Psychiatric Disabilities/Mental Illness

One in five people in a typical office is likely to experience a mental illness each year. Experts increasingly acknowledge how work is a key factor in supporting mental wellness, warding off symptoms of mental illness and helps throughout the recovery process. This online brochure offers information, reviews the potential risks and benefits of telling your employer that you have a mental illness, and offers links to resources that provide information on mental health in the workplace.

CMS announced $218 million in demonstration grants awarded up to 10 States to help provide community alternatives to psychiatric residential treatment facilities for children. These demonstration grants enacted by the Deficit Reduction Act, available over a five year period, will also assist States in adopting strategic approaches for improving quality as they work to improve each child's functional level in the community. Applicants' teleconference Sept. 19 & proposals are due Oct. 18, 2006.

The aim of this policy brief is to offer state planners and program administrators an overview of strategies being used to improve and develop programs to support individuals with co-occurring psychiatric and developmental disabilities.

This issue provides an overview of what happened when 7 Mental Health Transformation State Incentive Grants (MHT SIGs) convened in Washington D.C. The article “Moving From Vision to Reality” discusses transformational leadership, the central theme of the meeting. This publication also includes: +State Profile: Maryland Builds On History Of Mental Health Transformation +Federal Partner Spotlight: Social Security Administration +Consensus Statement on Recovery Issued +The CMHS 2007 Budget

States' Initiatives to Address the Needs of Persons Dually Diagnosed with Psychiatric and Developmental Disabilities.

The SAMHSA ADS Center hosts free training teleconferences. These events generally consist of two or more formal presentations followed by an open forum. Participants present and discuss the most up-to-date research and information about stigma and stigma-reduction programs and topics. Since scheduling conflicts often prevent many stakeholders from joining in the live events, the teleconference trainings are archived online for individuals or groups to utilize at their convenience.

What are the specialized needs of seniors, people with disabilities and individuals with mental illness during emergencies? This brief describes how ADRCs can assist consumers before, during and after crisis situations. Although numerous federal, state and local agencies are involved in emergency activities, this issue brief focuses on the key roles of ADRCs in emergency planning, response and recovery.

This memorandum and tables present data on Medicaid 1915(c) Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiver expenditures from Federal Fiscal Years 2000 through 2005. Each individual HCBS waiver is classified by population served in order to show the distribution of HCBS waiver expenditures across long term care populations.

The CMS Systems Change conference, Transforming Systems: Keys to Success was held April 10-12 in Baltimore. Presentations from the 2006 sessions are available in both PDF and text formats. Topics range from ideas on system transformation, stakeholder involvement, coalition building, strategic planning, sustaining systems change, and the Deficit Reduction Act. Full titles are listed in the keywords section.

Why is evaluation useful? How do you conduct a practical evaluation without straining resources? How can a program integrate evaluation activities into a project so that they become an asset rather than a burden? The answers to these questions and additional resources can be found in Volume 4 of the Community Living Brief.