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IN THE NEWS
ACCESS LINE REPORTS STEADY INTEGRATION OF MENTAL HEALTH, AODS SERVICES
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY TO MOVE AHEAD WITH LAURA'S LAW PLAN
HOMELESS PROGRAM COMPLETES ANNUAL COUNT, PREPARES FOR ZERO 2016
MILLER WELLNESS CENTER BEGINS OFFERING BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES
TRAINING CONNECTS MH WITH CFS WORKERS SERVING CHILDREN IN PLACEMENT
MARCH IS PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE AWARENESS MONTH
Mission  
OUR MISSION
The mission of Contra Costa Behavioral Health, in partnership with consumers, families, staff, and community-based agencies, is to provide welcoming, integrated services for mental health, substance abuse, homelessness and other needs that promotes wellness, recovery, and resiliency while respecting the complexity and diversity of the people we serve. 
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OUR VISION
Contra Costa Behavioral Health envisions a system of care that supports independence, hope, and healthy lives by making accessible behavioral health services that are responsive, integrated, compassionate, and respectful. 
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Main DIRECTOR'S REPORT

SPRING EDITION 2015
Cynthia Belon
Cynthia Belon,  LCSW
Director of Behavioral 
Health Services
MORE IMPROVEMENTS AHEAD FOR THE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH DIVISION

There are many improvements in the works this spring in the Behavioral Health Division, but the one many of us are cheering for the most is the Behavioral Health Tapestry Project.

In November, we expect to roll out a new electronic health record system for use in Behavioral Health.

The change will allow for streamlined referrals to and from our integrated access line, data tracking to improve coordination of services, faster and more accurate claims processing and enabling the kind of follow-up that we need to ensure that every door is the right door for service. Tapestry is one of the products offered by the Epic EHR system also used by our Regional Medical center and Health Centers, allowing Behavioral Health to increasingly integrate into the rest of our health system. 

It has been a long time coming, but as we have learned over the past decade, change can take time. Many people have worked hard on the details, from technological compatibility to the safety of our consumers' medical records, and I want to thank everyone involved for moving us forward.

Over the past year, evidence of healthcare integration has become easy to spot in our system of care, from the numerous examples of co-located services in county clinics to our work building a telephone access system that allows for fluid, one-stop referrals and scheduling for all the services our consumers need. To learn more, check the Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report at cchealth.org/bhs.  

These improvements help us run a flexible, accessible system, and they are timely. The Affordable Care Act brought healthcare to many new consumers, and we need the best tools available to meet the growing need.

Behavioral Health's role in delivering services may soon grow more, as the Department of Health Care Services is making progress toward securing a Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System Waiver. The waiver will make Medi-Cal recipients eligible for broader substance abuse treatment options, and allow participating counties more leeway to coordinate cross-disciplinary approaches to treatment -- more opportunities for service integration.

Throughout all of our internal improvement work, I have been continually impressed by the way our staff builds and maintains quality relationships with consumers and the communities where they live. A great example is the Homeless Program, which has taken on an ambitious, community-driven project to eliminate veteran and chronic homelessness by 2016.

The Zero 2016 campaign is a national effort that we decided to join primarily because of the incredible enthusiasm of community partners both new and old to make a difference locally. Community-based organizations such as the Multi-Faith ACTION Committee brought the plan to us, not the other way around.

The campaign, which launched in January during our annual count of the county's homeless population, should help us to refine our approach to prioritizing housing for some of our most vulnerable consumers. Our willingness to serve as a rudder for this broad, community-led effort also shows our partners that we can collaborate in new ways, and that we value their perspectives.

Another valuable perspective belongs to Dr. Wendel Brunner, who I am pleased to announce is assisting Behavioral Health Services, along with Contra Costa Health Services as a whole, with our service integration efforts in coming months as he transitions into retirement.

