Community Mental Health Services Block Grant

Community Mental Health Services Block Grant is sponsored by Illinois Department of Human Services. Supports community-based mental health services to improve access and quality of care for individuals with mental illnesses.

IDHS: FY2022-FY2023 Community Mental Health Services Block Grant Application --> Anyone, 6 months or older, is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Find your nearest vaccination location at vaccines. gov .

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Quintero, Secretary Community MH Services Block Grant FY2022-FY2023 Community Mental Health Services Block Grant Application FY2022-FY2023 MH Block Grant - PDF Version FY2022-FY2023 MH Block Grant - Word Version Section I - Executive Summary, Information, Assurance Forms Planning Step I: Framework for Planning-Assessment of the Mental Health Service System 1.

Strengths and Needs of the Service System Planning Step II: Priorities, Goals, Strategies and Performance Indicators (Planning Tables) Section IV: Environmental Factors and Plan 1. The Health Care System, Parity and Integration - Partly Required (Questions I and 2 only) 2, Health Disparities- Requested 3. Innovation in Purchasing Decisions- Requested 4.

Evidence Based Practices for Early Intervention 4(a). FEP Programs (10 Percent Set-Aside)-Required 5. Person Centered Planning (PCP) and Self-Direction- Required 6 Program Integrity Required 7.

Consultation with Tribes -Requested 8. Primary Prevention for Substance Abuse -DSUPR 9. Statutory Criteria for MHBG- Required 10.

Substance Use Disorder Treatment -DSUPR 11. Quality Improvement Plan -Requested 13. Criminal and Juvenile Justice -Requested 14.

Medication Assisted Treatment-DSUPR 15. Crisis Services-Requested 17. Community Living and Implementation of Olmstead- Requested 18.

Children &Adolescents Behavioral Health Services Required 19. Suicide Prevention- Required 20. Support of State Partners Required 21.

State Behavioral Health Advisory Council and Input on the Mental Health Block Grant Plan- Required 22. Public Comment on the State Plan- Required DUNS #: 067919071 Expiration: 8/11/2021 12:00AM I.

State Agency to be the Grantee for the Block Grant AGENCY: Illinois Department of Human Services ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT: Division of Mental Health STREET ADDRESS: Iles Park Place, 600 East Ash St, Building 500, 3rd Floor CITY Springfield STATE: Illinois ZIP: 62703 TELEPHONE: (217) 782-5700 FAX: (217) 785-3066 II.

Contact Person for the Grantee of the Block Grant TITLE: Director, Division of Mental Health AGENCY: Illinois Department of Human Services ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT: Division of Mental Health STREET ADDRESS: 401 S. Clinton, Second Floor STATE: Illinois _ZIP:60607 TELEPHONE: 312-793-1326_FAX: (312) 814 -2964 EMAIL: David. albert@illinois.

gov III.

State Expenditure Period (Most recent State expenditure period that is closed out) FROM: July 1, 2020 TO: June 30, 2021 FY 2022-23 MENTAL HEALTH BLOCK GRANT APPLICATION Section I: Executive Summary The Illinois Department of Human Services-Division of Mental Health (DMH) is responsible for facilitating, coordinating, and purchasing a comprehensive array of services that provide effective treatments to people most in need of publicly funded mental health care.

The policies and practices of the DMH focus on fostering coordination and integration of services provided by DMH funded community agencies, private hospitals, and state hospitals across Illinois. A variety of collaborative initiatives serve to increase coordination with other state agencies whose services are accessed by individuals receiving mental health services.

The FY2022-FY2023 Mental Health Block Grant Plan reflects these coordination efforts as well as an emphasis on developing and directing care which is consumer and family driven. DMH continues to transform the mental health service delivery system in Illinois to one that is recovery-oriented.

These efforts include increasing consumer and family involvement in planning and implementation activities and expanding the focus on planning and implementation of evidenced-based practices. A wide array of stakeholders representing consumers, family members of individuals with mental illnesses, advocates and public service agencies purchasing or providing treatment to individuals with mental illnesses participate in these efforts.

The anticipated outcome is the continued enhancement of activities that support the recovery-orientation of the mental health system and address the needs of consumers and their families. During FY2021 and continuing into FY2022-FY2023, the priorities of the DMH include: (1) Facilitation and coordination of an effective array of clinical and support services.

