September 14, 2023

During Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, Governor Hochul Announces Transportation for Life Summit to Support Prevention Efforts and Raise Awareness


Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday announced that registration is now open for the upcoming Transportation for Life Summit on Friday, September 22 at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie. Coinciding with Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, the one-day, interagency summit will focus on building a first-of-its-kind coordinated and comprehensive approach to mental health awareness and suicide prevention in public spaces. The Transportation for Life Summit is a collaborative effort that will bring together professionals, experts and stakeholders from various fields, including mental health, transportation, education, community organizations, among others. The goal is to promote a commitment to suicide prevention and to collectively explore innovative strategies and initiatives to prevent suicides, raise awareness and support those impacted. Read more here.

Governor Hochul Announces $7.7 Million to Support Addiction Workforce Development Through New Fellowship Program


Governor Kathy Hochul last week announced more than $7.7 Million in funding will be distributed through the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports to support a new workforce development and fellowship program at four medical schools across New York State. This innovative addiction workforce training initiative will support 83 New York State fellows with professional healthcare experience to gain educational training and development to best meet the needs of New Yorkers impacted by addiction. This program will allow medical students, current medical professionals, and certain state workers to enter the fellowship program by supporting their stipends (or salaries) and benefits, and will also support curriculum development, instruction, and supervision of the fellows. Enrolled addiction professionals will gain experience across multiple prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery settings. Read more here.


Related: SUNY Chancellor King Announces Task Force to Address Statewide Health Care Workforce Shortage


Why Nurse Practitioners are a Solution to Rural Healthcare Challenges

Offering Treatment to Drug Users Instead Of Arresting Them Reduces Crime and Addiction – New Research into Police Diversion Program Shows


When police get suspected drug abusers treatment rather than arresting them, those people are less likely to abuse drugs or commit drug-related crimes in the future, new, limited research finds. This kind of police intervention can help reduce opioid abuse. The U.S. has been in the throes of rampant opioid abuse since the late 1990s. Communities around the country have experienced increases in opioid-related deaths and crimes as a result. One study shows opioid-related deaths more than quadrupled from 9,489 in 2001 to 42,245 in 2016. Another study indicates that people addicted to opioids are more likely than people who don’t use opioids to have run-ins with police. The rate of opioid-related crimes in the U.S. has increased substantially, from 32 per 100,000 people in 2005 to 78 per 100,000 people in 2018. Historically, for public safety, police have arrested people suspected of using drugs. Research shows, though, that this approach has not been effective at reducing drug abuse or related crimes. Read more here.


Related: Fentanyl mixed with cocaine or meth is driving the '4th wave' of the overdose crisis

DEA Gets an Earful About Telehealth Prescribing of Controlled Substances


Should the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) require a prior in-person visit before allowing clinicians to prescribe controlled substances via telemedicine? That was one of the issues that DEA officials heard conflicting testimony on during a "listening session" Tuesday. "Arbitrary one-time in-person evaluation requirements do not prevent abuse and diversion," said Helen Hughes, MD, medical director of the Office of Telemedicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine, in Baltimore. "Telemedicine controlled substance prescribing happens in a variety of settings across Johns Hopkins Medicine, often without a previous in-person encounter," such as pediatric patients being prescribed attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications and elderly patients who are receiving palliative care. Read more here.

Mobile Crisis Response Teams are Addressing Mental Health Needs for Public Safety


After a year in service, Mobile Crisis Response Teams have become a critical component supplementing the police response to mental health emergencies.


Mental Health and Public Safety

Following demands for police reform across the nation as a response to tragedies like the killing of George Floyd, Westchester County set out to “reimagine” its own law enforcement procedures. To do this, the government commissioned a comprehensive report and launched an initiative called, “Project Alliance.” In a press conference on September 30th, 2021, County Executive George Latimer explained this plan. Flanked by representatives from various departments, Latimer stressed the need to address the mental health crisis. Read more here.

