FL Discretionary Funding Fiscal Year 2023

The Alliance for Hope Project (TAFHP) is a collaborative project of the Alliance for Healthy Communities, Inc. (AHC) and The Hope Shot, a Recovery Community Organization. In partnership, TAFHP will serve as an inclusive community resource for addiction prevention services and recovery supports that aim to increase community protective factors, reduce use, reduce overdose rates, encourage long-term sobriety, and promote engagement with systems of care across Pasco County Florida (estimated population of 591,048). The Alliance for Hope Project will serve 848,800 (individuals may be served by more than one strategy) ranging in age from birth through older adults. TAFHP will target at-risk populations residing in community “hot spots” as identified by population health indicators, and overdose, arrest, and Intelligence Lead Policing data. TAFHP will spread a message of “hope” via innovative educational campaigns, events, presentations, recovery coaching, navigation services, and weekly live podcasts on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn and by leading efforts to prevent substance addiction and misuse providing pathways to treatment and recovery resources for residents. The goals of The Alliance for Hope Project are as follow: Goal 1: Build awareness, resiliency, and healthy cultural norms in adults and youth across Pasco County. Goal 2: Connect individuals to on demand prevention, treatment, and recovery resources. Goal 3: Build community connectedness for youth and adults through increased involvement in voluntary community groups and extracurricular activities. Goal 4: Increase coalition and community capacity to understand and respond to drug trends and implement environmental prevention strategies. This project includes 22 measurable objectives that support these goals that are outlined in detail in our proposal that will be achieved through the work of the Project Director, Coordinator, Recovery Coach – Peer Support, Recovery Coach – Community Outreach, two Prevention / Navigation Specialist, and two part-time Recovery Coaches along with a contracted Evaluator. TAFHP will increase and complement the efforts of The Hope Shot and of the ASAP and STAND coalitions in Pasco County. TAFHP will enhance the capacity of The Hope Shot by implementing recovery supports that decrease barriers to treatment and build a strong culture of sustainable recovery. These initiatives will include weekly podcasts, navigation to critical services and support such as sober living, employment opportunities, job skills development, and peer support meetings. TAFHP will enhance the STAND coalition and its efforts to address protective factors and build resiliency in youth. TAFHP will build capacity enabling AHC/ASAP to deploy environmental strategies that target community norms, regulations, and availability of drugs. These environmental strategies include hosting community planning meetings, educational campaigns and community wide town halls, summits and a community conference with information about issues such as overdose prevention. The goal is to create community level change by implementing the Strategic Prevention Framework, increasing awareness of local problems and engaging community members in solutions. Working together, we are saving lives.

The Centre for Women is a well-recognized and respected organization in the community, providing care to those in need for more than forty-five years. The Centre’s Counseling and Wellness Program addresses the increasing need for mental health services by providing mental wellness counseling for low to moderate income individuals and families in the Tampa Bay community. Local service agency partners have relied on The Centre’s counseling program for decades. These services are particularly important during the current time; the recent COVID-19 pandemic has helped raise awareness of the importance of mental health and the community’s acceptance of mental health treatment. We serve a specific niche of people in that they do not require hospitalization or intensive psychiatric care; however, they face challenges in managing major life stressors and transitions. Professional support helps to offset and prevent crisis, hospitalization, suicide, and community violence. Upon receipt of the SAMHSA grant award, we will expand our capacity for delivering mental wellness counseling to the most at-risk and underserved members of our community. We will transform a well-located property in Seminole Heights into a counseling center. Simultaneously, we will help to grow the field of behavioral health care workers by providing an excellent learning environment to local clinical student interns. This is an effort to provide a solution for the shortage of behavioral health care workers in our geographic area. We will continue to expand our collaborative relationships with local colleges and universities by hosting interns from clinical programs as well as employ licensed eligible clinical interns. Students will be trained, supervised and mentored as we welcome the next wave of mental health counselors and social workers. As we broaden our impact, our agency will continue to aim for equity of access to mental health services. We welcome diverse populations that are representative of our entire community; accordingly, we have Spanish speaking counselor(s) to serve the large Spanish-speaking population segment. Also, our capability to provide in person and virtual services so that everyone has access regardless of geographic location or level of mobility. Through the provision of free counseling to residents who are un/under insured and could not otherwise afford needed services, and through the delivery of educational programs targeted on social emotional learning, we will deliver an “upstream” approach to improve the quality of life for individuals, families and communities resulting in an increase in academic, employment, relationship, and life successes.

