In July, a group of five Health Fund squaddies packed into a minivan for a summer road trip and meeting tour with Behavioral Health grant partners in northern Michigan. Over three days, we visited six projects stretching from Traverse City to Negaunee.
In each instance, we left energized by the strategic, cooperative, and innovative approaches our grantees are taking to address pressing behavioral health needs in their communities.
Describing all this work in its full complexity in a brief blog post is a tall task, but here are a few exciting examples of the new models, resources, and partnerships taking shape up north:
Projects-at-a-glance
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- Marquette-Alger RESA is using Health Fund support to help develop a pilot day treatment program for children and adolescents experiencing behavioral health challenges that are affecting their participation in school and function in daily life. The program is receiving clinical support and partnership through Great Lakes Recovery Centers. The program launched this spring and is providing daily behavioral health treatment and support to up to 12 middle and high school students from districts throughout Alger and Marquette counties, along with instruction and academic support.
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- Two new care facilities — an 18-bed inpatient acute behavioral health treatment center at McLaren Northern Michigan’s Cheboygan campus and a soon-to-open crisis center and behavioral health urgent care at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City — are adding badly-needed capacity for comprehensive treatment of acute behavioral health conditions.
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- The Munson facility is one of many outcomes emerging from an intensive, multi-year, cross-sector regional effort — the Northern Michigan Health Consortium Behavioral Health Initiative — which is building scalable, community-based actions capable of responding to the challenges (more on these below) we heard about in conversations throughout our trip.
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- Child & Family Services of Northwestern Michigan is working on family reunification for children engaged with the foster care system by providing case-by-case support to parents in cooperation with local court officials and community-based organizations. The project utilizes virtual sessions based on client feedback and is designed to help address a clear need identified within the community served.
Overcoming barriers
Throughout our conversations with partners, we also heard repeated references to significant, persistent challenges that make it difficult for rural communities to make care accessible for all who need it.
Transportation: Communities in northern Michigan are spread out. Getting people in need of care to settings where they can access treatment — whether in a school, a hospital, or an outpatient clinic — is a major barrier. Programs that are able to plan for this need have higher success in meeting the needs of the people they’re serving.
Workforce pressures: Almost every partner we spoke with expressed challenges in identifying and recruiting providers with the training and credentials needed to work in their communities. We were encouraged that partners are building thoughtful and innovative strategies to navigate these challenges.
Technology: Telehealth and other technologies can help bridge geographic divides that prevent people from getting care. But it’s essential that these platforms are functional and supported — access to reliable Internet and effective platforms are critical to making it work.
Children and youth: Demand for behavioral health support remains high among all populations in northern Michigan. However, pediatric populations face a particularly high level of need, and hiring specialists with pediatric training brings an added layer of complexity to the workforce challenges.
Collaboration & Appreciation
As the squad drove back home at the end of our trip, we reflected on how organizations up north are using strong cross-sector relationships to address needs identified by community members. This effective planning, commitment to community, and openness to new partnerships are essential ingredients for sustainable action that serves their neighbors across the region.
We appreciate the hundreds of individuals and organizations choosing collaboration and committing to each other — not only in northern Michigan but across the state. We’re excited to continue finding ways to deepen relationships and support critical, collaborative Behavioral Health solutions.
A huge thanks to all of our northern Michigan partners who welcomed us and took time to help us learn more about their work!