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State Awards From Most of the Rural Health Fund Could Vary Only Modestly Despite Large Differences in Rural Needs
A new analysis from Kaiser Family Foundation finds that while the upcoming $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program promises vital support for rural communities, the funding formula may not fully reflect the wide differences in rural health needs across states. Despite major variation in rural populations, service gaps, and hospital stability, most states are projected to receive only modestly different award amounts over five years. For New York’s rural counties, the findings raise important questions about how well national funding models align with on-the-ground behavioral health needs and local capacity. Read more here.
Related: Fidelis Care Awards $130,000 in Here for Your Health Rural Health Grants to Providers and Organizations Across New York State
AHA - A Lifeline for Rural Communities: Sutter Health’s Bold Behavioral Health Access Expansion
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When a Person in Distress Denies Being Suicidal, Should They Be Believed?
In his nearly 40-year career as a psychiatrist, Dr. Igor Galynker has lost three patients to suicide while they were under his care. None of them had told him that they intended to harm themselves. In one case, a patient who Dr. Galynker had been treating for a year sent him a present — a porcelain caviar dish — and a letter, telling Dr. Galynker that it wasn’t his fault. It arrived one week after the man died by suicide. “That was pretty devastating,” Dr. Galynker said, adding, “It took me maybe two years to come to terms with it.” He began to wonder: What happens in people’s minds before they kill themselves? What is the difference between that day and the day before? Nobody seemed to know the answer. Suicide rates continue to rise; it is now the third leading cause of death worldwide among those 15 to 29. But despite decades of research into suicide prevention, it is still very difficult to know whether someone will try to die by suicide. Read more here.
Related: Zero Suicides Is the Goal
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State Funds New Health-Led Crisis Teams Across New York: What Will They Do?
New York is putting $6 million on the table to change how communities respond to behavioral health emergencies — by sending trained professionals instead of police. The state’s Office of Mental Health announced the funding Monday, aiming to create at least three crisis response teams across New York. One each will serve a rural, suburban, and urban community, in line with key recommendations from the Daniel’s Law Task Force. Instead of law enforcement being the first to respond to a mental health or substance use crisis, these new teams would be led by behavioral health professionals and include peers with lived experience. Officials say the approach is designed to be trauma-informed, community-based, and rooted in racial equity, cultural humility, and harm reduction. Each team could receive up to $2 million in state support, whether to launch a new operation or expand an existing one. Read more here.
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Attorney General James Secures Approval of Purdue Bankruptcy Plan
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday secured the approval of Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy plan after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane confirmed the plan in a bench ruling. The approval of the plan is a significant step in finalizing the $7.4 billion settlement secured by Attorney General James with Purdue and its owners, the Sackler family, for their leading role in fueling the opioid crisis. Under the Sacklers’ leadership, Purdue developed, manufactured, and aggressively marketed opioid products for decades. Its aggressive and misleading marketing tactics fueled waves of addiction and overdoses across the country. While opioid overdose deaths have declined in New York, nine New Yorkers died of a fatal opioid overdose every day in 2024. Read more here.
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The Princeton Review's 2nd Annual Campus Mental Health Services Survey Finds Double-Digit Gains in College Counseling and Wellness Programs
Results from The Princeton Review®'s second annual Campus Mental Health Survey—a project the education services company conducts in partnership with the Ruderman Family Foundation—reveal double-digit national gains in campus counseling, wellness, and student-support programs, with 61% of colleges now offering formal support programs for students returning from mental-health leave, up 18% from last year. The findings, drawn from surveys in 2024–2025 of administrators at 540 institutions (more than double last year's participation) and more than 31,000 students across 300 colleges, show broad-based progress in campus support for student mental health and well-being. Read more here.
Related: College students are now slightly less likely to experience severe depression, research shows – but the mental health crisis is far from over
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Eliminating Workplace Violence Is Impossible. Here's How Health System Leaders Are Fighting Back.
