Advancing Public Policies for people with Mental Illness, Substance Use Disorder and/or Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities
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Governor Cuomo Announces Award of Nearly $853,000 in Funding to Expand Mobile Addiction Treatment Services
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday announced nearly $853,000 in a second round of funding awards to five providers across New York State to enable them to purchase and operate mobile treatment vehicles. The goal of this initiative is to expand the availability and access to addiction treatment services in underserved regions of the state. Funding is being administered by the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports and was awarded through the federal State Opioid Response Grant. More than $972,000 was awarded in the first round of this funding, bringing the total amount awarded to more than $1,825,000.
Over the past several years, New York State has greatly expanded its mobile treatment capability. This began in 2017, with the establishment of Centers of Opioid Treatment Innovation to serve high-need counties throughout the state. The COTIs are focused on establishing connections with people affected by addiction, who have not been connected to care previously or have been unable to sustain their recovery through traditional treatment approaches. Read more here.
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UPCOMING EVENTS & TRAININGS
Consent, Emergency, Quality Flag: PSYCKES Levels of Access
October 20, 10 - 11 am, OMH
Youth SBIRT and Substance Use During COVID-19
October 20, 3:30 - 4:30 pm, National Council for Behavioral Health
PSYCKES for BHCCs and other Networks (New!)
October 21, 12 - 1 pm, OMH
Should Police Respond to Mental Health Emergencies?
October 21, 12 - 1 pm, CCSI
Improving Care for Children with Chronic and Complex Needs: A Look at the National Care Coordination Standards for CYSHCN
October 21, 2 - 3 pm, National Academy for State Health Policy
Covid-19 Impact on Addiction Treatment: Survey Findings & Implications
October 22, 11 am - 12 pm, NAATP
Mental Health First Aid: A Primer for Public Health Professional and Communities
October 22, 3 - 4 pm, National Council for Behavioral Health
Suicide Assessment and Response for K-12 Populations
October 27, 4 - 5 pm, SAMHSA
Introduction to PSYCKES
October 28, 1 - 2 pm, OMH
Virtual Discussion: Let's talk about CHART - Community Health Access and Rural Transformation Model
October 28, 4 - 5 pm, Rural Health Value Team
Navigating PSYCKES Recipient Search for Population Health
November 5, 10 - 11 am, OMH
Understanding Social Determinants of Health
November 5, 2 - 3 pm, Corporation for Supportive Housing
Using PSYCKES from Home
November 10, 11 am - 12 pm, OMH
Where to Start: Getting Access to PSYCKES
November 17, 10 - 11 am, OMH
PSYCKES Mobile App for iPhones & iPads
November 18, 1 - 2 pm, OMH |
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OCTOBER 2020
Children & Families Committee Meeting
October 20: 11:30 am - 1 pm, GTM
CLMHD Fall Full Membership Business Meeting
October 20: 1:30 - 4:30 pm, GTM
Developmental Disabilities Committee Meeting
October 29: 1 - 2:30 pm, GTM
NOVEMBER 2020
CLMHD Office Closed - Veterans Day
November 11
Addiction Services & Recovery Committee Meeting
November 12: 11 am - 12 pm, GTM
Children & Families Committee Meeting
November 17: 11:30 am - 1 pm, GTM
CLMHD & State Agency Day
November 18, GTM
OASAS: 9:30 - 11:30 am
OMH: 12:15 - 2 pm
OPWDD: 2:30 - 4 pm
Mental Health Committee - 730 Work Group
November 24, 11 am - 12 pm, GTM
Mental Hygiene Planning Committee
November 24, 1 - 3 pm, GTM
CLMHD Office Closed - Thanksgiving
November 26 - 27
Contact CLMHD for all Call In and GoToMeeting (GTM) information, 518.462.9422
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A Hidden Cost of Covid: Shrinking Mental-Health Services
Hospitals across New York state have repurposed or closed hundreds of psychiatric, detox and drug-rehabilitation beds over the past six months to make room for Covid-19 patients, leading to a cascading crisis in mental-health care.
Treatment has become harder to find just as the pandemic has driven higher demand for services, according to interviews with behavioral-health workers, patients and patients' families.
About 400 psychiatric beds remain closed for care-more such closures than in the past five years, according to the state's Office of Mental Health. About 150 addiction beds in hospitals are similarly shut, according to the state's Office of Addiction Services and Supports. The overall number of such beds had risen slightly over the past five years.
Hospitals have also closed behavioral-health beds in other states including Illinois, Massachusetts and Texas, along with Washington, D.C. The closures are pronounced in New York, a state hit hard by the coronavirus.
New York health-care workers described patients being discharged early to free up space even though many still showed signs of psychosis and mania. Some hospitals that kept units open were overwhelmed, they said. Read more here. |
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A 'Second Wave' of Mental Health Devastation Due to Covid-19 is Imminent, Experts Say
"A second wave of devastation is imminent, attributable to mental health consequences of Covid-19," wrote authors Dr. Naomi Simon, Dr. Glenn Saxe and Dr. Charles Marmar, all from New York University's Grossman School of Medicine.
