State Grant Boost For County’s Mental Health Mobile Crisis Program

A one-time state grant has given a boost to Anoka County’s 24/7 mental health mobile crisis response program.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services has awarded the county $786,184 to be used by March 31, 2024 that will increase capacity, allowing more calls to be taken from people in a mental health crisis.

The county contracts with Canvas Health, Oakdale, for the services and the Anoka County Board May 23 unanimously approved amending its existing contract with Canvas Health, which began Jan. 1, 2023 and ends Dec. 31, 2024.

The contract maximum jumps from $1.5 million to $2.286 million.

Laura Eng, lead program planner in the county’s social service and behavioral health department, said that the county has contracted with Canvas Health since 2012 for the program, which serves both adults and children and includes telephone triage plus mobile crisis assessment, intervention and stabilization services.

With the extra grant dollars, Canvas Health will add two full-time mental health positions, a part-time peer recovery specialist and a technology hub with adequate staffing to facilitate at least four telepsychiatry and therapy services per week for clients with limited access, as well as provide advanced training for staff and office space, Eng wrote in a report to the county board.

Jerry Pederson, social service and behavioral health department director, said that Canvas Health has six staff currently working in the county, two of them embedded with the Columbia Heights Police Department, and an office in Coon Rapids.

The location of the technology hub is unknown at this time, Pederson wrote in an email response to questions.

“These dollars are intended for adult users of this service,” he wrote.

Demand for mental health mobile crisis services increased 84% from the fourth quarter of 2021 to 2022, but there has been a slight decline in the 2023 first quarter compared with the fourth quarter of 2022.

“Canvas Health has never turned anyone away,” Pederson wrote. “But the mobile crisis visit may be delayed based on immediate staffing vacancies.”

In addition to the state dollars, funding for the program comes from third-party insurance reimbursement and the county tax levy.

The county has a two-year contract with Canvas Health with the levy dollars pegged at $280,414 each year, Pederson wrote.

Canvas Health is aware that the one-time grant ends March 31, 2024 while its contract with the county runs through Dec. 31, 2024, but it has a sustainability plan in place and expects to see improved revenues from client fees to cover a significant amount of the costs, Pederson said.

The grant comes from one-time funding approved by the 2021 Minnesota Legislature to strengthen the state’s mobile crisis infrastructure.

Commissioner Julie Jeppson said this is a significant funding increase and asked if Canvas Health reports back to the county on measurable outcomes. “This is a lot of money,” she said.

Cindy Cesare, chief human services officer, said that Canvas Health provides the county with monthly reports on the number of calls.

She would like Canvas Health to make a presentation to the board on its work for the county, Jeppson said.

County Board Chairman Matt Look asked that Canvas Health be invited to a future board meeting.

The county’s mobile response line serving adults and children is 763-755-3801.

SOURCE: Hometown Source