Cummins Behavioral Health Systems, Inc. Awarded Grant to Become Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic

March 31, 2021

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$4M in Funding Will Be Used to Expand Scope of Services Provided in Hendricks County

AVON, IN – The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has announced that it has awarded Cummins Behavioral Health Systems, Inc. with a two-year, $4M grant to expand and enhance services in Hendricks County. This funding comes from SAMHSA’s Fiscal Year 2021 Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Expansion Grant, which also awarded funding to nine other care centers in Indiana.

Using this additional funding, Cummins Behavioral Health will expand the scope of services it provides to consumers in Hendricks County and become federally designated as a CCBHC for that county. The CCBHC designation was created by the Excellence in Mental Health Act of 2013 to describe organizations providing comprehensive services for individuals with severe and complex mental illnesses and substance use disorders.

“Cummins has been a community mental health center in existence since 1972,” said Amy Mace, CEO. “We were formed strictly for behavioral health services, which is a combination of both mental health and substance use services. However, we know that whole-person health is important. We cannot just focus on the behavioral health side; we also need to be concerned with primary health care in addition to social determinants of health like employment, housing, and food security. That’s why we’re so excited to have this opportunity to focus on whole-person care.”

All CCBHCs must provide a specific array of services to the populations they serve. Cummins Behavioral Health already offers several of these services to its consumers, such as outpatient mental health and substance use services, patient-centered treatment planning, peer support services, and services for members of the armed forces. However, several new clinical services will be added using funding from the grant.

“With a CCBHC designation, some additional clinical models will be added, such as the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Model, Veterans Trauma Treatment Protocols, and Care Coordination. Care coordination is a service where people seeking services that have complex health care needs are given assistance in ensuring they are able to schedule and receive necessary physical health treatments,” said Robb Enlow, Cummins’ Chief Clinical Officer.

Several of Cummins’ new services as a CCBHC will require modifications and enhancements to its current operational procedures. Significant emphasis will be placed on increasing availability of care and strengthening partnerships with community health care providers, including primary care providers.

“While many of the CCBHC grant requirements confirm that we are already on the right track, some of the new services, or modifications to our current services, will drive operational and staffing changes,” said Russ Greene, COO of Cummins. “The requirement to provide 24/7/365 crisis services will prompt us to operationally modify how we provide those services. Additionally, although we already have great community partnerships, the CCBHC designation will help us further expand care coordination with other health care providers, social service providers and law enforcement.”

Expansion of services will begin with an in-depth Community Needs Assessment in Hendricks County to ensure that the needs of all consumers will be met moving forward. This assessment will build on insights gathered from the Community Satisfaction Survey that is currently being conducted in the county.

Cummins Behavioral Health Systems, Inc. is a community behavioral health center serving Marion, Hendricks, Boone, Montgomery and Putnam counties in Indiana. Our mission is to inspire the hope of recovery, to achieve excellence in all aspects of care, and to make the goals and aspirations of those we serve our highest priority. For more information about our services, please call (888) 714-1927 or browse our website.


To learn more, watch our video with Cummins CEO Amy Mace below!