Our mission: In partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, the Public Mental Health Partnership at UCLA aims to realize a vision for excellence in care for vulnerable populations that incorporates typically marginalized perspectives and builds capacity to foster health equity.
The PMHP focuses training and technical assistance resources on two DMH programs, Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement (HOME) and Full Service Partnerships (FSP) serving individuals 18 years and over. Both programs serve individuals with serious mental illness and both address the challenges of chronic homelessness.
PMHP will support the expansion and transformation of both programs by gathering data that can inform quality assurance on program features like the target population, staffing and team-building, and referral and enrollment procedures. For example:
I.PMHP supports HOME teams across the County: HOME serves disengaged and difficult-to-engage homeless individuals needing intensive mental health support to gain housing stability. HOME’s street-based mental health teams conduct assertive street-based engagement and treatment in coordination with the overall Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative strategy (www.homeless.lacounty.gov). PMHP provides core trainings to all homeless outreach teams in Los Angeles County and creates specialized trainings for HOME teams. In addition, PMHP creates tools and guides to advance practices on HOME teams and organizes unique opportunities (such as site visits and shadowing) to facilitate knowledge exchange.
II.PMHP supports adult FSP teams across the County: FSP teams are clinic-based, field-capable multidisciplinary teams that provide an intensive level of service to individuals with severe mental illness and other vulnerabilities. PMHP delivers core and specialized trainings to FSP teams in an annual conference, day-long trainings in every service area, and in multi-session learning collaboratives. PMHP also curates a curriculum of online trainings and supports the work of FSP providers with unique skills to share their knowledge by serving as Training Champions. PMHP also creates tailored tools, resources, and learning experiences to match the needs of FSP teams.
Many states that implement Assertive Community Treatment (the model for FSP) partner with a university to provide training and coordination to support clinical activities. Models for the PMHP include the Center for Practice Innovation (Columbia University and New York State Office of Mental Health), the Michigan Mental Health Integration Partnership (University of Michigan and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services), the UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health (University of North Carolina and North Carolina Division of Mental Health), and the ACT Center of Indiana (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction). Like PMHP, these centers combine training with program evaluation and implementation support in public clinic contexts.
Incorporate Evidence-Based Approaches: FSP Evidence-Based Underpinnings
Offer Tools and Trainings: FSP Core Curriculum
Our partnership parallels other state models that involve university and public mental health system collaborations to ensure the dissemination of evidence-based practices and quality of care in mental health:
ACT (Assertive Community Treatment) Center of Indiana
- Our approach is to combine training and implementation with ongoing program evaluation and research.
- We began as a collaboration of the Department of Psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and Adult & Child Mental Health Center of Indianapolis.
- Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction (DMHA) launched an initiative to create a network of assertive community treatment (ACT) teams across the state. DMHA funded Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) as a technical assistance center to provide training, consultation, and program evaluationfor ACT teams in Indiana.
- We helped support the effort, from 3 initial ACT programs in 2001, to approximately 30 ACT programs.
UNC Institute for Best Practices: Part of the UNC at the UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health
- In collaboration with the NC Division of Mental Health, Institute staff conducts assessmentsof all North Carolina ACT and IPS teams on behalf of the State as part of a U.S. Department of Justice settlement.
- The Institute provides training and technical assistance to the State, MCO staff, providers, communityand several states.
- We are working closely with the NC Department of Health and Human Services to help with high-fidelity implementationof Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Individual Placement and Support Model of Supported Employment (IPS). ACT has been available in North Carolina for over 15 years, but there had not been routine fidelity monitoring. First-time implementation of IPS occurred in North Carolina in 2013.
- A grassroots group of ACT providers, forming the North Carolina ACT Coalition, has served as a constant advocacy group and learning collaborative.Institute staff have long been involved with the Coalition, coordinating and leading efforts to expand and direct this awesome grassroots group.
- The UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health provides a range of innovative and empirically-supported programs and practices. We are also tied to mental health services researchers to maintain constant effectiveness evaluation efforts.
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Michigan Mental Health Integration Partnership (MIP)
- The Michigan Mental Health Integration Partnership (MIP), in collaboration with the University of Michigan and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), aims to address unmet mental health needs by implementing and evaluating innovative programsto improve the lives of Michigan residents.
- MIP supports the scale up and spread of best practicesthat enhance access to care for consumers with behavioral health care needs.
- Implementation and evaluation of a statewide school-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) coach training programwith mental health professionals;
- Implementation of integrated mental health servicesin primary care and other settings;
- Evaluation of the delivery and sustainabilityof a brief trauma-focused treatment (PE-PC) in Federally Qualified Health Centers across Michigan;
- Development and evaluationof a perinatal program for high-risk women to promote positive maternal-fetal/infant outcomes;
- Assessment of the gaps in provider/staff knowledgeand capacity in meeting the behavioral health needs of adolescents in Michigan.
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Columbia University Center for Practice Innovation and New York State Office of Mental Health
- The Center for Practice Innovations is supported by the New York State Office of Mental Health (NYS-OMH)
- In addition to training and implementation support, the CPI provides guidance and expertise to OMH that is rooted in research on evidence-based practices, implementation science, and behavioral health care policy.
- Makes available evidence-based practicesto improve mental health services, ensure accountability, and promote recovery-oriented outcomes for consumers and families.
- They have programs for ACT, Integrated Treatment, IPS, and Wellness Self-Management
- Visit Website