"Connecting community stakeholders and resources to improve the mental health of our community"

Vision: Our vision is that the Fox Cities will be "mentally healthiest" community in the nation. This implies having the best delivery system when someone needs help, as well as focusing on education, prevention, and early intervention.

We will achieve our vision by:

Fostering and encouraging collaboration among key stakeholders in mental health. This includes, but is not limited to mental health providers, primary care providers, law enforcement, educational institutions, consumers, family members, consumer organizations, counties, funders, and others.

Through collaboration, we will break down barriers that inhabit access, impair navigation, create stigma, or otherwise impede our forward progress as a community.

We will ensure there is no wrong door to the right mental health services.

We will ensure that community members have an effective 24/7 crisis safety net. We will ensure that all health care providers, including primary care, are in an integrated care system that gets people to the right level of care at the right time.

Because of our collaboration, we will be able to seek and receive philanthropic support that strengthens our community.

The Fox Cities will look different:

• We will have the lowest rate of disability due to mental illnesses in the nation.
• We will have the lowest rate of substance abuse in Wisconsin.
• We will have less violence.
• We will have more productive employers, because our workforce will be mentally healthy, substance free, and have a lower rate of absenteeism.

What is the NE W MHC?

A membership organization, open to individuals and organizations who align with the mission and vision of the organization.

A self-sustaining, accountable organization that focuses on the consumer of mental health services and moves our community forward.

What the NEW MHC is not:

The NEW MHC does not deliver services. We exist to connect service providers and other key stakeholders who work with consumers to create dialogue that leads to greater collaboration and the improvement of mental health services in the community.

We are not a mechanism through which individual member organizations seek to get more patients.

We are not a granting organization, but rather we are a group that will seek grants by encouraging collaboration among service providers, and supporting joint grant seeking opportunities.

Our core functions:

• Connecting key stakeholders
• Enabling communicating and collaboration
• Creating and reinforcing a vision for our community
• Understanding community needs and current state
• Building capacity
• Researching best practices, and bringing those to our community

Funding:

Our funding comes from membership and sponsor fees, as well as infrastructure and programmatic grants.

Work in progress, as of September, 2011:

• 24/7 Crisis response
• "No Wrong Door" – training, and technology-related infrastructure
• Support of School based programs (funded by United Way as the PATH program)
• PCP Education