Mental Health Associates Of Franklin County

Programs: In 2017 we started offering home and community based services for peer support. We had 8 individuals referred to us from health home care coordination. We signed on with 3 managed care organizations to offer this service. We had 2563 units of services offered in 2017. We have implemented an electronic health record system into the agency and are able to bill via the system. We started working with uvm alice hyde medical center in 2017 by placing 2 peer community navigators in the emergency department. Our peer community navigators help individuals get connected to services. Our advocates provided 1324 advocacies in 2017 to help individuals and families with several social determinants and legal issues. Our advocates also help individuals get connected to primary care, behavioral health and substance abuse counseling. Peer recovery center: our recovery center offers several programs from a work experience program (rescued treasures), one on one mutual support, peer warm line, multiple peer groups, socialization, community outreach events such as a summer picnic in the park and a thanksgiving dinner. We also chair the veterans coalition of franklin county, and co-chair the franklin county suicide prevention coalition. We administer the program by scheduling meetings, taking notes, setting the agency, planning educational and community events in franklin county. We chair the franklin county connections coalition which is comprised of community-based organizations, local government organizations, medical providers, behavioral health providers and substance abuse providers with a mission to improve population health in franklin county. We offer several educational programs such as literacy volunteers, life & social skills training, pathways to financial independence and financial budgeting. We have a nys certified peer benefit specialist who is also soar trained to help individuals with social security benefits. We sit on the franklin county task force and the opiate sub-committee to help give input on what we see in franklin county. We have been and will continue to hold focus groups for the franklin county task force. Community mental health project- we held a one-day seminar for professional and community members on palliative care. We had 3 presenters in the medical community help to educate providers and the community on palliative care and the importance to improve population health. The adirondack peer-network group is in its 18th year- we had 9 meetings in 2017. The group is comprised of peers who meet to discuss their concerns and issues regarding their overall well-being in the community. The concerns are then addressed in the county at the appropriate venue. In june of 2015 we took over operations of the barnabas house which is a homeless shelter for males over the age of 18. We changed the barnabas house from a temporary shelter to a transitional shelter. By doing this we are now able to work on idp's with the individuals who utilize the shelter through referral from dss or due to the governors executive order (code blue). More than 80% of the individuals who stay at the shelter are placed in a permanent housing situation.