FCA Awarded $4 Million Federal Grant to Provide Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Treatment

Sep 28, 2022 | Press Release

Grant monies to be used over four years

Garden City, N.Y., September 28, 2022 – FCA, a leading health and human services not-for-profit organization on Long Island has been awarded a competitive federal grant totaling $4 million ($1 million dollars per year for the next four years) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  The grant will be used to establish Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) that will provide integrated mental health services and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment at FCA’s existing clinics in Hempstead and Hicksville. This grant will enable FCA to modernize and expand its behavioral health services, making FCA even more responsive to community needs, especially in minority communities.

“We can’t overstate that this federal grant award is a huge and consequential victory for FCA and for all of Long Island,” explained FCA President and CEO Jeffrey L. Reynolds, Ph.D.  “These dollars will enable us to plan and pilot integrated behavioral health services in Hempstead, Hicksville and other Nassau County communities. Establishing better links between mental health and addiction treatment services means that consumers struggling with both issues will no longer have to travel from site to site, and from organization to organization, begging for help, all the while getting sicker.”

“Over the past several years, CCBHCs have been instrumental in transforming behavioral health care in their respective communities,” said Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., HHS Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and the leader of SAMHSA, in a press release on the government’s Health and Human Services website. “But we know now that much more support is needed to ensure that everyone who needs help can access care when and where they seek it.”

CCBHCs must meet federal standards for the range of services that they provide, and they are required to get people into care quickly.  An important feature of the CCBHC model is that it requires crisis services that are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Another hallmark of CCBHCs; they are required to serve anyone who requests care for mental health or substance use, regardless of their ability to pay, place of residence, or age – including developmentally appropriate care for children and youth. Routine outpatient care must also be provided within 10 business days after an initial contact so people don’t languish on waiting lists.

Reynolds added, “Bringing this national model to Nassau County with an emphasis on communities of color will help close some longstanding gaps in care and leave our communities healthier and safer. The need for accessible mental health and addiction services is at an all time high.  This grant will help ensure that more people get the help that they need to live healthier lives.”

About FCA
FCA is a not-for-profit agency helping more than 30,000 Long Islanders each year. For more than 138 years, the organization has worked to protect and strengthen vulnerable children, seniors, families, and communities on Long Island.

FCA believes in the potential of Long Island – a place where no child, senior, family or community is left to struggle alone with barriers to health care, education, employment, or economic prosperity. Long Island continues to be one of the greatest places in the world to live and raise a family for many; FCA exists to ensure that be the case for all. For more information about FCA, visit FCALI.org.

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