CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News
December 14, Vol. 07-199

Ten States and Puerto Rico Receive SAMHSA Funding for Pilot Programs to Enhance Transformation of Mental Health Systems

Program supports an array of infrastructure and service delivery improvement activities to further the vision of Transforming Mental Health Systems for the 21st Century.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today announced the selection of Transformation Transfer Initiative program funding awards to 10 states and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

The states selected are Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Each of these states and Puerto Rico will receive an award for up to $105,000 for one year.

The Transformation Transfer Initiative will support new and expanded efforts to improve the capacity and effectiveness of mental health systems that foster recovery and meet the multiple needs of consumers.

The pilot programs will also explore new ways of getting mental health care services to everyone in need - a critical public health challenge. For example, according to the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health, among the 24.9 million adults aged 18 or older with serious psychological distress, only 10.9 million (44 percent) received treatment for a mental health problem in the past year.

The Transformation Transfer Initiative's pilot programs will implement a number of innovative approaches to meeting these mental health challenges, including:

• Developing new, comprehensive peer support services for adults with serious mental illness and for youth with serious emotional disturbances.
• Enhancing juvenile forensic mental health services by providing courts with alternative ways of conducting mental health evaluations. Instead of requiring all juveniles involved in the criminal justice system to undergo involuntary examinations performed at traditional inpatient settings, such as hospital psychiatric wards, new systems would be established to offer the courts the discretion to have juveniles undergo mental health screening and pretrial evaluations in outpatient settings, such as community mental health centers.
• Developing strategic plans to better address the continuing needs of individuals with mental illnesses and co-occurring substance abuse disorders.

"The Transformation Transfer Initiative will build a wealth of experience in the steps it takes to improve mental health services for consumers and their families," said SAMHSA Administrator, Terry Cline, Ph.D. "The knowledge gained through these individual awards will be shared with other states and territories working to provide more coordinated and effective care."

The awardees were announced by A. Kathryn Power, M.Ed., the director of SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services in an address at a meeting of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors in Scottsdale, Ariz.

For more information about SAMHSA's programs, visit http://www.samhsa.gov/.

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The Center for Mental Health Services is a component of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States Department of Health and Human Services.