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GU Discretionary Funding Fiscal Year 2023

Center: FG

Grantee: GUAM BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS CENTER
Program: FY 2023 Cooperative Agreements for 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Crisis Center Follow-Up Programs
City: TAMUNING
State: GU
Grant Award Number: 1 H79 FG001197-01
Congressional District: 98
FY 2023 Funding: $500,000
Project Period: 2023/09/30 - 2026/09/29

Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center (GBHWC), the applicant organization, is home to the island's only 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline center. Guam's 988 Lifeline has morphed from a local number answered by on-shift nurses in crisis stabilization units to a formally recognized National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) center on January 11, 2021. Through federal funding, GBHWC has been able to maintain operations by staffing the lifeline with full/part-time employees and volunteers. The Lifeline was absorbed and transformed into the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in July 2022. Since the start of 2023, Guam's Lifeline has received an average of 200 calls/month and has maintained an average answer rate of approximately 90%. The Guam Lifeline does not currently provide chat or text functionality, and there is a strong need for both workforce development and infrastructure upgrades to allow for these services. Currently, staff have the capacity to provide referrals to local resources, and the positive relationships between the 988 Lifeline and GBHWC crisis services allow for proper transitions of care. Still, Follow up care continues to wane. For the months of Nov. 2022-Jan. 2023, only 55% of Lifeline callers eligible for follow-up calls were offered a follow-up call. GBHWC's Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT) is the island's sole mobile crisis unit. The Lifeline has worked alongside the MCRT since its inception in June 2022 and will continue its collaborations. Through a structured follow-up process, Lifeline staff can connect with individuals with suicide ideations on a more regular basis, mitigating the need for other services on the crisis continuum. Funding will be utilized to support the following goals: 1. Develop and implement improved follow-up protocols for suicidal individuals who contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and provide enhanced coordination with the CBHWC Crisis Stabilization Units and MCRT. 2. Improve relationships with Guam Memorial Hospital, Guam Police Department, and Guam Fire Department to enhance the continuity of care by continual engagement post-initial 988 contacts for individuals who are at risk of suicide. 3. Improve connection with high-risk populations. Developing infrastructure for follow-up policy and procedures will force great strides and improvements in the overall service delivery for the crisis continuum of care, paving the way for increased access to services and a reduction in local suicide rates.


Grantee: GUAM BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS CENTER
Program: FY 2023 Cooperative Agreements for States and Territories to Improve Local 988 Capacity
City: TAMUNING
State: GU
Grant Award Number: 1 H79 FG001206-01
Congressional District: 98
FY 2023 Funding: $653,776
Project Period: 2023/09/30 - 2026/09/29

The purpose of this program is to improve Guam's response to 988 contacts through calls, chats, and text. Funding will be used to accomplish the following: 1.) Enhance workforce and technology to meet the 988 demand and fully support the 988 infrastructure and coordination across the crisis continuum, 2.) Identify and address gaps in current 988 services and protocols in collaboration with the Suicide Prevention Coalition, and 3.) Develop and implement a comprehensive 988 communications plan to increase community knowledge and understanding of 988 services.


Center: SM

Grantee: GUAM BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS CENTER
Program: Mental Health Awareness Training Grants
City: TAMUNING
State: GU
Grant Award Number: 1 H79 SM084552-01
Congressional District: 98
FY 2023 Funding: $250,000
Project Period: 2022/12/31 - 2026/12/30

Guam is an unincorporated territory of United States, a small island with a diverse multiple ethnic and cultural population of 159,381 people. Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitative Facilities and the only State mental health facility in the Western Pacific providing mental health services for Guam, Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Island and active duty military, retirees, veterans and families. There are glaring gaps, barriers, lack of training and resources in Guam's current service structures and programs. Guam has no mobile crisis response unit for the targeted population, forcing many families to access mental health services via Guam Police Department. Guam Police Fire Department directors have requested trainings to guide first responders to resolve mental health crisis in constructive, safe, and humane manner. On Guam, individuals with SMI and SED may be transported to the emergency departments or GBHWC but more likely, they would be arrested, detained and released without services. Due to mental health stigma and language barriers, parents and family members of individuals with SMI and SED are unable to recognize warning signs and symptoms of mental illness and access services too late. Under the leadership of GBHWC, Project Tiningo will provide evidenced based mental health awareness trainings for school personnel, law enforcement, emergency personnel, medical, behavioral providers, military, veterans and parents families of individuals with SED and SMI.


