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After Launching National Tour to Strengthen Mental Health, HHS Releases Roadmap Based on Patient and Provider Feedback
Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the HHS Roadmap for Behavioral Health Integration (Roadmap), which details policy solutions that would help to better integrate mental health and substance use care into the larger health care system and other systems. The Roadmap is based on feedback Secretary Becerra received from patients and providers during more than two dozen stops on his National Tour to Strengthen Mental Health. Launched in March the day after President Biden’s State of the Union address, Secretary Becerra’s National Tour to Strengthen Mental Health – like the Roadmap – is one of the many ways HHS is working to answer President Biden’s call to transform the delivery of behavioral health care in the U.S. Read more here.
Additional article of interest: Health Panel Recommends Anxiety Screening for All Adults Under 65
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HHS Awards $3 Million for Initiative to Promote Black Youth Mental Health
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) announced more than $3 million in grants to eight organizations for a new initiative to demonstrate policy effectiveness to promote Black youth mental health (BYMH). This three-year initiative will help identify health and wellness policies that are successful in improving BYMH, including suicide prevention. Read more here.
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SUNY Uses $24 Million in Federal American Rescue Plan Funds To Expand Student Mental Health and Wellness Services, Enhance Campus Resources
At a meeting of the State University of New York Board of Trustees on Wednesday, senior leaders announced the use of $24 million in American Rescue Plan funds to expand mental health and wellness services and enhance campus resources. Expanded on-campus programming includes: after-hours care, the creation of well-being spaces, the hiring of new staff, suicide prevention programming, emergency mini-grants to students who seek off-campus support, and broader training for counseling center staff, as well as other timely interventions. Read more here.
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OMH Partners with NYAPRS to Create Psychiatric Rehabilitation Training Academy
The NYS Office of Mental Health on Tuesday announced a collaboration with the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS) to create a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Training Academy. Psychiatric rehabilitation helps adults living with major mental health conditions obtain the skills, supports and resources needed to successfully advance their health and recovery and to meet their essential personal social, employment, housing and related life goals. Read more here.
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Experts Say New Street Drug Is ‘as Deadly as Fentanyl’
Nitazenes: You've probably never heard of these highly toxic drugs, and neither have many Americans who abuse opioid street drugs. That lack of awareness could prove deadly, experts warn, because nitazenes are increasingly being added into heroin and street versions of opioid pills -- and triggering fatal overdoses.
"Laboratory test results indicate that the potency of certain nitazene analogs [e.g., isotonitazene, protonitazene, and etonitazene] greatly exceeds that of fentanyl, whereas the potency of the analog metonitazene is similar to fentanyl," explained a team of researchers from the Tennessee Department of Health. Read more here.
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The Meth Crisis Is Worse Than Ever, but New Treatments Might Be Around the Corner
When it comes to meth addiction, Thomas Robey has long been at a loss. As an emergency room doctor, he treats a steady stream of patients who show up at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Wash., after experiencing a methamphetamine overdose. But he’s never had much to offer them. Despite the skyrocketing use of meth, a stimulant particularly common in the western U.S., there’s no medication currently approved to treat meth overdose or aid in long-term recovery. Doctors who want to help have few available options. Patients who seek help often leave hospitals hardly better off than when they arrived. Recently, though, Robey has added a new weapon to his limited meth-treatment arsenal: A monoclonal antibody that binds to methamphetamine molecules and helps prevent them from entering the brain. Read more here.
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Paramedics Can Help Combat the Opioid Epidemic
Between emergency medical service (EMS) calls in Camden, New Jersey, a Cooper University Health Care EMS crew gazes out of their ambulance toward a group of people using heroin under a bridge with new eyes. Frustration has been replaced with hope and a tinge of excitement. What previously felt like a drain on their resources to fight a worsening and seemingly hopeless crisis is now an opportunity for change.
The key: an innovative initiative to train and arm paramedics with buprenorphine, a medication that treats withdrawal and begins addiction treatment on the spot, interrupting the relentless cycle of repeat overdoses. Read more here.
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Santabarbara Says Plan to Study Group Home Issues Moving Ahead
Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara on Monday said legislation he sponsored to establish a working group to help improve living conditions in group homes for disabled individuals is moving forward and is expected to be sent to Gov. Kathy Hochul for final approval. The working group would also examine communication between group home residents and their families, he said.
"Residents of group homes, who often have disabilities, deserve the right to weigh in on how they are being treated," said Santabarbara, who has a son with autism. Read more here.
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Behavioral Health Inequities Have Cost the US Health Care System Over $278B
Behavioral health inequities have led to a wave of premature deaths and, in turn, a large cost burden for the U.S. health care system. In fact, the cost burden of premature behavioral health-related deaths in the Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) community was $278 billion alone between 2016 and 2020. That’s according to a new metadata analysis by the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine (SHLI). Read more here.
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Novel Approach for Educating Prison Populations About Medication for Opioid Use Disorder
More than 90,000 people die of a drug overdose each year, with 75% of those involving an opioid, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although medication—buprenorphine, methadone or naltrexone—is an effective component in helping people with opioid use disorders, only a small number receive this care. This disparity of care, often among people of color, is urgently important in correctional institutions, where 85% of the population has an active substance use disorder or were incarcerated for a crime involving drugs or drug use—a population that is at a higher risk for overdose upon release.
