2020 Q4 Newsletter

Q4 Coalition Meeting Recap

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our final Coalition Meeting of the year on December 16. It was amazing to come together with more than 200 of our community partners to celebrate the work we’ve done together this year, and look towards all that we hope to accomplish in the future.

If you were unable to attend, please feel free to view and share the recording of the event here.

We look forward to gathering again in March for our first Coalition Meeting of 2021!

Hope Happens Here Podcast

We’re excited to announce the upcoming launch of our new podcast, Hope Happens Here! Hosted by Kate Gosney, LMFT, Hope Happens Here will be a place for intimate and insightful conversations around all aspects of mental health in Orange County and beyond. Through the podcast we will explore the real experiences that people are facing in our community today, reflecting on stories, experiences and research that will help us all learn and grow together.

Episodes will launch in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more information and happy listening!

Partner Highlight: Exodus Recovery

Our second partner in the spotlight is Exodus Recovery, which is also dedicated to well-being and recovery. The Exodus concept of total health care incorporates the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of each client. Exodus promotes the dignity of all participating and develops services maximizing clients’ self-determination. Since 1989, Exodus has been providing quality psychiatric and chemical dependency treatment services to Southern California communities. Beginning with the management of hospital-based inpatient and outpatient programs, Exodus eventually expanded into the operation of mental health intensive outpatient clinics as a contractor with both the Los Angeles and San Diego County Departments of Mental Health. In the last twenty years, Exodus has developed and established several hospital-based inpatient and outpatient programs, a psychiatric and internal medicine provider group, and a behavioral health managed care company. Exodus operates in Los Angeles, Fresno, Napa and San Diego counties.

Exodus Recovery will provide crisis residential and crisis stabilization services at our Be Well Orange Campus.

Learn more about Exodus here.

Partner Highlight: Telecare

Be Well OC is proud to highlight the family- and employee-owned Telecare as one of our featured partners this quarter. Founded in 1965, Telecare Corporation is one of the nation’s largest providers of services and support to individuals with serious mental illness. Telecare specializes in serving individuals with complex needs, including substance abuse issues, chronic health conditions, criminal justice system involvement, homelessness, intellectual disabilities, and complications associated with aging.

Telecare is dedicated to helping people work toward wellness and recovery using a client-centered care approach. Based in Alameda, California, Telecare serves 33 counties in five states, with more than 80 programs focused on transforming lives, generating measurable outcomes, and reducing financial costs.

Telecare will be the contracted provider for Substance Use Treatment Services at the Be Well Orange Campus. This will include: a Recovery Station, and residential programs for Withdrawal Management, Substance Use treatment, and Co-Occurring Disorders treatment.

Learn more about Telecare here.

2020 Highlights

2020 was a challenging year, but there are several highlights that we want to spotlight:

Be Well Orange Campus           
The first Be Well OC  Campus located at 265 S. Anita Drive in Orange is on track to open in January 2021! The Be Well OC Orange Campus will open its doors to begin services in phases to provide easy access to comprehensive, integrated mental health and substance use services, regardless of one’s insurance. Despite the challenges of the last few months, we are on track to finish construction and we couldn’t have done it without the efforts of all Be Well stakeholders and our groundbreaking public-private partnership.

To celebrate, we will be hosting a Virtual Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony on January 13, 2021, at 12pm. We invite everyone to join. Stay tuned for more details!

Community Suicide Prevention Initiative Creation
In October, the OC Board of Supervisors agreed to establish an office of suicide prevention within the OC Health Care Agency (HCA) to implement the Community Suicide Prevention Initiative (CSPI) developed by Mind OC and the HCA. This will be a tremendous support and resource for CSPI efforts.

This year, the CSPI: convened a Leadership Group and Community Forum who meet monthly; identified priority populations based on OC data; developed a “Framework for Community-Driven Suicide Prevention;” prepared a plan to pilot the Framework in high need communities; developed priority actions for populations of focus in their communities; and conducted suicide awareness events throughout the community.

Next steps for the CSPI include conducting the pilot(s) for high need communities and populations of focus to: expand prevention and recovery efforts; increase the number of individuals in-need who are engaged in caring connections and hopeful services and supports; reduce individuals’ level of risk for suicide; increase individuals’ level of hope, purpose and connection; and increase community involvement in prevention activities. CSPI will also conduct media campaigns targeted at high need populations and continue to expand community engagement and involvement through coalition development. We accomplished a lot this past year, but we still have a lot of work ahead.