Workplace violence isn’t just rising in healthcare, it’s becoming inescapable. Threats, verbal abuse, and physical attacks now cut across every setting, from outpatient clinics to hospital wards. And while prevention efforts remain essential, leaders increasingly recognize a harsh truth: violence will happen. What matters now is how organizations, and their CMOs, respond when it does. Hospitals are moving into a new phase of preparedness. Systems are building rapid-response protocols, mobilizing mental-health and peer-support teams, pressing charges against violent offenders, and, when necessary, administratively discharging dangerous patients. This shift signals a new mandate for CMOs: protecting staff with the same urgency traditionally reserved for patient safety. Read more here.
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Leading with Care: How Hospitals Can Lead the Next Era of Behavioral Health
Across the country, hospitals and health systems are working to meet the increasing demand for behavioral health care. As health needs evolve, many times the emergency department serves as the critical access point for patients in crisis. To ensure safe, timely, effective, efficient and patient-centered care, new solutions are helping ease the pressure on front-line teams, improve health outcomes and extend the reach of behavioral health services and resources. In partnership with the American Hospital Association, CredibleMind is cohosting the AHA Affinity Forum: Advancing Population-Based Behavioral Health Inside and Outside the Hospital Walls. This multipart series explores how hospitals and health systems can strengthen behavioral health prevention and treatment for patients, staff and communities. The first session, “Community Health Strategies to Advance Behavioral Health,” brought together hospital leaders, clinicians and system innovators. They discussed how hospitals and health systems are shifting toward a population behavioral health model that encompasses prevention, self-care, community outreach, workforce support and clinical services. Read more here.
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How Kentucky’s “Seth’s Law” Reduces Barriers to Care for Competency to Stand Trial and Guardianship
In April 2024, Kentucky enacted Seth’s Law, landmark legislation designed to resolve a years-long crisis in its competency to stand trial system that had left hundreds of people waiting up to 18 months for an evaluation. By formally authorizing outpatient evaluations and modernizing guardianship procedures, the law represents a major shift from courtroom backlogs to community-based care. Early results are dramatic: The outpatient evaluation process has already helped decrease the waitlist for competency evaluations by 91% since September 2023, reducing wait times from over a year to just 10 weeks. This legislative success was the culmination of a multiyear effort that began in August 2022 when the Kentucky Supreme Court established the Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health (KJCMH). Read more here.
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How States Are Modernizing Facility Licensure to Advance Integrated Care
Integration of behavioral health and primary care services is an evidence-based, cost-effective practice, and states are revisiting regulatory and administrative barriers to implementation. As states work to integrate fragmented outpatient behavioral health and primary care systems, licensure reform is a key strategy in regulatory simplification. This article highlights how several states are updating facility licensure requirements with the goal of fostering integrated care delivery. Modernizing facility licensure is a strategic process that can help states reduce provider burden, align with the state’s policy goals, and build a more coordinated, modernized continuum of behavioral health care. This strategy supports the ability of safety-net providers such as health centers, community behavioral health providers, and Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics to meet the whole health needs of patients. It also aligns with implementation of federal initiatives such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovations in Behavioral Health model. Read more here.
