Tennessee HIV/AIDS, Related Substance Use Disorders, and Mental Disorders Services Program
The Tennessee HIV/AIDS, Related Substance Use Disorders, and Mental Disorders Services Program, a joint venture between The University of Tennessee College of Social Work and the Helen Ross McNabb Center, a Regional Behavioral Health System, expands and enhances culturally competent services in minority (predominately African-American) and Hispanics/Latinos communities for persons with great risk for HIV/AIDS and having mental health needs, and to others linked to the clients’ Individual Treatment Plan (ITP), e.g., parents, partners, and dependents. The program addresses the epidemic of minority persons who: a) are HIV positive and have a DSM diagnosis, or b) are HIV positive and have mental health problems that do not reach the criteria for DSM diagnosis; and parents, partners, dependents, and others linked to the client’s Individual Treatment Plan (ITP). The program is intended to alleviate significant unmet needs of this population based on the data to indicate the small percentage of clients with HIV/AIDS currently receiving mental health services (∼12.5%), and of those 12.5%, the very few (∼1.47%) who receive additional substance abuse services. These clients will receive direct services that consist of outreach, decision to pursue treatment, case management, mental health and substance abuse screening and HIV/VH assessment, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and aftercare.
This proposed project seeks to expand and enhance the intensive outpatient services of the Regional Behavioral Health System in East Tennessee to provide a specialized continuum of care to the target population, i.e. outreach, pre-treatment, and mental health treatment services and in-patient and outpatient substance abuse treatment (ASAM Levels I and II.1). We further seek to improve the infrastructure to support service delivery expansion through:
- Building partnerships to ensure the success of the project and entering into service delivery and other agreements.
- Developing or changing the infrastructure to expand treatment or prevention services.
- Training to assist treatment or prevention providers and community support systems to identify and address mental health or substance abuse issues, HIV and Hepatitis care, and screenings for viral hepatitis.
- Increase services for black young men who have sex with men (YMSM) (ages 18-29), and other high-risk populations such as Latino YMSM and men who have sex with men (MSM) (ages 30 years and older), and gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals who have a SUD and/or COD who are HIV positive or at risk for HIV/AIDS.
One-hundred individuals will be served each year for outreach, 80 for case management and 60 for treatment services (in conjunction with their parents, partners, dependents). Staff from the College of Social Work Behavioral Health Services Research Center will conduct the project evaluation. The College of Social Work will be responsible for collecting the GPRA data and for disseminating evaluation findings. The affiliated agencies of the Helen Ross McNabb Center (HRMC) Regional Mental Health System, Incorporated, will serve as the sites for the provision of services.