Community Psychiatry
The Community Division of the Department of Psychiatry delivers community-based care of the highest order in partnership with people with serious mental illness and substance use disorders and their families, setting new standards for innovation and service. People living with mental illness or substance use disorders (SUDs) receive comprehensive, integrated, accessible care delivered with a person-centered and humanistic approach. The Community Division promotes mental health, medical well-being and recovery through comprehensive, holistic clinical care that encompasses the needs identified by clients, their families and support networks.
UR Medicine is the largest regional provider of outpatient mental health, substance use and care management services. Our goal is to provide adults and children with a full range of clinical and support services assisting them to overcome hurdles resulting from physical and mental health issues, finances, transportation and residential challenges impacting their recovery.
An example of innovation in community care can be seen with the Recovery Center for Excellence’s new Rural Opioid and Direct Support Services (ROADDS) model. This novel program provides recovery-oriented services to people with opioid use disorders in our rural communities.
Comprehensive Clinical Care Services
The Community Division offers a broad array of outpatient and outreach clinical services for vulnerable individuals. Services include:
- Strong Ties: For over 40 years, this comprehensive community mental health and support program has delivered state of the art multidisciplinary, team-based outpatient mental health services to adults with severe and persistent mental disorders. These include life altering severe mood disorders, bipolar affective disorders, and schizophrenia. Strong Ties offers group therapy, medication management, and is equipped with an onsite pharmacy, phlebotomy, and satellite laboratory services. Strong Ties has two Assertive Community Treatment programs delivering intensive outreach mental health services for individuals who are unable to access traditional clinic services.
- Strong Ties Young Adult Program, is the region's newest multidisciplinary community mental health provider for young adults presenting with emerging serious mental disorders and their families in a comfortable and progressive environment designed to engage and guide our community
- Strong Minds Adult Outpatient Services – counseling, group therapy, and/or medication management for individuals 18 years of age and up
- Deaf Wellness – counseling and medication management for patients who are deaf or hard-of-hearing
- Lazos Fuertes – counseling and medication management for patients whose primary language is Spanish
- Outpatient Psychiatric Consultation Service - assistance for patient’s primary care physician or current prescribing provider.
- Health Home Care Management: With over 40 Care Managers, our Health Home Care Management Team provides outreach, engagement, and an array of additional services to high need individuals across the entire region to help them to stay healthy. Services include facilitating engagement and maintaining continuity of care with their health care providers. Through liaison with mental health and substance abuse providers, Care Managers ensure that individuals receive necessary medications, and obtain safe housing and social services (including food, benefits, and locating transportation) while offering linkage to other community supports that match each individual person’s unique needs.
Education and Training
Community Division programs serve as training sites for PGY-III and PGY-IV psychiatry residents, along with medical students, and graduate students in clinical psychology, nursing, social work, music, and family therapy. In addition, Community Division programs serve as sites for training of pharmacy students and credentialed addictions counselors.
With its renowned team of mental health clinicians and researchers, the Community Division also attracts top applicants to its accredited fellowships and certification programs.
- Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship: The Charles E. Steinberg Fellowship in Psychiatry and Law is one of the original forensic psychiatry programs recognized by the ACGME. Over the past 30 years, we have established deep roots in this ever-growing discipline, and refined our clinical and didactic curriculum to best prepare fellows for the unique work of forensic psychiatry.
Research
- Laboratory of Integration Services for Complex Needs (LISCN): In an effort to develop innovative solutions for integrated care, LISCN monitors patients with complex biomedical, social, and psychiatric needs facing multiple barriers to care who are often navigating disparate health and social service systems.
- Schizophrenia Treatment and Research Laboratory (STAR): The lab’s mission is to develop new treatment and rehabilitation approaches for adults with schizophrenia and related disorders.
