DE Discretionary Funding Fiscal Year 2017

The Delaware Children's Department's Division of Prevention and Behavioral Health, applicant, and the Department of Health and Social Services' Division of Public Health will co-lead Delaware's Project LAUNCH in partnerships with Red Clay Consolidated School District, Early Learning Programs, Nemours Children's Health System, and key stakeholders within a specified area of the city of Wilmington. Using a public health approach, the initiative's goals and objectives are designed to increase family and youth involvement and help ensure that young children have comprehensive and coordinated services needed to sustain gains through the early elementary and beyond.

Project SAFETY (Suicide Assessment Follow-up Education Texting for Youth and Young Adults) targets youth and young adults ages 10-24 across the state with the goal of reaching this broad population through implementation of screening in a variety of settings including middle and high schools, university health centers, hospital emergency department, primary care offices (prioritizing Kent and Sussex counties), juvenile detention centers and in the state's 24-7 mobile crisis service. Screening in primary care is a priority for Project SAFETY because data indicates that suicidal individuals often have contact with their primary care physician within a month of attempting suicide. In addition, implementing screening within primary care offices will reach a broad demographic (e.g. race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.) and increase the likelihood of earlier identification of not only suicide risk but substance use and behavioral health problems as well. To broaden its outreach to youth/young adults, Project SAFETY will introduce a Suicide Texting Service which is expected to be user-friendly and is the chosen preferred way of communicating by youth and young adults. Between broad screening and increased outreach more youth in need of assessment and/or treatment will be identified especially in Kent and Sussex Counties. Project SAFETY also will include expanding the staffing of the state's 24-7 crisis service (for children) in Kent and Sussex counties to meet the anticipated increased demand once screening is initiated. Finally, Project SAFETY will provide the SPRC developed Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR) training for behavioral health professionals across the state to enhance the assessment and treatment services for suicidal youth.

CORE aims to improve long term outcomes for 16-25 year old Delawareans that have high risk for psychosis or have recently experienced a first episode in the past year. Working with key stakeholders, Delaware will improve these outcomes by bringing together family and youth service recipients, community liaisons and project staff into a Transition Team charged with the collective responsibility of: (1) increasing public awareness of psychosis and its early signs; (2) establishing a network of informed citizens and professionals to identify, engage and refer youth at possible risk for psychosis; (3) establishing personal contacts for those referred within 48 hours to screen for assessment eligibility; (4) delivering assessments to those eligible within 1 week of referral to determine treatment eligibility; (5) delivering treatment to those eligible based on the PIER Model developed by the Maine Medical Center; (6) track the effect of race/ethnicity on assessments, service delivery and outcomes and insure that African Americans and Hispanics are adequately represented in CORE; and (7) collaborate with local insurers to guarantee future accessibility and sustainability of this service.

BCCS proposes to create a comprehensive prevention campaign which offers peer-delivered education, awareness, and prevention programming aimed at reducing the risk of substance use and abuse, HIV and Hepatitis, as well as adverse social behaviors among at-risk racial/ethnic minority, youth and young adults ages 13 to 24 residing in Delaware. The BCCS Program will serve individuals through social media, community based events, and through curriculum-based approaches. In addition, the program will maintain youth and young adult members through the youth and young adult leadership coalition.

Delaware's proposed SPF-PFS grant will focus on two key priorities: (1) strengthen and focus existing efforts to prevent the onset and reduce the progression of underage drinking by 12-20 year olds and (2) reduce the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs by 12-25 year olds. The state will support and provide oversight to community-based subrecipients (programs and coalitions) to coordinate data-driven planning, capacity building, and implementation and monitoring of evidence-based programs, practices and policies (EBPs) directed toward the two project goals. The project will address key problems of underage drinking and prescription drug misuse across the lifespan as identified by the Delaware Drug and Alcohol Tracking Alliance (DDATA) and its state epidemiological outcome workgroup (SEOW).

Delaware seeks funding from SPF-RX to (1) raise community awareness about prescription drug abuse (2) work with the pharmaceutical and medical community on the risks of overprescribing to young adults and youth, (3) provide enhancements to track opioid overdose reductions using PDMP; and (4) implement PDMP data to track program success. Services will be statewide with universal programs reaching over 50,000; selective programs reaching 5,000 and indicated programming reaching at least 10,000 Delawareans annually once the project has been fully implemented.

The Coalition will prevent and reduce youth substance use by implementing the following strategies: Reduce access by carry outing Compliance Checks for underage alcohol sales in our Community through a partnership with the Delaware Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement. Enhance access of trained Drugged Driving Recognition Officers by purchasing training materials for the Office of Highway Safety Drugged Driving Training. Change physical design by working with local Parks and Recreation Department to add policy and signage that includes prohibiting intoxicating substances. Implement/modify polices for student conduct at Prom/ Post Prom for Appoquinimink District High Schools prohibiting drunk/ drugged driving & a commitment to banning pro alcohol themes/messages at events. Enhance incentives for prevention by creating an Outstanding Prevention Partner Award.
Nominations would be given and selected by SN4C and a publicized presentation would be given for the recipient along with a $50 monetary award.

Brandywine Counseling and Community Services, Inc., is proposing to enhance and expand the Sterile Syringe Program with BCCS. The existing Syringe Exchange Program (SEP) will be enhanced through the SSP funding by engaging an additional, unduplicated sixty individuals per year at least five HIV and/or HCV test through the use of an outreach worker who will refer and link injection drug users to existing integrated care programs in the State of Delaware.

Brandywine Counseling and Community Services, Inc., is proposing to enhance and expand the Sterile Syringe Program with BCCS. The existing Syringe Exchange Program (SEP) will be enhanced through the SSP funding by engaging an additional, unduplicated sixty individuals per year at least five HIV and/or HCV test through the use of an outreach worker who will refer and link injection drug users to existing integrated care programs in the State of Delaware.

Brandywine Counseling and Community Services (BCCS) is proposing to implement an enhancement of existing mental health, substance abuse, and co-occurring disorders outpatient treatment programs in Wilmington, Delaware by incorporating the use of technology assisted care (TAC) through the use of myStrength, an interactive mobile and web-based resource which acts as a clinician extender for many managing substance use disorders as well as mental health issues through a range of self-care applications and activities. This project will work as a clinical extension and serve 450 diverse individuals over three years by providing clients with an opportunity to engage in self-guided, treatment-on-demand services outside of their therapists' office. Due to the extensive needs of those with co-occurring disorders or mental health or substance us disorders, the overarching goal of the TCE-TAC program is to enhance participants' treatment success and experience, through the use of person-centered technology-assisted care, outside of a traditional therapy setting, as a way to engage participants in continuous treatment and/or treatment-on-demand which promotes overall well-being including decreases in alcohol and drug use, mental health symptoms, criminal activity, and increases in housing stability. Those participants who are experiencing a co-occurring disorder often need more treatment (more frequent, more intensive) than what is available to them; the use of myStrength will enhance services at BCCS and will assist the agency in overcoming that obstacle and promote recovery through empowering participants to take full responsibility for their treatment and recovery.