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A&C wins IBJ Healthcare Heroes Award

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Breaking Down Silos in Care

Organizations of every kind struggle to break down work silos, those known enemies of efficiency and effectiveness. The stakes are even higher in health care delivery, where silos can be not just expensive, but deadly.

Adult & Child Center, a not-for-profit community mental health center founded in Indianapolis more than 60 years ago, has been on a mission for more than a decade to tear down silos and improve the health of its patients. By integrating the work of behavioral health and primary care providers, Adult & Child is improving the lives of teenagers and adults who struggle with mental and physical health disorders.

“There are no silos that separate our minds from our bodies,” said Allen Brown, CEO of Adult & Child, which has eight offices spread among Marion, Johnson and Bartholomew counties. “It makes sense to look at an individual’s total health and create an integrated plan.” And that’s what Adult & Child has been doing since research emerged more than 10 years ago revealing that people with mental health conditions die, on average, about 25 years earlier than the general population.

“Integrated care has been on our agency’s executive dashboard for the last eight to 10 years,” Brown said. And it’s been in practice since 2010, when Adult & Child added primary care doctors to its main clinic at 8320 Madison Ave. More than 500 adults received integrated care in the first three years of the service. In 2013, through a partnership with The Jane Pauley Community Health Center, integrated service was extended to children as young as 13.

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Sarah Miller, PMHNP-BC

Sarah Miller works with the addictions team, general psychiatry for adolescents and adults, and the competency restoration team. She is board-certified as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Her specialties are working in addictions and with people who experience serious mental illness.

Miller graduated from Indiana University with a psychology degree and went back to school for nursing. She received her nursing degree from Indiana Wesleyan University and worked in a nursing home and also spent time working in a group home with adolescents. She received her master’s degree from Vanderbilt University.

She enjoys hanging out with her family and her two dogs, and going to sporting events.

Joanna Chambers, MD

Dr. Joanna Chambers is a psychiatrist who began seeing Adult & Child Health patients in November 2021. She graduated from Medical College of Georgia with her Doctorate of Medicine in 1996 and completed her residency in psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine. In addition to bringing a wealth of experience, she currently serves as an associate professor at Indiana University School of Medicine where she teaches Clinical Psychiatry. She is certified in Addiction Medicine and has a special interest in treating pregnant and postpartum women. She is President of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry Organization as well as a sitting member of many medical association boards. Recently, she has won the Residents’ Award for Teaching Excellence in 2020 from Indiana University and has received “Best Doctors Award” in 2010, 2011, and 2014. Dr. Chambers is incredibly active in the medical, academic, and research realms of medicine. She is currently accepting new patients on Wednesdays.