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Adds American Sign Language Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Callers


The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s addition of nationwide American Sign Language (ASL) services for people who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing, as part of ongoing efforts to expand accessibility to behavioral health care for underserved communities. Since the July 2022 launch, the 988 Lifeline has received more than 5.5 million calls, texts, and chats, following a nearly $1 billion investment by the Biden-Harris Administration, and will now be available to the millions of Americans who use ASL. Read more here.

‘EmPATH’ Units Seek to Shatter the Behavioral Health Emergency Department Bottleneck


Health systems are seeing a steep increase in patients coming to emergency departments (EDs) for psychiatric conditions. However, the ED is often not the best place for patients in a psychiatric crisis. One major ramification of this increase is many of these patients can face a long wait time, causing a significant bottleneck in the ED. As a response, many health systems have invested in creating an alternative type of emergency psychiatric care, called EmPATH units, which specifically cater to caring for patients with behavioral health conditions. Read more here.


Related: Reinventing the E.R. for America’s Mental-Health Crisis


JAMA - Hospital Readmissions by Variation in Engagement in the Health Care Hotspotting Trial

A Journey from Homelessness to a Room of One’s Own


Jessica moved into 90 Sands Street, a vast new supportive-housing facility in Brooklyn, on February 15th: a bleak, cloudy morning. The move came not a moment too soon; there had been much upheaval in her life in the previous few weeks, including an assault by her ex-boyfriend and two of his friends that had left her with facial bruises, and an overdose caused by the presence of the animal tranquillizer xylazine in her heroin—an honest error, it seemed, on the part of her trusted dealer—for which the forty-two-year-old was rushed to Mount Sinai from the transitional-housing facility where she’d been living for nine months. “I was dead,” she told me with characteristic flair, in her strong Southern accent. “When I left in the ambulance, I was dead. They gave me CPR, they took me to the best hospital in Manhattan, and they shocked me in the hospital six times.” Read more here.

An Evidence-Based Focus On Preventing Suicide Through Firearm Storage—Recent Advances In Our Efforts


Last year, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to write a blog post for the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium discussing what we know about risk factors for and methods of preventing firearm suicide. In that post, I discussed why firearms play such a disproportionate role in American suicide, which communities are most heavily impacted by these tragedies, and what tools exist for us to prevent firearm suicide. I was once again offered the opportunity to honor National Suicide Prevention Month by writing a blog post on this topic and I would like to take the opportunity to provide updates on what was discussed last year. Read more here.

911 Call-Takers Are Demoralized, Overwhelmed and Dealing With Their Own Mental Health Woes


In her 21 years as a 911 dispatcher, Lynette McManus Williams has served as the first person that callers speak with on one of the worst days of their lives. She’s coached desperate callers on how to provide CPR and the Heimlich maneuver to loved ones, dispatched emergency medical personnel and police, and convinced people that life is worth living when they’ve given up hope. Nearly five years after Williams’ “Just a Dispatcher” post went viral, she continues to hear from other dispatchers who share their experiences and police officers who thank her for what she does. But while she sees appreciation of dispatchers slowly growing, she says they’re not getting enough support to deal with the high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and suicide that are a byproduct of the job. Read more here.

ALBANY: Albany-based recovery community center receives 2 years of opioid settlement funding


BROOME: ‘Chalk the Walk, Have the Talk’ for suicide prevention and mental health awareness


CHAUTAUQUA: County Government Looking At House to Address Increased Emergency Housing Needs


CHAUTAUQUA: New art space for people with disabilities opens in Jamestown


CHAUTAUQUA: Congressman Nick Langworthy Announces Over $1M Federal Grant for the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene


CORTLAND: Cortland County accepting opioid settlement fund proposals


DUTCHESS: Area school officials seek state funds for student mental health


ERIE: Erie County will host a training focused on youth to close National Suicide Prevention Week


ESSEX: Essex County launches opioid overdose prevention program


FRANKLIN: DSS commissioner, county address area homelessness


FULTON: OCO Family Care Program Offers Fulfillment


GENESEE: Make suicide prevention a way of life, educator says


GENESEE: Trends for Genesee County: homelessness on the rise


JEFFERSON: Jefferson County had first over-the-counter Narcan sale in the US


JEFFERSON/LEWIS: Jefferson and Lewis Counties fight against suicide


MONROE: New program aims to reduce gun violence in Rochester and other cities around NYS


