Advisory

 SAMHSA Awards $42 Million for Mental Health Care and HIV/AIDS Services for Minorities

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today announced the award of 16 cooperative agreements totaling $42 million over five years to enhance and expand the provision of effective, culturally competent HIV/AIDS-related mental health services in minority communities for persons living with HIV/AIDS and having mental health needs.  Beverly Watts Davis, Senior Advisor on Substance Abuse Policy at SAMHSA, also announced the grants during her speech at the 2006 United States Conference on AIDS held in Hollywood, Florida.

“All too often mental health problems are not diagnosed or addressed either at the time of diagnosis or through the course of the HIV/AIDS disease process,” said Assistant Surgeon General Eric Broderick, D.D.S., M.P.H., SAMHSA’s Acting Deputy Administrator.  “People with untreated mental health problems and HIV/AIDS are more likely to become sick and die, have an impaired quality of life, and are less likely to adhere with their treatment regimen.  These new grantees have experience providing culturally competent mental health services in racial and ethnic minority communities, and will implement HIV-related mental health treatment services.”

The 16 awards are funded up to $525,000 per year in total costs and are being administered by SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services. Continuation of these awards is subject to the availability of funds as well as the progress achieved by the grantees. Total funding for year one is $8.3 million.

The Targeted Capacity Expansion for HIV/AIDS Related Mental Health Services  grantees are as follows:

El Rio Cruz Neighborhood Health Center, Inc., Tucson, Arizona -- $524,975 per year to identify, adapt, implement and evaluate a culturally competent mental health service delivery model for HIV-infected persons, predominantly Mexican-origin Hispanics.  El Rio proposes to implement Project EXCEL, an Intensive Outpatient Program providing a variety of mental health services.

Haight Ashbury Free Clinics, Inc., San Francisco, California -- $525,000 per year to expand mental health care integrated with substance abuse treatment and primary care for medically indigent, HIV-positive Blacks who may also have co-occurring disorders in Francisco.

Substance Abuse Foundation of Long Beach, Inc., Long Beach, California -- $525,000 per year to implement an integrated service approach to respond to the mental health needs of the increasing number of economically disadvantaged Blacks and Hispanics impacted by the HIV epidemic in Long Beach.

East Bay Community Recovery Project, Oakland, California -- $525,000 per year to provide a strengths-based, client-driven service program that integrates medical and mental health care services to Black and Hispanic individuals with HIV/AIDS who have mental health needs.

Tarzana Treatment Centers, Tarzana, California -- $525,000 per year, for three years, to strengthen their integrated and coordinated multidisciplinary models of HIV care and support services by filling gaps in mental health services for persons (predominantly Hispanic and Black) with co-occurring HIV, mental health and substance abuse treatment needs.

Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia -- $479,273 per year will address mental health service needs of Black people living with HIV/AIDS in Atlanta.  Services will address the complex biomedical, psychological and psychosocial effects of HIV/AIDS.

Cambridge Public Health Commission, Cambridge, Massachusetts - $525,000 per year to implement the evidence-based treatment model, Assertive Community Treatment, for individuals who may have difficulty accessing treatment in traditional mental health settings. This project will primarily serve low-income, ethnically diverse communities in Massachusetts.

Community Alternatives, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri -- $520,091 per year to increase the availability and the use of critical mental health services for minorities living with HIV/AIDS.  Activities include short-term specialized care coordination to ensure linkage to mental health and HIV-related services and Assertive Community Treatment for those with severe mental health disorders.

Vocational Instruction Project Community Services, Bronx, New York-- $525,000 per year to offer effective, culturally competent bilingual HIV/AIDS-related mental health services to 140 low-income people of color in the Bronx.

Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Inc., New York, New York-- $525,000 per year to enhance services to more than 15,000 clients and provide effective, culturally competent HIV/AIDS-related mental health and substance use services for Black and Hispanic individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

Harlem United Community AIDS Center, Inc., New York, New York -- $525,000 per year to expand a SAMHSA-funded mobile mental health program that provides mental health services to Black and Hispanic adults living with HIV/AIDS and who have co-occurring substance use problems.

Southeast, Inc., Columbus, Ohio -- $525,000 per year to provide a full range of mental health services that address HIV-related mental health needs of Blacks in Franklin County.

Milwaukee Health Services, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin -- $525,000 per year to improve access to mental health services for people (predominantly Black and Hispanic) living with HIV/AIDS in southeast Wisconsin.  The project will coordinate HIV primary and specialty medical care, behavioral health services, scientifically driven program evaluation and health education.

Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan -- $524,482 per year to address the mental and physical needs of an urban population of persons (predominantly Black) living with HIV/AIDS.  A multi-disciplinary team of primary care and mental health providers will establish and implement an integrated treatment plan that includes the patient as an active participant.

Community Health Awareness Group, Detroit, Michigan -- $520,672 per year to offer a range of HIV-related mental health services geared to the cultural norms of HIV- positive Blacks with or without a diagnosis of a mental disorder.  A nontraditional model focused on comprehensive psychological and supportive services will be used.

Community Connections, Inc., Washington, D.C. -- $522,234 per year to improve the mental and physical health of Black women in the District of Columbia who are HIV positive.  Two of the program goals are to identify mental health concerns among Black women and to provide a full range of community supports through a newly developed Wellness Intensive Case Management team.

SAMHSA, is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation’s substance abuse prevention, addictions, treatment, and mental health services delivery system.

SAMHSA is An Agency of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Service