By Tim Taylor
LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) recently received three grants from Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas aimed at strengthening programs treating Arkansans with mental illness.
Jessica Coker, M.D., an associate professor in the UAMS College of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is the principal investigator in MAPS (Mental Health and Addiction Peer Support), a peer-support model for co-occurring substance use disorders within acute psychiatric units.
Supported by a $122,389 grant from the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas, Coker, along with Abigail Richison, M.D., will integrate a peer navigator assigned to the inpatient units at the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute (PRI). The peer navigator will work specifically with patients dealing with substance use disorders.
