Promoting Healthy Families: A Mental Health Treatment and Intensive Case Management Task-Sharing Approach

Pregnant and parenting mothers with substance use disorders, exemplified by those enrolled in the Washington State Parent Child Assistance Program (PCAP), have high rates of common mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD.  Only a minority are able to access the mental health care that they need.  An inability to access and follow up with mental health services places mothers at increased risk for loss of child custody.  This 5-year project, entitled Promoting Healthy Families (PHF), seeks to train specialized mental health case managers to work in tandem with other case management staff at PCAP sites across Washington State to deliver an educational intervention based on principles of the evidence-based MOMCare Program.  MOMCare is a collaborative care intervention (i.e., providing a choice of brief interpersonal psychotherapy and/or anti-depressant medication) for socially disadvantaged, pregnant women.  In this randomized controlled trial, we will assess the results of integrating the PHF/MOMCare intervention into PCAP to improve substance use, mental health, and child custody outcomes.