IX .
Stage 3 Results : Strategic Planning Outcomes and Initiatives
As noted above , data analysis and insight from a highly diverse set of community members – local providers , consumers of behavioral health services , public safety officials , public health leaders , general community members , and others – led to the development of a set of five core strategies . Intellectually and from personal perspectives , the drafting of five strategies was difficult . The challenge was that all the needs identified in the assessment are important . The issues impact real people , family members , neighbors , friends , people important to us , those who are alone , people in crisis , and others . Throughout the project , the Polk Vision leadership group maintained a singular focus on the ultimate goal of improving the quality of life of Polk County residents by addressing the behavioral health needs in the community .
The strategies listed below are designed to do the following : 1 . Address the most urgent behavioral health needs .
2 . Implement strategies to break the cycle of high acuity service use and change the trajectory of people at-risk of entering the behavioral health care system .
3 . Enhance long-term capacity issues and improve utilization of existing behavioral health resources .
4 . Establish a sustainable , ongoing body that can manage integrated services throughout the county and , in doing so , improve the efficiency of service while achieving the ultimate project goal : To improve the quality of life of Polk County residents by addressing the behavioral health needs in the community .
The five core strategies identified in the research and conveyed by project leaders are listed below .
1 . Expand crisis services , mobile health care , and centralized care coordination ( including awareness and early intervention ) for youth and adults .
2 . Create a Polk County behavioral health coalition ( or assign the oversight to an existing entity ) to coordinate diverse activities designed to address Polk County behavioral health initiatives emerging from this , and similarly focused , projects .
3 . Expand the capacity of behavioral health services in Polk County .
4 . Expand criminal justice system services to reduce jail system recidivism and address the needs of highly acute inmates .
5 . Engage diverse community groups in immediate and ongoing activities to improve community health and wellness and to support efforts to enact behavioral health initiatives .
The following section provides additional details – a short background , support , and details – for each , along with comments regarding the Strategic Objective ( s ) addressed by the strategy . Note also that the appendices include additional comments , research insights , descriptions of programs successfully deployed elsewhere in the U . S . and other information .
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