CT Discretionary Funding Fiscal Year 2016

Advocacy Unlimited's Healing from Within project seeks to transform inpatient hospital settings by developing a model that integrates peer-lead classes on mind-body wellness, including mindfulness and yoga, with continued access through our Toivo mind-body wellness centers in Hartford and Bridgeport. This will be done in collaboration with Capital Region Mental Health Center in Hartford and Greater Bridgeport Community Mental Health Center. As an initiative that includes statewide classes, workshops, support groups, and two mind-body focused wellness centers, Toivo by Advocacy Unlimited is uniquely positioned to teach peer-led mind-body wellness practices. The Toivo team is comprised of people in recovery who have received multiple trainings and certifications in these practices. We will teach a number of practices including yoga, Qigong, mindfulness, sound healing, and deep breathing techniques. The project will be accomplished through the following three objectives:
1) Develop a peer-led model for an inpatient setting that will integrate mind-body wellness practices and establish an advisory committee responsible for promoting and guiding processes and activities throughout the project;
2) Providing training on mind-body wellness practices to consumers, recovery support specialists (certified peer specialists), and clinical staff;
3) Disseminating project results at a public symposium in order to promote adoption of the Healing from Within model through the State of Connecticut including the private hospital sector.

Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) is committed to reducing student deaths from suicide and improving outcomes for those college students suffering with suicidal ideation. CCSU has had four student deaths by suicide in the past five years. The University is committed to increasing suicide prevention awareness and will develop interventions to create a safety-net of mental health support using the SAMHSA model for wellness. CCSU will assess the needs of the students in the target populations and develop programs to address needs as determined by the assessment. The goal of suicide prevention programming is to reduce stigma for students in target groups, to increase protective factors and develop a network of resources within the campus community as well as within the surrounding area for commuter students. Training in Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk will be offered to all health care providers on campus working with students. QPR Gatekeeper training will be offered, allowing for faculty, staff, and other students to recognize the signs and know how to intervene on behalf of a student at risk. Campus-wide special events will address ways in which students can increase resiliency, reduce stigma and can access mental health resources. The CORE survey, offered in year one and three, and the Risky Behavior Survey (as developed by CCSU), offered in year two, will assess the effectiveness of suicide prevention planning. Data to measure student perceptions will be assessed to insure prevention programming effectiveness for target populations, and programs will be amended or adjusted to accommodate as needed. All participants in trainings for suicide prevention will be surveyed for comfort level and the application of skills to intervene with students who are at risk.

The Early Childhood Trauma Collaborative (ECTC) will improve trauma-focused services for young children exposed to violence, abuse, and other forms of trauma, primarily in communities with the highest rates of poverty and crime in Connecticut. The ECTC will provide evidence-based practices to young trauma-exposed children while improving the ability of the state's early childhood workforce to identify and refer children in need of these services. The ECTC will develop a network of nine evidence-based, trauma-focused treatment providers that can serve children from birth to age six who are suffering from exposure to violence, abuse, and other potentially traumatic events. The ECTC will serve at least 1,100 children and families while building a sustainable train-the-trainer approach to continue providing services after the grant. To accomplish its goals, the ECTC will 1) use the Learning Collaborative methodology to disseminate Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency (ARC) to eight providers; 2) use Learning Collaboratives to disseminate Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) to four providers; 3) support expansion of Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI) in three providers; 4) implement TARGET for caregivers of young children in three providers; and 5) train early childhood systems staff and service providers in child trauma and screening.

The ECTC will be led by the Child Health and Development Institute (CHDI), an independent non-profit that has partnered with provider agencies to disseminate and sustain children's behavioral health evidence-based practices for more than 10 years. CHDI will partner with nine experienced community providers to implement the evidence-based practices in the ECTC. Other partners include the Office of Early Childhood, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, and the Consultation Center at Yale University (evaluator).

The grant application will present a 5-year initiative to develop, implement and study the effectiveness of an integrated and collaborative health and mental health service system for children 0-8 and their families in New Haven, Connecticut, also known as "the Elm City." Long term outcomes include, but are not limited to: improved early access to services for children and families; increased screening and early identification; enhanced knowledge and capacity within child service system; increased public awareness about issues that impact wellbeing for children birth to 8 and their families.

Connecticut will implement the administrative, programmatic, and workforce development infrastructures required to prepare selected provider agencies to become CCBHCs. This initiative is focused on high need and high cost users of Medicaid services. Connecticut plans to invite interested agencies that are positioned to address identified service gaps and engage under-served populations to apply for inclusion in a CCBHC Learning Community. Agencies will be selected based on a combination of their degree of readiness, geographic reach, and other factors. Agencies will be invited to participate based on these criteria, and will be provided with intensive training, technical assistance, and other support with a minimum of two certified by the end of the planning year, one rural and urban. Connecticut plans to use the PPS-2 monthly rate methodology and require all CCBHCs to provide Modular Approach to Therapy for Children with Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Conduct Problems (MATCH-ADTC) Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach/Assertive Continuing Care (ACRA-ACC) is an Family Based Recovery (FBR) Family Psycho-education Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) Motivational Interviewing (MI) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT).

