CFS Receives Funding from the Commonwealth as Service Provider for Community Behavioral Health Centers for the Southern Coast and Fall River Areas

New centers will serve as entry points for treatment of mental health conditions and substance use disorders.

Child & Family Services, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has been chosen by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as the service provider for Community Behavioral Health Centers (CBHCs) in the Southern Coast and Fall River regions. The awards were announced on Thursday, July 7 by the Baker-Polito Administration. Implementation is set to begin in January 2023.

The Community Behavioral Health Center is a new provider model serving as an entry point for timely, flexible, evidence-based treatment for mental health, substance use, and co-occurring disorders including routine appointments, urgent visits, and 24/7 community-based crisis intervention as an alternative to hospital emergency departments. CBHCs are a crucial component of the Roadmap for Behavioral Health Reform, a multi-year blueprint published by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services in 2021 to streamline access and strengthen the delivery of mental health and substance use treatment for MassHealth members.

“Child & Family Services is both honored and excited to receive this designation as a CBHC from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” said Anne Sampaio, CEO. “Historically CFS has been a primary provider of community and behavioral health services, and we now look forward to the expansion and enrichment of these services in the Greater Fall River, New Bedford, Plymouth, and Cape Cod areas. As a CBHC, MassHealth members will be able to receive timely, coordinated, and comprehensive treatment to address their behavioral healthcare needs.”

Our locations in New Bedford and Fall River, two of twenty-five CBHCs across the Commonwealth, will now serve as hubs for comprehensive community mental health and addiction care, providing routine and urgent outpatient services as well as crisis care for children and adults.

CBHCs will provide the following services, in person and via telehealth:

• Same-day access to intake and brief assessment, urgent and crisis treatment, and medication
• Care across the lifespan for all ages – children, adults, and families
• 24/7 community-based and mobile crisis response and stabilization for youth and adults, as an alternative to hospital emergency departments
• Same-day evaluation and referral to treatment, with timely follow-up appointments
• Extended hours including evenings and weekends
• Community Crisis Stabilization beds, an alternative to inpatient psychiatric hospitalization
• Drop-in services such as group sessions and peer support
• Ability to meet a variety of language needs and cultural backgrounds

The CBHC for the Southern Coast will serve MassHealth members from Acushnet, Carver, Dartmouth, Duxbury, Fairhaven, Halifax, Hanover, Hanson, Kingston, Marion, Marshfield, Mattapoisett, New Bedford, Pembroke, Plymouth, Plympton Rochester and Wareham.

The CBHC for Fall River will serve MassHealth members from Fall River, Freetown, Somerset, Swansea, and Westport catchment areas.

For the Cape Cod area, the Commonwealth has designated Bay Cove Human Services as the CBHC. In partnership with Bay Cove Human Services, CFS will be the designated CBHC children’s services provider for the CBHC.