Innovative Partnership with Community Behavioral Health Provider Benefits Johnson ED Patients

Johnson Memorial Hospital

In the six months since the partnership began, a significant number of patients have benefited from the collaborative approach to care.

Recovery Support Specialists are individuals with lived experience utilizing the mental health system. They are specially trained to assist patients suffering a behavioral health crisis, tapping into skills that include compassionate listening, helping to set recovery goals, advocacy, family support, linkage to community treatment and local resources, and help envisioning a positive future after discharge from the hospital.

Michelle Cunha, BSN, RN, Nurse Manager, Emergency Department and Adult Behavioral Health at Johnson, recently met with representatives of CHR to review the impact of the Recovery Support Specialist program. Since the launch, she found that 174 patients have received services. Additionally, the follow-up for patients at 30 days post discharge from the hospital is also encouraging – 64 percent have attended treatment or linked with community support and 19 percent have received the referral information they have requested.

The results are impressive. “By providing coordinated support services, this program is already making a significant impact with our patients, and we are working to develop stronger relationships and protocols to increase these impacts,” said Michelle.

While Johnson is the first hospital in Connecticut to adopt this collaborative model of care for behavioral health patients, Johnson providers are coaching other health systems for their own implementation.