Assisting and Guiding Consumers to Self Sufficiency

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2010

The San Bernadino County Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) serves consumers with severe and persistent mental illness. Over the past several years, DBH staff has become aware of the increasing number of homeless and uninsured individuals seeking services at county treatment sites. As funding cutbacks impact many public and community based agencies, many mentally ill customers have been left with insufficient support and resources for negotiating the benefits for which they would qualify. The Benefits Orientation Team (BOT) is an innovative and dedicated collaborative approach to improving the quality of life for the behavioral health consumers by providing the emotional and logistical support needed to identify and obtain benefits. The essential services provided by the BOT improve access to services for consumers in the county by potentially linking them to medical benefits, steady income, housing and possible employment. In addition, the BOT is able to increase the Medi-Cal revenue for the department. This increases the capacity to continue to provide appropriate and recovery oriented services. Currently, the BOT assists 451 consumers at the Upland Community Counseling Clinic that were referred to the team.