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 DIRECTOR'S REPORT

BHS Director Cynthia Belon (L) talks to Rep. George Miller and his wife Cynthia Miller on May 12.

The May 12 celebration included tours of the facility led by Ambulatory Care Medical Director Dr. Chris Farnitano, and a bevy of speakers such as Congressman Mike Thompson, Contra Costa County Supervisors John Gioia, Karen Mitchoff and Candace Andersen, CCHS Director Dr. William Walker, Regional Medical Center and Health Centers Chief Executive Officer Anna Roth and, of course, Congressman George Miller and his wife, Cynthia.

The Martinez facility was named after the retiring Congressman and his wife to honor their decades of service improving the health of the community and supporting health care reform.

The Miller Wellness Center will offer primary care, pediatrics, group medical visits and same-day appointments. Behavioral health services at the site will include psychiatry, short-term individual and family therapy, outpatient care for substance abuse, support groups, and crisis management and referral into long-term treatment for children and adults. The wellness center is the second of the county's 10 health centers to integrate physical and behavioral health services. CCHS opened its first such health center in Concord last year.

For more information about the George & Cynthia Miller Wellness Center, visit cchealth.org/centers/mwc.php

SPIRIT Peers in training: (L-R) Mark Marolt, Annette Nava, Laurie Tolen, Sean Conners, and Bronda Johnson (back row)

A $400,000 grant will expand the opportunities offered by the Mental Health Program's innovative peer-training program, including placement assistance into entry-level jobs for peers and family members working with youth and adolescents.

The Service Provider Individualized Recovery Intensive Training (SPIRIT) program provides consumers and former consumers with the training to put their "lived experience" to work helping other consumers in the Behavioral Health system of care.

Completion of the program is a prerequisite to become peer providers for adult and older-adult consumers. The grant allows the SPIRIT program to develop similar training for family partners working with children and adolescents.

The funding, from the Office of Statewide Health and Planning Development (OSHPD), enables SPIRIT to expand its training scope and provide job-retention and career-development assistance to our peers. It will also place program participants in more than 60 paid and unpaid entry-level positions with the county, most of which offer opportunities for advancement.

For more information about this program contact [email protected].  

Lauri Quezada, a student at Riverview Middle School, addresses the Board of Supervisors on April 22 about the dangers of "alcopops."

The Board of Supervisors formally recognized April 2014 as Alcohol Awareness Month after hearing from youth leaders and health advocates working with the Alcohol & Other Drugs Services program about local efforts to curb the marketing of sugary alcoholic drinks to children.

Toting colorful cans of "alcopop," students from Riverview Middle School in Bay Point, De Anza High School in Richmond and Ygnacio Valley High School in Concord joined members of the Alcohol & Other Drugs Advisory Board and the alcohol policy working groups of both east and west counties to discuss the prevalence and accessibility of these potent products where Contra Costa kids shop.

AODS, Public Health's Tobacco Prevention Project and the Nutrition, Food Security and Physical Activity program recently joined a statewide effort to improve the health of Californians through changes in the retail environment, to educate people about how in-store product marketing influences consumption of unhealthy products. A recent survey connected to the campaign found that nearly 85% of stores in Contra Costa that sell alcohol sold alcopops.

New Behavioral Health brochures

The Behavioral Health Division, working with the Community Education & Information Unit, has published a new trifold brochure explaining its services and how consumers benefit from our merged mental health, substance abuse and homeless services.

For more information, or to receive a supply of brochures for your office or clinic, contact Jeannie DeTomasi at 925-957-5201 or [email protected].

Pre-enrollment data is from the calendar year before each participant's enrollment. Post-enrollment data is from fiscal year 2012-2013.

A pilot program to help adult consumers with severe mental illness who have been affected by traumatic experiences has led to a sharp decline in psychiatric emergency admissions and hospitalization for participating consumers.

The Libby-Madelyn Collins Trauma Recovery Project in 2011 began piloting the use of a comprehensive, 21-week trauma recovery group at several clinics, both to gauge the efficacy of the strategy in promoting recovery, and to determine how peer providers can support the work. Contra Costa's mental health system previously lacked a model for working with these consumers.

The project, funded through the Innovation Component of our county's Mental Health Services Act funding, has served 30 consumers so far. Participants have experienced a 27% decrease in psychiatric emergency admissions and a more than 40% drop in acute psychiatric hospitalizations and hospitalization days.

