$757,000 Grant, Innovative Mobile Program, and Dedicated Staff will Help Delaware’s Most Vulnerable

$757,000 Grant, Innovative Mobile Program, and Dedicated Staff will Help Delaware’s Most Vulnerable

Last month, I had the great honor of joining our Delaware congressional delegation to announce that Brandywine Counseling and Community Services was awarded a  $757,000 Federal grant to bring mobile behavioral health and medical services to Delaware’s most vulnerable populations. The SAMSHA Discretionary Grant was through Congressionally Directed Spending funds sponsored by Senator Chris Coons and supported by Senator Tom Carper and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester.

Innovative approaches to reach and support our clients

The grant will go directly to fund BCCS’s collaboration with Gibney Mobile Healthcare to implement our statewide Continuous Community Care Mobile Treatment (CCMT) services. CCMT is an example of the innovative programs and partnerships BCCS develops to address the behavioral health issues affecting our fellow Delawareans and our communities. CCMT is modeled after our statewide Homeless Outreach programming and our life-saving statewide Harm Reduction Syringe Services Program (SSP). As a mobile unit, CCMT will reach our state’s most at-risk and underserved populations. Through our partnership with Gibney Mobile Healthcare, CCMT is also Delaware’s first mobile health collaborative between medical professionals and behavioral health treatment providers. This follows another first: our recently announced partnership with CHESS Health to provide our clients 24/7 online access to telemed counseling support services.

How CCMT will make a difference

Drawing upon the experience of our Homeless Outreach team, CCMT will allow us to reach clients where they are, including where unsheltered people gather and high-crime areas. We’ll utilize our 33 established SSP sites – places where we know people need us, and they know we’re available. CCMT will provide treatment and harm reduction, including NARCAN distribution, testing, and preventative education, along with vaccinations, blood pressure and diabetes measurements, plus wound care and education in response to the Xylazine crisis. We’ll also facilitate linkage to treatment and social services. By connecting people with services, CCMT will address the social determinants impacting health. 

Reaching more people through the support we receive

When you combine our firsts with the expansion of services at our Dover location, you can see that BCCS is reaching more people in need, in more places, and in more ways. But we didn’t do it alone. We have the leadership of our congressional delegation and state government. We have a compassionate, courageous staff willing to embrace new approaches. And, of course, we have the support of the community. Please consider joining those who help BCCS strengthen communities by donating or volunteering.