(2) The provision of services in the least restrictive manner including screening and crisis services for individuals at risk of hospitalization that contribute to reducing the use of hospitalization and identification of individuals who are experiencing psychosis for the first time as a priority population for community-based services.

(3) Advancement of the recovery vision including Wellness Recovery Action Planning, expansion of the scope and quality of consumer and family participation, and promotion of the utilization of the Certified Recovery Support Specialist (CRSS) credential. (4) Continued support of System of Care concept and infrastructure for children, adolescents and their families in Illinois.

(5) Enhancement of capacity for community living consistent with the Olmstead Decision, as stipulated in Implementation Plans of the Williams vs. Pritzker Consent Decree and the Colbert vs. Pritzker Consent Decree.

(6) Partnership with state agencies and statewide organizations in initiatives which respond to ongoing consumer needs such as the criminal justice system, alcoholism and substance abuse services, vocational and employment services, housing opportunity, and services for military personnel.

(7) Bi-directional Integration of Primary Health Care and Behavioral Health Care and the maximization of benefits to adults with SMI and children with SED through Affordable Care.

(8) Continuing consultation and partnering with the state Medicaid agency, DHFS, the IDHS Community Health and Prevention Division (CHP) and the Illinois Children's Mental Health Partnership to address the behavioral health needs of women in pregnancy, single mothers with young children, and early childhood interventions.

(9) Enhancement of collaborative efforts with state and local partners to address the mental health needs of adults involved with the criminal justice system and youth in the juvenile justice system. (10) Advancements in the use of data to inform and guide decision-making. The FY2022-23 Plan has been organized to comply with the priorities and format established by the SAMHSA.

Framework for Planning-Assessment of the Mental Health Service System Description/Overview of the State's Mental Health System The Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Mental Health (DMH) has a statutory mandate to plan, fund, and monitor community-based mental health services.

Through collaborative and interdependent relationships with service system partners, the DMH is responsible for maintaining and improving an evidence-based, community-focused, and outcome-validated mental health service system that builds resilience and facilitates the recovery of individuals with mental illnesses.

The DMH accomplishes this responsibility through the coordination of a comprehensive array of public/private mental health services for adults with/at risk of serious mental illnesses and children/adolescents with/at risk of serious emotional disturbances. IDHS manages human service systems in the state, including management of the public mental health system through DMH.

DMH has the statutory mandate to plan, fund, and monitor community-based mental health services and inpatient psychiatric services provided in state hospitals. As such, DMH is the federally recognized State Mental Health Authority for Illinois. DMH contracts with approximately 210 community mental health agencies to provide community-based services.

These organizations provide mental health services primarily reimbursed under the Medicaid Rehabilitation Option, including psychiatry, psychotherapy, medications, psychosocial rehabilitation, and case management to individuals eligible for Medicaid. A variety of additional supportive programs are funded through a grant mechanism. DMH also operates seven state operated psychiatric hospitals (SOPHs) and one treatment detention facility.

In addition, DMH supports services provided through long term care facilities and in residential settings. The state's geographic diversity, ranging from inner-city urban areas to sparsely populated rural areas, along with other factors such as stigma, result in mental health service delivery in non-traditional settings.

These include physician offices, primary care clinics, general hospitals, emergency rooms, child welfare centers, schools, juvenile detention centers, jails, and prisons. With the onset of the COVID 19 Pandemic, the majority of services shifted to telehealth and virtual approaches, and providers have continued to operate in a more hybrid approach to maintain the flexibility that the continued public health uncertainty has required.

While DMH provides some funding, the services provided in these diverse treatment settings are supported by a variety of other sources as well. In addition to clinical services, DMH purchases non-clinical supports for adults, including the following: Supportive housing .

Access to supportive housing has been a focus for several years and includes a service model, identified funding sources, and a referral network for those transitioning from long-term care settings. Beginning in SFY22, the Division has been awarded additional funding by the Illinois General Assembly and has released a Notice of Funding Opportunity reflecting an additional $10M in permanent supportive housing resources.

This investment in supportive housing demonstrates a commitment to helping individuals achieve their independent living goals, with community settings becoming the expected living situation for most adults who are diagnosed with serious mental illnesses. Employment services .

To help individuals access and maintain employment, Illinois has adopted the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model, an evidence-based practice for which there is robust data indicating success.