Grantee: GUAM BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS CENTER
Program: FY 2022 Cooperative Agreements for States and Territories to Build Local 988 Capacity
City: TAMUNING
State: GU
Grant Award Number: 3 H79 SM086066-01S1
Congressional District: 98
FY 2023 Funding: $458,333
Project Period: 2022/04/30 - 2024/04/29

The U.S. territory of Guam requests funding for Project Guam 988 Lifeline Center to build local 988 capacity. The funding will be utilized to increase current Lifeline center capacity through increasing Lifeline workforce capacity and the implementation of chat/text crisis services. Guam presently has only one Lifeline Call Center, operated by the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center (GBHWC), the island's only state mental health agency. Thus, the GBHWC Lifeline Center will serve the entire diverse population of 153,836 people (U.S. Census, 2020) including 10,026 veterans (U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, 2017). In the past, the GBHWC's Hotline was staffed with Inpatient nurses and volunteers during the holiday season. However, during the COVID pandemic the need grew, and the pandemic forced the issue of having a stable, consistent 24/7 crisis hotline. In response, GBHWC established a 24/7 crisis hotline with dedicated staff that were trained in crisis intervention. The COVID pandemic has had a major impact on call volumes. Prior to the pandemic, the GBHWC Crisis Hotline, received an average of 25 calls/month. In 2020, with the advent and persistence of the COVID pandemic, call volumes rose to an average of 748 calls/month, of which approximately 15.8% were "crisis" calls, thus raising the average monthly call volume for crisis-related issues from 25 calls/month to 118 calls/month (GBHWC Crisis Hotline Data). Using the current average of 118 calls/month, we project the number of chats/texts at the initiation of Guam's 988 Lifeline to be at approximately 50%, with a progressive increase once the population becomes familiar with this mode of interaction. Data shows the increased need for 988 services, thus the major goals and objectives of this grant will be to 1) increase the capacity of the Lifeline Center to handle current and projected 988 volumes for calls, texts/chats, and follow-up services and 2) increase the capacity of the Lifeline Center to successfully launch 988 by executing the Guam 988 Implementation Plan. Project Guam 988 Lifeline Center will serve 6,000 over the life of the 2-year grant.


Grantee: GUAM BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS CENTER
Program: Garrett Lee Smith State/Tribal Youth Suicide Prevention and Early Intervention Grant Program
City: TAMUNING
State: GU
Grant Award Number: 5 H79 SM082116-04
Congressional District: 98
FY 2023 Funding: $736,000
Project Period: 2020/01/15 - 2025/01/14

Grantee: GUAM BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS CENTER
Program: Treatment for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness, Serious Emotional Disturbance or Co-Occurring Disorders Experiencing Homelessness
City: TAMUNING
State: GU
Grant Award Number: 5 H79 SM080693-05
Congressional District: 98
FY 2023 Funding: $1,000,000
Project Period: 2019/09/30 - 2024/09/29

Grantee: GUAM BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS CENTER
Program: Grants for Expansion and Sustainability of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances
City: TAMUNING
State: GU
Grant Award Number: 1 H79 SM087938-01
Congressional District: 98
FY 2023 Funding: $953,478
Project Period: 2023/09/30 - 2027/09/29

Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center (GBHWC), Guam's Single State Agency for Mental Health and Substance Use, seeks funding to support the expansion and sustainability of comprehensive community mental health services. "Project Guam's System of Care (GSOC)," proposes to serve approximately 800 children and youth ages 0-21, at-risk for, or experiencing Serious Emotional Disturbances and their families. Guam received its first child mental health initiative grant between 2002-2008, which established the System of Care (SOC) "I Famagu'on-ta" (Our Children). Between 2013-2018, GBHWC began efforts to expand this SOC island-wide through the comprehensive, community-defined GSOC Expansion Strategic Plan. Although Guam has made significant strides in sustaining a few components of the 2013 strategic plan, including evidence-based and culturally appropriate outpatient, residential, and inpatient behavioral health services, the island has experiences amplified and newly emerged needs of children and families. During the pandemic, GBHWC served over 2,800 children and youth and although significant, prevalence data shows there are more children and youth on Guam that need to be served. GBHWC aims to overcome "project" mentality by focusing on "systems change" with an overall goal of achieving quality access through collaborative partnerships, in order to effectively address the concerns and needs of Guam's children, youth and families. Project GSOC proposes to accomplish this through the following three goals: 1)Increase access to treatment and support services for the target population through a 24-hour Emergency Crisis Intervention Services (Mobile Response and Stabilization Services and Crisis Intake); 2) Revive and improve connections between social support systems, community providers, and families to address challenges in the provision of support services for children, youth, and families utilizing consumer voice as the driver for decision making; 3) Address service gaps across the continuum of care with enhance services that focuses on consumer voice, multi-system stakeholder involvement, and special population services needs.


