TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager to execute all documents, and any amendments, with the County of Los Angeles for an operational agreement to provide mental health services for older adults at the Long Beach Senior Center. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
The City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services (Health Department) estimate that approximately 70 percent of the senior clients they serve have mental health issues that would benefit by professional mental health services. The majority of the cases involve clients who suffer from depression, often related to grief or loss, but there are also cases with more serious disorders. Often, clients do not have an insurance plan that offers adequate, comprehensive geriatric-focused mental health services. Additionally, many older adults are unable to access mental health services due to physical disability, frailty, or stigma associated with seeking services in a traditional mental health clinical setting.
The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), adopted by the California electorate in 2004, provided the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health Services (DMHS) with new dedicated funding for innovative programs designed to expand available services and improve access to needed services not previously available. The DMHS is using MHSA funding to implement Field Capable Clinical Services for Older Adults (FCCS). FCCS staff provides specialty mental health services to seniors, ages sixty and older, in preferred settings, such as their residences, senior centers, or primary care provider sites.
The Health Department, Senior Links case management program has been working with the DMHS since 1999 to provide senior-specific mental health services in Long Beach. The DMHS is now proposing to collaborate with the Health Department and the Senior Center to provide improved access to needed mental health services using the FCCS model, at the Senior Health Clinic located in the Senior Center at 1150 ...
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