With the support of both DMH and the IDHS Division of Rehabilitation Services, the IPS model has demonstrated a 63 percent successful Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Rate (the percentage of people stably employed in a job of their choosing after 90 days), which is above the national average.

Illinois leads the nation in its provision of technical assistance through certified IPS fidelity trainers, which are geographically based throughout the state to ensure access to support for all IPS providers.

With the move to telehealth for many services as a result of the pandemic, the Illinois IPS leadership provided consultation to the teams who were transitioning to hybrid service delivery, and in consultation with the international IPS learning community, developed a remote approach to the provision of fidelity monitoring and technical assistance.

In addition, members of the IPS leadership team were invited and are actively participating in a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Racial Justice initiative of the international IPS learning community. Recovery supports.

With input from individuals with lived expertise in recovery, DMH provides innovative recovery services and supports, including Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP), regional recovery conferences, monthly consumer education calls that discuss a wide range of recovery-oriented topics, over twenty "Living Room" sites that provide a mutual learning approach to crisis respite, and twenty Recovery Drop-In Centers that provide non-clinical social supports.

Both models are operated by recovery support specialists. It is the vision of the Division of Mental Health that all persons with mental illnesses can recover and participate fully in life in the community.

Within available fiscal resources, the priority for DMH is to provide access to clinically appropriate, effective and efficient mental health care and treatment for individuals who have serious mental illnesses and who have limited social and economic resources.

Planning and budgeting decisions are guided by the basic principle that individuals will receive services in the least restrictive, most clinically appropriate environment, with the best possible qualityof evidence-based treatment and recovery-oriented care. Statewide efforts to maintain and improve the system of care are coordinated through the Division of Mental Health Central Office based in both Springfield and Chicago.

Planning and program implementation are accomplished in conjunction with seven regional administrators. The Central Office is responsible for oversight of the system, policy formulation and review, the operation of seven state hospitals, planning, service evaluation, and allocation of funds.

Interagency collaborative efforts and leadership in initiatives such as activities related to transformation, participation and involvement of individuals with lived expertise of mental health recovery, the promotion of evidence-based practices, planning for clinical services, forensic services, and child and adolescent services are carried out by statewide administrative staff.

The Community-Based Mental Health Service System Community services are considered the cornerstone of the mental health delivery system. Services provided and purchased by the DMH are geographically based. The DMH is geographically organized into five service regions.

Through these regions, the DMH operates seven state hospitals and contracts with 210 community-based outpatient/rehabilitation provider agencies across the state.

These Service Regions are responsible for coordination and general oversight of mental health services, assisting in developing the capacity and expertise of providers, and increasing the quality and the quantity of participation from persons who receive mental health services. Two regions are in the Chicago Metropolitan area and surrounding suburbs, and three regions cover the central, southern and metro-east southern (East St.

Louis region) areas of the State. The DMH continually seeks input from individuals, family members, advocates, and representatives of public and private organizations through the framework of the Illinois Mental Health Planning and Advisory Council (IMHPAC) to aid in planning efforts.

The DMH uses emerging developments at the local, state and national levels as a basis for strategically setting statewide parameters and goals, with the regions carrying the responsibility for the development of congruent local systems of care. Ongoing strategic thinking and planning efforts with regional stakeholders are designed to uniquely meet local area needs within each Region.

The regions work with local agencies, state agency partners, and stakeholders to integrate a comprehensive care system that includes mental health,rehabilitation, substance use, social services, criminal justice, and education.

The DMH is able to improve linkage and insure that treatment occurs in the least restrictive and most cost-effective settings by integrating hospital-based services into a network of community outpatient services and supports that are coordinated across service providers and consumers.

By building on the strengths of communities, the region administrators are able to manage DMH funds, and coordinate themost effectiveuse of the local tax dollars and private resources budgeted for public mental health services.

Being part of the IDHS umbrella has provided an opportunity for the DMH to address a number of challenges within the shared mission of one Department, including: disability determination for persons with serious mental illnesses (SMI), prevention, early intervention, integration of vocational and educational services for children with serious emotional disturbances (SED), coordination and development of Mental Illness and Substance Use (dual diagnosis) services, and, through the coordinated intake process, an opportunity to enhance case finding, early identification, and outreach efforts.

DMH's Forensic and Justice Services collaborates with a range of agencies in the criminal justice system to oversee and coordinate the inpatient and outpatient placements of adults remanded to DMH by Illinois county courts because they are found to be unfit to stand trial (UST) or not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI). Inpatient services are provided at five state hospitals with secure forensic units.

