Community Support Programs Branch

Description Goals Target Population Purpose Achievements

What is the Community Support Programs Branch?

The Community Support Programs Branch works with States, communities, and mental health consumers and their families to improve care and treatment for adults with serious mental illness.

What are the goals of the Community Support Programs Branch?

To identify effective approaches to the delivery of mental health services and put those approaches into action in local communities.
To promote effective service delivery systems essential for improving mental health and enhancing the quality of life for people with serious mental illnesses.
To help people with severe mental illnesses live successful and productive lives in their communities.

Who does the Community Support Programs Branch serve?

The Community Support Programs Branch provides funding to States and community groups to improve the effectiveness of mental health systems of care for adults with severe mental illnesses. Each year, approximately 5.5 million Americans are disabled by severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, manic-depressive illness, and severe depressive disorders.

What does the Community Support Programs Branch do?

Collaborates with the Health Resource Services Administration's Bureau of Primary Health Care and the Department of Veteran Affairs on the funding of studies relating to the delivery of mental health/substance abuse services for older adults through primary care systems and the evaluation of models to improve service delivery. Current initiatives are comparing the costs and outcomes of treating clients in a primary care setting versus referring clients to outside mental health specialists.
Collaborates with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and Center for Substance Abuse Treatment on studies of integrated treatment systems for women with mental health and substance abuse disorders who are victims of violence.
Conducts studies to determine the most effective and cost-efficient services for helping persons with severe mental illness find and keep jobs. Studies examine outcomes such as employment days and salary, level of functioning, quality of life, utilization of mental health services, and program costs.
Studies managed care's effects on the use, cost, and outcomes of mental health and substance abuse services for consumers and their families.
Collaborates on studies to test the effectiveness of jail diversion programs for individuals with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders.
Evaluates mental health service programs operated by mental health consumers to assess their effectiveness in aiding rehabilitation and recovery.
Funds community action grants to assist State and community groups in adopting exemplary mental health service delivery practices that meet local needs.
Collaborates to support two national rehabilitation research and training centers for people with mental illness.

What has the Community Support Programs Branch achieved?

The Community Action Grant Program began an Hispanic Priority Initiative in FY 1998 as part of a larger effort by SAMHSA to meet the mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment needs of Hispanic communities.
Implementation of the Employment Intervention Demonstration Program has shown that people with serious mental illness are employable and can maintain independent employment, that work motivation is high, and that an integrated team approach locates jobs almost four times more often than traditional approaches. More than half the participants in the employment program who received vocational services for least 12 months are employed, compared to an overall national employment rate of 26 percent among a representative sample of persons with severe disabilities.

In addition, as a result of efforts by the Community Support Programs Branch:

Day treatment and partial hospitalization programs have moved from traditional to rehabilitation-oriented programs, resulting in a decrease in rehospitalization and an increase in independent living and work.
Employment, housing, rehabilitation programs, and client self-help groups started with Community Support Programs funds are being continued with State and local funds.

The Community Support Programs Branch is part of the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS). CMHS is an agency of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CMHS serves as the focal point for federal efforts to make high-quality community-based services available and accessible for people with or at risk of developing mental illness and their families.

KEN95-0018
04/03

Please note that this online publication has been abridged from the printed version.

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