Compass, Inc. in Lake Worth, Florida, implements social support and mental health services that are essential to the health and success of LGBTQ+ youth. Our proposed “Youth and Family Services” program will serve 150 clients between October 2023 and September 2024 by offering social-emotional support programming for LGBTQ+ youth and their parents/guardians, including mental health counseling, community resource referrals to supportive and complementary services, community building, and LGBTQ+ Cultural Competency training for providers and adults that interact with LGBTQ+ youth in Palm Beach County (PBC). Direct services provided to LGBTQ+ youth living in Palm Beach County are: (1) Social Support Education groups four times per week for LGBTQ+ youth to discuss healthy relationships, bullying, dating, and domestic violence to improve the life skills of our clients. (2) Mental health counseling for LGBTQ+ youth ages 11-18 to improve their connectedness with their community and self-concept and decrease isolation. Compass will provide education and a social support system to parents/guardians by offering two monthly social support groups to parents/guardians of LGBTQ+ youth and young adults and one specific to parents/guardians of transgender children. Information will be shared on other resources available in PBC for families and other adults, such as gender-affirming healthcare providers and school support. Our program will provide LGBTQ+ cultural competency training to providers and other adults who regularly interact with LGBTQ+ youth. Through these training sessions, a foundational understanding of the LGBTQ+ community can be achieved, and challenging questions can be asked and answered in an open environment.

During a 2019 Polk Community Prioritization Exercise, conducted by the Florida Department of Health, behavioral health, including mental health and substance abuse, was identified as the number one health priority for Polk County, Florida. This led to the Polk County Board of County Commissioners' Indigent Healthcare Citizen's Oversight Committee to contract with Crescendo Consulting Group to perform a behavioral health assessment. The assessment proved that 11% of Polk County adults regularly struggle with mental health issues, 15% have been told that they have a depressive disorder, and almost 19,000 Polk County adults have been diagnosed as having a serious mental illness. The assessment also found that suicidal ideation, planning, attempts, and completed suicides remain a growing challenge for Polk County. The number of completed suicides in Polk County averages 18.7 suicides for every 100,00 individuals, a statistic higher than the state average of 18.7 suicides per 100,000 individuals. Youth ages 11-14 were also found to have significant behavioral health challenges with 22% of middle schoolers having serious thoughts of suicide and 8% actually attempting suicide. Polk County youth also experience higher rates of child abuse with 746 incidents per 100,000 individuals, higher than the national average of 489 incidents per 100,000 individuals. Additionally, our youth experience a greater incidence of interaction with the Foster Care programs. In Polk County, 702.1 children per 100,000 are in foster care in comparison to the National average of 293.1. Substance abuse continues to be a problem for Polk County. The county's overall drug-related mortality rate in Polk County is 28 deaths per 100,000 individuals. More specifically, the rate of opioid deaths for the county nearly doubled from 5% in 2014 to 11% in 2018. As a result of the findings, Polk County wishes to implement strategies designed to strengthen the county's behavioral health outcomes for its citizens, including its high-risk population of 482 incarcerated individuals. More specifically, Polk County will provide peer specialist training, counseling, case management, substance disorder treatment, and mental health treatment within the county's jail system. Polk County will also implement strategies designed to assist our youth with behavioral health and substance abuse disorders. These strategies include a district-wide behavioral health gap assessment of the school district which will provide the school system with a strategic plan to implement effective and comprehensive school-wide behavioral health services. Another initiative will train adults in teen mental health first aid. These adults will then educate youth in mental health first aid, providing young people with the information and skills to be mindful of their own mental health and support their friends and peers. Polk County will also launch a multi-media, public awareness campaign that will educate and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues. Lack of awareness and lack of education about behavioral health symptoms, prevention, and available resources foster low levels of accessing behavioral health care by those who need it. In addition, stigma can make people more likely to hide symptoms or illness, keep them from seeking health care immediately, and prevent individuals from adopting healthy behaviors. The remaining initiative will provide a public-facing website which will allow users to access information on local behavioral health resources, symptoms, providers, and behavioral health data, and will also provide narrative aimed at "normalizing" behavioral health challenges. Polk County is pleased to present these initiatives aimed at building foundations that will mitigate current behavioral health challenges, facilitate additional behavioral health resources for the future, and improve the general quality of life for Polk County residents.

