Annual Report - FY 20

This year’s winner of the Community Mental Health for Central Michigan (CMHCM) Annual Report Art Contest is Jaclyn Bersano from Mecosta County. Ms. Bersano's art was selected by the CMHCM Consumer Action Committee from a number of entries. All the artists who participate in the contest currently receive or have received mental health services. We wish to express our appreciation to all who entered the contest and congratulate Ms. Bersano.

Our Mission

To promote community inclusion and whole-person wellness through comprehensive and quality integrated services to individuals with a serious emotional disturbance, intellectual/developmental disability, serious mental illness, or co-occurring substance use disorder.

Our Vision

Communities where all individuals experience fulfilled lives.

Values

• The dignity and worth of each individual
• Consumer involvement and empowerment                                   
• Person-centered planning and self-determination
• Trauma-informed care
• Behavioral and physical health integration
• Early intervention, prevention, and wellness
• Diversity and community inclusion
• Advocacy and public education
• Responsiveness to local community needs
• High quality services that are affordable and accessible
• Creativity, innovation, and evidence-based practices
• Competent staff and providers
• Continuous quality improvement
• Participative management
• Ethical practices
• Fiscal integrity and efficient utilization of resources

CMHCM is proud to present its 2020 Annual Report to the citizens and leaders of Clare, Gladwin, Isabella, Mecosta, Midland, and Osceola counties. We trust that you will find the strong impact of CMHCM service delivery, effective use of public resources, and collaboration between the public mental health system, our provider network, and all of our community partners. 

CMHCM started the new fiscal year with a clarified mission, “To promote community inclusion and whole-person wellness through comprehensive and quality integrated services to individuals with a serious emotional disturbance, intellectual/developmental disability, serious mental illness, or co-occurring substance use disorder.” The revision better represents our specialty services to children, is more inclusive of persons with intellectual disabilities, and clarifies our specialty role for services to persons with a serious mental illness who may also have a substance use disorder. 

Little did we know then, that 2020 would most certainly test our resolve as the public behavioral health safety net, with the threat of privatization and system redesign in the first half of the year, followed by the tenacious pandemic, and the devastating flood in Midland and Gladwin. In every challenge, we witnessed the collective heart of CMHCM reach out to our communities and to public policy makers to assure that individual needs were being met in the present and well into the future. We saw unprecedented support at all levels in authorizing and distributing resources to enable more flexible operations, all to keep our communities healthy and safe while continuing to receive care. We knew from years of experience that investments in staff resiliency are critical to battle pervasive illness and so we strengthened our telecommuting arrangements to address both community demand and staff personal needs.

While CMHCM is accustomed to complex care situations as a specialty supports and service provider for individuals with priority needs, staff efforts were no less than heroic in providing services around the clock amidst the challenges of 2020. Free sessions were provided to the general public, a self-help mental health application was provided at no cost to individual users in all six counties to supplement service plans and for use by the general community, consumers and staff received well-checks when the flood ravaged our towns, meals were delivered to homes for Clubhouse members, and our doors remained open.

The success of CMHCM’s specialty and supports services is rooted in the healthy relations with the six counties we serve, the strong support of the Board that governs CMHCM, the expertise of staff and providers that exemplify our mission, the depth of our community partnerships, and the trust of everyone served. We purpose together to meet the needs of consumers and staff in times of celebration and critical life challenges.

Looking back on 2020, these are just not words, but a testament that CMHCM provides more than services and supports. We provide hope to others through personal zeal, generosity, and self-sacrifice with reassurance for hurting hearts through genuineness of the human spirit, in the belief that everyone is valued for who they are, what brings them joy, and what they aspire to become, and we are privileged to be along on their journey.