Psychiatric Disabilities/Mental Illness

The problems of board and care homes, also known as adult homes, for people with psychiatric disabilities are the focus of a new SAMHSA report. The history, demographics and common concerns of these homes are detailed in-depth plus ten recommendations to improve quality of life. A list of measures being implemented to improve the lives of residents and recommendations calling for a recovery-oriented approach based on the principles of self-direction and community integration are also provided.

Community Service Options, Inc (CSO) is an organization dedicated to assisting persons with developmental disability to receive service and live in the “least restrictive” setting. CSO provides screening, eligibility assessment, service coordination, and advocacy throughout the Chicago area. The website provides links to their services and assessment tools.

For more than three decades, CQL has been at the forefront of the movement to improve the quality of services and supports for people with intellectual disabilities and people with mental illness. Plan to attend one of their upcoming regional conferences or review the overview from last year's session on the Community Life Initiatives. Visitors to the website can register for Capstone, the CQL Newsletter, read archived issues, or review their innovative and one-of-a-kind tools and resources.

Certainly, stigma is one of the more formidable obstacles to a transformed mental health system. This resource kit is intended to raise awareness of mental health and help counter the stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental illnesses. Users are invited to use the kit with event planning, partnership development, outreach to schools and businesses, mental health resources, marketing to the general public, and grassroots outreach.

Creating a single assessment tool to be used across age and disability has been an interest of states, policy makers, and providers for years. An interest also exists to develop a consumer-driven participatory assessment where consumers take a more active role. Following review and input from a diverse work group, this tool was piloted for 16 months and a qualitative evaluation was conducted to determine its utility. The development process yielded key findings and recommendations.

This report describes examples of more narrowly focused state legislation that is setting the policy and infrastructure for consumer direction, expanding the direct care workforce, and supporting persons who return to the community after living in institutions. The Appendix includes the specific legislative language of selected bills covered in the report.

An advisory committee of consumers, providers, practitioners, advocates and experts worked collaboratively to identify the major challenges preventing people with mental illness from discharging out of nursing facilities and into less restrictive communities. This report is a result of their work and aims to make available a framework for successful transition programs. The best practices described are offered as a guide for service providers, advocates, and mental health clients themselves.

SAMHSA has just released three new Requests for Applications (RFAs) related to the promotion of mental health consumer and family member networking and technical support. These include funding opportunities for Statewide Consumer and Family Network Grants and Grants for National Consumer and Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Centers. Go to the following SAMHSA webpage for grants and look under Center for Mental Health Services to view the RFAs due Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2007.

Popular with journalists, this guide is useful for those interested in health policy issues. Chapters contain key facts, an overview, expert sources with telephone numbers, story ideas and helpful websites. Topics presented for current policy discussion include: the uninsured, private health coverage, children's health coverage, Medicare, Medicare prescription drugs, Medicaid, long-term care, health care costs, quality and health information technology, disparities, mental and public health.

Speaker presentations from the recently concluded 19th Annual State Health Policy Conference in Pittsburgh are now available. Topics include Helping Troubled Youth, High Performance Health Systems, Balancing Long-Term Care, Improving Quality, Assuring Better Child Health and Development, Redesigning Coverage in Medicaid, Patient Safety, and Using Data to Inform Public Policy. Review the presentations and other hot topics in state health policy.