Many of us know Wendel as the longtime director of our Public Health Division, a position from which he will retire in June. He has also been a key leader in our efforts to integrate our behavioral and physical health programs, and he brings extensive experience on the subject from all corners of our healthcare system. We are really lucky to have him.

Thank you for all your hard work in Behavioral Health into a more modern, accessible system of care, and please stay tuned. It's going to be a busy year.

Sincerely, 

CB Signiture 2
Cynthia Belon, LCSW 
Behavioral Health Director
Contra Costa County Behavioral Health

  

ACCESS LINE REPORTS STEADY INTEGRATION OF MENTAL HEALTH, AODS SERVICES 
Consumers with co-occurring disorders are already benefiting from recent changes to the Behavioral Health integrated access line program, which now has a substance abuse counselor from the Alcohol & Other Drugs Program working directly with access line clinicians several days a week.
Substance abuse counselor Zachariah Todd works three days each week at the Mental Health Access Line. 

Zachariah Todd, formerly a case manager in the Homeless Program, began providing substance abuse counseling for the AODS hotline in December, reviving a program that had been without dedicated staff for about a year. But his addition has also helped connect mental health and AODS services on the high-volume Mental Health Access Line.

 

Evolution of the access line is the main product so far of last year's consultant-led Value Stream Mapping process intended to improve consumer access to Behavioral Health programs. The Division eventually intends to fully integrate all of the telephone hotlines for mental health, AODS and the Homeless Program, so that consumers can access all services with a single call.

 

While that work continues, the collaboration between Mental Health and AODS has produced much positive feedback since it began, Access Line Program Manager Shelley Okey said, and also provides an early model for how an integrated call center might work.

 

Having an AODS counselor in the call center makes warm transfers quick and easy, and gives mental health staff a ready resource for navigating the AODS Program's processes for connecting consumers with its programs. The majority of Access Line callers need services from both programs.

 

The Mental Health Care Management Unit currently has two open positions, including one for a dedicated bilingual (Spanish) licensed mental health clinical specialist.

 

For more information about the openings or the access line, call Shelley Okey or Katy White at 925-372-4400. 

 

The access line team (L to R): Shelley Okey, Katy White, Paolo Gargantiel, Jessica Shaver, Juanita Garrison, Zachariah Todd, Katie Funseth, Elizabeth Myers, Karen Bell, Monica Reynoso, Paul Juranovich, Billie Withrow, Linda Sciancalepore.
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY TO MOVE AHEAD WITH LAURA'S LAW PLAN
Laura's Law advocate Douglas Dunn addresses the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors on Feb. 3.

The Behavioral Health Division and stakeholders in Contra Costa's mental health community will develop a program this year to implement Laura's Law, the state measure allowing courts to require outpatient treatment for people with records of hospitalizations and violence resulting from serious mental illness.

 

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a three-year plan at its Feb. 3 meeting to create an assisted outpatient treatment program that would annually accommodate about 37 consumers placed by Contra Costa Superior Court and a similar number who accept voluntary placement.

 

The Board's proposal would fund the program with $2.25 million in Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funding. Implementation of Laura's Law will be subject to the same community review process used for all MHSA-funded services.

HOMELESS PROGRAM COMPLETES ANNUAL COUNT, PREPARES FOR ZERO 2016

Shayne Kaleo, regional director of housing and homeless services for Anka Behavioral Health, surveys a camp in central Contra Costa County.

More than 100 community volunteers joined the Homeless Program and its partners in Contra Costa's homeless Continuum of Care in January to document the number of county residents without permanent housing, an annual requirement of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.

 

The program expects to release detailed demographic data this spring.

 

This year's count was help from January 28 to January 30 and included people in emergency or temporary housing as well as those who were without shelter. The previous comparable survey, held in January 2013, documented 3,798 individuals who were homeless in Contra Costa.

 

Homeless Program Chief Lavonna Martin talks to a consumer. 

