In July, 2003, Oasis Women’s Counseling Center was awarded a four-year $360,000 matching grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Local Initiative Funding Partners (LIFP) program for the WholeHealth Initiative. WholeHealth seeks to increase access to behavioral health care for low income women of child bearing age by integrating depression screening and treatment referral into the existing processes of local public healthcare providers and participating in communication, education and outreach activities aimed at decreasing barriers to treatment.
This ground-breaking project has established partnerships between Oasis and Cooper Green Hospital, Birmingham Healthy Start, a program of the Jefferson County Department of Health, UAB Family Clinic, UAB Obstetrics Complications Clinic, and the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama. WholeHealth serves women aged 14-45 with annual household incomes of $17,000 or less who, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, are more than twice as likely to have a mental disorder as individuals of higher socioeconomic status. The target population is 65% African-American, 27% Latina, and 6% Caucasian.
At present, the public mental health system in Jefferson County has the capacity to treat only patients diagnosed with a serious mental illness, which often excludes those disorders most commonly experienced by women. For example, a study by the World Health Organization cited depression as the second leading cause of disability in established market economies and the American Medical Association reports that as many as 25% of women in the United States will experience depression in their lifetime. Locally, WholeHealth outcomes indicate a 34% annual incidence among low-income women. Yet, since this serious disorder often does not meet the criteria for care at community mental health centers, uninsured or underinsured women may be left with no alternative care. When these needs are not addressed, individuals, families, and businesses in the community suffer, and in some cases treatable problems become much more severe. WholeHealth aims to meet this glaring need and in the process change the landscape of the delivery of mental health services for low-income women in our target area.
WholeHealth is a straightforward project that brings together strong partners to provide basic services to a population in need. The specific objectives are: 1) Integrate a mental health screening into existing medical protocols of all program partners; 2) Develop a referral and case management infrastructure that reduces barriers to treatment; 3) Provide a continuum of therapeutic care including counseling, prevention and education services designed to improve psychological, social and occupational functioning; and 4) Prevent and/or decrease post-partum depression by providing specialized education and treatment services for women during the perinatal period.
Before this project, no comprehensive screening and education program even existed to reach low-income women in need of basic mental health care in the greater Birmingham area.Through WholeHealth, the mental health needs of more than 2,000 women each year will be addressed through screening and referral, education, outreach and direct counseling services, contributing to improved health and quality of life for women and their families.