DMH has utilized grant funding to develop a pilot for community-based fitness restoration for individuals with low risk, which is reducing excess demand on our state hospitals system while meeting the needs of these individuals in the least restrictive setting possible.

DMH also helps lead several programs to address other individuals with behavioral health needs in jails and prisons, including the Jail Data Link Program and other initiatives focused on recovery, diversion, reintegration, best practices, and the appropriate use of inpatient and community resources.

Because of budgetary constraints, many community-based mental health services are available only if the individual has health benefits through private insurance, Medicaid, or Supplemental Security Income. These constraints also apply to individuals involved with the criminal justice and juvenile justice systems.

Mental health services are purchased or delivered by many other state agencies and local mental health authorities in some areas of the state (including 708 boards, the City of Chicago and other municipalities, and Cook County).

Over the years, DMH has worked actively to establish and maintain relationships across these systems with the goal of integrating mental health services under its purview with the services provided or purchased by other agencies.

Description and Overview of Child and Adolescent Services DMH's Child and Adolescent Services (C&A) consults and collaborates on the design and quality of services for children and adolescents with social, emotional, and behavioral disorders who depend on public funding. Statewide, children and adolescents receive services through a network of over 200 community-based mental health providers.

The emphasis is on social, emotional, and behavioral skill development organized to meet the unique needs of children and youth with serious mental health needs and their families and on evidence informed practice as components in the systemic transformation process.

C&A collaborates with the Illinois State Board of Education, the Department of Child and Family Services, the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, DHS/Division of Substance Use, Prevention and Recovery (DSUPR), the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the Illinois Children's Mental Health Partnership, to implement Systems of Care statewide.

The Illinois Departments of Children and Family Services (IDCFS), Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (IDHFS) and Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), also have statutory responsibility to provide mental health services in some instances. No single agency has statutory responsibility for ensuring the integration of behavioral health care services across all child-serving systems.

The Growth of Community-Based Services Within Illinois there are numerous private practitioners, community mental health agencies, community hospitals providing inpatient psychiatric care, and community long-term care facilities providing services to individuals with serious mental illnesses. Over the past 40 years, the locus of treatment for persons with mental illness has shifted from institutions to community-based settings.

In FY1973, 8% of the DMH's budget was allocated for community services. Today 65% of DMH expenditures are being allocated for community-based services. The Illinois Mental Health Collaborative for Access and Choice DMH began contracting with an Administrative Services Organization (ASO) in FY2008 to assist with implementing DMH established policies and procedures in a variety of areas.

The ASO known as the Illinois Mental Health Collaborative for Access and Choice, or The Collaborative serves as an administrative arm to the Division. Tasks performed by the Collaborative include: Operating and maintaining a Warm Line and an "Individuals and Families" web page of wellness and recovery resources. Collaborating with DMH on the development and maintenance of an integrated Management Information System (MIS).

Completion, dissemination, and posting of a variety of mental health reports, manuals, and a consumer and family handbook. The work of the Collaborative has been very valuable to DMH in terms of performing administrative and supportive tasks that support the vision for a recovery-oriented service system.

Community Integration from Long Term Care There are a substantial number of individuals with serious mental illnesses who require long-term care services. Some require this level of care because of functional limitations associated with their mental illnesses, and others require it for functional limitations associated with both mental illness and medical needs.

In either case, the lack of viable community alternatives and supportive services for persons in this situation may necessitate their admission to and continued care in longer term care facilities. The Illinois Department of Public Health (DPH) is responsible for monitoring the licensing requirements of nursing facilities and the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (DHFS) oversees Medicaid funding.

The DMH has made a concerted effort to assist community providers and these two state agencies to understand the service needs of persons with serious and disabling mental illnesses. DMH has been working to develop community-based alternatives to accommodate the needs of this population in transitioning to the community through the Williams Consent Decree and the Colbert Consent Decree. (See Section C-17 for further information.)

Collaborative Planning in Mental Health and Substance Use Prevention and Treatment DMH and the DHS Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery (DSUPR) have worked together over the years to collaborate, develop and implement initiatives focusing on consumers with co-occurring disorders.