Florida Cooperative Agreements for States and Territories to Improve Local 988 Capacity project will address the need for additional workforce for answering 988 calls, chats, and texts. These funds will be distributed to the 13 accredited Florida 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifelines based on their call volume since volume and the ability to improve in-state answer rates determines staffing needs. Funds will flow through the seven regional Managing Entities the Department of Children and Families is required by statute to contract with to manage the behavioral health system of care in Florida. No administrative funds will be allocated to the Managing Entities. In addition, Florida will also use funding for creating a state-specific marketing campaign for 988. The Department will also focus on improving data collection and analysis, interoperability with 911 PSAPs, tribal engagement, and furthering policies and coordination between 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Centers and state Mobile Response Teams. The following are the four goals for year one. 1) Expand existing workforce to improve in-state answer rates, support increases in call volume and acuity, and statewide coverage without compromising quality of service. 2) Unify and standardize the efforts of the Florida 988 Network through development and dissemination of guidance documents and training materials. 3) Establish formal partnerships across the three stages of the 988 Crisis Care Continuum, for example call centers, MRTs, and CSUs. 4) Construct and disseminate trauma-informed, evidence-based trainings on intervening with high-risk and underserved populations.

The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018 left the community devastated and traumatized. The impact of the tragedy continues to affect the community. The Eagles’ Haven Wellness Center, powered by JAFCO, opened in 2019 specifically to help the Parkland community heal in the aftermath of this unspeakable tragedy. The Center offers support, wellness services, case management, trauma education and crisis intervention to anyone experiencing trauma related to the shooting including students, teachers, family members, and first responders. The Center is open 7 days a week and offers 24/7 availability for crisis intervention. As the community processes the outcome of the recent the trial of the Parkland shooter, Eagles' Haven will increase our availability and support, offering even more groups, panels, classes, and programs to the community. Increased services are also provided around the time of the anniversary of the shooting each year. Funding will help support wellness activities, therapeutic groups, and crisis counseling to enhance our current programming with a goal of keeping the community safe.

People returning from incarceration face a multitude of barriers. Limited access to employment, transportation, housing, and mental health and substance abuse services are among the greatest obstacles. Without these stabilizing resources, people are less connected to their communities and therefore, far more likely to re-offend and return to incarceration. Without successful reentry programs like Ready4Work that connect returning citizens to these services, communities experience higher rates of crime, unemployment, and recidivism, which are all drains on the local tax base and overall economy. According to a 2018 Prison Policy Initiative report, “formerly incarcerated people are almost five times more likely than the general public to be unemployed, and many who are employed remain relegated to the most insecure jobs.” Relatedly, approximately 68% of the formerly incarcerated are rearrested within 3 years according to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics 2018 Update on Prisoner Recidivism. At Operation New Hope, we support, train, and motivate people returning from incarceration to become productive, responsible citizens saving taxpayers millions of dollars by avoiding repeated cost of incarceration and lost tax revenue, and helping to break the cycle of incarceration and poverty for them and their children. Implementing a comprehensive 4-pronged approach (case management and mental health, supportive services, job training, and job placement assistance), our Ready4Work reentry program ensures each client succeeds at reconnecting to the workforce, their families, and community. Upon acceptance into the Ready4Work program, participants are required to remain drug-free and attend a comprehensive job training program featuring life and employment skills. Clients also receive wraparound supportive services tailored to meet their personal needs and goals. Clients are paired with a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Case Manager who develop and implement an individualized plan of care. Each client is also assigned a Job Coach to provide guidance and support, leading to job placement with targeted employment partners. We also partner with post-secondary educational institutions and offer vocational training to provide our clients with a competitive edge that leads to living wage employment. Poverty and financial hardship for the formerly incarcerated are main drivers of recidivism. To alleviate immediate financial hardship, clients can earn incentives and stipends while enrolled in the program, and receive financial support to address transportation, vital documents, food and clothing. We partner with transitional houses and pay up to 3 months of safe and stable housing allowing clients to focus on securing living wage employment and developing the healthy habits needed to be successful upon reentry. Our Ready4Work program is designed to: • Support people affected by the criminal justice system to break the cycle of poverty and incarceration, • Promote second chance hiring practices to make good on diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, • Provide training in relevant, career-pathway skills to meet the needs of modern industry, • Prepare employers to receive workers from this community and challenge stigmas, • Deliver wrap-around services that support employees for success, which include case management and mental health services for an entire year. Operation New Hope's Ready4Work program produces multiple community benefits: • Increased public safety • Reduced recidivism • Decreased tax burden associated with incarceration costs • Increased tax revenue • Neighborhood stabilization • The improved economic and mental health of some the city’s neediest citizens. Our Ready4Work program addresses the problem of coercive mobility and provides a structured social framework, otherwise absent or depleted in high incarceration and high poverty neighborhoods, necessary for cultivating the human capital in the formerly incarcerated to prepare

