This summer, SAMHSA awarded Integral Care continuation funding for two ongoing programs: Mental Health Awareness Training for Service Providers & Families of Armed Service Personnel & Veterans ($125,000) and Clinical High Risk Psychosis ($400,000). Integral Care received initial grant funding for these multi-year projects in September 2018.

The Mental Health Awareness Training grant allows Integral Care to provide Mental Health First Aid training, as well as Counseling on Access to Lethal Means, utilization of the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale, and Safety Planning Intervention to families, caregivers, and service providers in contact with armed service personnel, veterans and their families. Through the Mental Health Awareness Training program, Integral Care aims to increase understanding and recognition of the signs and symptoms of mental illness and teach participants how to safely and appropriately respond. Additionally, the program provides information about local resources to help get veterans connected to supports they need, such as crisis services, substance use treatment, counseling, basic needs assistance, housing, and more. Integral Care’s goal is to provide Mental Health Awareness Training to 600 individuals in Travis County by September 30, 2021.

The goal of Integral Care’s Clinical High Risk Psychosis project is to reduce the duration of untreated psychosis for individuals under the age of 25 in Travis County. Since launching the program in 2018, Integral Care has implemented a stepped-care model, utilizing evidence-based screening and assessment and adding a second Coordinated Specialty care team to increase services and improve clinical prognosis and quality of life outcomes. Outreach efforts focus on youth and young adults who are new to services or will soon transition from child to adult mental health services; additionally, staff support youth who are transitioning from child services to adult services by guiding them through the intake process. Through the Clinical Risk Psychosis program, Integral Care screens more than 300 individuals age 16 – 25 annually, as well as monitoring 100 youth and young adults identified to be ultra high-risk.