By Melanie Dallas, LPC

If you’re not familiar with the term Community Service Board, or aren’t sure what, exactly, a Community Service Board does, you’re probably not alone. Unlike a Public Health department, Area Agency on Aging, or Division of Family and Children’s Services – agencies whose names describe their purpose – ‘Community Service Board’ doesn’t seem to describe anything specific, let alone what one might do. Adding to the confusion, while there are 22 Community Service Boards in Georgia, not all of them have those words in their name; for example, Highland Rivers Behavioral Health.

If you’ve heard of Highland Rivers and have an idea of what we do, then you have an idea of what a Community Service Board does – because Highland Rivers is indeed a Community Service Board. But I want to take this opportunity to be much more specific. Community Service Boards are an essential component of Georgia’s healthcare system. Even more important, CSBs are critical local healthcare providers, and serve residents of every county in Georgia.

So let’s start at the beginning. Community Service Boards – we’ll call them CSBs – were created by state statute in 1994 as healthcare organizations that deliver services in local communities in Georgia. As specialty healthcare providers, CSB services focus on treatment, support and recovery for mental health conditions, substance use disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. (These types of conditions, especially mental illness and substance use, are often referred to as ‘behavioral health’ because their symptoms can affect people’s behaviors.)

But CSBs occupy another critical position in the healthcare system – safety-net provider. CSBs exist to serve the most vulnerable members of our communities and provide critical access to these services – regardless of ability to pay. In other words, CSBs provide services to individuals who, if we did not exist, would not have access to mental health, substance use or disability services. Like other Georgia CSBs, Highland Rivers serves individuals with limited income, or who are uninsured or underinsured, or have Medicaid, Medicare or other public insurance (Highland Rivers also accepts many types of private/commercial insurance).

If it seems there is a lot that isn’t quite apparent in the term Community Services Board, there is one word I think is essential: community. CSBs provide healthcare in communities, where people live, work, go to school and raise families. Highland Rivers Behavioral Health serves 13 counties in northwest Georgia, and operates outpatient clinics, residential substance use treatment programs, crisis units, intensive community-based programs, peer programs, disability services, supportive housing programs and so much more. As a Community Service Board, Highland Rivers provides all of these services, which is one reason we employ more than 900 professionals across our service area.

In addition to everything above, one more thing I think it’s important to know, and repeat, about Community Service Boards is that they are an essential part of Georgia’s healthcare system – a system that includes providers for so many types of health problems. When you go to your primary care doctor about a health concern, he or she may refer you to another provider who specializes in the type of condition you are facing – a dermatologist or cardiologist or orthopedic doctor. It is the same for behavioral health – because physical health and mental health are always linked. We receive literally hundreds of referrals from doctors and hospitals every year, because we specialize in mental health and substance use treatment.

So the next time you hear the term Community Service Board, I hope you will remember that these specialty healthcare providers work in your community, specifically to ensure everyone in Georgia has access to critical behavioral healthcare services. CSBs are essential to the health of individuals, families and communities.

Melanie Dallas is a licensed professional counselor and CEO of Highland Rivers Behavioral Health, which provides treatment and recovery services for individuals with mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities in a 13-county region of northwest Georgia that includes Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Floyd, Fannin, Gilmer, Gordon, Haralson, Murray, Paulding, Pickens, Polk and Whitfield counties.