HUD uses the annual point-in-time count to assess need within jurisdictions and allocate resources for reducing homelessness. Data gathered from the count also help service providers and community advocates develop effective responses to the challenges facing people who are homeless.

 

 

Data from this year's count will also affect Contra Costa's housing targets for the Zero 2016 campaign, an ambitious national effort to house all veterans and people who are chronically homeless in the United States by 2016.


The local campaign kicked off this month. For more information, or to get involved, contact Homeless Program Chief Lavonna Martin at [email protected].
PLEASE PROVIDE FEEDBACK TO LET US KNOW HOW TO IMPROVE
Feedback The Behavioral Health executive team encourages all staff to provide us with feedback about what is and is not working. An easy way to submit a comment is to click on the feedback link that appears in every edition of the Behavioral Health Connection.

If you follow the link, you can leave a comment with a third-party online vendor that the administration will receive, read, and consider. The vendor allows anonymous comments, if you do not wish to disclose your identity.

We value your comments, and appreciate your candor. Please let us know what we can do better.
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MILLER WELLNESS CENTER BEGINS OFFERING BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES
BHS Director Cynthia Belon chats with Congressman George Miller and his wife, Cynthia, at the opening of the Miller Wellness Center in May 2014.

Over the past few months, Behavioral Health Services has gradually rolled out a bevy of services at the George & Cynthia Miller Wellness Center, the newest Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) outpatient health center.

 

New behavioral health staff began working at the Miller Wellness Center in January, including psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses and behaviorists. In February, the facility began operating a 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. behavioral health clinic on weekdays. It also started taking referrals from Psychiatric Emergency Services at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center.

 

In the coming months, Behavioral Health plans to expand services to include substance abuse groups, crisis counseling and medication refills. Starting this month, the clinic will open Saturdays from noon to 9 p.m.

 

The Miller Center, which opened in May 2014, is the second health center operated by CCHS to integrate behavioral and physical health services, following Concord Health Center 2 in late 2013. 

 

For more information about behavioral health services at the Miller Wellness Center, contact Julie Kelley at [email protected].

TRAINING CONNECTS MENTAL HEALTH WITH CFS WORKERS SERVING CHILDREN IN PLACEMENT
Mental Health Program Manager Richard Weisgal presents at a training in February.
Staff from Children's Mental Health and Children & Family Services (CFS) shared experiences and perspectives about working together in February at a two-day training to help the agencies synergize services for children in foster care and other forms of placement.

More than 150 attendees familiarized themselves with the practices, administrative requirements and day-to-day work details of their counterparts with an eye toward identifying areas where collaboration could improve delivery of mental health services to Contra Costa children in placement who need them. 

 

Navigating courts, child welfare agencies and the mental health system to deliver timely, effective treatment can be a challenge for professionals - let alone parents, caregivers and consumers themselves.

 

The trainings were part of an ongoing dialogue to improve access and emphasize shared responsibility between agencies, organized by the Katie A. Working Group. The group, named for the 2002 civil suit that helped prioritize mental health access for children in placement in California, includes staff from Children's Mental Health and CFS, which is part of Contra Costa Employment & Human Services.

 

To learn more about its work, contact Jennifer Tuipulotu at [email protected].  

MARCH WAS PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE AWARENESS MONTH IN CONTRA COSTA

The Contra Costa Board of Supervisors formally recognized Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month after a presentation from advocates at its March 3 meeting.

The Alcohol & Other Drugs Program, the AODS Advisory Board, the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse, RxSafe Contra Costa and the Contra Costa County CourAGE Youth Health Coalition all worked on projects to raise community awareness of the issue.


L to R: AODS Advisory Board Chair Doug Sibley; Patty Hoyt; Nancy Juracka; Supervisor Karen Mitchoff; April Rovero; Supervisor Mary Piepho; Supervisor Candace Andersen; Supervisor John Gioia; Fatima Matal Sol, AODS Program.

Behavioral Health Connection Newsletter

 

Courtesy of the BHS Communications Team 

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