Bringing Family Lived Experience To You



June 3rd, 2025 | Volume 3, Issue 8

Thanks to our affiliates and partners who joined us for Children's Mental Health Action Week throughout May! "That's a WRAP!"—our 2025 campaign— started each week with very popular videos highlighting each element of WRAP: Wellness, Resilience, Action, and Purpose. In addition, we shared a full month of family-focused resources for our 15,500 social media followers that included the new #CMHAW Family Resource Calendar, our popular Family & Caregiver Toolkit, SAMHSA's Guide to Wellness, and our motivational "That's a WRAP" infographic.

We invited you to take ACTION with us to elevate family voice—and you sure did! You showed up in so many ways, from Children's Mental Health ACTION Week Proclamations, to joining the campaign, to sharing our call to action and resources, to uplifting us as together we celebrate and support the mental health of children and youth.

We've got three SAMHSA-sponsored webinars this month to support individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) and serious emotional disturbance (SED) and their families!

Register for the NFF and NFSTAC Pre-Institutes Training:

Family Peer Specialist Through the Lifespan

CFPS Code of Ethics Breach Reporting

All nationally Certified Family Peer Specialists (CFPS) pledge to uphold the values and principles of the CFPS Code of Ethics in order to live out their ethical commitment as peers with lived experience. Employers can use this form to report any CFPS Code of Ethics breach. Families, colleagues, and others working with CFPS can contact their employers to contribute to a report. Learn more about what happens when NFF receives a report at the bottom of this webpage. Thank you to the CFPS Ethics Board for your support in evaluating reports of Code of Ethics breaches!

Congratulations on Your Retirement, NFF's Michelle Covington!

NFF's Senior Project Manager, Conference Planner, and Legislative and Policy Liaison Michelle Covington retired on May 30, 2025 after eight years with us. Michelle brought 30 years of experience advocating for children and families experiencing behavioral health challenges, as well as her lived experience, to evaluation of legislation, policy, and advocacy at both the national and state level and working closely with affiliates to addressing issues that matter to families. Michelle has also been our master conference planner for many years and the reason behind the excellence that leads so many attendees to tell us it's their favorite conference.

We will miss Michelle's attention to detail, wealth of knowledge, and ability to juggle multiple projects with dedication. We wish Michelle well as she enters a new phase of life as a full-time grandmother!

NFSTAC April and May Event Recordings

Webinar: Supporting Loved Ones with Mental Illness and/or Substance Use Disorders in Addressing Tobacco Use - The Role of Families and Peers with the National Center of Excellence for Tobacco-Free Recovery

Office Hour: Sustainable Funding for Family-Run Organizations at the State and National Levell with Carla Pretto and Rikki Harris

Webinar: Introduction to Wellness Recovery Success - What We Know Right Now with Livia Davis and Cherene Cacaco

Family Connections: Substance Use Disorder 101 - What It Is, What It Isn't

June 5th, 1:30 p.m. ET

In this session, we will discuss substance use disorder (SUD) and its stages—from experimentation to progression to disorder. SUD includes a wide range of drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamines, or prescription opioids and alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, and prescription medications. We’ll also discuss the unique challenges that face families and caregivers and how to access support.

Office Hour: The Family Peer Career Ladder and Grant Writing Tips

June 10th, 2:00 p.m. ET

NOTE TIME CHANGE

In this session, we will talk about the family peer career ladder and all the possible roles family members with lived experience have. Understanding how to write grants is an essential skill that those who climb to the top of the family peer career ladder need to have. Join us for tips on writing successful government and foundation grant proposals.

Webinar: Effective Strategies to Show Off Your Work

June 18th, 2:00 p.m. ET

We all play a role in communicating about the importance of our work—to funders, agency leaders, peers, and community members. Join us to learn strategies that will make us more effective communicators! This session will help participants think about how they share their work with others, why that matters, and how to create messages that connect with different people. The session will include opportunities to work together, share ideas, and learn from each other.  

National Legislation

Reach Out to Senators to Say, "Don't Make Cuts to Medicaid!"

The House passed their version of the budget reconciliation bill on May 22, 2025. It includes an estimated $715 million in cuts to Medicaid. If you have not already visited, called, or e-mailed your federal senators, take a moment to do so now! Use the button below to find your legislators' contact information. We can also flood Congress with reasons not to cut Medicaid through the Congressional hotline, 866-426-2631.

Our families are depending on us to speak up for them and support them to speak up for themselves. Together, we can make a difference!

From the White House

MAHA Report on Child Health Released

On May 22, 2025, the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission released its report on the health of America’s children, largely focusing on ultra-processed foods, chemical exposure, and overuse of medication as underlying causes of chronic childhood illness. The commission now has roughly 80 days to craft a government strategy to respond to the findings.

