WE PROMOTE HOPE, RECOVERY, RESILIENCE, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND WELLNESS IN WASHTENAW COUNTY BY PROVIDING HIGH QUALITY, INTEGRATED SERVICES TO ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS.
WE PROMOTE HOPE, RECOVERY, RESILIENCE, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND WELLNESS IN WASHTENAW COUNTY BY PROVIDING HIGH QUALITY, INTEGRATED SERVICES TO ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS.
2019-2020 has clearly been an unprecedented year for all of us and it certainly has been no different at Washtenaw County Community Mental Health (WCCMH). It was a year filled with trials and tribulation and a year fraught with fear of the known and unknown. However, it was also a year that saw WCCMH rise to meet the challenges presented by COVID-19 alongside of our network providers and community partners. I have often expressed my gratitude for the dedication and compassion of those who work tirelessly for the people we serve and this year my gratitude has grown exponentially. Thank you all for the work that you have done and continue to do during these unprecedented times.
Although COVID-19 has been an obvious focus of our year, there have also been numerous exciting initiatives and opportunities. Our partnerships with key stakeholders such as our schools and law enforcement have only deepened, and the Public Safety and Mental Health Preservation Millage has presented our community with great opportunities–many of which are highlighted in this annual report.
Additionally the State of Michigan has officially become a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) demonstration state and WCCMH is one of 14 sites that will be taking part in Senator Debbie Stabenow’s transformational legislation. CCBHC gives us the opportunity to not only expand the array of services we provide, but also expand the population to whom we can provide these services through a sustainable funding mechanism. WCCMH’s ability to secure and diversify new revenue streams has and will continue to allow us to serve more of our community members in new and innovative ways.
This year WCCMH has demonstrated its grit, dedication, and perseverance all the while continuing to be an organization founded on bold action and progressive change. The coming year will be no different. The WCCMH Board and I look forward to our continued success in working with our partners and stakeholders on improving the lives of not just those we serve, but the community as a whole.
Always looking forward,
Trish Cortes
Executive Director, WCCMH
John Martin
Chair, WCCMH Board
WCCMH has spent the past few months closely monitoring and tracking the powerful and impactful movement of Black Lives Matter (BLM) worldwide. This historical moment is an important and emotional time for everyone but acutely heightened for our Black community members. WCCMH strives to be both a partner and participant in BLM and feels it paramount to raise our collective voice with each of you to reiterate the POWER and PASSION we must lend to BLM.
As with so many statistics, we are acutely aware that the number of Black community members who struggle with mental health issues is disproportionally higher from those in the White community. In addition to supporting the mental health needs in the Black community, our agency is also committed to combating the systematic racism that most certainly contributes to this disproportionality.
WCCMH may not always get it right, but we are here with ears to listen, an open mind to receive feedback and a heart that yearns for meaningful progress. We are committed to incorporating implicit bias training throughout our agency and sharing training opportunities with our community and partners. In the fall of 2020, WCCMH assembled a BLM task force and began the important and necessary work.
We offer two programs to help our community in their behavioral health needs.
Our Access/Crisis team fields calls for persons needing assistance accessing mental health, intellectual/developmental disability, youth and family services and substance use disorder services.
The Mental Health/Public Safety Millage Service Expansion also provides care and services for individuals that need care that are not receiving Medicaid through our CARES program.
Mental health is not a destination, but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you’re going.”
Noam Shpancer
By Calling 734.544.3050 you will be in contact with a health care professoinal that will help you or a loved one explore access to care.
In 2017, Washtenaw County voters passed a mental health and public safety millage. Before the passing of this millage, WCCMH could only provide services to people who had Medicaid. Programs developed with millage funds allow us to expand the services we can provide to people of all ages, regardless of insurance. Goals of the program include;
Supported by: Washtenaw County Public Safety and Mental Health Preservation
Prevention
Crisis
Stabilization
Diversion
Communications
2020 data
WOW what a steep learning curve 2020 provided us all. Washtenaw County Community Mental Health (WCCMH) was no different. When the pandemic began, we knew we would need to quickly change many of the ways we conduct business. As a safety net provider for thousands of community members, we also knew that we must find a way to continue to serve those who rely on us for care.
The leadership team kicked into gear to develop safety procedures for consumers and staff. Buildings remained open for services but with locked doors. Health screenings for staff and consumer health screenings for office visits and community outreach were implemented. Mask mandates, social distancing, retooled office spaces and waiting rooms, updated injection procedures and telehealth became the new norm. Relying on updated information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and with ongoing guidance from our own Washtenaw County Health Department, WCCMH COVID-19 safety protocols were frequently updated as best practices evolved.
