ROCK SPRINGS — Adults in Sweetwater County living with serious mental illness will soon have access to expanded community-based treatment and support through a new five-year federal grant awarded to Southwest Counseling Service by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
SCS received an initial $1,046,926 federal award to launch the Sweetwater County Assisted Outpatient Treatment Expansion Project. Approximately $2.69 million in federal funding is anticipated over the full five-year period, subject to continued federal funding and satisfactory performance. The project is expected to serve 325 adults who have experienced repeated mental health crises, hospitalizations, difficulty staying connected to treatment, or co-occurring disorders.
Assisted outpatient treatment is a civil, court-connected approach that coordinates treatment and support for people with serious mental illness while they continue living in the community. Through the new project, SCS will connect outpatient mental health treatment with intensive case management, psychiatric care, medication management, peer and family support, transportation, and coordination with medical and social services.
“Too often, people with serious mental illness come into contact with the system during a crisis, receive immediate help, and then struggle to stay connected to the services that can help them remain stable in the community,” Melissa Wray-Marchetti, SCS Finance Director said. “This project gives us an opportunity to build a more coordinated system of care for those individuals and their families, working alongside our community partners to help people stay connected to care and support.”
The project also will help SCS and its community partners build the local infrastructure and long-term partnerships needed to sustain assisted outpatient treatment in Sweetwater County. The initiative is designed to improve treatment engagement and community stability, with the goal of reducing emergency detentions, psychiatric hospitalizations, and repeated crisis-system involvement.
The five-year project began Sept, 30 and will continue through September 2031.
