DAYTONA BEACH – SMA Healthcare (SMA) has been awarded a four-year grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to provide Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) to individuals in Flagler, Putnam, and St. Johns Counties.
The program will provide AOT to individuals experiencing serious mental illness who have a history of repeated discharge from inpatient care in stable condition, only to be readmitted under a Baker Act at least twice in a 36- month period. Participants will be referred to local psychiatric outpatient services to include medication management and counseling services in three counties.
“This grant will help us target and treat individuals who are struggling with severe mental illness and provide a more formal structure,” said COO Nicole Sharbono. “The AOT services will deliver more intensive and specific treatment and ensure these individuals are on the path toward recovery.”
Grant funds will be used to fund three case managers, utilizing the evidence-based Intensive Case Management Model, and three Recovery Support Specialists focused on engaging community support systems in the three counties.
The goals of the grant are to establish an AOT process supported by the local Baker Act judges, Baker Act receiving facilities, and treatment providers of severe mental illness. Secondly, the grant will identify and engage individuals who meet AOT criteria to increase participation in treatment services, especially those who lack the ability to perceive the realities of their own condition, and reduce psychiatric hospitalization, arrests, and homelessness.
There will be a training and implementation period of three-to-six months, and then SMA Healthcare will begin providing the AOT services.
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