gets together each month to learn from each other, from community leaders and from other professionals about topics and issues that youth care about. Most importantly, SWAT is a way for youth voice to be included in these systems so youth can influence change and be heard. The change that SWAT youth are seeking is to improve the services and supports these systems and community agencies provide youth and their families.
SWAT was very active during Mental Health Awareness month:
- Members of the leadership team went to the Families Together NYS Conference in Albany where they presented on strengths-based assessments for self-advocacy.
- Through a partnership with the LIFE House program at Villa of Hope, SWAT Youth Council helped with a community forum on addiction and recovery. Youth presented artwork that demonstrated their experiences and community members were able to connect with local resources.
- As part of a grant received by the Gandhi Institute. The Youth Recognition Awards are going to adults in Monroe County who have brought awareness to youth issues, helped youth in service systems, promoted youth voice and used best practices in engaging youth.
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Chautauqua Tapestry Raises Mental Health Awareness and Demonstrates Program Strengths
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In 2015, Chautauqua was awarded a four-year Expansion Cooperative Agreement to build, develop and expand a comprehensive system of care in Chautauqua County by focusing on sustainable financing, cross-agency collaboration, the creation of policy and infrastructure, and the development and implementation of evidence-based and evidence-informed services and supports. The initiative is known as the Chautauqua Tapestry Expansion Initiative, or simply “Tapestry.” The purpose of this program is to improve mental health outcomes for children and youth (ages 4 - 21 years) with serious emotional disturbances and their families. Expansion adds regional and statewide focus as well as connecting to other systems of care nationally.
CCSI’s Chautauqua County based staff were busy with a broad array of activities in recognition of Mental Health Awareness month:
- On May 12th, Chautauqua Tapestry along with Compeer, hosted their 12th Annual Green Ribbon Gala to raise awareness for mental health and to respect and value people with mental health needs. Families and service providers have the opportunity to interact at this free event which included a potluck dinner, door prizes, Chinese auction, games and more.
- Chautauqua Tapestry offers a partner newspaper campaign in May to their partners in the community. Each partner is offered a discounted ad rate for a “full page” center ad and their logo is featured around the border for the entire month of the campaign. The ads are printed in the Dunkirk Observer and the Jamestown Post Journal. They had over 25 different community partners participate this year.
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CIT Programs Give Police Officers New Approaches to Crisis Intervention
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One of the biggest issues facing police officers today is how to respond to citizens experiencing mental health crises. Almost all law enforcement officials agree that there has been an increase in police calls that are mental health-related, and problems can occur with interactions between law enforcement and those with mental illness. In response to this, many police departments have developed Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) programs in collaboration with community partners including the mental health system and consumer advocacy groups.
CIT programs aim to transform the crisis response system to minimize the times that law enforcement officers are the first responders to citizens in emotional distress. The goal is to reduce the number of arrests of those living with mental illness and help them to instead get the right treatment services they need, so they can successfully stay in the community. A first step in developing a CIT program is assessing the current crisis response system and advocating for enhancements. Another integral part of CIT development involves a week-long 40 hour training program on recognizing and responding to mental illness and related disorders.
Click here to continue reading
– including a Q&A with Dr. Don Kamin, Director for the Institute for Police, Mental Health and Community Collaboration.
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RIT and CCSI Partner in New Priority Behavioral Health Care Psychology Internship Program
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CCSI is excited to be continuing our partnership with Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and welcoming our new clinical psychology pre-doctoral intern in July. The Priority Behavioral Health Care Psychology Internship Program is a year-long program through RIT’s College of Health Sciences and Technology, and it has been accredited by the American Psychological Association. Interns will receive training and didactics in clinical and community settings with a focus on addiction, trauma, family violence and child and adult psychiatry, as well as learning to use technology-assisted interactive tools and tele-psychiatry for clients in rural or remote settings.
