Note: A survey was conducted through an email of all Community Health Center contractors. This was the first year this data was collected for this measure and there are plans to collect this information annually moving forward.

DPH Community Health Center Contractors -implement services including contract requirements to provide mental health services in DPH funded CHCs

Community Health Center Association of Connecticut -provides technical assistance and organizational support to CHC contractors

The purpose of this performance measure is to ensure that behavioral health and group therapy sessions are offered at Community Health Centers. Twenty five percent of all U.S. adults have a mental health illness and nearly 50% will develop at least one mental illness during their lifetime. Mental illness is an important public health problem in itself and is also associated with chronic medical diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. Community Health Centers make a difference by improving access to preventative services to vulnerable populations, such as low income and uninsured patients, that would otherwise not have access to health and mental health services.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Fact Sheet: CDC Report: Mental Illness Surveillance Among Adults in the United States; December 2013; http://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealthsurveillance/fact_sheet.html

National Association of Community Health Centers, America’s Health Centers Fact School; August 2011; http://www.nachc.com/client/documents/America%27s%20Health%20Centers%20Fact%20Sheet%20August%202011.pdf

DPH is working to establish strategies and promote the practice of mental health screenings at physicals and group therapy at Community Health Centers, where consumers also receive primary care services.