LC-8

Union, Colfax and Taos

Local Behavioral Health Collaborative

The purpose of the Local Collaboratives is to develop strong local voices to guide behavioral health planning and services, a key consideration in the planning and design of New Mexico's Interagency Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative initiative. Local Collaboratives are vital to the development of the plan and to the collection and reporting of specific data and health indicators. Public input is required and essential. Additionally, each Local Collaborative must look at prevention, early intervention and health promotion, wellness, education and personal health responsibility, as well as workforce initiatives, facility infrastructure, and licensing and credentialing.

The Collaborative works to ensure that the interagency effort is reflected in well-developed local-level collaborative efforts throughout the state. To ensure that this happens, the Collaborative currently supports a single local collaborative for each of New Mexico's 13 judicial districts, as well as 5 Local Collaboratives that represent the state's sovereign Tribes, Nations, Pueblos and off-reservation populations. Each Local Collaborative is made up of consumers, family members, advocates and providers.

This effort to extend state behavioral health collaboration to the local level, building on what already exists, is based on these principles:
 

• Human needs are highly interdependent – outcomes in the behavioral health area dependon and contribute to a range of other indicators of community and individual well-being.
  

• Many of these needs cut across ages, ethnic/cultural groups and geographic areas.

• Meeting these needs can often be enhanced by common infrastructure, joint planning,shared goals and shared decision-making re use of limited resources.
  

• State collaboration across key areas of policy, planning, financing and oversight is necessary but must be matched by similar work at the local level as well as between state and local groups.
  

SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS OF LOCAL COLLABORATIVES INCLUDE:
 
Participation in local area and community needs assessments and input for behavioral health-related and other HHS planning, including interaction with the state Behavioral Health Planning Council and its subcommittees;  
 
Identification of service needs and gaps, including recommendations of priorities to the state Collaborative and the SE for the geographic area or population represented;
 
Help with capacity building and resource development planning for locally identified target groups in need of services, with a particular focus on informal or natural supports;
 
Coordination across multiple health and human services systems to assure individuals are well-served, systems do not duplicate each other, and limited resources are maximized and well-utilized;

Review and input to state Collaborative agencies about funding provided to and programs developed for the geographic area or population represented;
 
Review and reaction to data and information provided by the state HHS agencies about service needs, utilization and outcomes in the geographic area or population represented;
 
Provision of input regarding quality and coordination of services and needs for training and technical assistance;
 
Assistance and recommendations to the state Collaborative regarding problem-solving that needs to occur.