Mental Health Month: Focusing on Social Determinants of Health

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Throughout the month of May, our behavioral health department had a Social Determinates of Health campaign focusing on collecting data on our patients to allow us to address all areas of our patient’s lives that affect their health. I had the pleasure of speaking with Bobbi-Jo Moujid, our Behavioral Health Manager and spearhead of this campaign to discuss how it affected both patients and staff at People’s Center.

What inspired you to start this campaign?

“The possibility of what we could do for our community.  The community we serve has multiple social determinants of health struggles be it food insecurities, social isolation, relationship safety issues, or educational needs.  We are limited in the extent that which we can currently address these factors as addressing SDOH issues are for the most part, not a billable service under FQHC funding.  This leaves us with the alternative of getting grant dollars to expand our social services here at the clinic and grant funders need data so I really look at this as a multistep process.  We can all assist to collect this data by completing SDOH flowsheets on our patients.  Once this data is collected, we can then approach funders in hopes to expand the services we offer to our patients.”

 How is People’s Center behavioral health department helping patients affected by any SDOH? 

There are a few ways in which we address SDOH needs. Certainly in therapy, we address safety in relationships and social isolation.  In addition, our case managers assist patients with adult daycare (which breaks social isolation), getting on housing lists, searching for employment or educational opportunities, and assisting patients in finding a food shelf if they are dealing with food insecurities. 

Did you receive positive feedback from patients/staff about the campaign?   

“The response has been mixed. There are a few staff who are excited about collecting this information. Others are concerned that they will not have time to do the flowsheet. We are training staff that they can also partially complete a SDOH flowsheet with the knowledge they may already have about the patient.  

We are accepting new behavioral health patients. Please call 612-332-4973 to schedule your appointment today.