Securing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) during the national shortage became another priority. Washtenaw County along with its regional partners secured face masks, eye protection, gowns and gloves and distributed them to the WCCMH staff that continued to work on the front lines through the initial phases of the pandemic. Once all staff returned in June, each employee was provided a PPE kit that included multiple masks and bottles of hand sanitizer. Delivering PPE to our contract provider heroes working long shifts in residential facilities, adult foster care homes and other residences was another important part of this priority.
Staff showed their flexibility as they adapted to the staggered nature of their schedules which was implemented to minimize COVID-19 exposure while still allowing office-based operations to function. This also provided employees the ability to work remotely to accommodate family and other demands.
Thanks to our partnership with the Washtenaw County Health Department, all WCCMH staff were offered the COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine through St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. This was a tremendous opportunity to join other healthcare workers and first responders in the fight against COVID-19. As uncertain as the times have been, one thing that has been unwavering is the dedication of WCCMH staff to pull together, step out of their individual comfort zones and provide treatments and services wherever needed across our Washtenaw County community.
To promote hope, recovery, resilience, quality of life and wellness in Washtenaw County by providing high quality, integrated services to eligible individuals.
All residents can secure supports to improve their quality of life, and reach their full potential.
EXCELLENCE
We provide the highest level of service to promote recovery, quality of life and self-sufficiency through proven and innovative practices. We recognize that the foundation of excellent service is our relationships.
GROWTH
We believe in the capacity for change at every stage of development. We grow through shared learning, lived experiences and mentoring.
WELL-BEING
We cultivate well-being through a comm itment to physical and emotional safety, active listening, and a culture of appreciation.
INCLUSION
Together we build a welcoming, respectful environment for all people. Through active engagement and shared decision-making, we build a stronger comm unity.
COMMUNITY
We develop strong, trusting partnerships with the people we serve, in our broader comm unity, and within our own organization.
ACCOUNTABILITY
We are accountable to those we serve, to the larger comm unity, and to each other for the ethical, effective, and efficient use of our resources.
Washtenaw County Community Mental Health
555 Towner St.
Ypsilanti, MI 48198
734.544.3050 | 800.440.7548
www.ewashtenaw.org
Prior to the COVID 19 pandemic Washtenaw County Community Mental Health (WCCM) was actively piloting the use of telehealth services for the delivery of targeted care. The pandemic spurred WCCMH to rapidly shift from pilot phase to fully operational in a matter of days. Telehealth is a video visit through a device that connects to the internet such as a computer, tablet, or smartphone where the patient and provider are located different locations.
WCCMH is proud to offer an alternative service delivery method in these challenging times. Telehealth is not for everyone and is not meant to be a replacement for face-to-face services. However, it is an alternative way of delivering services when traditional methods are not a viable option. WCCMH utilizes ZOOM for Health Care which provides a HIPAA a compliant secure way of delivering services. To find out more about WCCMH telehealth services please visit our website at www. washtenaw.org/wccmh and select telehealth services from the “Our Services” menu.
Population | Numbers of Served 2019 | Numbers of Served 2020 |
---|---|---|
Adults and Children I/DD | 1,482 | 1,343 |
Adults SMI | 3,218 | 3,086 |
Children SED | 849 | 849 |
Total | 5,549 | 5,278 |
Population | Cost of Service 2019 | Cost of Service 2020 |
---|---|---|
Adults and Children I/DD | $49,394,471 | $47,459,826 |
Adults SMI | $27,854,642 | $26,129,567 |
Children SED | $4,422,770 | $4,608,131 |
Total | $81,671,883 | $78,197,524 |
Population | Use of Fund Source 2019 | Use of Fund Source 2020 |
---|---|---|
Medicaid | $69,962,335 | $67,668,781 |
Healthy Michigan Plan | $7,863,729 | $5,271,074 |
Autism Medicaid | $3,204,702 | $4,985,102 |
State General Fund | $3,335,830 | $3,191,495 |
County Contribution/Local | $1,556,338 | $1,510,376 |
Fee for Service | $846,600 | |
All Other | $1,854,079 | $2,599,410 |
Total | $88,623,613 | $85,226,238 |
May is a time to raise awareness and bring focus to those living with mental or behavioral health issues and to help reduce the stigma so many experience. Washtenaw County Community Mental Health (WCCMH) plays an important role in providing behavioral health care and helping people find resources available in their community. If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, please call our Access line at 734.544.3050. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the mental health of people of all ages. Now, more than ever, it is critical to reduce the stigma around mental health struggles, because that stigma often prevents individuals from seeking help.
