Updates on CCBHCs - locally and federally

The Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model alleviates decades-old challenges that have led to a crisis in providing access to mental health and addiction care. As an integrated and sustainably financed model for care delivery, CCBHCs:

• Ensure access to integrated, evidence-based addiction and mental health services, including 24/7 crisis response and medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for addiction.
• Meet stringent criteria regarding timeliness of access, quality reporting, staffing and coordination with social services, criminal justice and education systems.
• Receive funding to support the real costs of expanding services to fully meet the need for care in their communities.

While a wonderful model, CCBHC is not always easy to explain to those not working in the behavioral health field. This training will help participants understand the basics of CCBHC and help with how to message the benefits of the CCBHC model.

After this training participants will be able to:

• Define what a CCBHC is ;
• Demonstrate how CCBHC is impacting behavioral health in Rhode Island ; and
• Describe what is happening with CCBHC at the state and federal level .

Trainer: Dawn Allen

Dawn Allen is the Director of Special Projects at Thrive Behavioral Health, where she has worked since April 2019. Prior to coming to Thrive she was the state lead for the Financial Alignment Demonstration, Medicare Medicaid Plan, at the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. The majority of Dawn’s career was spent working with people who had mental illness and were also criminally involved. She worked as a Social Worker for the Public Defender Office, Coordinator of Specialized Services at Fellowship Health Resources, Mental Health Discharge Planner at the RI Adult Correctional Institute and in the Probation and Parole Department. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Master of Public Administration both from the University of Rhode Island.