Psychiatric Disabilities/Mental Illness

SSA’s Office of Employment Support Programs (OESP), CMS and SAMHSA hosted a two day summit focusing on its Ticket to Work Program and mental health employment services. Presenters gave a series of keynotes and breakout sessions including topics such as dispelling Ticket Program myths, functioning as a successful Employment Network, and evidence-based practice in supported employment.

TAC is a national non-profit organization that advances proven solutions to the housing and community support needs of vulnerable low-income people with significant long-term disabilities. Their goal is to achieve sustainable public sector systems change through evidenced-based, promising approaches in mental health, substance abuse, human services and affordable and permanent supportive housing. Visit this website to find news, training, publications, and policy and program info.

This study examined the effectiveness of the Cash & Counseling program for those with a diagnosis of mental illness using previous research from the Cash & Counseling Demonstration and Evaluation (CCDE) program in New Jersey. The link to the article abstract is available here.

This article discusses the benefits and opportunities presented as a result of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) publishing the final Medicaid rule that permits Medicaid recipients to self–direct their own health care and supportive services. The rule is known as Self–Directed Personal Assistance Services Program State Plan Option (Cash & Counseling).

Hispanic individuals with disabilities have unique needs that service systems often do not meet. Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital recently conducted a needs assessment with our Hispanic patients with disabilities, striving to understand the general disability-related needs of Hispanic patients and how medical systems can fit into meeting these needs. These PowerPoint presentations were presented at the Latino Social Workers Organization's conference in March 2009 (Chicago, IL).

This report and tables present Medicaid 1915(c) Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Waiver expenditures data from Federal Fiscal Years 2003 through 2008. Each HCBS waiver is classified by population served in order to show the distribution of expenditures across long-term care populations. This report includes new target population categories to identify waivers that target particular developmental disabilities such as intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders.

The SAMHSA and NIDRR-funded UIC National Research and Training Center on Psychiatric Disability has recently posted a series of podcasts and slides from their 2009 Summit on Self-Determination: The Fierce Urgency of Now. A range of leading national experts present on such topics as: self-directed care, eliminating disparities, microenterprises, asset building, WRAP, peer specialists, and many more.

Looking for interesting on-line training opportunities? Train.org offers a number of web-based studies, webcasts and seminars. Topics include workforce development, disability, emergency management, evaluation, home care, mental health, program development. You can search by subject or course title such as Ready, Willing and Able, a seminar about assisting people with disabilities during disasters. Many on-line courses are offered at no charge.

The purpose of a personal assistant is to help perform tasks that a person has difficulty doing due to a disability. This curriculum, developed by Boston University's Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, delivers training to prepare individuals to become providers for those with psychiatric disabilities. Included are three skill building components each with a trainer guide and participant workbook.

CMS awarded the fourth round of 3-year grants for RCSC in Sept 2004. Three categories of grants were awarded: Research and Demonstration grants (40), Technical Assistance grants (10), and Feasibility Study and Development grants (2). This report focuses on the outcomes and Enduring Systems Improvements in Housing, Comprehensive Systems Reform, Mental Health Systems Transformation, Quality, Rebalancing, and Family to Family Grantees.