Our Crowdfunding Groups
The Interprofessional Community Health Clinic (ICHC) is a collaboration among Applied Behavior Analysis (Autism Clinic), Counseling, Education Psychology and Research (CEPR), the School of Social Work, the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and the School of Public Health. These groups are committed to building a team that reaches across disciplines to serve the community, enhance physical and mental health and increase scholarship and research.
Our vision is to enhance the physical, mental, emotional and behavioral health of the urban core and greater Memphis community by serving as campus and community leaders in interprofessional education, practice and scholarship.
Our Mission is to additionally prepare current and future professionals to work across disciplines to provide superior team-based service to enhance health; provide access to efficient, effective, interdisciplinary person and community-centered service; and promote interprofessional scholarship that advances knowledge and best practice in physical, mental and behavioral health.
The Interprofessional Community Health Clinic provides direct services to the community that support developmental needs, behavioral health and social-emotional well-being across the lifespan.
The University of Memphis Autism Treatment, Training and Research Clinic utilizes practices of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to serve children and their families/caregivers provided by our team of licensed Board-Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA’s) and graduate students focused on making positive changes in behavior and life.
Center for the Advancement of Youth Development (CAYD) conducts important research and provides services to youth and families in low-income areas. CAYD promotes the advancement of youth development by building the capacity of youth-serving organizations through collaborating to design, evaluate and implement culturally responsive and effective interventions. Our aim is sustainable interventions to improve the life outcomes of youth and families.
Supporting Mental Health Access to Resources through Telehealth (SMART) Center provides evidence-based interventions that are accessible 100% through tele-behavioral services. Services are offered to adults, children, youth and their families, in addition to school-based mental health programs. The aim is to increase access for individuals and school-based behavioral health programming in underserved areas, provide training on best practices in tele-behavioral health, develop opportunities to research the use of technology in practice, and provide direct services to the states most vulnerable populations.
ICHC is attempting to address consumer access barriers to effective, evidence-based mental and behavioral health interventions within our region. When looking at common barriers and gaps in service delivery, as it relates to mental and behavioral health, we often think of the following: access to the delivery of services, lack of education, limited affordability and stigma around requesting and accessing services. ICHC is attempting to resolve some of these barriers by ensuring access to needed services and offering financial assistance and funding for families in need.
Recent reports indicated that 1 in 5 adults have a mental health condition. That is an estimated 40 Million Americans who reportedly suffer with a mental health condition. Of those one in five adults in the US who experience some form of mental illness, nearly 60% of them do not receive needed mental health services. The children and youth in our country are also in need. One in five teens (13-18 years) and more than one in 10 children (8-15 years) experience severe mental illness, but almost half of those ages 8-15 years with a mental illness receive no treatment.
Rates of reported mental health conditions are on the rise for youth and adults. Additionally, there is a serious known mental health workforce shortage. This reported shortage indicates that there is only 1 mental health profession for every 1,000 clients. The United States is currently only capable of meeting 47.74% of the consumer population in need of mental health services. This statistic includes social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, and psychiatric nurses combined. These low numbers of clinicians available for services is one of the reported barriers to mental and behavioral health services. ICHC is focusing on direct service delivery in addition to workforce development and capacity building through our ICHC training center. Your donations will support the community with accessing services while simultaneously supporting our training center in developing the future clinicians of our region.
Limited ability to afford service treatment options for mental health is one of the most common reported barriers to appropriate service delivery. Although mental health supports and programming are often covered by many insurance companies due to the advantages of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), many clients struggle to meet deductibles and co-pays when seeking mental health supports. With financial barriers being so insurmountable, and consumers needing these important services, funding for client financial assistance is a needed program. ICHC is attempting to support families in obtaining mental health services and offer financial assistance when needed to increase their access to behavioral health services. Your donations will assist ICHC with not turning anyone away based on their ability or inability to pay for services rendered.
Funds obtained for the Interprofessional Community Health Clinic (ICHC) crowdfunding project through MomentUM will be used to increase access to behavioral health services for children, youth, adults and families within our communities by removing the financial burden of service costs for those in need. Breaking down the financial barrier to accessing behavioral and mental health services will ensure that the community and families can access needed behavioral, social-emotional, mental health and supportive services when needed. Additionally, the donated funds will be used to purchase needed supplies and materials for ICHC programs to provide effective, evidence-based services to all clients within the community.
