$10M Grant Supports Behavioral and Physical Health

The NH Department of Health and Human Services has received $10 million in funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to integrate physical and behavioral health care for young people. Strafford County will see a portion of these funds, directed to Community Partners, and Goodwin Community Health, over five years to support ProHealth NH, a program designed to improve the health and wellness of people ages 16 to 35 with severe emotional disturbance and severe mental illness.

“This grant will enable us to build upon the important work we began last year within the mental health system,” says Gov. Chris Sununu. “Aligning physical health and mental health services makes perfect sense, and working with our largest mental health and community health partners to create a system of care will bring critical services to a greater number of young people, whose futures depend on them.”

The partnership between Goodwin Community Health and Community Partners will utilize this funding to provide a seamless approach of offering behavioral health services to clients, and then pairing these same clients with clinical teams that can simultaneously address co-occurring health care problems, chronic diseases and/or substance misuse disorders. 

“Treating the whole self is vital to those with mental illness. This funding legitimizes the mental health crisis and its effect on individuals, families and our healthcare system,” says Brian Collins, executive director for Community Partners.  “Individuals with mental illness often have additional physical ailments, and if left untreated, can result in tragic outcomes which could have been potentially avoided.”

“Support of this magnitude allows us to build on our partnership with Community Partners to expand much needed access to integrated behavioral health care and primary care for a population that can too easily fall through the cracks,” says Janet Laatsch, CEO of Greater Seacoast Community Health and Goodwin Community Health.  “Having well-organized resources and care coordination available for preventative care for young adults with mental illness and co-occurring physical health conditions is important.”