University Of Iowa receives $604K Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances (SED) grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Iowa connect: coordinated outreach, navigation, and early care for clinical high risk for psychosis - Iowa connect will establish a University Of Iowa program to identify and support youth and young adults ages 12–25 at clinical high risk for psychosis in johnson, linn, cedar, Iowa, Washington, louisa, and muscatine counties. The project will create a centralized referral, assessment, and stepped-care pathway and serve 62 enrolled participants over four years. Services include outreach, screening, psychoeducation, cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis, substance use assessment/referral, psychiatric consultation, supported education/employment, peer and family support, crisis planning, and warm handoffs. Iowa connect will train clinicians and referral partners and coordinate care across clinical high risk, first-episode psychosis, outpatient, crisis, school, college, substance use, and community systems. Over four years, the project will administer at least 543 prodromal questionnaire-brief screens and 134 structured interview for psychosis-risk syndromes/mini-sips assessments and provide stepped-care services to 43 enrolled participants. It will complete substance use assessment and crisis planning for 100% of enrolled participants, provide referral assistance for 100% of screened or assessed individuals who do not enroll, and provide rapid warm handoffs to first-episode psychosis services for 100% of participants who develop threshold psychosis. The project will build a rural-responsive, sustainable pathway and develop a sustainability plan by year 2.