The COVID19 pandemic has created uncertainty and raised awareness of inequities that exist among vulnerable families in our comm unity. The social/ emotional implications due to trauma, increasing levels of stress, fear and anxiety during this past year has been particularly hard for the children and families that we serve. Our goal has been to prioritize delivering trauma informed, culturally responsive, COVID safe mental health services throughout the pandemic. WCCMH has made an investment in telehealth which has afforded the opportunity for essential strategies of teletherapy and telepsychiatry to be provided, avoiding interruption in services, and increasing access to care for families. Children need extra support to process their emotions and gain mental wellbeing skills in the wake of the COVID19 crisis. MDHHS has provided ongoing guidance and training virtually for clinicians on how to effectively deliver evidence-based services utilizing a telehealth platform. Many families have required assistance with access to food and other basic needs and clinicians have found that face to face clinical services are necessary.
MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS CENTER
In 2019, WCCMH used millage resources to renovate and furnish a county-owned building to create an observation and assessment center for individuals in crisis. Funds were also used to hire and train staff, including a medical assistant and peer support specialists, who will oversee services in the facility 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Jackie Campbell, one of the peer support specialists who will work in the facility, is excited to come in at ground level and is looking forward to greeting her first clients. “I’ll welcome them, see what immediate needs they have, get them comfortable, talk to them,” says Campbell. “Just engage them really, let them know they’re safe. Not by saying it, but in the action.”
CRISIS NEGOTIATION TEAM
In November, five mental health professionals from Washtenaw County’s Community Mental Health agency were tapped by the Sheriff’s Office to join Washtenaw County’s crisis negotiation team. During the first week of December, the CMH staff attended a one-week FBI crisis negotiation course in Troy, Michigan to learn negotiation tactics for supporting suicidal subjects; communicating safe surrenders of armed, dangerous, and barricaded suspects; negotiating hostage rescue operations; and more. The mental health professionals build their schedules around a carefully structured rotation that ensures at least one staff clinician and one backup are on call for emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Many of our county’s 911 crisis calls are fueled or exacerbated by mental health and substance use concerns. This year, the sheriff’s office has been able to reach out to the CARES team to join our deputy sheriffs in response to managing behavioral health crisis in our community. We’re tremendously grateful to Washtenaw County residents for making that possible. — Jerry Clayton, Washtenaw County Sheriff
For more information on millage efforts, visit our website at Washtenaw.org/millage
Kari Walker (Board Chair)
Suzie Antonow (Board Vice-Chair)
Anna Dusbiber (Board Secretary)
Nancy Graebner (Board Treasurer)
Barbara Higman
Ricky Jefferson
Bob King
Andy LaBarre
Caroline Richardson
Katie Scott
Doug Strong
Marianne Udow-Philips
I think we can all agree that 2020 was a year like no other. While enduring a global pandemic due to COVID-19, WCCMH would be like to pause and thank our provider network and give special recognition to ALL of the staff working in residential and community settings! Providing direct care can be a difficult and thankless job – along with being rewarding and lifesaving. We salute the Direct Care Workers who not only stuck with the folks we serve during the pandemic but displayed incredible acts of care and concern. Some staff moved in and quarantined at residential settings, others drove many miles gathering PPE and most worked multiple overtime shifts to ensure folks remained safe. We appreciate all you have done, and all you continue to do to ensure individuals are safe and supported.
For Fresh Start Clubhouse, like for everyone else, the last year has been a turbulent one. The COVID19 pandemic posed an existential threat to our practice model, which centers around the rehabilitative nature of relationships developed through side-by-side work for people with serious mental illness. The idea of interrupting our in person services was not just inconvenient, it challenged the very nature of our work – how do you build an intentional working community when you can’t gather together? How do you create a sense of mattering and belonging when you can’t share space? Fortunately, because our members and staff are talented and we have built strong relationships over time, we have been able to tackle this seemingly insurmountable challenge and have even made some positive strategic changes along the way.
Fresh Start successfully transitioned to virtual services effectively overnight. Due to the several weeks of preparation and contingency planning we worked on in early March 2020, and our preexisting efforts to incorporate digital technology into our work day, we were amongst the first Clubhouses in the state to establish a functional Virtual Clubhouse program. Our Clubhouse work day rapidly transitioned from preparing meals, maintaining our physical workspace, and doing group data entry in the same room, to creating a digital newsletter, building welcoming online workspaces, and doing group data entry from our homes over Zoom. Our tireless staff made home visits and deliveries and created side-by-side work opportunities in people’s front yards and public parks.
In late summer of 2020, Fresh Start Clubhouse made a decision to embark on a project to not just restore the services that were interrupted during the pandemic, but to take some significant steps toward realizing our goal of being a resource for every adult with serious mental illness in Washtenaw County, not just those who are Medicaid recipients served by our Community Mental Health system. Fresh Start has always operated as a program of another agency, but in September 2020 colleagues from the Clubhouse incorporated independently and are now working toward becoming the first “freestanding” Clubhouse in Michigan. This will allow the Clubhouse to diversify its funding streams and also open its doors to a broader swath of the community, in line with WCCMH’s service expansion goals. To this end, Fresh Start has established a Board of Directors, is applying for tax exempt status, and members and staff alike are working together to build the “backend” of this new nonprofit which will become the provider for Clubhouse services in Washtenaw County. It is hard but rewarding work and is giving our members an opportunity to be involved in truly meaningful work.
