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IN THE NEWS
CONTRA COSTA PREPARING TO IMPLEMENT LAURA'S LAW
FATIMA MATAL SOL JOINS BHS LEADERSHIP TEAM
BH AND PROBATION PARTNER TO HELP YOUTH TRANSITION FROM CUSTODY
HOMELESS CONTINUUM OF CARE FOCUSES ON LANDLORD OUTREACH
MHET PARTNERS WITH POLICE TO REDUCE PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY CALLS
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. 
Vision   
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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Martinez, CA 94553
  
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Main DIRECTOR'S REPORT
WINTER EDITION 2015
Cynthia Belon
Cynthia Belon,  LCSW
Director of Behavioral 
Health Services
An Eventful Year for the Behavioral Health Division
 
The Behavioral Health Division spent 2015 responding to new opportunities to expand and improve, as local planning efforts and regulatory change at both the state and federal level laid the groundwork for service expansion.
 
Now, as 2016 approaches, the universe of treatment options is poised to expand dramatically for many consumers throughout our system of care. We can all take pride in how far we have come and that we are well prepared to participate in these new efforts.
 
Thanks to the hard work of our staff in the Alcohol & Other Drugs program, including newly promoted chief Fatima Matal Sol, Contra Costa is laying the groundwork to be among the first counties to implement the new Medi-Cal Drug Waiver.
 
The Mental Health program, meanwhile, has started two programs, the Mental Health Evaluation Team (MHET) and Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), which help deliver supportive services to our consumers who are most at risk of psychiatric crises or involved with the legal system.
 
The Homeless Program, in partnership with the Contra Costa Council on Homelessness, spent 2015 furthering our goals to end homelessness by participating in Contra Costa Zero: 2016 campaign that focuses on housing veterans and chronically homeless people.
 
Expanding access is the common goal of all this recent activity. Access has always been the priority behind our integration efforts -- every door is the right door -- and that door is getting bigger and more inclusive as we add new approaches to overcoming challenges.
 
MHET, for example, does not wait for its consumers to ask for services. It goes to them, working with law enforcement partners to offer follow-up after an emergency call for service involving a psychiatric event.
 
The AOT program, which will begin implementing our county's version of Laura's Law, similarly connects with consumers who cannot or will not engage with more traditional forms of care.
 
MHET and AOT prioritize public resources to stop endless cycles of crises response that may do little to actually help consumers get connected to ongoing care. The Homeless Program and its many partners are also solving old problems in new ways, including a new focus on connecting property owners with rental units to consumers transitioning out of homelessness.
 
While permanent supportive housing programs are extremely effective, we have a growing number of consumers who have rental assistance vouchers, but no place to use them. As a result, landlord engagement has become a key activity of Zero:2016.
 
The campaign is developing outreach strategies to appeal to a large cross-section of county property owners to increase the housing opportunities for homeless consumers. Other efforts include creating landlord incentives for renting to our consumers and reducing the financial barriers to consumers by creating a housing security fund.
 
None of these innovative programs would exist without the creativity and efforts of you, the staff of Behavioral Health Services, the community-based organizations and the community at large.
 
Thank you all for your hard work, and I wish you a healthy and peaceful holiday season.
 
Sincerely, 
CB Signiture 2
Cynthia Belon, LCSW 
Behavioral Health Director
Contra Costa County Behavioral Health
  
AOTCONTRA COSTA PREPARING TO IMPLEMENT LAURA'S LAW
Mental Health Systems, the contractor working with the Behavioral Health Division to implement Laura's Law in Contra Costa, is setting up an office in Concord and making its final hires to deliver assisted outpatient treatment to qualified consumers.

When preparations are complete, the Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) program will have capacity to serve as many as 75 Contra Costa residents with serious mental illness who may pose a risk to themselves or the community.
MHSA Program Manager Warren Hayes and David Seidner, program manager for Forensic Mental Health, facilitating a Laura's Law
stakeholder meeting in November. 
 
The 2002 state law allows counties to use the civil court system to supervise care for people with mental illness who meet specific legal criteria, which include a history of hospitalization or violence and of declining offered treatment.
 
The program emphasizes voluntary participation, but Behavioral Health has also developed a referral system with Contra Costa Superior Court, the Public Defender's Office and County Counsel that includes a hearing process for placing individuals into court-ordered treatment, if necessary.
 
Behavioral Health will continue to regularly meet with and work with those partners as well as patient and family advocates and the Mental Health Commission to ensure a fair, transparent and well-considered process that is both effective and respectful.
 
The first year of the assisted outpatient treatment program will be funded with $2.25 million in Mental Health Services Act funding and about $400,000 from the county's General Fund.

