Home > Reduce Mental Health Gaps for Stigma, Information, Access, and Quality Care
Last Update: 6/11/2021

Reduce Mental Health Gaps for Stigma, Information, Access, and Quality Care

The Great Lakes Bay Region is experiencing a mental health crisis. The impact is both broad and deep — affecting education, employment, overall health, social contributions, family members and friends. There are also deep rooted stigmas associated with mental health. Patients and family members sometimes avoid getting help because of misconceptions about mental health care. Many people do not know where to turn for support when dealing with mental health issues. Additionally, there is a serious lack of access to quality care and treatment; cost and availability of care are deterrents to getting needed help. We are better together, tackling the mental health crisis as a community to help people obtain the best possible care. We need unprecedented collaboration among stakeholders to make a real difference to reduce mental health gaps for stigma, information, access and quality care across all demographic groups including providers.

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THRIVE Reduce Mental Health Gaps Mini Dashboard

Compared to the prior value, MiHIA (15,530) is less than the previously measured value (15,888). Adult Medicaid Population with Mental Illness Receiving Services by CMHSP
(Compared to Prior Value)
Compared to the prior value, MiHIA ($5,633) is less and better than the previously measured value ($6,186). Cost per Adult with Mental Illness
(Compared to Prior Value)
Compared to MI Counties, MiHIA has a value of 22.0% which is in the 2nd worst quartile of regions. Regions in the best 50% have a value lower than 20.5% while regions in the worst 25% have a value higher than 22.1%. Depression: Medicare Population
(Compared to MI Counties)
Compared to MI Counties, MiHIA has a value of 273 which is in the best 50% of regions. Regions in the best 50% have a value higher than 201 while regions in the worst 25% have a value lower than 137. Mental Health Provider Rate
(Compared to MI Counties)

Up to Date Progress

We believe that monitoring the progress of our interventions is a essential process that comes into play between setting and attaining a desired end. Continuous, up-to-date progress-tracking is the best way to ensure that the objectives are translated into action. Each intervention follows a process of stages moving from implementation to expansion, then to scaling, and in the long run, sustainability.

The progress-tracking graphic above is a handy visual aid designed for a "quick glance" update. The graphic color will update as we continue towards a path of successful completion of this intervention.

                             

            Implementation Stage                                          Expansion Stage                                               Scaling Stage                                            Sustainability Stage

Key
  • Red: Signifies no work has been completed
  • Orange: Signifies a plan has been created to begin work on the intervention
  • Yellow: Signifies action has been created for the intervention
  • Light Green: Signifies action has begun towards executing all of the objectives and some strategies are completed
  • Dark Green: Signifies significant progress towards completion of all objectives 

Intervention Progress per Objective and Strategy

Learn more by exploring the objectives below

Objective 1: Reduce Stigma

  • Strategy 1.1 - Develop regional Crisis Text Line keyword and get regional data after 200 uses

    • Responsible Party: Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership
    • Data: 52/200 Uses
    • Target Completion Date: January 2022
    • Progress Highlights and Significance: Reducing stigma and providing mental health resources allows individuals to more efficiently and effectively seek mental health services

  • Strategy 1.2 - Disseminate Billboard campaigns in the Great Lakes Bay Region to reduce stigma and increase information

    • Responsible Party: Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership
    • Data: 5/5 Billboards
    • Target Completion Date: February 2020
    • Progress Highlights and Significance: Reducing stigma and providing mental health resources allows individuals to more efficiently and effectively seek mental health services

  • Strategy 1.3 - Create and distribute iMatter campaign with K-12 schools that includes information to support K-12 students, families and educators

    • Responsible Party: Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership
    • Data: An estimated 65,000 students potentially received resources through this campaign
    • Target Completion Date: September 2019
    • Progress Highlights and Significance: Reducing stigma and providing mental health resources allows individuals to more efficiently and effectively seek mental health services

  • Strategy 1.4 - Create and post an iMatter video to drive people to resources

    • Responsible Party: Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership
    • Data: Video created and shared via social media in September 2019
    • Target Completion Date: September 2019
    • Progress Highlights and Significance: Reducing stigma and providing mental health resources allows individuals to more efficiently and effectively seek mental health services
    • Resources:

  • Strategy 1.5 - Create and disseminate mental health storytelling videos, articles and speakers to combat mental health stigmas

    Responsible Party: Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership
    Data: Action has begun towards executing this objective and strategy
    Target Completion Date: Ongoing
    Progress Highlights and Significance: Reducing stigma and providing mental health resources allows individuals to more efficiently and effectively seek mental health services
    Resource:

Objective 2: Increase information about mental health resources

  • Strategy 2.1 - Host regional screenings of movies and documentaries related to mental health

    • Responsible Party: Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership, MiHiA, Barb Smith Suicide Resource and Response Network and Community Partners
    • Data: Hosted a screening of a movie titled Coming up for Air regarding mental health resources and suicide prevention in Fall 2019
    • Target Completion Date: Fall 2019
    • Program Highlights and Significance: Increasing mental health Information and resources allows for strategic communications, community events and coordinated data collection to share progress with stakeholders and the community to fully support the mental health ecosystem in the Great Lakes Bay Region