This transformation in Washtenaw County will lay the groundwork for a statewide enhancement of the Clubhouse service delivery system. It is also being done in partnership with a national affiliation of Clubhouses that aims to elevate the voices of people utilizing mental health recovery Clubhouses in our national integrated health conversation.
Finally, Fresh Start will be participating in Clubhouse Day on June 1st with other Clubhouses around the world to garner support for our mission. If you’d like to support our mission and goal of expanding services to more Washtenaw County citizens, you can join us at www. givegab.com/nonprofits/fresh-startclubhouse
ABA Insight
ABA Pathways, LLC
Centria Healthcare
Creating Brighter Futures
Dearborn Speech & Sensory Center
DBA Metropolitan Speech, Sensory & ABA Centers
Eastern Michigan University-Autism Collaborative Center
HealthCall of Detroit
Judson Center
Momentum Autism Therapy Services d/b/a Therapy Core, LLC.
Novel Responses, INC
Residential Options, LLC
Strident Healthcare, Inc.
Touchstone Services Inc. – Fresh Start Clubhouse
Training & Treatment Innovations, Inc.
Adult Learning Systems
Avalon Housing
Bedside Angel’s Home Care
Behavioral Outcomes Management dba ExpertCare Management Services
CABB Community Supports, LLC
CHS Group LLC.
Community Residence Corp.
Friends Who Care
Full Life Independence
His Eye is on the Sparrow
Home Sweet Home Care Services, LLC
INI Group, Inc.
JOAK American Homes
JYB Homecare, LLC.
Michigan Agency with Choice, LLC
Progressive Residential Services, Inc.
Renaissance Community Homes Inc.
Saints Inc.
Specially Made Co., LLC
Spectrum Community Services
Synod Residential Services
Y-PCS Group, Inc.
Safehaus, Inc.
Synod Community Services
Full Circle
CareLinc Medical Equipment & Supply Co. LLC.
Genoa Healthcare
Nutritional Healing of Ann Arbor
Pharmacy Solutions
Community Living Network
Guardian Trac LLC
BCA of Detroit, LLC d.b.a BCA StoneCrest Center
Harbor Oaks
Havenwyck Hospital
Havenwyck Hospital d/b/a Cedar Creek Hospital
Hillsdale Medical Center
Madison Community Hospital d/b/a Samaritan Behavioral Center
Mercy Memorial Hospital
New Oakland Family Center
(Partials)
31500 Schoolcraft, Livonia, MI 48150
32961 Middlebelt, Farmington Hills, MI 48334
13305 Reek Ct., Southgate, MI 48195
501 North Maple Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Trinity Health-Michigan
University of Michigan
Adult Learning Systems
Beacon Specialized Living Services
Carnegie AFC, Inc.
CBI Rehabilitation Services, Inc.
Courtyard Manor of Wixom Inc. III
Flatrock Manor of Burton
Henlyn Care, Inc.
Hope Network Behavioral Health Services of MI
Hope Network West Michigan
JOAK American Homes
Oconomowoc Developmental Training Center
Prader Willi Homes of Oconomowoc, LLC
Progressive Residential Services, Inc.
Quest Inc.
Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers, Inc.
Renaissance Community Homes Inc.
Renaissance House
Saints Inc
Spectrum Community Services
St Louis Center
Synod Residential Services
Toepfer Home
Turning Leaf
A Quality Staffing, LLC d/b/a Elite Medical Staffing
ABA Pathways, LLC
ABA Insight
Advanced Therapeutic Solutions
Friends Who Care
HealthCall of Detroit
Lyneah Blake-Duncan
Michigan State University DBA Community Music School
Psych Resolutions
Sharon O’Bryan
Therapeutic Concepts, LLC
Bedside Angel’s Home Care
Behavioral Outcomes Management dba ExpertCare Management Services
CABB Community Supports, LLC.
Camp Tall Tree
Camp Zip
CHS Group
Eagle Village
Friends Who Care (skilled respite)
Home Sweet Home Care Services, LLC.
Indian Trails Camp dba IKUS Enrichment Services
Just US Club
JYB Homecare, LLC.
LifeSpan….A Community Service
Michigan Agency with Choice, LLC
St. Francis Camp on the Lake
St. Louis Center
The Fowler Center
Y-PCS Group, Inc.
CHS Group LLC.
Community Work Opportunities
Life Enrichment Academy, Inc.
Just Us Club
Work Skills Corporation
Language Line
University Translators