Proposals for treatment programming may include startup funding for licensed clinical programs or supportive funding for existing treatment programs. Priority areas include enhancing providers’ ability to provide co-occurring treatment and improving access to care for adolescents, young adults, adults, and seniors. All proposals should emphasize trauma-informed, culturally responsive, person/family-centered, and recovery-oriented approaches to service delivery. Proposals may focus on engagement and non-traditional service delivery modalities (such as mobile services and community-based interventions).

Proposals focused on prevention should aim to enhance protective factors (e.g., positive self-esteem, strong social supports, etc.) and reduce risk factors. Examples of prevention programs include interventions that build education and awareness, as well as those that promote emotional health and pro-social skills. Programs must be responsive to the needs of our local communities and tailored to address risks specific to populations such as age, gender, and ethnicity. Community prevention programs that use a multi-pronged approach are more effective than single stand-alone programs. Additionally, long-term programs with repeated interventions are more effective than one-time interventions. Prevention strategies can be designed to intervene as early as pre-school to address Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) and other risk factors, such as behavior, social, and academic concerns. Proposals that include family-based prevention strategies should enhance family connection and include parent empowerment and support.

Recovery is a process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live self-directed lives, and strive to reach their full potential.

An approach that emphasizes engaging directly with people who use substances to prevent overdose and infectious disease transmission, improve physical, mental, and social wellbeing, and offer low-threshold options for accessing substance misuse, mental health, co-occurring, and other health care services.

With the nation’s efforts to re-imagine policing in the 21^st Century, Westchester County convened groups of stakeholders to help communities and Westchester create meaningful change. With over 50 recommendations, five stood out to assist people experiencing behavioral health crisis in the community.  Under the leadership of the County Executive, the Department of Public Safety, Department of Community Mental Health and Department of Emergency Services created Project Alliance.  Project Alliance is a five pronged approach to help people manage behavioral health crisis in the community.

• 911 Diversion– With funding through the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, Crisis Response Consulting and People USA and staff at DCMH have trained call takers, dispatchers and desk officers in 911 Diversion. Using a standardized Risk Assessment Tool, the call taker is able to identify non-emergent mental health related calls and divert them to immediate connection to a clinician at the Crisis Network Team.
• Enhanced Behavioral Health Crisis Line –Saint Vincent’s Crisis Network Team became operational and available to people experiencing emotional distress 24/7 through 911 Diversion. This same call center will is part of 988 Suicide and Crisis Line.
• Enhanced Training for Emergency Medical Service Personnel – As first responders, EMS are often some of the first people to arrive at the scene of a person experiencing crisis. Training for EMS will create a common language, reduce stigma and help EMS understand how to help a person access the right level of care to support their recovery.

• Crisis Intervention Team Training - Westchester County has delivered CIT Training to police officers since 2006. While the training focuses on enhancing de-escalation and communication skills the initiative is about creating a team to respond to people in crisis. That team includes collaboration between police officers, the mental health and social services systems, emergency medical services, people with lived mental health experience and their families.  Project Alliance creates the opportunity to continue to deliver training but also create a CIT Center of Excellence to help mentor communities in the development of CIT Teams.
• Mobile Crisis Response Teams – DCMH and our community based provider system partners have created 8 Mobile Crisis Response Teams. These teams will be co-located with local police agencies and have the responsibility of providing mobile behavioral health crisis coverage for a dedicated catchment area, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. The teams will be deployed through the local police departments for immediate crisis response in the community.