Related: Ongoing Challenges to Integrating Care in Settings That Serve Patients With Serious Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorder
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UPCOMING EVENTS & TRAININGS
Workforce Development Series Part 2
November 20, 1 - 2 pm, MTM Services
Becoming a MHFA Instructor
November 20, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Innovative Practices to Address Youth Homelessness
November 20, 2 - 3 pm,
Empowering Addiction Service Providers: Best Practices for HIV, HCV, and HBV Screening, Prevention, and Linkage to Care
November 20, 12 - 1:30 pm, NAADAC
Maternal Mental Health Support Programs and Solutions to Overcome Stigma
November 20, 1 - 3:30 pm, OMH/BHN
Recognizing and Overcoming Barriers to Mental Health in Rural America
November 20, 4 - 5:30 pm, NAMI
De-escalation, Basic Tools for Social Workers
November 21, 10 - 11 am, NCATTC
Crisis Intervention Team Program Development Application - Informational Webinar
November 25, 2 - 3 pm, Institute for Police, Mental Health & Community Collaboration
From Awareness to Action: Igniting Ideas for Addressing Social Isolation and Loneliness in Clinical Practice - Screening Tools & Assessment
December 3, 12 - 1 pm, CCSMH
The Peer Model: the Ethics in Efficacy
December 3, 12 - 1:30 pm, NAADAC
Telehealth Regulatory Guidance for OMH Providers
December 4, 12 - 1 pm, MCTAC
From Numbers to Narratives: The Art of Data Storytelling
December 4, 1 - 2 pm, Social Current
Workforce Development Series Part 3
December 4, 1 - 2 pm, MTM Services
Overdose Prevention and Response in Crisis Care
December 4, 1 - 2 pm, SAMHSA
SUD in Transition: 2026 Policy and Operational Priorities
December 9, 12 - 1 pm, Behavioral Health Business
Inside healthcare: A live panel on legal and legislative issues
December 9, 12 - 1 pm, HANYS
Gambling & Youth-Talking About Risks and Healthy Choices
December 9, 1 - 2 pm, NCPG
Structuring Measurement-Based Care for Success: Implementation Strategies to Drive Adoption, Engagement, and Outcomes
December 9, 1 - 2 pm, greenspace
Strategies for Rural Providers in a Post-OBBBA Landscape
December 9, 3 - 4 pm, NHRA Services Corporation
Navigating Insurance and Risk Mitigation
December 9, 3:30 - 4:30 pm, Social Current
2025 On the Shoulders of Giants Scientific Symposium: “Saving Young Lives, Reaching Every Community“
December 9, 5 - 7:30 pm, Child Mind Institute
State & Local Policy Engagement
December 11, 1 - 2 pm, Social Current
Statewide Aggregate Rural Health Needs Assessment (SARHNA) Findings
December 11, 1 - 2 pm, NYSARH
Strategies to Optimize Patient Outcomes in Bipolar I Disorder
December 11, 1 - 3 pm, PsychU
Partnering with Emergency and First Responders: Dispatch Call Center Diversion
December 11, 2 - 3 pm, SAMHSA
Bipolar Disorder Care on the Frontlines: Bridging Gaps and Optimizing Outcomes
December 12, 2 - 3 pm, Prime
Information Session: Introducing NABITA Credentialing to Elevate Standards for Behavioral Intervention Professionals
December 12, 3 - 4 pm, NABITA
Eliminating Operational and Clinical Burnout in IOP/PHP Settings
December 16, 2 - 3 pm, Behavioral Health Business
Addressing Unresolved Symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder
December 17, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
Investigation Topics Series: Trauma Informed Approach
December 18, 11 am - 12 pm, NYS Justice Center
Workforce Development Series 4
December 18, 1 - 2 pm, MTM Services
From Awareness to Action: Igniting Ideas for Addressing Social Isolation and Loneliness in Clinical Practice
January 14, 2026, 12 - 1 pm, CCSMH
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CLMHD CALENDAR
NOVEMBER
Developmental Disabilities Committee Meeting
November 20: 1 - 2 pm
CLMHD Office Closed - Thanksgiving
November 27 - 28
DECEMBER
CLMHD Executive Committee Meeting
December 3: 8 - 9 am
LGU Clinic Operators Call
December 9: 10 - 11 am
Addiction Services & Supports (ASR) Committee Meeting
December 11: 11 am - 12 pm
Mental Health Committee Meeting
December 11: 3 - 4 pm
Membership Call
December 17: 9 - 10:30 am
Mental Hygiene Planning Committee Meeting
December 18: 1 - 2 pm
CLMHD Office Closed - Christmas
December 25
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