Collaborative Projects

The Collaborative is currently working on four initiatives:

  1. Continue to develop and expand the work of the Mental Health Court developed to get people with a mental illness the services they need and keep them out of the justice system.
  2. Develop strategies to remove the stigma of mental illness and help foster a community environment that treats mental illness as any other illness.
  3. Integrating behavioral health care into primary care medicine. We will create strategies to ensure our primary care physicians have the training, resources and support they need to care for symptoms of mental illness thereby alleviating some of the demand already on our community’s psychiatrists.
  4. Establish a Connections Center; the central access point for supporting the mental health and substance abuse needs of the community. We engage people with mental health and/or substance abuse issues who are experiencing quality of life issues and are having difficulty gaining access to the needed services in the community. The Connections Center will assist in any way possible to improve the mental health and sobriety of the residents of Indian River County.

Past Projects

  • The Collaborative convened funders, mental health care providers, community and government organizations and individuals to assess the state of mental health care in Indian River County.
  • The Collaborative convened a local pediatric mental health conference in conjunction with the McCabe Foundation and the University of Florida and facilitated a pediatric mental health study in the Spring of 2007.
  • The Collaborative presented a two-day forum on ADHD, "Strategies for Success: a Symposium on ADHD and Learning Disabilities". The event included an evening parent forum followed the next day by a full-day symposium for teachers, counselors, mental health providers and family members. The keynote speaker at the symposium was Dr. Mark Riddle, Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
  • The Collaborative identified the need for and developed the concept of a Walk-In Center (a walk-in mental health care clinic). During the 2006 strategic planning meeting the Collaborative worked with the Mental Health Association of Indian River County to develop the program components and helped identify funding sources for the program including advocacy efforts at the state and local level. In April 2007 the Mental Health Association of IRC opened the Walk-In Center.
  • University of Florida Center for Psychiatry and Addiction
  • Mental Health Symposium
  • Facilitated the creation of the Mental Health Court in Indian River County under the leadership of Judge Cynthia Cox and Sheriff Deryl Loar in January 2015
  • Mental Health & Substance Abuse Connections Center

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