Vote IBHS!

Imagine!’s Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) department has been nominated for a prestigious Community Foundation of Boulder County NOVA Award.

From now through June 11, you can vote for IBHS online to honor their unique (and vital) collaborative partnership with Mental Health Partners to improve services to people with a dual diagnosis of having a developmental disability and mental illness.

Click here to vote!

Here’s a little more information on why IBHS is such a worthy candidate for this award, taken from the nomination:

Some of the individuals in Imagine!'s care have mental illness in addition to their developmental disabilities. Mental Health Partners (MHP, formerly the Mental Health Center of Boulder and Broomfield Counties) is responsible for the provision of mental health services to these individuals. However, individuals living with this dual diagnosis have needs that differ significantly from those of individuals with mental illness only -- specifically, needs for enhanced engagement, rapport building, and support in processing new information -- that were difficult for MHP to meet within its usual parameters of care. In 2005, Imagine! and MHP began developing a unique, collaborative partnership to improve the delivery of mental health services to local individuals with this dual diagnosis by enhancing communication and coordination among the client, his or her psychiatrist, mental health therapist, nurse, case manager, family members, and other significant sources of support. In 2006, Imagine!'s Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) division hired three clinical professionals with the necessary specialized skill set and launched IBHS Mental Health Supports. Through this program, clients receive routine care through Imagine!, and crisis care (e.g., hospitalizations or after-hours intervention), if necessary, through MHP. The two organizations engage in ongoing dialogue to ensure that the services are integrated to provide current best-practice supports to this group of clients.

The collaboration between Imagine! and MHP is the only one of its kind in Colorado and exemplifies innovative, "out of the box" thinking. Typically, services for these two populations are funded and delivered through highly segregated systems, but this collaboration integrates the dollars from both Medicaid and local sources and the services provided by both Imagine! and MHP and marshals additional community supports -- including family members and professional caregivers such as nurses and day habilitation program staff -- to provide comprehensive mental health services based on an understanding of the whole person.

Thanks to IBHS Mental Health Supports, more than 200 local individuals with this dual diagnosis currently receive expert mental health therapy without delay from a licensed professional with more than 15 years experience working with individuals with developmental disabilities. They receive timely psychiatric assessment and intervention from physicians with more than 25 years of experience and expertise in treating individuals with developmental disabilities, acquired brain injury/traumatic brain injury, and dementia. Each of these vulnerable members of the community benefits from enhanced communication between his or her psychiatrist, mental health therapist, and professional caregivers.

Congratulations to IBHS on being nominated for this honor, and don’t forget to vote!