Providence St. Joseph Health announces $10M mental health funding
Providence St. Joseph Health, with 50 hospitals, 829 clinics and hundreds of programs and services offered across the Western United States, and Well Being Trust, a new national foundation focused on mental health and wellness, announced the first round of $10 million in grants and contracts to mental health and wellness initiatives.
Among the agencies receiving grants from the program will be Petaluma-based Committee on the Shelterless, or COTS and Napa County Health and Human Services and groups connected to that department.
The program announced follows the 2016 merger of Providence Health & Services and St. Joseph Health. At the time, Providence St. Joseph Health, committed to address California’s mental health needs. The grants announced Tuesday are among the initial $10 million in grants as part of a $30 million plan.
“There is an urgent need for health care organizations to step up and address the mental health crisis affecting communities across California. None of us can meet this challenge alone – we must work together and leverage our resources to help those most in need,” said Rod Hochman, MD, CEO, Providence St. Joseph Health.
Officials said the first round of grants is, in part, focused on new and existing Providence St. Joseph Health programs that are working in communities across the state to address health and wellness challenges such as mental health, addiction and homelessness. Some of these North Bay area initiatives include:
The committee on the Shelterless - Sonoma County Coordinated Health, Wellness, and Housing Initiative - grant will support a pilot program serving nearly 1,000 people who are homeless, many of whom struggle with mental health and or substance use disorders, according to the announcement.
Efforts to address mental health, addictions and homelessness in collaboration with Napa County Health and Human Services and other partners will focus on tele-psychiatry available in the emergency department and hospital, add CARE Network staff to facilitate access to mental health and substance abuse interventions, and establish new mental health crisis stabilization services, detoxification services, respite care and housing.