  • Strategy 2.2 - Host Addressing Mental Health Crisis in GLBR convenings

    • Responsible Party: Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership, PYXERA Global and CollaborateUp
    • Data: Hosted convenings in 2018 and 2019 with 120+ attendees which resulted in 7 working groups to focus on stigma, information, access and quality across all demographic groups including mental health providers
    • Target Completion Date: February 2019
    • Program Highlights and Significance: Increasing mental health Information and resources allows for strategic communications, community events and coordinated data collection to share progress with stakeholders and the community to fully support the mental health ecosystem in the Great Lakes Bay Region

  • Strategy 2.3 - Developed Community Mapping of Mental Health Providers in the region across all stakeholder sectors

    • Responsible Party: Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership and Central Michigan University Master of Public Health interns
    • Data: Gathered and shared all organizations involved in mental health in the Great Lakes Bay Region including the name of the organization, location information, contact information, website, services offered, insurances covered, and psychiatric bed inventory using interactive Maptive software
    • Target Completion Date: Fall 2019
    • Program Highlights and Significance: Increasing mental health Information and resources allows for strategic communications, community events and coordinated data collection to share progress with stakeholders and the community to fully support the mental health ecosystem in the Great Lakes Bay Region

Objective 3: Increase access to mental health providers in the Great Lakes Bay Region

  • Strategy 3.1 - Collaboratively Increase the amount of all mental health providers, across all licenses, in the Great Lakes Bay Region and monitor year to year

    • Responsible Party: Health Systems and Institutions of Higher Education
    • Data: 2018-2019 increased by 112; 2019-2020 increased by 52 
    • Target Completion Date: Ongoing
    • Progress Highlights and Significance: An increase in providers decreases the provider shortage in the Great Lakes Bay Region leading to improved access to mental health services

Objective 4: Improve Quality of Care

  • Strategy 4.1 - Pilot a Mental Health Workplace Program

    • Responsible Party: Fisher Contracting Inc.
    • Data:
    A pilot program was originally created and implemented to support 200+ employees mental health needs in 2019. Fisher Contracting's program is expanded to all of the Fisher Companies. Their employees and their families now have mental health coverage equal to their medical coverage. Fisher Contracting, Inc. have an EAP contract that gives each family 5-free visits (no-copay), after that their insurance will be billed. They are free to visit any mental health provider that is in-network for a $30.00 copay if they prefer that. Generally they are covering 215+ employees and 500+ individuals under the Fisher Benefits plan and an additional 100+ union employees and their families under our EAP. There are well over 700 individuals who now have access to affordable mental health providers. A supervisor training has been created by Dr. Ann Date at Partner's in Change, but the Covid-19 pandemic has put that on hold in the interest of social distancing. Next step will be to expand our program to our Southern Division Union employees with expectations to cover those 100 or so employees by year end.
     
    Performance Measures from 2019-June 2021:
    • Out of 325 employees and their families covered by the mental health program there were:
      • 284 Mental Health office visits
      • 13 Substance Abuse office visits
      • 37 Inpatient days from 8 Admissions     
      • 23 Visits to Family and Children Services
    • Total Cost for the first year was $138,172.40, or $425.15 per employee
      • Total Cost as a percentage of revenue was 0.01%
      • 100% of employees have taken the Mental Health Safety Modules delivered through our safety program
    • Target Completion Date: January 1, 2021
    • Progress Highlights and Significance: Improving quality of mental health care in the Great Lakes Bay Region means that the region has healthier, happier and more productive citizens which leads to an overall improvement of health and economic outcomes.

  • Strategy 4.2 - Engage with National Network of Depression Centers Task Groups to bring best practices to the Great Lakes Bay Region

    Responsible Party: Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership and Central Michigan University Department of Psychiatry

    Data: Three members of the Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership are a part of the following NNDC Task Groups:

    • Dr. Furhut Janssen - Ketamine

    • Rob Vallentine - College Mental Health

    • Dr. Matt Samocki - Community Programs

    Target Completion Date: January 1, 2021

    Progress Highlights and Significance: Improving quality of mental health care in the Great Lakes Bay Region means that the region has healthier, happier and more productive citizens which leads to an overall improvement of health and economic outcomes

Objective 5: Increase mental health academic and community expertise to improve quality of mental health in the Great Lakes Bay Region

  • Strategy 5.1 - Central Michigan University College of Medicine and Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership to jointly apply for an Associate Membership to the National Network of Depression Centers

    Responsible Party: CMU College of Medicine and Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership
    Target Completion Date: December 2019
    Progress Highlights and Significance: The National Network of Depression Centers (NNDC) develops and fosters connections among members to use the power of our network to advance scientific discovery, and to provide stigma free, evidence-based care to patients with depressive and bipolar illnesses.
     

