Integrity House, one of New Jersey’s largest licensed not-for-profit providers of substance use disorder treatment and mental health services, has received a four-year, $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The grant is intended to help Integrity House advance integrated care at its highly successful Newark Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics. Integrity House has programs in Kearny, Newark, Secaucus, Toms River, Morris Plains and Paramus.
Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, which were created through Section 223 of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act, were established as an initiative to expand Americans’ access to, and improve the quality of community mental and substance use disorder treatment services in community-based settings.
Integrity House’s CCBHC has been operating in Newark since early 2020, and, in that time, it has provided literally thousands of clients with access to a variety of critical services, including 24/7 crisis intervention, outpatient mental health services, traditional physical health care, treatment for serious mental illness and substance use disorders, care management and peer recovery services.
Eman Gibson, the chief clinical officer, said the grant will have impact.
“This grant will enable Integrity House to serve a larger number of clients from the greater Newark area, including children and adolescents experiencing mental health concerns, veterans, individuals presenting with opioid use disorders and individuals with mental health, substance use and co-occurring disorders,” she said.
“Integrity House’s CCBHC was established to provide accessible, integrated care at a single location in the community. This grant will allow us to expand, improve and advance that mission, while providing sustainability for the next four years.”
Integrity House was one of only 156 out of more than 500 CCBHCs currently operating in the U.S. and U.S. territories to receive this grant money. Successful grant awards were based on population needs, the implementation of evidence-based services and practices, previous success in implementing the CCBHC model and the organization’s capacity to provide improved and enhanced services to the community it serves.
CEO Robert Budsock said Integrity House has seen results since opening.
“Since successfully implementing Integrity House’s CCBHC in our Newark facility in early 2020, we have seen a steady stream of individuals and families from the greater Newark area who have significantly benefited from the coordinated, integrated and comprehensive care that we are providing,” he said. “This grant will allow us to continue to connect our most vulnerable citizens to the full continuum of care that they desperately need.”
