veterans with mental health concerns in Mecklenburg County will soon
be receiving additional support from a federal grant intending to
divert veterans to community-based services and improve overall
service delivery. These funds will support the jail diversion model in
our community, Recovery Solutions, and help ensure that mentally ill
veterans receive appropriate treatment and placement.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
announced the award of six grants totaling more than $10 million over
five years to support local and statewide expansion of jail diversion
programs for people with post traumatic stress and other trauma-
related disorders. A priority for this program is to provide needed
services to veterans returning from Iraq/Afghanistan. Grantee states
will implement a diversion program in a pilot community and expand
successful programs to other communities in the state.
North Carolina was awarded $303,390 for the first year. The program
will be piloted in Mecklenburg County to divert an anticipated 1,089
veterans to community-based services to include trauma informed mental
health and substance abuse treatment, case management, employment
services and veteran specific peer support services. Continuation
awards are subject to availability of funds and progress achieved by
awardees.
Mecklenburg County has the second largest number of military personnel
in the state. As many as 20% of service members returning from Iraq
and Afghanistan may have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and
most go untreated. Related symptoms of irritability and angry
outbursts can lead to contact with law enforcement and the criminal
justice system.
Mecklenburg County Crisis Intervention Team Coordinator, Sarah Greene
believes the grant "will enable us to better identify these men and
women who have served their country and ensure they receive the
appropriate treatment they certainly deserve."
The grant also funds training and consultation on evidenced based
interventions, so service providers will increase their capacity to
provide trauma treatment. The goal of introducing grant funding in
Mecklenburg County is that best practice jail diversion models will
eventually result in improved services across the state. The pilot
program will be called Operation Recovery.
Connie Mele, director of Area Mental Health's Provided Services
Organization, says the funding will "be giving vets the treatment that
they need and certainly deserve after serving our Country. In many
cases, it should prevent them from being incarcerated, which is not
only the right thing to do, but will assist with the overcrowding
problem at the Jail."
Recovery Solutions is a collaborative committee of various
stakeholders that has been working for over two years to develop a
community response to mental health consumers who come in contact with
the criminal justice system.
"Every year, thousands of service members depart from the military and
rejoin their families and civilian communities. As a nation, we must
understand that our veterans – while heroes in every sense of the word
– are people first, people who sometimes need help," said SAMHSA
Acting Administrator Eric Broderick, D.D.S., M.P.H. "Through these new
grants we can help put more services in place and be ready for those
in need when they return home."
Grayce Crockett, Mecklenburg County Area Mental Health director,
believes the grant will support Mecklenburg County Area Mental
Health's goals for the community, including, "to build a safe, healthy
community, create strong mental health partnerships, and to treat
mental health consumers with best practice approaches and with dignity."
Recovery Solutions is a collaborative committee of various
stakeholders that has been working for over two years to develop a
community response to mental health consumers who come in contact with
the criminal justice system.