Grantee: WESTCARE PACIFIC ISLANDS, INC.
Program: National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative – Category III, Community Treatment and Service (CTS) Centers
City: HAGATNA
State: GU
Grant Award Number: 5 H79 SM084864-03
Congressional District: 98
FY 2023 Funding: $400,000
Project Period: 2021/09/30 - 2026/09/29

Center: SP

Grantee: GUAM BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS CENTER
Program: Strategic Prevention Framework for Prescription Drugs
City: TAMUNING
State: GU
Grant Award Number: 5 H79 SP083233-02
Congressional District: 98
FY 2023 Funding: $500,000
Project Period: 2022/09/30 - 2027/09/29

Grantee: GUAM BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS CENTER
Program: FY 2023 Strategic Prevention Framework-Partnerships for Success for States
City: TAMUNING
State: GU
Grant Award Number: 1 H79 SP083852-01
Congressional District: 98
FY 2023 Funding: $1,250,000
Project Period: 2023/09/30 - 2028/09/29

The purpose of Guam PFS 2023 is to reduce substance misuse in Guam through the expansion of community-based substance misuse prevention and mental health promotion services. The proposed catchment area is the entirety of the island, with specific focus on these underserved communities: individuals of Pacific Islander descent, LGBTQIA+ youth and adults, and service members, veterans, and their families. To effectively address and impact substance misuse concerns in Guam, GBHWC must leverage the SPF PFS 2023 funding to sustain the work of Guam’s SEOW to ensure that local prevention programs and services respond to data-informed priorities and reach specific audiences who experience the most risks or demonstrates the highest needs in the island. Additionally, as Guam’s SSA, GBHWC must focus on developing and leading a strong infrastructure for delivering quality prevention services for all of Guam – an infrastructure that is facilitated by skilled and qualified prevention leaders, champions evidence-informed and community-driven initiatives, and continuously builds prevention workforce and resources that extends into the grassroots of our island community. The proposed goals for the 5-year grant period are: Goal 1) Guam’s community-based organizations will have increased capacity to offer and sustain data-driven, evidence-based substance misuse prevention and mental health promotion services, and Goal 2) Guam’s behavioral health infrastructure will be improved to where community-based prevention service providers are engaged in collaborative partnerships with GBHWC, the state mental health agency, as the direct source of prevention technical assistance and resources. To achieve these goals, GBHWC will pursue throughout the duration of the grant: Objective 1-A. By 2024, GBHWC will identify at least 3 communities that Guam PFS sub awarded non-profit organizations will serve for the duration of the grant. Objective 1-B. By 2028, at least three (3) Guam PFS subgrantees will implement and evaluate Guam’s Community Health Improvement Plan to address substance use prevention. Objective 2-A. By 2028, GBHWC will appoint at least one (1) full-time staff to lead SEOW duties and deliverables to ensure sustainable data is available for consistent leveraging of prevention program services. Objective 2-B. By 2028, at least three (3) Community-based organizations will implement a health communication campaign framework developed by GBHWC to decrease substance misuse in their focused population. Objective 2-C. By 2026, GBHWC will on-board all prevention staff to align their knowledge, skills, and abilities with the national standards set for a Prevention Specialist. Objective 2-D. By 2028, all community based organizations utilizing prevention subgrants through GBHWC to recruit staff will follow a standard job description and on-boarding process. Year 1 is dedicated to the development of Guam’s Community Health Improvement Plan, which will confirm the prioritized concerns and communities to be served using the SPF-PFS 2023 grant. It will include long-term goals, 5-year program objectives and strategies, and annual target outcomes and reach. Its evaluation component must guide the assessment of project performance and impact. Key partners in this process are the SEOW and PFS 2018 subgrantees. Thereafter, subgrant opportunities will be offered for implementation to begin before the fiscal year ends. A team of full-time staff under the GBHWC Prevention and Training Branch will be tasked to oversee and fulfill these proposed grant activities and requirements.


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