NNews-July-2023

21 July 2023 Community Psychiatric Institute, 50 Years Throughout the 1960’s, Dr. William Furst, a psychiatrist, established community-based therapy groups to prevent institutionalization for local residents. To expand access, he and his son Alan Furst, LCSW, founded Community Psychiatric Institute (CPI) on November 28th, 1972. CPI has one of New Jersey’s longest operating partial care programs for adults with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI). Operating out of an oldmansion for decades, CPI eventually outgrew its space as it developed into the comprehensive behavioral health organization it is today. In 2009, CPI acquired a 21,000 square foot building, which underwent a full renovation to create a state-of-the-art handicapped accessible facility with additional outdoor recreational space and a picnic area. This was amajor accomplishment, according to Ruth Ann Furst, Administrator, who joined CPI 31 years ago. “Initially, we thought we’d never use all of our newly renovated space, but we grew over time and pre-COVID, we were providing partial services for more than 150 consumers each day. Since the pandemic ended, fewer consumers are seeking necessary partial care services and we’re working hard to help consumers feel safe returning to a group setting.” Today, the agency providesmental health partial care and outpatient treatment and three levels of substance abuse treatment: partial care, intensive outpatient and outpatient. To meet the changing needs of the local community CPI has just launched two new evening outpatient programs offering individual and group treatment for adults with primary substance use disorders and has an evening IOP program scheduled to open in September. CPI strives to provide state-of-the-art clinical services in a structured yet family-like atmosphere. “We have a very cohesive staff andmany of our core employees have been at CPI for a long time,” shared Furst. “Everyone really has their hearts inwhat they do. They go above and beyond to ensure client care comes first, including needs that may not have been previouslymet.” Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, 20 Years “Camden Coalition has contributed to regional, state and national discussions on the need for supports other than traditional health care to improve people’s health. We started in the early 2000’s when there weren’t as many people talking about community health workers and healthcare teams going into communities,” said Kathleen Noonan, JD, Chief Executive Officer. “We were among an early group of organizations and health systemadvocates. Community healthworkers are nowmore the norm. We contributed to different norms around the standard of care, which is what is needed to improve health,” she added. “There is a long-term commitment in some of our programs, so we see the individuals’ improved quality of life over a long period of time. That continuity is what our systems currently lack,” Noonan shared, referring to the behavioral healthcare workforce crisis. Many individuals are homeless when Camden Coalition begins to serve them. They are also commonly “in patterns of chronic physical health, mental health and/or addiction issues. They have new and better lives as a result of the coordinated services they receive fromCamden Coalition and other provider organizations,” Noonan said. “Our current Pledge to Connect program is an example of how organizations working collaboratively can improve care. Through that program, we partner with health systems and Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics across South Jersey to ensure that individuals who present at emergency departments with behavioral health issues receive follow-up care and don’t fall through the cracks.” Amajor recent change for the organization is that the team recently began calling themselves the Camden Coalition (i.e., no longer saying “of Healthcare Providers”). “This is a meaningful change though we didn’t officially change our name. It’s an acknowledgement that we’ve always been a coalition of community-based organizations, health systems and community residents. We quickly became a coalition that’s multi-sector,” Noonan explained.