ACCESS (Achieving Culturally Competent Effective Services and Supports)

In 2005, Monroe County was awarded a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant to transform systems of care for children diagnosed with a serious emotional disorder. The six-year project called Achieving Culturally Competent Effective Services and Supports (ACCESS) began on September 30, 2005 and will continue through September 30, 2011. Among other grant requirements, the project calls for local and national evaluation.

Children’s Institute was selected by the Monroe County Office of Mental Health to work with them and their partners to prepare the evaluation section of the grant proposal and ultimately to become the evaluator of the project.

The Monroe County ACCESS grant is administered through a partnership between the Monroe County Office of Mental Health and their fiscal agency, Coordinated Care Services, Inc.

• Children’s Institute coordinates the national evaluation data collection using standardized instruments that have been selected by SAMHSA. Other supplemental instruments are developed or selected as needed in partnership with local stakeholders to capture specific local interests.
• Recruiting, enrolling and retaining families for the three year evaluation follow-up is exceptionally challenging and the data collection team is carefully chosen, highly trained, and closely supervised by Children’s Institute.
• The population of focus is low income, about half of who are African-American or Latino youth, from birth through age 21 who are challenged with a serious emotional disturbance and are receiving services through a care coordination system.
• Because systems of care transformation grants are required to be family-driven, youth-guided, culturally competent, and community-based, the evaluation staff must be sensitive to family issues, understand and acknowledge the role of diverse cultures in mental health issues, have knowledge of the mental health system in our community, and be persistent and respectful to keep families engaged for three years of follow-up.
• The evaluation of Monroe County’s systems of care transformation is providing data that will drive mental health services decision-making at the local and national levels.
• Staff from Children’s Institute are active partners in local and state evaluation of systems of care transformation efforts.