Micki Washburn, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work, and two professors at the University of Houston - Robin E. Gearing in the Graduate College of Social Work and Jamison V. Kovach in College of Technology - have won $2.7 million from the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a press release from the federal agency announced.
Washburn and her team will use the funds to create the new Houston Assisted Outpatient Treatment Program to treat individuals with serious mental illnesses and substance use diagnoses.
Under the grant, the Houston “AOT Program” will collaborate with other Harris County agencies, including the Harris County Center, the University of Texas Health Harris County Psychiatric Center and Harris County Probate Court No. 3, to treat more than 100 uninsured or underinsured English- and Spanish-speaking individuals whom the Probate Court has civilly committed.
Washburn said the program’s goal is to assist individuals who have a history of not complying with their court-ordered health treatment plans to do so.
“The expected outcomes of this program include reducing the frequency and duration of psychiatric hospitalization, emergency healthcare service usage, experiences of homelessness, and interactions with the criminal justice system including incarceration,” she said.
Under a $500,00 subcontract of the grant, Washburn and the two other researchers will monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the AOT Program.
“The development and implementation of this program will be evaluated to determine its cost effectiveness, along with the program’s ability to increase health equity through improving participants’ long-term mental health treatment and substance abuse recovery,” Washburn said.
The grant will be implemented over a four-year period, according to the release.