Objective 6: Create a Mental Health Provider Community and improve Mental Health Provider Wellness

  • Strategy 6.1 - Create a digital library of resources to make open for mental health providers

    Responsible Party: Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership
    Data: 20+ stakeholders from the Great Lakes Bay Region are collaboratively collecting resources for mental health provider wellness that will be available on a well known mental health website
    Target Completion Date: January 1, 2022
    Progress Highlights and Significance: Mental Health Providers need to take care of their wellness so they can be healthy and the best provider to patients.  Mental Health Providers are a high risk group professionally for mental health struggles due to burnout and vicarious and secondary trauma.

  • Strategy 6.2 - Host mental health provider events to improve their wellbeing

    Responsible Party: Great Lakes Bay Region Mental Health Partnership
    Data:50+ mental health providers attended an event at the Dow House in Fall 2019; 20+ mental health providers attended an event created and facilitated by Central Michigan University Psychiatry residents in April 2021
    Target Completion Date: Ongoing
    Progress Highlights and Significance: Mental Health Providers need to take care of their wellness so they can be healthy and the best provider to patients.  Mental Health Providers are a high risk group professionally for mental health struggles due to burnout and vicarious and secondary trauma.

Objective 7: Suicide Prevention

  • Strategy 5.1 - Provide Aftercare presentations

    • Responsible Party: Barb Smith Suicide Resource & Response Network
    • Data: 21 presentations to 2955 individuals between 2017-2019; 2020 data will be released at the end of the year
    • Target Completion Date: Ongoing
    • Progress Highlights and Significance: Suicide prevention is mental health promotion. Mental health is just as important as physical health. A healthy community addresses the needs of the whole person: body, mind and spirit. Preventing suicide requires fostering and nurturing strong community partnerships. Training must be provided with an unwavering commitment to quality and excellence in delivery, while being tailored to the needs of unique audiences. Providing support to individuals to navigate complex community systems improves access to critical services and care.  Providing support for those impacted by suicide is critical.

  • Strategy 5.2 - Provide Yellow Ribbon School Awareness trainings

    • Responsible Party: Barb Smith Suicide Resource & Response Network
    • Data: 24 trainings to 6217 individuals between 2017-2019; 2020 data will be released at the end of the year
    • Target Completion Date: Ongoing
    • Progress Highlights and Significance: Suicide prevention is mental health promotion. Mental health is just as important as physical health. A healthy community addresses the needs of the whole person: body, mind and spirit. Preventing suicide requires fostering and nurturing strong community partnerships. Training must be provided with an unwavering commitment to quality and excellence in delivery, while being tailored to the needs of unique audiences. Providing support to individuals to navigate complex community systems improves access to critical services and care.  Providing support for those impacted by suicide is critical.

  • Strategy 5.3 - Provide Suicide Awareness Trainings

    • Responsible Party: Barb Smith Suicide Resource & Response Network
    • Data: 61 trainings to 4341 individuals between 2017-2019; 2020 data will be released at the end of the year
    • Target Completion Date: Ongoing
    • Progress Highlights and Significance: Suicide prevention is mental health promotion. Mental health is just as important as physical health. A healthy community addresses the needs of the whole person: body, mind and spirit. Preventing suicide requires fostering and nurturing strong community partnerships. Training must be provided with an unwavering commitment to quality and excellence in delivery, while being tailored to the needs of unique audiences. Providing support to individuals to navigate complex community systems improves access to critical services and care.  Providing support for those impacted by suicide is critical.

  • Strategy 5.4 - Provide SafeTALK trainings

    • Responsible Party: Barb Smith Suicide Resource & Response Network
    • Data: 111 trainings to 2792 individuals between 2017-2019 who can recognize and respond to those who might be having thoughts of suicide; 2020 data will be released at the end of the year
    • Target Completion Date: Ongoing
    • Progress Highlights and Significance: Suicide prevention is mental health promotion. Mental health is just as important as physical health. A healthy community addresses the needs of the whole person: body, mind and spirit. Preventing suicide requires fostering and nurturing strong community partnerships. Training must be provided with an unwavering commitment to quality and excellence in delivery, while being tailored to the needs of unique audiences. Providing support to individuals to navigate complex community systems improves access to critical services and care.  Providing support for those impacted by suicide is critical.

  • Strategy 5.5 - Provide ASIST trainings

    • Responsible Party: Barb Smith Suicide Resource & Response Network
    • Data: 22 trainings to 635 individuals between 2017-2019; 2020 data will be released at the end of the year
    • Target Completion Date: Ongoing
    • Progress Highlights and Significance: Suicide prevention is mental health promotion. Mental health is just as important as physical health. A healthy community addresses the needs of the whole person: body, mind and spirit. Preventing suicide requires fostering and nurturing strong community partnerships. Training must be provided with an unwavering commitment to quality and excellence in delivery, while being tailored to the needs of unique audiences. Providing support to individuals to navigate complex community systems improves access to critical services and care.  Providing support for those impacted by suicide is critical.

Michigan Health Improvement Alliance