These collaborations have included co-location projects at four state hospitals and sharing service delivery site resources, which allowed DSUPR-funded providers to perform screening and assessment for consumers on-site, and to provide consultation to DMH staff regarding the substance abuse treatment needs of consumers when these services were warranted.

This approach resulted in the development of more hospital staff training and expansion of the role of the providers to perform linkage and engagement activities. DMH continues to implement Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP) which is seen as bridging the gap between traditional mental health treatment and traditional substance abuse treatment for individuals with co-occurring disorders.

The use of WRAP principles of self-determination, personal responsibility, and empowering support are a means of addressing an individual's divergent needs.

In reference to children and youth, DSUPR has been a leading participant in the DMH Family Driven Care initiative and has collaborated with DMH in providing training on trauma informed prevention, treatment and recovery as well as adolescent and family co-occurring disorders and their treatment.

Strengths and Needs in the Service System The consistent vision for mental health services in Illinois is a well-resourced and transformed mental health system that is person centered and community driven; that provides a continuum of culturally inclusive programs which are integrated and effective; a range of direct and support services (including prevention, early intervention, treatment and supports) that support healthy lifelong development through equal access and promote recovery and resilience.

The fundamental belief (credo) is that: "All persons with mental illnesses can recover and participate fully in community life: - The expectation is recovery - The individual is central" Accordingly, all children with a diagnosis of, or at risk for developing, an emotional disorder will have access to a family-driven, youth-guided, trauma-informed, culturally and linguistically competent, strengths-based system of care that supports optimal physical and mental health and social and emotional wellbeing.

All adults with a diagnosis of, or at risk for developing, a mental illness will have access to a coordinated, integrated, well-funded mental health system that promotes recovery and social inclusion through timely access to prevention, treatment, and recovery support services.

Illinois has a strong foundation on which to create a behavioral health system grounded in recovery and built on the premise that mental health is essential to health . With support at the highest levels, DMH and its partners in state government, communities, and the private sector engage in collaborative problem-solving to address identified gaps and emerging needs.

InChild and Adolescent services, the emphasis is on resilience and evidence informed practice as components in the systemic transformation process. Specific system strengths and gaps are noted below. A person-centered, recovery focus Illinois emphasizes the concept of recovery for all individuals experiencing mental illnesses.

The State has shown a commitment to a recovery-oriented system of care by developing and supporting positions within state leadership, in the regions, and at the direct service level for Certified Recovery Support Specialists (CRSS). CRSS staff, who have lived expertise of mental illnesses, have a voice in directing policy, monitoring quality, and providing mental health services and supports.

Commitment to Evidence-Based and Evidence-Informed Practices in Illinois Evidence-based practices are interventions for which there is consistent scientific evidence showing that, when implemented with fidelity to the model, individual outcomes improve.

Evidence-informed practices refer to those practices determined by children, their families, and practitioners to be appropriate to the needs of the child and family, reflective of available research, and measurable with respect to meaningful outcomes.

Illinois has devoted resources to support the implementation and use of evidence-based practices for adults with mental illnesses in such areas as outreach, engagement and treatment (Assertive Community Treatment), housing (Permanent Supportive Housing), employment (Individual Placement Support), and recovery (Wellness Recovery Action Planning).

Dollars also have been allocated to support the implementation and measurement of evidence-informed practices with child-serving agencies. A pledge to work together Collaborative efforts across state agencies that support adults and/or children with mental health conditions abound.

Examples include a collaborative effort between IDCFS, DMH, and IDHFS to provide crisis services to youth with serious emotional disturbances and the Jail Data Link program, which was developed by DMH to identify and coordinate services between county jails and mental health agencies for individuals with mental health needs.

The behavioral health and law enforcement systems work together in problem-solving courts and on law enforcement Crisis Intervention Teams. Support for Illinois service members, veterans, and their families comes from a broad range of community, faith-based, and fraternal organizations, as well as elected officials and the general public.

The Illinois Joining Forces Foundation has established several Veterans Support Communities across the State for the purpose of local resource utilization that spans physical and behavioral healthcare, as well as broader social determinants of health for service members, veterans, and their families. Transition to Managed Care Medicaid Managed Care has been successfully implemented in Illinois.

As the number of individuals whose care is reimbursed by Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) has grown, the amount of services reimbursed directly by the SMHA public mental health system has decreased. In February 2017, Illinois initiated a reboot of the Illinois managed care system which began in 2011-12. About two million Illinois residents - nearly two-thirds of Illinois residents on Medicaid - were part of managed care plans.