Agape Health & Wellness Center Project Primary and Behavioral Health Integration ABSTRACT Agape Health & Wellness Center, Inc (Agape) a non-profit organization in Jacksonville, FL, provides treatment and services to individuals of all demographics and cultural backgrounds with a core focus in primary health, behavioral health, substance use, housing, and HIV/ AIDS testing, counseling and education to both adults and children. Agape proposes to implement Project Primary & Behavioral Health Integration (PBHI) by seeking funding to transform its community clinic and service compendium into a health center delivering high-quality behavioral health services that are person- and family-centered, integrated, comprehensive, and coordinated. To accomplish this, Agape proposes to implement Project PBHI to establish a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) offering services including, mental health, substance abuse, primary care, and mobile 24-hour crisis intervention unit. Project PBHI will target individuals with a mental or substance use disorder who seek care, including those with serious mental illness (SMI), substance use disorder (SUD) including opioid use; children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED); individuals with co-occurring mental and substance disorders (COD); and individuals experiencing mental health or substance use-related crisis. Number of Unduplicated Individuals to be Served with Grant Funds Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Total 100 150 150 100 500 Project PBHI will utilize a multidimensional crisis intervention approach that links clients into an array of services and compendium of evidence-based practices designed to specifically improve the lives of the population of focus. Project PBHI will achieve the goals and objectives by recruiting, hiring/assigning, and training a competent and multidisciplinary team that is comprised a Project Director, Psychiatric Medical Director, Family Nurse Practitioner, Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Vocational Nurse, Substance Abuse Counselors, Recovery Support Specialist, Patient Navigators, and Evaluator.

The AMIkids NCTSI – III Community Treatment and Service Center Project will expand the provision of highly effective trauma screening, assessment, care management, therapy and prevention for youth and families by developing a NCTSN Category III Center. By providing licensed clinical professionals at three juvenile justice residential programs, this project will increase access to effective trauma-focused treatment for youth and families receiving delinquency services through the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (SCDJJ). The population of focus for this project is juvenile justice involved youth through age 21 and their families who reside throughout the state of South Carolina. The majority of these youth come from low-income families, are youth of color, and have behavioral issues in school and in the home. These youth have typically experienced multiple arrests, family dysfunction, violence, substance abuse, and trauma. This project will expand trauma-focused treatment services in South Carolina by adding licensed clinical professionals in AMIkids residential programs located in the following geographic catchment areas: Bennettsville, Columbia, and Jonesville. This project will serve 100 individuals in the first year, and 125 in each of years 2 through 5, for a total of 600 individuals served. By leveraging and expanding the existing collaboration with a NCTSI – Category II, Treatment and Service Adaptation Center and its partnership with the SCDJJ as the only nonsecure residential provider in the state, AMIkids Inc. will engage AMIkids Behavioral Health to provide direct trauma treatment and services to juvenile-justice involved youth and increase participation of families in treatment at the locations identified. Services will include the use of validated trauma screening, assessment, and evidence-based trauma treatments such as Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress, Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Measurable objectives of the project include: (1) Within 7 days of admission, 100% of youth enrolled at three AMIkids residential programs will receive orientation and informed consent for trauma screening and treatment by an AMIkids Behavioral Health licensed clinical staff; (2) Within 7 days of informed consent acceptance, 100% of youth will receive trauma screening utilizing the UCLA-PTSD-RI-5 administered by licensed clinical staff; (3) Within 21 days of informed consent acceptance, 100% of youth enrolled at three AMIkids residential programs who have risk factors for trauma based on intake screening information including the UCLA-PTSD-RI-5 and ACE scale will receive a comprehensive mental health assessment administered by licensed clinical staff; (4) Within 30 days of informed consent acceptance, 100% of youth assessed as requiring trauma treatment will receive an individualized treatment plan outlining trauma treatment services to be delivered; (5) 100% of youth receiving trauma treatment services will be offered an evidence-based intervention matched to the assessed need, and 75% of adolescents and youth engaged in trauma treatment services will successfully complete the evidence-based intervention assigned; and (6) 100% of youth receiving trauma treatment services will be offered family therapy if indicated as a need based on comprehensive assessment and age, and 75% of eligible families will successfully complete family therapy goals as prescribed on the individualized treatment plan and measured by at least 60% dosage completion.