The Connecticut (CT) Departments of Mental Health & Addiction Services, Education and Court Support Services Division will lead the "Safe Schools/Healthy Students Diffusion Project" to create safe and supportive schools in three LEAS: Bridgeport, Middletown and New Britain. Through the SS/HS State Program, CT will plan and implement sustainable, comprehensive and culturally competent evidence-based programs for children, adolescents and their families. To achieve improvements in school climate, access to behavioral health and other supports and reduce substance use and exposure to violence, CT will utilize the Safe Schools/Healthy Students model and Framework tool to expand and enhance the infrastructure at the state and LEA levels. A State Management Team consisting of representatives from state education, behavioral health, juvenile justice, children and families, social services, special population representatives, consumers and families and faith-based organizations will be established and convened to guide the state and ensure that it meets its purpose of providing safe and secure settings within schools where students can learn, develop their full potential and focus on social, emotional, and academic success.

The CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) proposes to use funds through the Transforming Lives through Supported Employment Program grant to enhance state and community capacity to provide evidenced-based supported employment (SE) programs to better serve Latinos and individuals with criminal justice involvement with serious mental illnesses. The CT Supported Employment Program focuses on reducing health disparities for DMHAS connected individuals who have serious mental illnesses, with or without co-occurring substance use disorders.

The Connecticut Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services (DMHAS), in partnership with the state's Department of Children and Families (DCF), proposes to launch a state and 3-municipality initiative called CT STRONG (Seamless Transition and Recovery Opportunities through Network Growth) to engage and connect transition-age youths and young adults who have, or are at risk for, behavioral health disorders to high-quality care. Specifically, CT STRONG will: 1) launch media campaigns locally, and statewide, aimed at youths, young adults, families, school staff, and others who come into contact with young people, to inform people about mental illness, reduce stigma and discrimination, and provide connections to services; 2) identify young people who may have behavioral health disorders, and engage them into formal treatment and/or other services; 3) provide the Wraparound approach to youths who are identified as high risk of needing interventions as adults, to ensure a seamless transition into adulthood; 4) ensure that families, including natural supports beyond traditional families, are engaged and included in decisions and roles for recovery planning; and 5) enhance CT's strong transitional services, to create a strengths-based, family-focused, gender-responsive and recovery-oriented system of care that is attentive to the culture of the family and of youth.

In 2014, the Connecticut Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services (CT DMHAS) initiated the Critical Time Intervention Plus (CTIP) program for people experiencing chronic homelessness to provide housing, income, and recovery supports to 432 individuals 3 areas of the state. This expansion would allow us to cover the remainder of the state; to serve 380 additional individuals; and to improve services through training in trauma and wellness. CTIP offers a new approach. With additional funding from SAMHSA, CT DMHAS will create 4 new CTIP teams for the state, located within experienced supportive housing organizations. These teams will provide four services, in any needed combination, together with existing or new permanent supportive housing and behavioral health care resources, to ensure that participants make a successful transition to independent housing and maintain that housing over time. The four elements of CTIP are: (1) CTI, which offers a structured move to housing through 9 months of transition, try-out, and transfer of care; (2) SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access & Recovery (SOAR), which facilitates applications for disability entitlements; (3) Supported Employment, to connect participants who are able to work with jobs; and (4) Peer Recovery Specialists, who will use their personal experience and specialized training to provide on-going support and encouragement. The CTIP model will be enhanced with new training and technical assistance in trauma-informed care and health and wellness.

Connecticut's Networks of Care for Suicide Prevention (NCSP) application proposes to establish a Statewide Network of Care (SNC) for suicide prevention, intervention and response, and implement an intensive community-based effort to reduce non-fatal suicide attempts and suicide deaths among at risk youth age 10-24. The SNC will be comprised of five regional, and one community network in the town of Manchester which will be the focus of an intensive community-based effort. The NCSP will embed suicide prevention as a core priority in CT and utilize interventions that are data and quality-driven, sustainable, culturally competent, formalized, uniformed, and accountable with the capacity and readiness to provide services in an organized and timely fashion. The CT Departments of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Children and Families, and Public Health, with the guidance of the CT Suicide Advisory Board (CTSAB), will co-direct the NCSP and partner with Community Health Resources; United Way of CT-National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Provider; Manchester-Public Schools, Police Department, Community College; Eastern CT Health Network; and the UConn Health Center as evaluator.

The NCSP will serve an unduplicated total of 1,333 annually and 6,669 over 5-years of diverse youth and young adults age 10-24 and supportive adults representative of the CT population with emphasis on young people identified at increased risk of suicide and who have attempted suicide. NCSP goals and objectives are aligned with CT's Suicide Prevention Plan 2020 and the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, prioritizing goals 8 and 9. The NCSP will utilize the primary EBPs of the Zero Suicide approach, Jed Foundation/Suicide Prevention Resource Center Model for Comprehensive Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Promotion, SAMHSA Strategic Prevention Framework, and other EBPs related to their implementation.