Equity at Intercept 0 Call to Action

Hi there!

I just wanted to let you know what is new with Marriage and Family Therapy Solutions, LLC.

Marriage and Family Therapy Solutions has partnered with the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) to implement the Equity at Intercept 0 project by:

• Establishing and assessing a network of BIPOC providers to engage in the Crisis Continuum within the Greater Prince William Area
• Developing a statewide Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Behavioral Health engagement/assessment project and
• Creating a plan for “pathways into the Public Behavioral Health System” for HBCU students.

What is the Equity at Intercept 0 Project?

The Equity at Intercept 0 initiative, also known as Intercept 0, was developed as a part of Virginia’s strategy to implement the Marcus-David Peters Act. The goal of Marcus Alert is to provide a behavioral health response to behavioral health emergencies. Equity at Intercept 0 relies heavily upon input from stakeholders regarding the need to focus on creating services that are:

• Culturally competent
• Easily accessible
• Recovery-oriented
• Trauma-informed

As key components to changing the quantity and quality of law enforcement involvement with mental health crisis response.

The project will look at the first point, Intercept 0:

Community Services

Making community services available to meet the needs of BIPOC in GPWA and Virginia by:

• Providing training opportunities
• Increasing the participation of BIPOC providers in the provision of crisis stabilization services
• Increasing the number of BIPOC students who seek jobs providing crisis mental health services
• View all crisis programs through a Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) lens.

Developing a continuum of mental health crisis response services in the GPWA and throughout Virginia:

• Crisis call center
• Crisis stabilization services
• Diversion Programs (getting people treatment instead of going to jail)
• Mobile crisis response teams
• Co-responder teams (police and behavioral health responding together)

If you are a mental health provider of color or a college student of color who is pursuing a career as a mental health provider and would like to hear more about how you can help answer the call to improve the quality of mental health crisis response in the Greater Prince William Area, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to find out more!

Please distribute this letter solicitation to your contact list and encourage others to visit the Marriage and Family Therapy Solutions website and like us on social media.

What can you do to help?

• If you are a Black, Indigenous person of color (BIPOC) mental health provider serving clients in Prince William County, Manassas City, or Manassas Park, please go to our website and complete the provider survey.
• To sign up for Smart 911 and Rapid SOS
• Stay abreast of the available services in your community.
• If you would like to hear more about how you can help answer the call to improve the quality of behavioral health crisis response in the Greater Prince William Area, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to find out more at marriageandfamilytherapysolutions.com

We are in the early stages of launching this exciting project, and I am super excited to get this project off the ground! We wanted to keep you informed; follow us on social media!

Sounds interesting? Please reply to let me know you’re interested. I’ll personally get back to you with all the details.

I can’t wait to hear what you think!