New program takes mental health care to safe places
Therapists will be where youths, families gather
As part of the transformation in how mental health services are provided, Saint A therapists will be joining eight sites of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee over the next five years. They plan to give trauma-informed treatment to at least 2,700 young people.
The initiative, “Project Thrive,” is funded with a $2 million grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). It will also support training for Boys & Girls Club staff in mental health first aid, as well as research by the Medical College of Wisconsin into the efficacy of the treatment.
The federal grant comes as SAMHSA is dispersing unprecedented amounts of funding for behavioral health support, bolstered by the American Rescue Plan. The state Department of Health Services has submitted its own request for $47 million in SAMHSA funds for mental health and substance abuse services.
The plan to place therapists on-site at Boys & Girls Clubs is part of a broader shift in the mental health field to move providers into settings that are already trusted and utilized by families, such as schools, pediatrician offices and community centers. This can reduce barriers like transportation, scheduling, stigma and
sometimes cost.
Last week, the Yabuki Family Foundation announced a $20 million gift to put therapists in every Children’s Wisconsin primary care and urgent care site. The initiative aims to shorten the wait time to see a therapist, which for Children’s patients has generally been between six and 12 months. It’s part of the health system’s $150 million plan to double its number of behavioral health professionals.
Other health systems have been working for years on their own strategies for integrating behavioral health care in primary care settings. Many school districts have also expanded partnerships with private mental health providers operating on-site.
As part of Project Thrive at the Boys & Girls Clubs, families will not have to pay for services, according to Saint A officials. The grant funds will help cover costs for families without full insurance coverage.
”We’re bringing mental health support and services to where kids are, where they feel safe and where their families also feel connected to the community,” SaintA CEO Ann Leinfelder Grove said.
As the project primarily serves youth of color, Medical College researchers will be analyzing how well these therapies work and how they could be improved specifically for those populations. This may lead to adaptations of the therapy models in collaboration with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
“I’m hopeful this project will play a part in establishing new knowledge to be applied to communities of color on a national basis,” said Greg Wesley, senior vice president of strategic alliances and business development for the Medical College. “Mental health is a substantial issue in our community; it has been under-resourced for a long time.”
Therapists from SaintA, a Milwaukee-based organization specializing in trauma work, will offer assessments for all youth at the club sites whose parents consent. Based on the needs, they will provide ongoing group therapy and individual cognitive behavioral therapy, which focuses on healthier thinking patterns and coping strategies.
They will also use a framework called Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC) that involves caregivers in a process of learning about trauma responses, understanding emotions and finding tools for self-empowerment.
While the project was in the works before the pandemic, rates of anxiety and depression in youth have continued to grow, said Jody Pahlavan, vice president of clinical services for SaintA.
While experts await more research on the mental health impact of the pandemic, some early local and national hospital data are concerning. Looking at youth visits to emergency departments across the country, the share of visits related to mental health between midMarch and October 2020 is more than 24% higher than it was for the same period in 2019, according to the National Institute for Health Care Management.
“If we look at what is likely to have caused that, it’s the disruption in the important community around them,” Pahlavan said. “When kids don’t have their sports, their school, their teachers, when everything is disrupted, it’s really devastating.”