MONROE: Narcan boxes installed in Monroe County parks


MONROE: Governor Hochul Celebrates Groundbreaking of $650 Million Strong Memorial Hospital Emergency Department Expansion and Modernization Project in Rochester


NYC: Point Source Youth Scales Direct Cash Transfers as Prevention for Youth Homelessness to Five U.S. Cities


NYC: The Fortune Society’s Pioneering CEO of 34 Years Announces Retirement


ONEIDA: Oneida County Seeks Opioid Response Proposals


ONONDAGA: City of Syracuse Seeks Proposals for Opioid-Settlement Relief Funding


ROCKLAND: North Rockland school district's new behavior center aims to help kids' mental health


TIOGA: Tioga County Takes Part in Save a Life: Free Narcan Day for First Time


TOMPKINS: Tompkins County looks to tackle suicide with coalition meeting


WESTCHESTER: Westchester County Recognizes Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month with Butterfly Display at Ridge Road Park

Policy Outsider Podcast: School-Based Health Centers


The 252 school-based health centers (SBHCs) operating in New York State serve more than 250,000 students. These health centers provide a range of services on school premises, from primary to behavioral health care—and, in some cases, dental and vision care—and augment the health services children receive from traditional healthcare providers. On the latest episode of Policy Outsider, Senior Fellow for Health Policy Courtney Burke interviews Dr. Viju Jacob, a pediatric specialist in the Bronx who works for Urban Health Plan, which operates several SBHCs, and Ronda Kotelchuk, founder of the Primary Care Development Corporation and current chair of New York State Foundation for School-Based Health Centers, to learn more about SBHCs, the positive health and academic outcomes they support, and what is needed to maintain and expand the important services they offer to students. Click here to listen to the episode.

NYAPRS to Rebrand as the Alliance for Rights and Recovery


Despite Successes, Addiction Treatment Programs for Families Struggle to Stay Open


Governing: One Overlooked Way to Fight Opioid Deaths? Give People Something to Do.


SAMHSA: DAWN Drug-Related ED Visits Involving Suicide Attempts Short Report


SAMHSA: Opioid-Overdose Reduction Continuum of Care Approach (ORCCA) Practice Guide 2023


SAMHSA Guide: Maintaining Fidelity to ACT - Current Issues and Innovations in Implementation


Chipping away at the 'epidemic of loneliness,' one new friendship at a time

UPCOMING EVENTS & TRAININGS


From Corrections to Community: Navigating the New Medicaid Section 1115 Demonstration Opportunity

September 14, 1:30 - 3 pm, CSG Justice Center


Building and Supporting Comprehensive Behavioral Health Crisis Response

September 14, 2 - 3 pm, NACo


Partnership for Integrated Care: Office Hours

September 15, 2 - 3 pm, PIC


Maximizing Public Funding Streams to Expand Access to Evidence-Based Substance Use Disorder Services

September 18, 2 - 3:15 pm, Center for Health Care Strategies


Care Coordination Coming (Or Changing) In A State Near You

September 19, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU


Mental Health Parity Update: Key Takeaways From the Newest Regulatory Guidance and Litigation Trends

September 19, 1 - 2 pm, Manatt Health


Enhancing Harm Reduction Services in Health Departments: Harm Reduction Vending Machines

September 19, 1:30 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing


TIROES Training - Approaching TIROES From Within: Promoting Inclusivity Through Your Entire Organization

September 19, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing


The Poison Center’s Role in Suicide Prevention: Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medications and the Risk for Harm

September 20, 10 - 11 am, NYC and Upstate NY Poison Centers and the NYS OMH Suicide Prevention Center


