Mental Health Community Involvement

Bryan Counseling Center is active on a local and state level in many areas to help improve mental health throughout our region.

Here are some of the many ways we’re involved:

Collaboration

• As the only acute care hospital in Lincoln providing behavioral health services, Bryan is actively engaged in working with area providers to support the expanded role of behavioral health treatment in the community. Bryan West Campus is the ultimate safety net provider for persons with behavioral health issues
• Bryan West Campus is the only hospital-based mental health program in the community and works with the Health 360 collaborative to support coordination between primary care health providers and behavioral health care providers
• Works with law enforcement and the Crisis Center to support enhanced pre-crisis care
• Supports the efforts of the Keya and Hunu House for hospital diversion
• Supports the efforts of Bryan Medical Center and community to work with health care reform
• Supports efforts in the community for an integrated behavioral health safety net
• Supports efforts to expand access to care
• Works with other Lincoln behavioral health providers to address gaps in special needs in the population and those who are underserved
• Works with other behavioral health providers across Nebraska as a coordinating member of the statewide Nebraska State Suicide Prevention Coalition
• Works with other community leaders as a member of the Lincoln Suicide Prevention Coalition
• Co-developed the Lincoln Lancaster Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors program
• Works with the Community Health Endowment of Lincoln to reduce emergency room use by providing wellness alternatives
• Member of the Nebraska Association of Behavioral Health Organizations. Organization works with government, managed care organizations and the communities across Nebraska to improve access to behavioral health services
• Mental Health leadership on other multiple boards to support community and state human service initiatives
• Partnered with the Kim Foundation and Husker sports marketing to promote the www.dontbesidelined.com program to encourage people to seek help for behavioral health concerns and provides information on available resources

Services

• Offers online screenings for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol abuse and adolescent depression
• Uses peer specialists in the hospital’s mental health emergency room
• Bryan West Campus offers a specialized mental health emergency department staffed with specially trained behavioral health nurses, social workers and peer specialists from a peer support program
• Offers intervention nurses at the bedside to assess substance abuse based upon physician order
• Provides certified peer specialists as system navigators and Wellness Plan leaders in the mental health ED, inpatient and community settings
• Works with community partners to address behavioral health needs of the elderly. Bryan West Campus currently offers a senior mental health inpatient program
• Co-sponsors and hosts Mental Illness Awareness Week activities in collaboration with a community-wide committee of providers to plan and carry out community and professional education
• Provides therapists and psychologists to collaborate with primary and specialty medicine providers in support of integrated, whole person care
• Provides telehealth services for Nebraskans in underserved areas

Training

• Supports behavioral health threat assessment training for area law enforcement
• Educates staff on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and changing behavioral health legislation in Nebraska
• Serves as a community resource for education related to Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and behavioral health
• Serves as a student training site for counselors, social workers, nurses, physician’s assistants and primary care physicians through several colleges, universities and the Lincoln Medical Education Program