CHI Enhances Care for Behavioral Health Patients in South Miami-Dade

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Community Health of South Florida, Inc. (CHI) is committed to providing high-quality healthcare, including behavioral health services. Access to great care is important to provide individuals with the mental health support they need. CHI continues to hold a high standard of care after receiving a $4 Million Certified Behavioral Health Clinic grant awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA). Officially launched on March 18, this grant has helped to improve the quality of services, reduce obstacles to care, and make healthcare more accessible for our patients.

“This is the gold standard for behavioral health services,” said Jean D. Pierre, Executive Vice President and Chief Behavioral Health Officer. “We are extremely excited that we are able to provide these services to the community.”

The program, located at Martin Luther King, Jr. Clinica Campesina Center and Everglades Health Center, provides a full range of mental health, substance use disorders, and primary care screening services to patients, ensuring that services are integrated and person and family-centered. Since the start of the program, the CCBHC staff, which includes therapists, psychiatrists, case management, and outreach workers, have provided services for 383 patients. An amazing accomplishment, according to CCBHC Administrator, Lisette Mira.

“The roll-out has gone really well! Patients have been open to receiving information, especially on how it impacts their care,” Mira shared. “We have been providing therapy and psychiatry services as well as attending various events in the community to get the word out about the services we offer.”

The CCBHC program worked with the Outreach department for Mental Health Awareness Month this May, attending community events in Homestead and Florida City. The program has also prioritized having a presence within CHI health center lobbies, with the sole purpose of providing important information to patients and connecting them to behavioral health services.

Mira explains that this is a critical time because the program is still in its beginning stages. There is a focus on making sure staff are trained in up-to-date practices.

“We have additional training that is scheduled for our staff this summer to ensure that we’re meeting CCBHC criteria,” she said. “We want everyone on our team to provide care with a trauma-informed lens to a diverse population with cultural awareness training.”

Even under the pressures of meeting this gold standard, program directors are already looking to the future to improve care for patients. In December, at the 6-month mark of this program, the CCBHC team will perform progress checks on patients to guarantee that they have improved and received housing stability and primary care and were connected to appropriate care throughout the 6 months. This will make sure that patients in high-risk situations and behaviors are getting better. The program is also in the process of forming therapy support groups for patients in both Spanish and English.

“We can make a big impact in the community,” said Mira. “This staff is wonderful, and they really do have that multidisciplinary approach. We help each other ensure we provide our patients the full scope of services.”