For more information, contact David Seidner at David.Seidner@hsd.cccounty.us. 
FatimaFATIMA MATAL SOL JOINS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH LEADERSHIP TEAM
Fatima Matal Sol has been selected as Chief of the Alcohol & Other Drugs Program, assuming the leadership role she has filled on an interim basis since 2014.
                                    
Fatima started with CCHS as an administrative intern and went on to build a 20-year career as a program manager and health educator in our AODS program. She will continue to supervise all aspects of our AOD prevention and treatment programs.
AODS Chief
Fatima Matal Sol
 
As interim chief, Fatima helped to manage several important projects, including Contra Costa County's campaign to curb the marketing of "alcopops" to youth, the revival of the AODS hotline and an integration project that provides an on-site AODS counselor for the Mental Health Access Line.
 
In recent months she has directed our county's preparations to become one of the first in California to take advantage of the new Drug Medi-Cal Waiver, which will bring new treatment options to potentially thousands of county residents with substance use disorder.
 
Behavioral Health has already held several community meetings to gather feedback on elements of the plan Contra Costa County must submit to the state next year to qualify for the waiver.
BH AND PROBATION PARTNER TO HELP YOUTH TRANSITION FROM CUSTODY  
A new grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections will help the Contra Costa Probation Department and the Mental Health and Probation Services (MHAPS) program to expand treatment options for youth released from custody at Juvenile Hall and the Orin Allen Youth Rehabilitation Facility.
John A. Davis Juvenile Hall


The three-year Mentally Ill Offender Crime Reduction grant totaling $950,000 will fund "Transition Out to Stay Out," a program delivering functional family therapy (FFT) to youth exiting in-custody rehabilitation programs who are determined to be at high risk for recidivism.
 
The intensive, family-based services added by the new program will bolster current transitional services, which include multisystemic therapy (MST) and multidimensional family therapy (MDFT).
 
Community Options for Families & Youth (COFY), which already provides MST services to probation-involved youth, was awarded the contract to provide the new services after a competitive bidding process.
 
This preexisting relationship with probation will allow COFY to work with evaluators to conduct a cost-benefit and non-equivalent parallel treatment evaluation of MST versus FFT.

Additionally, COFY will track outcomes to measure adherence to the treatment model, program effectiveness, impacts on recidivism, and ultimately, return on investment.

Contact Daniel Batiuchok at Daniel.Batiuchok@hsd.cccounty.us for more information.
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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LandlordHOMELESS CONTINUUM OF CARE FOCUSES ON LANDLORD OUTREACH
After four years of homelessness, Chuck Young has a plan, a housing voucher, and all the supportive services he needs to get off the streets for good.
But despite searching for more than nine months, Chuck still can't find a place to rent in Contra Costa County.
Chuck Young has a housing voucher, but has spent nine months searching for a rental unit in Contra Costa County.
The County's housing crunch is having a major impact on people trying to transition out of homelessness. That's why the Contra Costa Council on Homelessness is developing a campaign to recruit property owners to help residents like Chuck.
In coming months, members of the Council on Homelessness, in partnership with Multi-faith ACTION Coalition, will reach out to community and faith organizations to deliver information and training to landlords who want to help but have business concerns about taking on low income or homeless tenants.
The campaign highlights existing supports for property owners and tenants, explains how the various housing programs work and provides easy-to-access resources for landlords.

A new 90-second video developed by The Council on Homelessness tells Chuck's story and provides information about how landlords can be part of the solution.

Follow this link to watch the video, and please share on social media! 
MHET
MHET PARTNERS WITH POLICE TO REDUCE PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY CALLS
A new partnership with Behavioral Health is helping police agencies within the county to reduce potentially dangerous psychiatric incidents by connecting clinicians to people encountered by officers who show signs of serious mental illness.
 
The Mental Health Evaluation Team (MHET) works with police officers from the Concord, Pittsburg and Richmond police departments to deliver voluntary, preventive referrals to people whose mental health challenges have resulted in repeated police calls for violent or threatening behavior, or who have been involuntarily hospitalized due to psychiatric crisis.
 
Patrol officers from those departments, as well as neighboring police agencies, can now refer cases to their region's MHET for follow up. The MHET officer and partnering clinician together connect with referred parties to offer help, such as referrals to outpatient treatment and benefits.

The program's goal is to improve the lives of consumers and increase the safety of all involved, as well as to reduce public costs associated with repeated police visits and emergency psychiatric treatment, including ambulance transports and hospital admissions.
 
BHS received a 3-year, $550,000 grant from the California Health Facilities Financing Authority (CHAFFA) to staff the program. The Contra Costa Board of Supervisors approved contracts formalizing MHET in late September.

For more information, contact David Seidner at David.Seidner@hsd.cccounty.us.

Behavioral Health Connection Newsletter

 

Courtesy of the BHS Communications Team 

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