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Missoula County outlines SAMHSA systems-of-care grant to expand youth behavioral-health services
Summary
County staff briefed commissioners on a four-year SAMHSA systems-of-care grant — roughly $1.3 million — that will fund subrecipients AWARE, Providence and Youth Homes to add crisis response, stabilization and respite services for youth.
Missoula County staff updated the commissioners on a four-year systems-of-care grant from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that the county received and that Public Health & Community (PHC) is administering. The grant will invest approximately $1,300,000, county staff said, and funds will flow to partner organizations to expand youth crisis response and stabilization services.
Staff identified principal subrecipients as AWARE, Providence and Youth Homes. The county said the subawardees will add positions for crisis response, school-based mobile therapists and a coordinator role described as an intake or coordination position to help route youth to appropriate services. Youth Homes will provide respite care and will build and operate a combined crisis-stabilization and therapeutic group home during the grant period, staff said; the meeting record did not specify the facility’s address or exact opening date. County staff said they hired Amy (last name not specified) as the project director for the grant and that the Strategic Alliance youth subcommittee will serve as the governing board for the county’s work on this grant.
Staff described multiple evaluation priorities: outreach and connection rates (how many families are reached and connected to services), referral success (whether clients reach referred providers), service quality (use of evidence-based practices), and system-level measures such as the number of new agreements or MOUs that formalize referral pathways. Staff said they will also track, indirectly, whether there are reductions in hospitalizations or juvenile-justice involvement for youth, and that a research partner (described in the meeting as DG Research) has analysis approaches used in other communities to measure mobile support teams. The location of specific crisis-stabilization beds was not specified in the meeting transcript; staff said they would provide that detail later.
County and PHC staff asked to return to the commission periodically with updates and said they expect to present year-one outcomes in mid-to-late fall. Staff also asked commissioners whether any particular county offices or contacts should be included in ongoing communications; commissioners suggested county communications and the Strategic Alliance.
Why it matters: The grant is intended to expand and formalize cross-sector coordination — between county government, health providers and nonprofits — to improve access to behavioral-health services for youth and to build sustainability into the local service system.
What’s next: Staff plan to return with year-one data and to continue coordinating with the Strategic Alliance and county communications to share progress and any requests for formal county approvals related to grant administration.
