Impact Behavioral Health Partners

At Impact, we believe that people can recover from mental illness when provided housing and wraparound services that support their recovery. Our goal is to make mental health care available to the people who need it most. Currently, Impact is focusing on expanding services to new geographic areas and doubling the number of individuals that we serve.

We offer a safe and dignified alternative to homelessness and unnecessary institutionalization. We utilize the recovery model of mental health and housing first. This model allows Participants the opportunity to address personal challenges with their mental illness, chemical dependency or lack of employment.

Impact's programs and services are integrated to ensure that Participants receive the support they need to recover, attain wellness and reclaim his/her life in their community. A team-based approach wraps services needed around Participants to best support their recovery. The team includes housing staff, a registered nurse, mental health and substance abuse clinicians, a supported employment staff and a contractual psychiatrist. Impact's services are provided to Participants through three core programs:

Impact's Supportive Housing Program provides affordable, fully furnished housing in one or two bedroom apartments throughout Evanston. The apartments are located in small buildings, primarily two and three flats. Participants have the opportunity to engage and become part of the community in which they reside. Participants' rent is subsidized by Impact (Participants pay only 30% of their income towards the fair market value of the apartments they are renting). Impact's Supportive Housing Program consists of a program manager and two housing services coordinators.

Our Clinical Services Program provides individualized, wrap-around mental health services to participants living in our housing units, along with individuals living in the community. Our services are Trauma-Informed and implemented in concert with a Harm Reduction approach. Trauma-Informed care recognizes the prevalence of past traumas, the impact on the survivor, and seeks to establish an environment that prevents re-victimization and helps the survivor feel empowered. This approach is personalized and based on individual goals, strengths and needs. Impact' clinical team consists of Master's level social workers and counselors, a registered nurse and a psychiatrist.

Our Employment Services Program is a supported employment program that assists Participants to seek, acquire and maintain competitive employment in their community. The Individual Placement and Support (IPS) program is guided by the IPS treatment model developed by Dartmouth College's Psychiatric Research Center. This program has been proven to aid in symptom reduction, increase self-esteem, and promote greater levels of independence. Services provided by the IPS team are Participant-driven, highly individualized and fully integrated with other services provided by Impact. Participants work with a specialist to identify career interests, develop career goals, and determine employment's effect on benefits. IPS staff assist Participants with creating a resume, their job search and time-unlimited support on the job once employment is secured. The overall goal of IPS is to provide the support that will lead to sustainable, open market employment for Participants. Impact's Employment team is comprised of a program manager and five employment specialists.

Seamless integration of housing, clinical programs along with employment services at Impact provides participants with a unified team that supports their recovery.

Impact Behavioral Health Partners has been serving individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) in the community for 30 years. Impact offers unique wraparound services that are all available in one place. Impact's programs offer an unparalleled level of coordinated care that ensures participants are treated holistically. Impact's interdisciplinary team includes masters-level clinicians, a registered nurse, a psychiatrist, a benefits specialist, employment specialists, and housing specialists. The services available include:

• Permanent Supportive Housing
• 24/7 support
• Regular Health and Safety Inspections
• Maintenance of buildings and amenities
• Serving as a liaison between residents and landlords
• Daily life skills training (I.e Housekeeping)
• Clinical Counseling Services – to address current individual goals and independent living
• Psychiatric Support – to monitor medication as needed
• Independent Living Skills Training and Support
• Preventive Health Services
• Symptom and Medication Management Training
• Group Classes/Workshops
• Job search and development
• Resume preparation and interview practice
• Time unlimited career support

Impact's 2017 Highlights

• Hired a nurse full time and 60% of clinical participants have engaged with our program nurse for nursing services. Of the participants that received nursing services, 40% of those received hands-on advocacy or support with outside medical providers, which could include coordinating care with a doctor's office, facilitating a transfer from a hospital unit to a short-term rehab facility, or to providing support and encouragement for participants with anxiety about attending medical appointments on their own. Having wrap-around services is so vital to treating the whole person; the addition of a full-time nurse has been instrumental to achieving this.

• Increased the size of the non-residential participants receiving clinical services by 25%.

• Assisted 9 Participants move into more independent living situations. This created opportunities for new Participants, who had been experiencing homelessness, to move into permanent supportive housing.

• 61 new job starts.

• 86% of participants that gained employment reached t least 90 consecutive days of employment, a standard benchmark used to determine IPS effectiveness.

• Impact was selected for the Social Security Administration's Supported Employment Demonstration Study, a landmark study evaluating the effectiveness of IPS.

• Impact provided 20,433 nights of permanent supportive housing to our participants in 2017.

• Impact ended a combined 12 years of continuous homelessness by housing 7 homeless
persons.