Concluded Project - end date possibly 9/30/2004

Clackamas Partnership

Contact:

Barbara Friesen, Email: friesenb@pdx.edu

The Clackamas County Mental Health Partnership (CCMH) is one of 92 sites in the federal Children's Mental Health Initiative. The Partnership's mission is to create an enhanced system of care to provide effective, efficient, coordinated services for children, adolescents and families dealing with serious emotional disorders. The Clackamas Partnership is a six-year program funded by a grant from the Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services. The Regional Research Institute at Portland State University supports the national and local evaluation efforts for the Clackamas Partnership.

Visit the Clackamas County Behavioral Health Services Website.

Evaluation

In order to determine the effectiveness of CCMH Partnership services, families that agree to be part of the evaluation are interviewed every six months for up to three years. With the collected data, CCMH and Portland State University's Regional Research Institute examine patterns of success and identify areas that need improvement. These findings are disseminated to the community through periodic Data Reports, listed below.

In addition to the national evaluation instruments, CCMH relies on the Family Participation Survey to assess the local capacity to influence this critical part of the system. There are two versions, one for youth living at home and another for youth living in therapeutic treatment facility.

CCMH collected data for approximately six years. Families were enrolled into the evaluation through December 31, 2003. Families in the longitudinal evaluation were followed through September 15, 2004. CCMH Partnership enrolled 208 youth and families into the longitudinal evaluation.

The population being served is primarily white (87%) and male (70%). Additionally, 75% of youth and families indicated receiving services prior to enrolling in Partnership. When asked what types of services they had engaged in over the previous 12-month, we see that nearly 90% have engaged in out-patient services and nearly that number has accessed school based programs. Additionally, we see that nearly half of the population have been in residential care or been placed in a psychiatric hospital for treatment. See separate PDF document for more detailed information about the population served by Clackamas Partnership.

CCMH is currently focusing its attention towards sustainability of the Partnership once grant funding is concluded in 2004. Additionally, we are examining what happens to youth and family outcomes after they no longer are receiving Partnership services. Another evaluation project currently underway is the creation of 36-month individualized profiles for families that have participated in the evaluation for three years. Other projects include examining CCMH’s struggle with defining family participation.

Evaluation Reports

Starting in March of 2003, Regional Research Institute began creating occasional Data Reports in response to Clackamas County’s Strategic Planning needs. These reports can be found below. Additionally, CCMH data is used for more comprehensive presentations to the Partnership Council or at local and national conferences. PowerPoint presentations from those events can also be found below.

Reports are available in PDF format. To display PDF documents, you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader software or browser plug-in installed on your system. This is available on Adobe's website as a free download.

• Final Partnership Termination (powerpoint presentation in PDF Format)
  
  
• Family Involvement: Operational Definition & Impact on Service Delivery (powerpoint presentation in PDF Format)