Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015 | 2 a.m.
A nearly $11 million federal grant will transform how Nevada cares for children with mental health issues, according to state officials who cheered the award.
On Tuesday, the administration of Gov. Brian Sandoval announced that the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services will receive a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a federal agency. The grant will support the development of comprehensive mental health services and wraparound support for children with serious emotional disturbances and their families.
Activities associated with the grant will last for four years, with the state receiving about $2.7 million per year.
“It’s very exciting,” said Karen Taycher, executive director of Nevada PEP and a member of the Clark County Children’s Mental Health Consortium. “Families will be happy to know the state is focusing on mental health and sees areas that need improvement.”
The grant will facilitate a major change in service delivery, with the Division moving from a direct-service provider to overseeing children’s mental health. Direct-care services, like therapy, will be transferred to community providers.
“We’ve been a very crisis-focused state,” said Dr. Lisa Durette, medical director of Healthy Minds. “From that perspective, it has the potential to be very positive.”
The changes are part of the forthcoming “Nevada System of Care” — an approach based on a national model that emphasizes care tailored to the individual needs of the child and family that tends to be provided in a non-institutional setting.
Under the new model, the Division of Child and Family Services will provide a clinical assessment and recommend care by health centers, individual practitioners, community clinics, managed care organizations and behavioral health care centers.
The state estimates that 20 percent of the population needs mental health services, said Kelly Wooldridge, a deputy administrator for the division who oversees children’s mental and behavioral health. The state hopes the new model will help identify children’s mental health issues and provide services to them more quickly, she said.
The state’s needs were identified through the governor’s office with support from children’s mental health consortiums operating in Clark County, Washoe County and rural areas. The Clark County Children’s Mental Health Consortium, which released a 10-year strategic plan in 2010, recommended the state restructure its children’s behavioral health service delivery by implementing a local system management for publicly funded services.
State officials hope the changes will result in children demonstrating improvement in their daily lives, an increase in behavioral and emotional strengths, fewer suicide attempts, improved school performance and attendance, fewer contacts with law enforcement, reduced reliance on inpatient care and more stable living situations.
A state subcommittee will meet Wednesday morning to discuss the next steps for implementing the new model.
Taycher said families interested in being involved should contact Nevada PEP, a nonprofit that provides information, services and training to families of children with disabilities and mental or behavioral health issues.
“Their voice can help design a better system,” she said.
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