Increasing Access to Behavioral Health Services for Underrepresented Communities

September 20, 12 - 1 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing


Transforming the Criminal Justice System with Peer Support

September 20, 1 - 2:30 pm, CSG Justice Center


Suicide Prevention and the Aging Population

September 21, 10 am - 12 pm, Central East ATTC


OMH Webinar for All Providers

September 21, 11 am - 12 pm, OMH


Engaging Community Stakeholders to Reduce Mental Health Inequities in the Hispanic Community

September 21, 12:30 - 2 pm, NIH


Understanding the 988 Lifeline LGBTQ+ Landscape

September 21, 1 - 2 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing


Shattering Myths: Performance, Attrition, and Executive Functioning of College Students with Mental Health Conditions

September 21, 2:30 - 4 pm, Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research 


Peer Recovery Support Series, Part 8: Ethics, Confidentiality, and Boundaries in Peer Recovery

September 21, 3 - 4 pm, NAADAC


CoE-IHS Webinar: Partnering with Schools to Improve Youth Mental Health

September 26, 11 am - 12 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing


Using Progressive Practices to Promote Wellness & Recovery for Veterans

September 26, 12 - 2 pm, NASW-NYS


Lessons from the Field in Reducing Child Abuse through Community-Based Collaboration

September 26, 12:30 - 2 pm, Social Current


Harm Reduction, Limited Gambling and Countertransference

September 27, 12 - 1:30 pm, NY Council on Problem Gambling


Teachable Moment: Helping Students (and Adults) Address Mental Health Challenges

September 27, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing


Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Behavioral Health: Leveraging Person-Centered Approaches

September 27, 2:30 - 4 pm, Resources for Integrated Care


Healthy Families for a Healthy Workforce

September 28, 12 - 1 pm, MHANYS


Equity-Centered Strategies to Improve Care for People Experiencing Homelessness: Lessons from Kings and Tulare Counties

September 29, 11 am - 12 pm, Center for Health Care Strategies


Understanding the Population of People with Frequent Jail Contact

September 29, 1 - 2 pm, SAMHSA's GAINS Center


988: It is NOT just a number- Webinar #3

October 3, 2 - 4:30 pm, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine


Key Takeaways: Survey Of 4,000 Health Plans On Behavioral Health’s Future

October 24, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU

GRANTS/FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES


HRSA Health Workforce


NYS Grants Gateway


NY Health Foundation


OASAS Procurements


OMH Procurements


OPWDD Procurements


Rural Health Information Hub - New York


SAMHSA Grants Dashboard

CLMHD CALENDAR


SEPTEMBER


Addiction Services & Supports (ASR) Committee Meeting

September 14: 11 am - 12 pm


Mental Health Committee Meeting

September 14: 3 - 4 pm


Children & Families Committee Meeting

September 19: 11:30 am - 1 pm


Membership Call

September 20: 9 - 10:30 am


Developmental Disabilities Committee Meeting

September 21: 1 - 2:30 pm


Deputy DCS Call

September 26: 10 - 11 am


Mentoring Workshop: Steps to Developing a Threat Assessment Group in Your County

September 27: 11:30 am - 1 pm


OCTOBER


CLMHD Executive Committee Meeting

October 4: 8 - 9 am


AOT Coordinators Call

October 6: 10 - 11:30 am


LGU Clinic Operators Call

October 10: 10 - 11:30 am


Addiction Services & Supports (ASR) Committee Meeting

October 12: 11 am - 12 pm


Mental Health Committee Meeting

October 12: 3 - 4 pm


Children & Families Committee Meeting

October 17: 11:30 am - 1 pm


Membership Call

October 18: 9 - 10:30 am


Mental Hygiene Planning Committee Meeting

October 19: 1 - 2:30 pm


Deputy DCS Call

October 24: 10 - 11 am


Fall 2023 Full Membership Meeting

October 25 - 27, Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel

Links to State Guidance and Updates on COVID-19


NYS Coronavirus Vaccination Information

The Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors advances public policies and awareness for people with mental illness, chemical dependency and developmental disabilities. We are a statewide membership organization that consists of the Commissioner/ Director of each of the state's 57 county mental hygiene departments and the mental hygiene department of the City of New York.

Affiliated with the NYS Association of Counties (NYSAC)
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