Remarks by Anne Mathews-Younes, Ed.D.
Director, Division of Prevention, Traumatic Stress, and Special Programs
Center for Mental Health Services
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
CADCA’s Forum XVI
Federal Partner Town Hall Meeting
February 16, 2006
Washington, D.C.
PowerPoint version
Attached is the text prepared for delivery; however, some material may have been added or omitted at the time of delivery.
Slide 1/Cover
Good morning and welcome everyone. I am Anne Mathews-Younes, Director of the Division of Prevention, Traumatic Stress, and Special Programs at SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services. I bring you greetings from our Director, Kathryn Power. Kathryn regrets that she could not be here with you today. But I know I speak for her when I say, with deep and sincere appreciation: “Thank you.”
Thank you for the passion and commitment you have shown to the cause. Thank you for being fearless. Thank you for being standard-bearers in the field of substance abuse prevention. In so many ways, you are way ahead of those of us in mental health. You have taken the lead…and shown us just how much can be accomplished in the prevention arena. In fact, you are at the forefront of a major cultural shift. Thanks, in part, to the model your success has provided, prevention now has a respected and growing place on our Center’s agenda…and on the agendas of organizations like ours across mental health.
Why is this cultural shift so critical…and so urgent?
A distinguished psychologist in the field of prevention, George Albee, said it well… “No disease or disorder has ever been treated out of existence.” To build a national behavioral health system that is relevant…and meaningful… and oriented toward recovery, we simply must focus on both treatment and prevention…of both mental illnesses and substance use disorders.
Slide 2/Quote-Graphic
We know there is a very real and very serious relationship between these disorders. We know that prevention and treatment of one becomes prevention of the other. I can scarcely imagine the pain and heartbreak that will be saved when we recognize the connectivity between the two and marshal the collective passion and energy of both the mental health and drug prevention communities to address these critical issues.
Whether we work in substance abuse or in mental health, we all serve the public good. We share a bond in our commitment to improving the lives of others. We all hold firmly to a common belief—the belief that adults and children deserve every opportunity to achieve their full potential in life. Think of what we can do when we harness and channel our collective energies and work together to prevent and treat mental and substance use disorders!
It is time for us to join forces…to re-orient and redirect ourselves, and the nation, toward a shared goal…the goal of recovery for all Americans. When we change the way we think about…and go about…providing care and protecting individuals from developing these problems in the first place, every American will benefit. When we change our expectations of what is possible, and act on those expectations, we will achieve the success we seek for our entire nation!
Slide 3/Achieving the Promise
Two years ago, the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health issued a report on the status of mental health care in this country entitled, Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America. This landmark report called for a fundamental change in the way mental health services are perceived, accessed, delivered, and financed. Achieving the Promise gave us a clear vision…a direction. Today, SAMHSA/CMHS, is leading a movement at the Federal level to realize the vision…to give it legs.
In partnership with agencies from nineFederal Departments, we have released the Federal Action Agenda—the roadmap that will guide our steps as a nation toward this wholesale transformation. This Action Agenda identifies the first, time-limited, realistic steps that SAMHSA, and the Federal partners, can take during the next year to move transformation forward.
The actions described in this report have the power to propel significant changes in mental health care. It is tangible evidence of how we will move from a vision of transformed mental health care to its reality. This document is our pledge to take action. And, we expect the Action Agenda to become a model for an equally unprecedented level of collaboration in every State…where it will lead to even greater action…and transformation with an even greater sense of urgency!
Copies of Achieving the Promise and the Federal Action Agenda are available at the SAMHSA booth—Booth 400—in the Exhibit Hall. If you have not read these reports, I urge you to do so…because a holistic approach to prevention and treatment of mental illnesses and substance use disorders is what transformation is all about. We will achieve the promise of transformation only when we develop our capacity to provide the full spectrum of services and supports that offer the greatest opportunity for productive community living to those with or at risk of these disorders.
Collaboration is the foundation of transformation! Consumers and families living with mental illnesses and substance use disorders have complex and multiple issues. These issues cut across departments, agencies, and systems. As a result, the speed and extent of transformation hinges on how well we all work together for change. Every sector of the behavioral health care community must be represented… from policymakers and clinicians to consumers and family members. We all bear some responsibility—some accountability—for bringing about needed changes in programs, policies, and funding schemes. Each of us must do what we can do.
Transforming the national mental health system will be no easy task. But a passage from the writings of Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch, a commander of the Allied forces in World War I, is relevant to the challenges we face today.
Slide 4/Quote
He says, "The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire." I am here today to call upon each of you to rise up and re-ignite the passion you have demonstrated as leaders in your field. Join us, and help fuel the fires of change across behavioral health. Join us as agents of transformation.
As the theme of this conference suggests, passion is what moves ideas and people to power. Together, we can make amazing progress. I urge you to use your passion to help us move the transformation vision to reality. When we succeed…and we will succeed…every man, woman, and child living with mental illnesses and substance use disorders will be equipped to live his or her best, most empowered, life. Thank you.
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