"People's lives are improving in tangible ways," said Steve Blum, the primary mental health clinician who facilitates these groups. "The results so far are very encouraging, and we're looking for opportunities to expand our efforts."

(L-R) MHS Adult Program Chief Victor Montoya, BHS Director Cynthia Belon, Supervisor Karen Mitchoff and Telecare CEO Anne L. Bakar at the Hope House opening celebration.

Hope House, Contra Costa's newest residential mental health treatment program, accepted its first consumers just hours after a celebration opening the facility on April 21.

The program helps consumers who are in crisis to avoid hospitalization and transition from the hospital or long-term locked facilities back into the community. Consumers discharging from the hospital and long-term facilities will benefit from this step-down level of care and Hope House will encourage successful transitions back into the community.

Hope House, built with funding from the Mental Health Services Act, is an unlocked 16-bed facility on a hillside above Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez, built with funding from the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). Behavioral Health Services has hired Telecare Corporation to provide services at the facility.

Hope House serves adults 18 to 59 years of age and older and will be open 24 hours every day. The program is co-occurring capable and uses an outcome-driven approach to providing services.

For more information, contact Erin McCarty at [email protected]. 

AODS Director Haven Fearn

Haven Fearn, director of Alcohol and Other Drugs Services, delivered the welcoming address at the annual Building Bridges conference on April 10 in Walnut Creek.

The conference, held by Contra Costa County Children and Family Services, provides training for professionals who deal with child welfare issues. The topic of this year's training was "Abandonment Effects on Youth and Families Exposed to Addiction," facilitated by Lisa Cohen Bennett, PhD. Dr. Bennett took an in-depth look at the impact of addiction on children and presented best practices for treatment.

The emotional consequences of child neglect due to addiction often manifest into problematic behaviors that can persist into adulthood without adequate treatment. 

We recently restructured the Homeless Program website from the ground up to offer easier navigation and more organized content.

More importantly, it's been redesigned to help people get to know us better -- who we are, who our partners are, and the work we do.

We hope that the new layout will enhance our site's value as a resource for those seeking services, volunteer opportunities, or simply connecting with our team and staying in touch with what's going on in our continuum of care.

Please take a look at cchealth.org/homeless. 

The Alcohol and Other Drugs and Mental Health programs recently participated in a pair of strategic planning meetings to develop a 5-year plan to address priority health problems affecting children and families living in Contra Costa County. 

Public Health's Maternal & Child Health (FMCH) Programs hosted the meetings, at which AODS and Mental Heath, along with other community partners, provided local insight, discussed data and identified collaborative opportunities and potential strategies to address these issues.

FMCH identified six goals to improve the health of women, infants, children and adolescents through better outreach, access to quality health and human services, and greater nutrition and physical activity. Each goal was presented along with a corresponding problem that identified disparities in healthcare, particularly for women of color. For example, African American babies have significantly higher rates of preterm birth and low birth weight compared to other groups, and Hispanic teens are having babies at a higher rate than other race/ethnic groups.

Substance abuse among pregnant and parenting women and teens is a major barrier  towards reducing health disparities. AODS' prevention team is working closely with FMCH to tackle these inequities. 

• 1 1/2 pounds potatoes (or frozen french fries)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 pound beef tenderloin (or protein of choice)
• 2 red onions, sliced thinly into slivers
• 1 hot yellow pepper, diced
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 red peppers, sliced into strips
• 2 plum tomatoes, sliced into thin strips
• Vegetable oil for frying potatoes
• Salt and pepper to taste  

Preparation: 

Peel and cut potatoes into 1/2 inch think french fries and place in ice water. Set aside. Cut beef (or other protein) into 1/2 inch strips. Mash garlic cloves. Heat vegetable oil in a skillet and saute garlic with the cumin for 1 minute. Add beef and cook on medium heat until browned on all sides. Remove beef from heat and season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Add the onions and hot yellow pepper to the same pan and cook 2 to 3 minutes, until the onions are soft, adding a little more vegetable oil if needed. Add the vinegar, soy sauce and red peppers and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat. In separate pan, fry the potatoes in 1 to 2 inches of oil until golden. Drain on paper towels and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the beef to the pan with the onions and peppers. Add the tomatoes and heat for 2 minutes. Add the french fries to the stir-fry. Serve with rice.

Serves 4 to 6

For more information: [email protected]