How certification will allow 2 Topeka organizations to better meet mental health needs

Keishera Lately, Topeka Capital-Journal
·2 min read

Two organizations earned certification that will allow expanded services for mental health in the Topeka area.

Family Service & Guidance Center and Valeo Behavioral Health Care received provisional approval as Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) by the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services.

CCBHC is an outpatient, integrated care model incorporating care coordination and using a cost-based payment methodology, said KDADS website. The new certification is effective Saturday.

What does the new certification mean for the two Topeka facilities?

Marty Johnson, benefit specialist with Valeo Behavior Heath Care, helps with the annual point-in-time survey in January. Valeo and Family Service & Guidance Center received provisional approval as Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics.
Marty Johnson, benefit specialist with Valeo Behavior Heath Care, helps with the annual point-in-time survey in January. Valeo and Family Service & Guidance Center received provisional approval as Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics.

Kathy Mosher, who is the CEO of Family Service & Guidance Center, said the CCBHC model will help meet the needs of the community as it grows.

"We're going to address everything at once and strengthen our community partnerships at the same time to be able to work as a team," Mosher said. "It's going to funnel more federal dollars to Kansas Medicaid, and then we will be able to stay more competitive in order to keep our professional workforce at adequate level."

The CCBHC will expand the level of support for individuals and allow mental health care to be integrated with their chosen primary care physician.

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CCBHS allows for both facilities to expanded crisis services, including mobile crisis teams and enhance levels of peer-to-peer and family support. It will also help in providing increased outreach efforts to underserved groups and provide a care coordination to help patients navigate all aspects of treatment systems.

Both facilities will add staff while continuing whole person care. Bill Persinger, CEO at Valeo Behavioral Health Care, said Valeo is actively recruiting but services will remain steady.

Bill Persinger, left, CEO of Valeo Behavioral Health and Andy Brown, right, commissioner of Behavioral Health Services at Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, made commitments earlier this year to better address mental health crises in Topeka.
Bill Persinger, left, CEO of Valeo Behavioral Health and Andy Brown, right, commissioner of Behavioral Health Services at Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, made commitments earlier this year to better address mental health crises in Topeka.

"We'll be able to have a few more crisis services. We'll be able to hire more therapists and, and more case managers, more peer support specialists," Persinger said. "We already do a lot of stuff that is mental health and addiction care that's not in a building, but we'll be able to do even more of that, what we call outreach."

FSGC provides a full range of mental health programs and services to treat anxiety, depression, ADHD, substance use disorders and other common mental health challenges. Valeo Behavioral Health Care has been providing mental health and substance use recovery services for more than 50 years.

Keishera Lately is the business reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. She can be reached at klately@cjonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @Lately_KT.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Family Service & Guidance Center, Valeo Behavioral Health Care team up