The Medica Foundation’s funding enables HealthFinders to establish the first Behavioral Health Home in Rice county. The grant also allows HFC to further develop its community-led initiatives that will reduce or eliminate differences in access, outcomes, and health status.
HealthFinders Collaborative (HFC) is excited to announce it is the recipient of a $200,000 strategic initiatives grant from the Medica Foundation to support the implementation of its mental health program, The Healthy Minds Collective. With this generous support, HealthFinders will be better able to meet the growing and evolving mental health needs in the community while leading the way for the region. The grant allows HealthFinders to establish the first culturally responsive Behavioral Health Home in Rice County, and to increase vital staffing to support the growth. It also allows HFC to enrich current Intercultural Effectiveness Trainings, empowering local agencies for community change.
“We are thrilled about this grant,” says Executive Director Charlie Mandile. “Our community has consistently identified the gap in mental health care, and our initial work in this area has been extremely well received. Medica has been a longtime partner of HFC, and with their support we are able to build out this program to meet the needs our patients have identified. Media’s support enables us to integrate these services into our unique and holistic model of care, ensuring we are able to support patients in all aspects of their health.”Connecting to Empower Change. HealthFinders’ Intercultural Effectiveness Seminar program is dedicated to addressing racial and social injustices by offering opportunities that empower change in our communities. Local individuals and organizations are invited to take part in these informative and collaborative intercultural seminars to help improve connections in the community. With the help of the Medica grant, HFC will enhance the program with a trauma-informed curriculum and hire additional behavioral health care providers and case management staff to meet the increased need. Reducing stigma and sharing stories. HealthFinders will work to further reduce the stigmas around many community and mental health issues through an innovative storytelling initiative called VOCES. The VOCES project allows HFC to connect with individuals on a person-to-person level and give them a platform to use their voices to speak out and share their lived experiences. HealthFinders’ ongoing mental health mission. True to their roots, HealthFinders has remained ears to the ground on community need across Rice and Steele counties. In 2018, HealthFinders began the work to ensure mental health services were accessible and equitable for all in the community with the creation of a comprehensive mental health care action plan to provide quality mental health care to youth in Rice County. Part of this work includes the continued de-stigmatization of mental health for those seeking care, and adding providers who understand the intersectionality of the patients served by HFC.
“The Medica Foundation is grateful for its relationship with HealthFinders, and appreciative of its commitment to ensuring everyone has access to culturally appropriate, high quality mental health care,” said JoAnn Birkholz, Executive Director of the Medica Foundation. “Establishing the first Behavioral Health Home in Rice County is a huge opportunity for the region and is enhanced further by the intercultural expertise and leadership of HealthFinders Collaborative.”Community need. HealthFinders has consistently identified mental health as an unmet need among the communities it serves. Both Rice and Steele Counties have large populations of Latino immigrants, and one of the state’s largest Somali refugee populations. Recently, HFC provided nearly 250 mental health appointments for 60 individual patients – a year-over-year increase of 62%. However, there remains an extreme shortage of mental health providers – particularly culturally relevant providers – in rural Minnesota. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, 3.8% of therapists in the state speak Spanish and 1% are Hispanic/Latino, while .2% speak Somali and 2% are Black. Rice County is designated a mental health shortage area by MDH and the federal government.
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