Overview
Kansans Together is a collaborative effort to improve behavioral health outcomes for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances (SED) and their families. It ensures that youth and families receive the services and support needed for them to thrive in their communities. SAMHSA awarded a four-year System of Care (SOC) Expansion and Sustainability Cooperative Agreement to KDADS in 2016. The purpose of this program is to improve behavioral health outcomes for children and youth (ages birth through 21 years) with serious emotional disturbances (SED) and their families. Kansans Together is the partnership of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), Keys for Networking (Keys), Community Engagement Institute (CEI), and four Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs): Compass Behavioral Health, South Central Mental Health Counseling Center, Sumner Mental Health Center and Wyandot Center for Community Behavioral Health.
Kansans Together supports the wide scale operation, expansion and integration of the SOC approach by creating sustainable infrastructure and services that are required as part of the comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and their Families Program (CMHI). This will build upon progress made in developing comprehensive SOC across the country by focusing on sustainable financing, cross-agency collaboration, the creation of policy and infrastructure and the development and implementation of evidence-based and trauma-informed services and supports. Other activities supported will include the implementation of systemic changes, training and workforce development. The goal is to continue these efforts to ensure that this approach becomes the primary way in which mental health services for children and youth with SED are delivered throughout the nation.
Kansans Together Hosted the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Site Visit Team in February 2018. The Site Visit Team reviewed Kansans Together’s progress toward its Cooperative Agreement objectives. The team found many strengths in the SOC and some areas that may need improvement, including additional orientation and training about the Kansans Together values and principles, more consistency in policies and procedures at the local and state levels (e.g., intake and assessment, flexible funding, and services records), and the implementation of required committees.
The System of Care Expansion and Sustainability Cooperative Agreements
Provided by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the System of Care Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) No. SM-16-009 was made available February 12, 2016.
This program’s purpose is to improve behavioral health outcomes for children and youth (birth-21) with serious emotional disturbances (SED) and their families. The SOC Expansion and Sustainability Cooperative Agreements should build upon progress made in developing comprehensive SOC across the country by focusing on sustainable financing, cross-agency collaboration, the creation of policy and infrastructure, and the development and implementation of evidence-based and trauma-informed services and supports.
For more information on this FOA, check out SAMHSA’s website.
