Unison Behavioral Health is participating in a statewide campaign to raise awareness of the critical importance of Community Services Boards (CSB) in assuring behavioral health services are available to everyone in Georgia. ‘The CSB is Me’ campaign provides real-world examples of how the state’s CSBs – agencies like Unison – help local residents who may be low-income, uninsured, or underinsured access treatment for mental health challenges, substance use disorders and intellectual/developmental disabilities.
Unison is part of a statewide behavioral health safety-net that ensures everyone in Georgia can get the help they need, in their community, regardless of their ability to pay. With clinical services, crisis services, community-based services and more, Community Service Boards remove barriers to treatment and meet people where they are. As demand for mental health and substance use treatment services is at an all-time high following the pandemic, Community Services Boards are more important than ever.
Unison Behavioral Health, CEO Tiffany Henderson adds, “During this year’s legislative session, Georgia made advances toward equity in passing the historical Mental Health Parity Act ensuring that insurance plans cover behavioral health equitably with physical health. While this is historical for Georgia, the stigma associated with mental health and substance abuse challenges continues to create barriers to people seeking help. We are hopeful that this campaign will help communities better understand the purpose and impact of CSBs like Unison and will increase awareness that help is available, and recovery is possible.”
Georgia’s 22 Community Services Boards serve all 159 counties in the state, with most CSBs covering multiple counties. In many Georgia counties, the Community Service Board is the only public mental health/substance use treatment provider. Each year, CSBs in Georgia serve more than 29,000 children and adolescents, 144,000 adults with mental health problems or substance use, and more than 5,000 adults with disabilities. Because individuals typically receive multiple services from their local CSB, it is estimated that CSBs in Georgia provide more than a million services each year, making them collectively the largest provider of behavioral health services in the state.
‘The CSB is Me’ campaign is being coordinated by the Georgia Association of Community Services Boards (GACSB), a statewide association that supports the state’s CSBs through policy and legislative advocacy on both the state and national levels. The GACSB website (www.gacsb.org) allows Georgia residents to search by zip code to find their local CSB, with direct links to each agency’s website.
To learn more about the services provided by Unison in Atkinson, Bacon, Brantley, Charlton, Clinch, Coffee, Pierce, and Ware counties and how to enroll in services, visit www.unisonbehavioralhealth.com or contact our access line at 1-800-342-8168 Monday-Friday.