Enforcement of the Final Rule on Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act

On May 15, 2025, the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury released a joint statement explaining that the 2024 final rules for the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act would not be enforced. The rules introduced in 2013 and 2021 are still in effect, and states still have the authority to issue guidance and implement state parity rules. The Kennedy Forum urges states to continue to advocate for gold standards for parity.

Health and Human Services Reorganization

On May 8, 2025 Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., expressing concern about the proposal to eliminate the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. On May 12, Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) suspending the planned departmental reorganization of HHS. The TRO comes in a case filed by labor unions, nonprofits, and city governments seeking to halt federal layoffs and agency reorganizations pursuant to an executive order issued in February that sought to make large-scale changes to the federal workforce, among other changes. The TRO pauses any further layoffs and reorganization of federal agencies, including temporarily halting the planned SAMHSA reorganization.

Follow our Legislative and Advocacy Facebook page and use the data and facts shared there in concert with your advocacy skills to represent the voice of families where you live.

National Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Month

Many people think PTSD only affects military service members or combat veterans. However, anyone can develop PTSD at any age.

PTSD can be the result of someone experiencing or witnessing a frightening, traumatic, or dangerous event, such as natural disasters, acts of violence, or serious accidents. They may have a range of reactions after trauma, and most will recover from their symptoms over time. Those who continue to experience ongoing symptoms may be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Much like adults, children and teens can have a wide range of reactions but with age-specific symptoms. Learn what caregivers and family members can do to help children and adolescents cope with traumatic events and get more information with Helping Children and Adolescents Cope With Traumatic Events.

Visit the National Institute of Mental Health resource page for facts about post-traumatic events and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Upcoming Family Mental Health Events

NTTAC's Every Day, A New Story: A Listening Session Promoting Employee Wellness Within Organizations

June 4th, 1:00 p.m. ET

NAMI's The Key Role of Families in Vocational Recovery for People with Serious Mental Health Conditions

June 5th, 4:00 p.m. ET

National Council for Mental Wellbeing's Repairing the Roots: Substance Use and Child Welfare - Rebuilding Family-Centered Systems of Care

June 9th, 12:00 p.m. ET



ACL's New Resources to Elevate Family Caregiver Programs

June 10th, 12:30 p.m. ET

NTTAC's Bridging Divides: Sustainability in Uncertainty

June 11th, 12:00 p.m. ET

ESMI TTA Center's Supporting Young Adults Experiencing Early Serious Mental Illness in the Shift from Child to Adult Mental Health Services 

June 17th, 12:00 p.m. ET

CDC'S New Mental Health Data Channel

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a new Mental Health Data Channel. The platform showcases trends in mental health and well-being among youth and adults in the U.S. by consolidating mental health data across CDC’s national and state sources into a user-friendly resource. It includes visualizations, explanations of trends, and resources aimed at improving mental health.

The Data Channel also integrates indicators of well-being, mental health conditions and care, social connection, mental health-related emergency room visits, and more. It offers crucial information as well as effective tools and community-based strategies to improve the most pressing mental health challenges of today.

SAMHSA Issue Brief: Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Services

In this new issue brief, SAMHSA looks at the mental health and substance use disorder crisis across the U.S. that spans all ages and communities. This overview focuses on integrated care for co-occurring disorders (COD), evidence-based practices, and resources needed to address the ongoing behavioral health crisis.

The brief also explores access issues for people seeking services due to a behavioral health continuum with treatment and service gaps, guiding principles for working with those with COD, and the need to connect people to appropriate services. This resource is a part of a series of briefs developed to support Community Mental Health Services Block Grant recipients.

The Jed Foundation: Tips for the Transition from School to Summer

Leaving high school and moving out on your own is a big transition that is so much easier when you have the right support. The JED Foundation's "Set to Go" program has easy-to-use resources for students, families, and educators. All are designed to help students think about, plan for, and step into the future they want.

They also have a student-focused Mental Health Resource Center that provides information to support emotional well-being on a variety of topics.

NASMHPD'S Transformation Transfer Initiative: Non-Federal Funding Opportunities for Non-Profits

NASMHPD'S Transformation Transfer Initiative (TTI) assists states in improving their mental health systems of care. The TTI provides, on a competitive basis, modest funding awards and intensive technical assistance to states, the District of Columbia, and the territories to identify, adopt, and strengthen innovative initiatives to better serve children and youth with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) and adults with Serious Mental Illness (SMI). Their resource Non-Federal Funding Opportunities for Non-Profits might be helpful for you or can be shared with any organizations you collaborate with or have worked with in the past for improving mental health and crisis services in your state or territory.