Molina Healthcare of Nevada chief medical officer Nima Alinejad speaks to NAMI representatives and supporters of the pilot program that gives aid to the Carson City Sheriff’s Office’s MOST officers for mental health services.
Photo by Jessica Garcia.
Molina Healthcare of Nevada and the National Alliance on Mental Illness Western Nevada last week announced a partnership to pilot a certified mental health specialist to support the Carson City Sheriff’s Office Mobile Outreach Safety Team.
Molina will provide a $90,000 grant to fund a peer recovery support specialist to assist CCSO’s deputies and mental health professionals on MOST who focus on individuals challenged with mental health crises. The team works to divert vulnerable people in need of peer support or resource navigation from jail time or hospitalization.
Dr. Nima Alinejad, chief medical officer for Molina, said the health care organization began assessing community needs and a health plan about a year ago. Molina was interested in CCSO’s success with its MOST team, made up of clinical social workers and behavioral health peace officers who assess threats, respond to emergencies, provide trainings and help community providers with case management.
“Using a peer recovery support specialist who understands and is living in a recovery model really resonates with those folks and has a high rate of success,” Alinejad said.
The PRSS will accompany deputies as an embedded member of MOST and respond first on the scene with police officers working to deescalate a dangerous situation. Molina and NAMI Western Nevada can then provide access to rehabilitation or assistance without confining them to jail or an emergency room and get them back on track to healthy lives, he said.
“Having the entry point of a peer recovery support specialist that's lived their journey and can talk to them about their experiences might just be the starting point of their first day of surviving,” Alinejad said.
Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said he was excited Molina and NAMI Western Nevada were willing to partner with his department’s MOST officers and professionals. The program will offer greater awareness of the challenges and promote a need for more effective solutions, he said.
“The more outreach we do, the more that we bring people in that understand the challenges that we face and guide each other through, the better off we are,” Furlong said. “Resources are challenging, and so the more we work together amongst our organizations, across the state, the better off all of us will be able to deliver services.”
Laura Yanez, executive director of NAMI Western Nevada, said the program will benefit rural communities where typically a workforce has been lacking to implement mentorships and counseling services. The pilot program’s results will be tracked through a partnership with Justice Research, led by executive director and part-time University of Nevada, Reno faculty member Dr. Katie Snider.
Yanez said Justice Research will help to measure outcomes and capture data from the program to demonstrate any reduction in recidivism and hospitalizations. NAMI’s Nevada Warmline, available by calling 775-241-4212 24 hours a day, seven days a week, also helps those by speaking with a peer wellness operator, Yanez said.
“I know that there's a lot of uncertainty now and with what's going on, and so those are good resources that people can reach out to, that it's confidential and that they can talk to someone who themselves has experience with dealing with mental health or life stressors,” Yanez said.
Alinejad added Nevada is ideal for the grant to build its support system for mental health care.
“We don't have nearly enough crisis support emergency rooms, as well as outpatient care to be able to give health services for all populations,” he said. “Nevada is a desert in more than one way. It’s definitely a health care desert and definitely a behavioral health care desert.”