Closing Remarks by
A. Kathryn Power, M.Ed.
Director
Center for Mental Health Services
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
SAMHSA/Center for Mental Health Services, Center for Substance
Abuse Prevention, and Center for Substance Abuse Treatment
SECOND NATIONAL POLICY ACADEMY ON CO-OCCURRING
SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL DISORDERS
Washington, DC
January 13, 2005
Attached is the text prepared for delivery; however, some material may have
been added or omitted at the time of delivery.
You have had an incredibly productive 3 days! The reports you’ve shared demonstrate just how much can be accomplished by a few individuals with a clear sense of purpose in just a short amount of time. You came with a vision, and you are leaving with strategies and action steps for achieving it. You now have a roadmap for change that can transform the way your States address co-occurring disorders.
During the past 3 days, you have been confronting the many complex issues related to the prevention and treatment of co-occurring disorders. These issues include systemic barriers to care, the traditional separation of mental health and substance use services, and the need for cross-training and other workforce issues. I congratulate you for facing these challenges head on. Your efforts here show how well you understand the fundamental changes needed to develop effective, integrated services. You already have moved several steps forward in creating a behavioral system of care that will offer greater hope and recovery for millions of Americans.
Before I discuss the issue of “Where do we go from here,” I want to acknowledge the hard work of some of the people who helped us to get this far. Special thanks are due to Donna Aligata, JoAnne Sacks, John Challis, and Jim Wuelfing. They are responsible for both the pre-academy site visits and for the skillful facilitation of our meeting sessions. I have a great deal of appreciation for people whose efforts keep us focused on the pathway to success.
I also want to recognize SAMHSA staff members as well as CRP and the CDM Group, our conference planning contractors. Their tireless efforts made this successful academy possible. Special recognition also is due to NASMHPD and NASADAD, the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, and the State Associations of Addiction Services. Their ongoing leadership and support will help to sustain the progress you have made this week.
Finally, I want to acknowledge the incredible contributions of all of the State team members. As a former member of a State policy academy team, I know that what you have accomplished here will be enormously important to the people within your State. However, you also are helping to shape a national agenda for action to prevent and treat co-occurring disorders. Think of yourselves as the leaders that other States will follow. This is how progress always has been made—those with vision setting an example and achieving a reality that others soon try to copy.
The State action plans that you have developed epitomized the transformation of mental health systems envisioned by President Bush’s New Freedom Commission. Each of you received a copy of the Commission’s report with your registration materials. This report, called Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America” describes a mental health system in disarray. Services often are fragmented, disconnected, and inadequate. Achieving the Promise envisions a completely transformed system—one that will be consumer driven, focused on recovery, and builds a person’s resilience to face life’s challenges.
Now consider the State reports you have just shared. Integrated, evidence-based practices; services driven by consumer need; and multiple providers engaged in the cross-system delivery of care—these are the essential elements of transformation. The action plans you have developed at this academy represent the transformative efforts that we expect and need across all systems and from all States.
When I consider the full potential of your accomplishments, however, I think most about what your efforts will mean to the persons you serve. Those with co-occurring disorders face difficult challenges. Stigma, discrimination, a system that fails to adequately diagnose and treat their disorders—these are serious barriers to their recovery and a full life in the community. Your action plans are designed to help break down these barriers. The utmost potential offered by your plans is this: to give persons with co-occurring disorders and their families the greatest possible hope in recovery. They will receive the care they need to lead fuller, more productive lives.
When President Bush created the New Freedom Commission in 2002, he said, “Many Americans fall through the cracks of the current system. Many years and lives are lost before help is given?if it is given at all.” This is the inadequate system that we are working to transform through SAMHSA’s policy academies. Together with the States, we are making fundamental changes in policies and programs and even in our perceptions of care. We now know that individuals with co-occurring disorders should be the expectation in today’s mental health and substance abuse treatment systems . . . and not the exception as they have been treated in the past. We now know that integrated treatment—not parallel or sequential treatment—offers people the best hope of recovery from both disorders. And we also know that recovery, not disability, should be the expected outcome of services for everyone.
During the past few days, you have worked very hard to create plans that will help us achieve this vision. Your plans define how your States will help people find their hope in recovery and a life in their communities. What you have taken are the critical first steps toward creating a system in which “any door is the right door” to preventing and treating co-occurring substance use disorders and mental illnesses.
In answer to the question of “Where Do We Go From Here?,” my charge is simply “Go.” Go forward with your vision. Go nurture the spirit of service. Go strengthen the bond of teamwork as, together, you implement the action plans you have created.
Work hard to sustain your partnerships among members of the State team. One of our objectives in holding this academy was to create and reinforce strong partnerships among key stakeholders, including Government and private representatives. You have accomplished an amazing amount of team-building during the past few days. Further progress will hinge on your continuing collaboration. Hold frequent and open dialogs among yourselves. Work toward additional consensus building with other key stakeholders.
Most important, include the individuals you serve in your discussions—those who are recovering from substance abuse and mental disorders and their families. One of the most critical aspects of transforming how we treat and prevent co-occurring disorders is to create a system that is based on the needs of consumers.
Finally, let's move forward as partners. One objective of this meeting was for you to identify areas where we, the Federal Government, could help you achieve your goals. We already have created the National Co-occurring Disorders Prevention and Treatment Cross-Training Center for Excellence, or COCE, to aid you. Services provided by COCE will be available to you even after you return to your home States. Let us know what additional support you need. Better treatment and prevention of co-occurring disorders is a national goal, which we will achieve only after every State in the Nation is capable of achieving their own visions of integrated care.
A little earlier this week, Charles Curie told you about one young man who spent 16 years on drugs and in and out of jail before his bipolar disorder was finally diagnosed and treated. Think of all that was lost to him and to his community as he struggle alone and unsuccessfully with first one—and then two—disorders. For the sake of all Americans, let’s solve this problem before another generation of individuals with co-occurring disorders is lost. Let’s do it together?public and private, State, and Federal, provider and consumer. As Henry Ford said, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” We have come together at this meeting. We will stay together in our commitment for change. . . and we will find success through our united efforts. Thank you.
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