Behavioral health professionals at Rutgers University will work with the state to increase and improve the delivery of mental health and substance use services to the underserved communities of Newark and Elizabeth under a $4.5 million federal grant, Rutgers officials said this week.
The New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services has received the funding and will work with Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care’s Center for Integrated Care.
The project is designed to increase the identification and treatment of people with behavioral health disorders, improve engagement and retention in care and use measurement-based care to improve the treatment of serious mental illness, child and adolescent emotional disturbance and co-occurring physical health conditions — directly in primary care.
This is the fourth grant the government has provided to assist the CIC in increasing integrated behavioral health services and promote education about integrated care models throughout New Jersey.
Holly Lister, a psychologist and program manager for the center, said the grant will have great impact.
“This is an exciting partnership with the state that allows us to not only improve treatment and treatment access in medically underserved areas, but to also have the opportunity to impact state planning and advance collaborative care across state health programs,” she said.
As part of the collaborative care model, the center will assist in a plan to bring more behavioral care providers directly into primary care offices.
The aim is to assess the patient and connect him with behavioral health and psychiatry immediately without the need for referrals. The approach would save patients time, increase their access to care, ease the workload of the primary care doctors and save medical costs.
