Centerstone receives $4 million grant to improve community health care

With new funding, behavioral health organization will address barriers to mental and physical health and wellness

Centerstone, a national leader in behavioral health care, has been awarded a $4 million annual grant over two years from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to expand and improve community health care. The focus population will include individuals with serious mental illness (SMI), substance use disorder (SUD), co-occurring disorders (COD), and children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED) throughout the region.

“Through this funding, we will not only work to expand services but also apply evidence-based practices to the treatment of mental health and substance use disorders and co-occurring conditions. A key component of this is advancing the integration of mental and physical health care,” said Melissa Larkin-Skinner, Regional CEO of Centerstone. “Our goal is to facilitate whole-person wellness and recovery.”

The grant will enable Centerstone’s outpatient facility on Sixth Avenue West in Bradenton to become a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC). The establishment of a patient-centered behavioral health home for the community will help ease the rising cost of healthcare in the region through integrated prevention and treatment of routine and crisis mental health conditions.

Centerstone has appointed Jessica Crosby Sullivan, Psy.D. an 18-year veteran in behavioral health, to serve as program director. Dr. Sullivan returns to Centerstone after having founded and practiced with Crosby Counseling Center. She has extensive experience in addictions therapy and wellness counseling.

In her new role, Dr. Sullivan leads a team of physicians, nurses, therapists, care coordinators, peer support specialists and researchers, tasked with meeting the following grant objectives:

• Enhanced and expanded teams for multidisciplinary care
• Expanded hours for outpatient clinic services to include three evenings per week and Saturdays
• Availability of CCBHC services via mobile in-home and telehealth/telemedicine treatment
• Assistance to clients in need with benefits eligibility assessment and enrollment
• Expanded telehealth/telemedicine services
• Expanded crisis services and 24-hour mobile crisis team
• Medication management, monitoring and assisted treatment for those in need

“Lack of coordinated, whole-person care leaves those needing behavioral health services at increased risk of mortality, suicide, substance abuse, hospitalization, incarceration, and homelessness,” Dr. Sullivan said. “With this grant, we aim to reduce these disparities. Services will be wellness-focused and recovery-oriented as we help patients and families get the treatment and care they need.”

In the coming weeks, Centerstone will publish contact information for new clients to enroll in the CCBHC, located at 379 Sixth Avenue West in Bradenton.