Recognizing this disparity, Rutgers University Correctional Health Care, which has a comprehensive program offering all available medications for opioid use disorder, and the New Jersey Department of Corrections developed a short video that educates incarcerated people on medication for opioid use disorder. The campaign is the first in the United States to use an easily accessible video to educate all incarcerated people, including underserved populations, on how medication can help with opioid use disorder. Read more here.
Additional article of interest: States Push for Innovative Ways to Improve Health Outcomes for Justice-Involved Individuals
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Dental Care is Scarce for People with Disabilities; This is How NY is Trying to Fix That
Alanna O'Shea needed a lot of dental work, maybe even root canal. A dentist said the 20-year-old who attends a special education program at Ardsley High School would need to be under anesthesia in a hospital operating room to get the work done. That's an all-too-common, highly invasive practice for treating people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who may be averse to even the most basic dental procedures. Then her mom, Elaine O'Shea, brought Alanna to Touro College's dental clinic for an anesthesia consult. Dr. Raquel Rozdolski, a dentist-anesthesiologist, had other ideas. Read more here.
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Calls, Rescues Take Toll on Mental Health of NYS Parks Police, University Officers
The global prevalence of anxiety, depression and other mental health issues have mounted since the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's taking its toll on the police who safeguard state parks and universities. Members of the state Police Benevolent Association are tasked with rescuing people in need in state forests or campuses. At times, that means helping someone thinking of or attempting to take their own life.
Robert Praczkajlo, a state forest ranger of 22 years, recounted helping to search for a woman early in his career. She died by suicide after stabbing herself multiple times in a state forest next to a large oak tree.
Recalling the incident quickly brought him to tears. Read more here.
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NYHealth Launches 2023 Special Projects Fund RFP
The New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) 2023 Special Projects Fund Request for Proposals (RFP) is now available. Applicants must submit an online inquiry form to determine whether a proposed project fits the funding criteria. There are two funding cycles for the 2022 Special Projects Fund. Deadlines for the online inquiry form are October 12, 2022 and March 2, 2023. Selected organizations will be invited to submit full proposals, with deadlines of January 12, 2023 and May 11, 2023. Read more here.
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UPCOMING EVENTS & TRAININGS
SAMHSA Office of Behavioral Health Equity Recovery Month
September 22, 1:30 - 3 pm, SAMHSA
Community-Level Steps for Cross-Sector Collaboration to Increase Housing Opportunity
September 22, 2 - 3 pm, (CSG) Justice Center and CSH
Suicide Prevention within the LGBTQ+ Community
September 26, 1 - 2 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Quality Matters: An Update From NCQA On Behavioral Health Measurement Trends
September 27, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
Alcohol Use Disorder: Our Nation’s Hidden Epidemic
September 28, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Free Talk Saves Lives Training for Agricultural Community of New York State
September 29, 9 - 10:30 am
How Using Contingency Management Can Support Families Affected by Substance Use Disorders
September 29, 1:30 - 3 pm, SAMHSA
Decreasing Disparities and Improving Outcomes: A Closer Look at Standardization Tools Around Service Intensity
September 29, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
National Family Caregiving Strategy: A State Roadmap for Supporting Family Caregivers
October 3, 2 - 3 pm, NASHP
NYS Justice Center Code of Conduct Train-the-Trainer
October 4, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm, NYSJC
Introduction to PSYCKES
October 4, 10 - 11 am, OMH
Identifying and Reaching Family Caregivers: Innovative State Strategies
October 6, 1 - 2 pm, Center for Health Care Strategies
Professional Boundaries for OASAS Providers
October 12, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm, NYSJC
PSYCKES for Health Homes and Care Management Agencies
October 12, 3 - 4:30 pm, OMH
Integrating Harm Reduction into the Substance Use Disorder Care Continuum
October 13, 1 - 2 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Navigating PSYCKES Recipient Search for Population Health
October 18, 10 - 11 am, OMH
Women Veterans’ Definitions of Peer Support: Importance for Mental Health & Well-being
October 20, 6 - 7 pm, NASW-NYS
Exploring the Intersections of Gender-Based Violence and Suicide
October 21, 12 - 1:30 pm, NYS Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence
PSYCKES Mobile App for iPhones & iPads
October 25, 11 am - 12 pm, OMH
State Integration Models of Recovery Support Services
October 27, 11:30 am - 1 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Diversity, Equity and Belonging focused Solutions to Recruit & Retain the Workforce
November 3, 3 - 4 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
NYS Justice Center Code of Conduct Train-the-Trainer
November 9, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm, NYSJC
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CLMHD CALENDAR
SEPTEMBER
CLMHD Membership Call
September 28: 9 - 10:30 am
OCTOBER
Quarterly LGU Billing Staff Call
October 6, 2 - 3 pm
AOT Coordinators Meeting
October 7, 10 - 11:30 am
CLMHD Office Closed - Columbus Day
October 10
LGU Clinic Operators Call
October 11, 10 - 11:30 am
Executive Committee Meeting
October 12, 8 - 9 am
Addiction Services & Recovery Committee Meeting
October 13: 11 am - 12 pm
Mental Health Committee Meeting
October 13: 3 - 4 pm
Children & Families Committee Meeting
October 18: 11:30 am - 1 pm
CLMHD Fall Full Membership Meeting
October 20-21, Woodcliff Hotel & Spa, Rochester
Developmental Disabilities Committee Meeting
October 27, 1 - 2:30 pm
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