Planning Board Meeting

On March 24 and 25 the Planning Board for the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health met in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the Board meeting was to bring together individuals with expertise in the proposed content of the report and government officials who will be responsible for planning, producing or clearing the report. The Board Members are to:

• Provide one-time expert advice on planning and direction for the Report process, structure, scope, content breadth and depth as proposed in the draft outline presented to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

• Assist in identifying and engaging other key players/stakeholders (ranging from researchers to consumers) in the report development, including potential authors and peer reviewers.

• Bring their spheres of influence into support of the report and its conclusions.

• Assist in getting the report cleared then disseminated and implemented after publication.

The board members made numerous recommendations regarding the key messages for the Report and the framing of the Table of Contents. The report editors will be processing these recommendations over the next few months to come up with a Table of Contents for the Report. The Table of Contents will be available upon its completion and approval by the Office of the Surgeon General.