East Carolina Behavioral Health was recently recognized with two Programs of Excellence Awards presented by the North Carolina Council of Community Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Programs.

Plaques were presented on December 6, 2011 at the Council’s annual Conference & Exhibition in Pinehurst. ECBH received the Excellence in Best Practice Award for the Recovery Innovations Outreach Wellness City and the Excellence in Prevention, Outreach and Wellness Award for the Healthy Heads Up Program.

Recovery Innovations Outreach Wellness City is designed to provide the evidence-based practice of Wellness Recovery Action Planning education and peer support opportunities for adults living in small towns and remote areas of Eastern North Carolina. Everything about coordinating WRAP classes and recovery education involves collaboration and person-centered planning. For each of the 19 ECBH counties served, the program has established a bank of community leaders and key stakeholders from private and public behavioral health providers, health and human services, faith-based organizations and educational facilities, government, law enforcement and justice system agencies, and civic or charitable groups to help facilitate local WRAP classes in each county. These groups are engaged as Supportive Community Partners to share space, coordinate dates and times, post flyers, make referrals and generally help spread the word about the program locally.

The Healthy Heads Up program is funded by a Kate B. Reynolds grant written by the Martin-Tyrrell-Washington District Health Department with encouragement from ECBH. Kathleen Devore, MTW health director, pursued the grant in an effort to increase MTW’s promotion of healthy lifestyles to include mental health wellness and stability.

In dialog with ECBH, Devore became aware of ECBH’s state-approved peer-support specialist curriculum, Take Your Heart to Work. Devore, understanding a reluctance to seek mental health care in rural areas due to the stigma associated with mental-health services, proposed a co-located, fully integrated, wellness initiative. The grant was awarded just after Christmas in 2010; Devore immediately began to work on staffing this initiative with a social worker and two certified peer-support specialists.

ECBH is the local management entity for mental health, intellectual/developmental disability and substance-abuse services in 19 counties throughout eastern North Carolina, including Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Hyde, Jones, Martin, Northampton, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrrell and Washington.

“These two awards exemplify our commitment to bringing quality services to people in small and more remote communities that have fewer such resources than some of the more populated areas,” said Roy Wilson, ECBH CEO. “We are honored that the NC Council and our peers selected these programs as award recipients.”