More specifically, the CCSI Clinical Rotation will provide trainees with opportunities to work in area schools supporting trauma-informed care initiatives, as well as provide consultation to behavioral health organizations. Interns will be providing assessments, psychological testing and evidenced-based care to children with behavioral health treatment needs at school-based and community settings. The rotation will allow interns to conduct and present research related to large health care datasets, implementation uptake, health care disparities, and understanding the impact of a changing health care system on behavioral health outcomes. This intern will be supervised by
Dr. Elizabeth Meeker
, Director, CCSI’s Practice Transformation team, and
Dr. Briannon O’Connor
, Associate Director, CCSI’s Center for Collaboration in Community Health.
Click
here
for more details about the program.
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Congratulations to Finger Lakes and Southern Tier Behavioral Health Care Collaborative
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Congratulations to Finger Lakes Southern Tier Behavioral Health Collaborative (BHCC) on their recent New York State BHCC award of $1.7 million. Finger Lakes and Southern Tier BHCC is an emerging Behavioral Health provider network founded by four well-respected agencies in the Finger Lakes Region:
Finger Lakes Area Counseling & Recovery Agency (FLACRA)
,
East House
,
Lakeview Health Services, Inc.
and
CASA-Trinity
. New York State is funding the development of BHCCs, networks of Behavioral Health providers, to support clinical integration as well as readiness to become involved in Value Based Payment arrangements. The funding is to be used to cover the cost of significant network development work to take place over the next two years. The counties to be covered by the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier BHCC include: Cayuga, Chemung, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, Yates, Tioga, Schuyler and Broome.
CCSI was pleased to assist in the development of the FLST BHCC funding application. CCSI, along with the Bonadio Group and MP Care Solutions, are also supporting the development and implementation of work plans required by New York State that address four key Value Based Payment Readiness areas: Organization, Data Analytics, Quality Oversight and Clinical Integration. For more information, contact John Lee, Director, Center for Collaboration in Community Health at
jlee@ccsi.org
.
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Financial Services and Fiscal Business Practices
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James Monfort, Manager of Financial Services, Senior Consultant
CCSI | Center for Collaboration in Community Health
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Update from the Center -
Financial Services
2017 Provider CFRs and County Approved Claims
- 2017 Calendar Year CFRs are due Friday, June 1
st
for all providers. Make sure that the online submission process was used via the OMH portal:
https://apps.omh.ny.gov/omhweb/CFRSWeb/cfrsupload
. Extensions beyond the June 1
st
deadline are not offered by counties or by the state. Should a provider exceed the June 1
st
deadline, they should clearly communicate to the counties affected that they are late with their CFR submission. Providers need to be aware that state aid withholds and revenue sanctions will be imposed. Counties are responsible to review and approve provider claims, and all county approved claims are due to NYS no later than Friday June 15
th
.
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Monroe County Office of Mental Health Offers Youth Mental Health First Aid Training
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Youth Mental Health First Aid teaches a 5-step action plan to offer initial help to young people showing signs of a mental illness or in a crisis, and connect them with the appropriate care. The eight hour course will be presented by Monroe County Office of Mental Health trainers at 1099 Jay Street, Rochester.
July 12 and July 26, 8am-noon
or
October 4 and October 11, 8am-noon
Learn how to:
- recognize the signs and symptoms that could be associated with a mental health challenge such as depression, self-harm, or anxiety
- talk to a young person who might be in a crisis
Click
here
for more information.
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Presenter:
David Eckert, LMHC, NCC, CRC
Senior Consultant
CCSI | Center for Collaboration in Community Health
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EBPs and Fidelity: Structure for Success
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This webinar will focus on how effective program and agency level Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) practices can serve as a foundation for the implementation and delivery of Evidence Based Practices (EBPs) across a variety of programs and services. Participants will learn about how performance-driven organizations incorporate a CQI-friendly structure into their everyday workflows and processes in a way that facilitates the delivery of EBPs through data identification, collection, retrieval, and reporting. This webinar will also review the importance of delivering EBPs with a fidelity to practice to ensure that positive results remain consistent over time.
June 14, 2018
12:00 - 1:00 PM
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April Center Webinar -
Making the Most of Available Data to Drive Performance
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Briannon O'Connor, PhD
Associate Director
CCSI | Center for Collaboration in Community Health
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Want to hear more? If you haven’t yet had the chance, we hope you’ll check out our Facebook page for more CCSI news and resources.
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