The new plan extended managed care to approximately 85% of all Illinois residents. The managed care reboot also shifted managed care in Illinois to a more value-based system, and an overall decrease in managed care companies, in an attempt to reduce administrative burden through simplified processes for providers.

Illinois Public Act 096-1501 (Medicaid Reform) requires the provision of coordinated care for adults and children who receive Medicaid-funded services.

This may spur the development of innovative service models to improve health care outcomes, use of evidence-based practices, and encourage meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) Technology isincreasingly being used to help drive both service provision and data collection and analysis.

Telepsychiatry, e-prescribing, and other mobile and video tools are currently being used to make services accessible to Illinois residents with mental health needs who otherwise might not be served. Although Illinois behavioral health providers have exceeded the national average of 10 percent for implementation of EHRs, there is still much work to be done. (See the discussion of "gaps" below.)

Fragmentation of Services One of the significant strengths of the Illinois mental health system- the diversity of agencies and providers serving adults with mental illnesses and children with emotional disorders-also creates the potential for a key weakness, as individuals and families may need to interact with a range of agencies to access various necessary services.

This fragmentation results in some frustration for individuals and families, potential duplication of services, increased costs, and interruptions in care. The situation is especially acute for certain groups, including youth transitioning to the adult system of care and individuals with mental health conditions who encounter the criminal justice system for lack of more appropriate alternatives.

Insufficient funding for mental health programs results in gaps of specific services, such as permanent supportive housing, and for particular groups, such as transition-age youth and individuals currently ineligible for Medicaid. Moreover, the evidence-based practices the state promotes require a significant amount of training, supervision, and monitoring to ensure fidelity to the model, costs which are not reimbursed by Medicaid.

Ultimately, behavioral health care is only as good as the workforce that provides it. Overall, the health care workforce in America is aging and insufficiently sized and trained to meet the growing demand for integrated physical and behavioral health care.

Illinois has made strides in addressing the education of future behavioral health care workers through collaboration with some key universities on graduate and training programs in psychology and social work. The state also has advocated and developed employment for peers, family members, and veterans as service providers.

However, there is an overall lack in Illinois, as elsewhere, of such specialists as child and adolescent psychiatrists, advanced practice nurses, physician assistants, and other behavioral health care workers. Workforce members need to be trained to provide trauma-informed, culturally competent services, especially to youth involved in the justice system and returning veterans.

Recruitment and retention of a sufficient number of culturally competent/sensitive staff and those with the language proficiencies to meet the needs of the ethnic populations served is also an issue. Assessing Needs in the Service System Needs and gaps of mental health services in the context of COVID-19.

The Covid-19 pandemic has strengthened our resolve to provide statewide access to a comprehensive mental health service system that has both the ability and the capacity to serve all residents of Illinois regardless of where they may be living and what their financial status may be. We know that COVID-19 has not affected everyone in our state equally.

It has drawn attention to existing inequities that have resulted in unequal access and unequal outcomes. We are committed to addressing these inequities and building a broader mental health system that works to ensure everyone of equitable access to comprehensive, high-quality mental healthcare across the lifespan.

Through careful design, planning and coordination, we believe that we can increase access through crisis response system development that is consistent with SAMHSA's assertion that: "A fully realized crisis response system will have the capacity to respond, deescalate, and follow-through crises so that individuals in crisis not only land safely but also transition well onto a path of recovery."

We are committed to develop and support evidence-based crisis services and to increase access to evidence-based treatment and coordinated recovery support for those with SMI and SED. A primary strategy will be to stress local access to crisis services and support for those whose lives, incomes, family relationships, and mental health have been impacted by COVID-19.

A secondary strategy, but no less important, will be to identify a range of non-traditional ways of meeting mental health needs in the most impacted areas. The development of these new approaches will require thoughtful study and planning in how to innovatively use and enhance less costly more familiar resources available in the community to support and complement more traditional practices.

DMH staff, working statewide, are in a position to convene stakeholders, provide technical assistance and consultation to local entities in needs assessment, planning and implementation of practical and innovative approaches in local service delivery and community support.

Agencies that demonstrate ability and commitment to adequately serve areas which have previously been poorly covered or uncovered that have a population with a larger segment of unfunded, underfunded, and undocumented Illinoisans who have likely been underserved will