"The magnitude of this second wave is likely to overwhelm the already frayed mental health system, leading to access problems, particularly for the most vulnerable persons."
This second mental health wave, the researchers suggested, will bring further challenges, such as increased deaths from suicide and drug overdoses, and will have a disproportionate effect on the same groups that the first wave did: Black and Hispanic people, older adults, lower socioeconomic groups and health care workers. Read more here.
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HHS Awards Nearly $500 million to Support Primary Health Care Workforce Nationwide
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced nearly $500 million in awards to support, recruit and retain qualified health professionals and students through its National Health Service Corps (NHSC), Nurse Corps and other workforce development loan repayment and scholarship programs.
Approximately 17 million patients receive care from more than 16,000 NHSC members. An additional 1.8 million patients are cared for by more than 1,700 Nurse Corps clinicians. Through scholarship programs, over 1,500 NHSC and 600 Nurse Corps primary care students are in school or residency preparing for future service. Read more here. |
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The Behavioral Health News "The Suicide Crisis in America" Fall 2020 Issue is Now Online!
The articles in this issue address the rising rates of suicide in America and highlight the healthcare community's suicide prevention efforts.
The issue focuses on a number of important topics including veterans, bullying, survivors of suicide, clergy and faith communities, Latinx teens, zero suicide, and also a personal account from Ira Minot, Publisher of Behavioral Health News, describing his journey from a survivor of suicide to a mission of advocacy. Read the issue here.
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People of Color Face Significant Barriers to Mental Health Services
Richelle Concepcion still remembers the name she was called after trying to stop a White kid who was picking on younger peers on the swim team in high school.
"Shut the f**k up, you Oriental b*tch!" that kid yelled at her so many years ago.
Though Concepcion, a Filipina American, wasn't the only person teased by that kid at her school in San Francisco, she was the only one called a racial slur.
"After that event, I spent time ruminating on the experience and went over scenarios in my head about what I could have said back, whether I was indeed what he called me, etc.," said Concepcion, now a psychologist at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, via email.
The racially motivated event and long-term subjection to stereotypes were two of many experiences "that inspired my work, as I tend to be very cognizant of the experiences of my patients who identify as people of color," she added.
Mental health issues affect everyone, but people of color - Black, Latinx, Asian and Native American people - have higher rates of some mental health disorders and face greater disparities in getting help than White people. Those issues are primarily due to lack of access to services resulting from institutional discrimination, interpersonal racism and stigma - which can all harm the psyche of people of color in places where they are not the majority. Read more here.
Additional article of interest: RASE Commission Holds Virtual Town Hall on Mental Health, Substance Abuse
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4th Annual NY Peer Specialist Certification Board Conference: "From Surviving to Thriving: Promoting Recovery Through Peer Support"
Join us to participate in a multi-day, digital event with live & self-paced learning options designed to provide learning and collaborative opportunities and an authentic conference experience, all while accommodating your schedule. 24 hours of NYPSCB CEUs will be available at no cost if post-tests & evaluations completed by December 31, 2020. Deadline for registration is October 30, 2020.
Click HERE to register.
Sponsored by The Academy of Peer Services, Wellness Collabortive of New York - Independent Practice Association, NYS Office of Mental Health.
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Changes are Afoot in How We Respond to Mental Health Crises
Major changes are afoot in our response to persons who experience behavioral health crises. In every quarter of the field, we are debating the pros and cons of police involvement, and many of us are beginning to experiment with new staffing and service configurations. This brief report will highlight some of these changes.
Just a few weeks ago, Congress and the FCC approved the national implementation of a new 988 number specifically for mental health. It will replace the use of 911, with the intent of changing the culture around how we respond to mental illness crises. Clearly, 911 evokes images of a police response; 988 does not. At the same time, a Community-Based Response Act has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and in the House by Rep. Karen Bass of California. This act would create a new, community-based emergency and non-emergency response grant program through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That initiative would establish programs to provide an additional option beyond law enforcement for community-based emergency response. The bill would allow the dispatch of professionals trained in mental and behavioral health or crisis response instead of law enforcement. Read more here.
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Pivoting From Reactive To Proactive Innovation
Six months into the pandemic, the organizations that are thriving share one characteristic-nimble reaction to change. But the big question ahead is whether the field can move from reactive to proactive innovation.
What is the difference? With reactive innovation, executives wait for good ideas to be presented and then try to implement the ideas they believe are positive for their organization. The health and human service field has a history of reactive innovations-payers like state and county governments or Medicaid plans change what they want and release new RFPs or regulations. Provider organization executive teams react. The swift reaction of provider organizations to the pandemic-bringing up telehealth to scale-is an extreme example of this.
Proactive innovation is when executive teams identify emerging opportunities in the market and create new products and services to meet those market needs. Proactive is anticipating what customers will want and creating those future solutions. Proactive innovation is an essential part of planning for future sustainability- identifying the "the next big thing" that will be the financial anchor for their organization- whether it is home-based services, hybrid care models, primary care, new integrated care coordination approaches, or something else entirely.
Where are specialty provider organization executive teams with this pivot from reactive innovation to proactive innovation? Read more here. |
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