About the Collaborative

The Collaborative was created by Governor Bill Richardson and the New Mexico State Legislature during the 2004 Legislative Session.(State Statute) The Legislation allows several state agencies and resources involved in behavioral health prevention, treatment and recovery to work as one in an effort to improve mental health and substance abuse services in New Mexico. This cabinet-level group represents 15 state agencies and the Governor’s office.

New Mexico is in its sixth year of a ten year process to transform behavioral health services to adult, children, youth and families, driven by a focus on recovery and resiliency.

Collaborative CEO, Linda Roebuck is responsible for turning the Collaborative’s vision into reality in the lives of New Mexicans.

More on Collaborative

The vision of the Collaborative is to be a single statewide behavioral health delivery system in which funds are managed effectively and efficiently and to create an environment in which the support of recovery and development of resiliency is expected, mental health is promoted, the adverse affects of substance abuse and mental illness are prevented or reduced, and behavioral health consumers are assisted in participating fully in the lives of their communities.

The Collaborative is charged with a number of responsibilities including:

• Inventorying all expenditures for mental health and substance abuse services;
• Creating a single behavioral health care and services delivery system that promotes mental health, emphasizes prevention, early intervention, resiliency, recovery and rehabilitation and funds are managed efficiently, and ensures availability of services throughout the State;
• Paying special attention to regional, cultural, rural, frontier, urban and border issues, and seeking and considering suggestions of Native Americans.
• Contracting with a single, Statewide services purchasing entity (SE); Monitoring service capacities and utilization in order to achieve desired performance measures and outcomes;
• Making decisions regarding funds, interdepartmental staff, grant writing and grants management;
• Comprehensive planning and meeting State and federal requirements;
• Overseeing systems of care, data management, performance and outcome indicators, rate setting, services definitions, considering consumer, family and citizen input, monitoring training, assuring that evidence-based practices receive priority, and providing oversight for fraud and abuse and licensing and certification.

SYSTEM OF CARE GRANT

New Mexico applied for and received a grant for a six year System of Care project funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Funding and grant management are housed within the Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD). The project will be coordinated with the Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative. With the support of this grant, we will continue to build networks of community services and supports that can be navigated by families and others. We have called this new project FOCUS: Families and Organizations Collaborating for a United System.

NEW MEXICO VIEWS A SYSTEM OF CARE AS, a network of services, supports, and relationships built by committed people who have a stake in improving outcomes for infants, children, youth, and families addressing serious emotional disturbances and the risk of such disturbances.

There are three very important core values associated with a System of Care. As adapted for New Mexico, these include:

1. The System of Care should be child centered and family focused, with the needs of the child and family dictating the types and mix of behavioral health and other services and supports provided.

2. The System of Care should be community based, with the locus of behavioral health and other services and supports, as well as management and decision-making responsibility, resting at the community level.

3. The System of Care should be culturally competent, with agencies, programs, services, and supports that are responsive to the cultural, racial, and ethnic differences of the populations they serve.

HOW IS A SYSTEM OF CARE CHANGING WHAT WE ARE DOING?

IS A SYSTEM OF CARE CHANGING WHAT WE ARE DOING?
Moving From:	Moving To:
Fragmented service delivery Categorical programs/funding Limited service availability Reactive, crisis-oriented approach “Deep end,” restrictive settings Children out-of-home Centralized authority Creation of “dependency” Child-only focus Needs/deficits assessments Families as “problems” Cultural blindness Highly professionalized Child and family must “fit” services Input-focused accountability Funding tied to programs	Coordinated service delivery Multidisciplinary teams and blended resources Comprehensive service array Focus on prevention/early intervention Least restrictive settings Children within families Community-based ownership Creation of “self-help” and active participation Family as focus Strengths-based assessments Families as “partners” and therapeutic allies Cultural competence Coordination with informal and natural supports Individualized/wraparound approach Outcome/results-oriented accountability Funding tied to populations

SYSTEMS OF CARE AT SAMHSA : http://www.systemsofcare.samhsa.gov/

 

SAMHSA BROCHURE ABOUT SYSTEMS OF CARE : http://www.systemsofcare.samhsa.gov/newinformation/docs/SOCfactsheet.pdf

 

EN ESPAÑOL : http://www.systemsofcare.samhsa.gov/newinformation/docs/Span_SOC_7-20-06.pdf

Mural from Youth Jam 2010: