BHN would like to recognize the outstanding efforts of our dedicated team of clinicians and access navigators involved in the Community Mental Health Centers (CMHC) grant program. In operation from January 2022 to September 2024, this program was designed as a precursor to the Community Behavioral Health Center (CBHC), and an opportunity to pilot team-based care delivery. 

Historically, clients seeking therapy were assigned to a single clinician who managed all their needs, including access to community resources, services, and therapy sessions. However, with the CMHC pilot program, access navigators were paired with clinicians to better distribute tasks. Team members met weekly to discuss their shared workload and coordinate efforts. These discussions covered various topics, such as ensuring clients were aware of the grounding techniques available and knowing when to conduct case consultations both within and outside the agency. By working together, teams were able to address not only the therapy needs of the clients but also their social needs, such as housing and food insecurity, ultimately helping them achieve a more stable position within the community.

Jaime Pendragon, who oversees access navigation, shared, “What I enjoyed most was seeing how individuals improved and worked in tandem with our navigators and clinicians.”  The program overcame many barriers. According to Angela Baez, the program director, “Sometimes clinicians and navigators can be set in their ways, making it difficult to get both sides to meet in the middle." 

The CMHC was designed with the hypothesis that team-based care would improve clinical outcomes, client satisfaction, and job satisfaction among staff. We are pleased to report that this model has proven effective in these domains. Eighty percent of clients enrolled in CMHC reported achieving at least one of their goals, compared to the 32% rate of reported goals achieved in traditional sole-practitioner clinical models. Data showed significant improvement in many areas of social determinants assessment after six months in the program, including life skills, housing, community involvement, and employment. Moreover, staff reported positive experiences with the team-based approach. One staff member stated, “I like the time we spend with colleagues learning from each other and everyone bringing different areas of passion.” 

“CMHC demonstrated that team-based care can work efficiently,” Jamie says. “We can have a model going forward past the grant. We can take what we learned and apply it to what we’re doing in CBHC on a larger scale.”