Increasing Access to Mental Health Services for Limited English Proficient Victims of Crime.

The primary aim of OVC's FY 2017 Vision 21 Integrated Services for Victims Program: Increasing Access to Mental Health Services for Victims of Crime (Vision 21 ISV Program) is to bridge the divide between crime victims, victim services providers, and mental health services providers so that communities are able to create a seamless network of services to assist crime victims to recover, heal, and thrive. The Vision 21 ISV Program includes five purpose areas. This project is funded under Purpose Area Purpose Area 3A: Increasing Access to Mental Health Services to Traditionally Underserved Victims of Crime. Projects funded under this program purpose area will increase access to mental health services for crime victims from traditionally underserved populations by awarding up to three, 36-month cooperative agreements to eligible applicants to develop and implement projects that propose to use technology and other innovative practices to reach these populations.

The Center for Trauma and Resilience (CFTR) is a nonprofit organization located in Denver, CO, whose mission is to provide culturally and linguistically responsive services to crime victims who have been ignored or underserved because of their income, race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender, age, ability or sexual orientation. Formerly known as the Denver Crime Victims Center, CFTR has provided counseling and support to more than 165,000 victims of crime since 1987. CFTR currently offers short-term crisis and mental health counseling to individuals, couples, families, children, and groups of individuals, as well as wellness program, a civil legal assistance program, and specialized services to victims of elder abuse. CFTR created its Translation and Interpreting Center in 2005, and currently provides translation and interpretation services in 40 languages to organizations and institutions across the United States and abroad. For this project, CFTR has partnered with Maria Droste Counseling Center (Maria Droste), a nonprofit community-based, outpatient mental health services program that was founded in 1989 to increase access to mental health services for members of traditionally underserved populations. Maria Droste offers mental health counseling to individuals, families, and groups, and many of the 25 clinical mental health professionals on staff are able to provide bi-lingual mental health services to individuals who have Limited English Proficient (LEP) issues.

Together, CFTR and Maria Droste will use the funding from this award to: (1) complete a community needs assessment to identify barriers that prevent LEP crime victims from accessing mental health services, and develop a strategic plan to increase their access to services; (2) hire a 1.0 FTE Project Coordinator to oversee all aspects of the day-to-day operation of the project, including the needs assessment and strategic planning processes, and coordinating screening and referral protocols between the project partners, among other duties; (2) hire a .80 FTE Bilingual Therapist to provide long-term individual counseling to LEP crime victims on-site at CFTR; (3) increase CFTR LEP client access to the services offered by Maria Droste's bilingual therapists through increased referrals; and (4) support costs associated with referring LEP victims of crime for psychiatric evaluation and medication management services.

CA/NCF