Remarks by
Frances Randolph
D.P.H.
Director, Office of the Director
Center for Mental Health Services
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
SAMHSA/NGA Center for Best Practice/NASMHPD Regional Conference
“Transforming State Mental Health Systems”
Chicago, IL
June 14, 2005
Attached is the text prepared for delivery; however, some material may have been added or omitted at the time of delivery.
Robert Collier, the author and publisher, wrote that “Vision reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be.” I think that Mr. Collier short-changed vision. True vision conceives of more than what can be: it goes beyond that to conceive of what should be.
As I listened to your State report-outs, I was inspired by the numerous State plans that reflect mental health care as it should be. In many respects, your vision of transformation for your State is driving you to rethink the whole who, what, when, where, and how of mental health care delivery for your constituents. You are, in effect, transforming your current reality of care into an entirely different reality: that is, care that is driven more by consumer needs than by bureaucratic constraints.
[Personal observations about State plans]
The work that you have accomplished during the past 2 days is commendable. Don’t think, however, that your work is anywhere close to completed. What you have done here in Chicago laid the foundation for actions that must follow once you return home. You, as a team, may have reached a consensus on mental health transformation priorities for your State. Now you must find ways to inspire, motivate, and compel others to embrace your vision and goals.
As we have emphasized throughout this meeting, partnership is essential to transformation. No level or branch of government alone can achieve the depth, breadth, and scope of needed change. For this reason, many of our sessions specifically focused on effective strategies for aligning service delivery across multiple agencies.
Your next step as a State team is to guide your State in creating or strengthening the partnerships needed to achieve the goals you have set. You have the power to do this! We deliberately asked the Governors to send us team members who already are leaders as well as senior members of key agencies.
Our selection criteria for team members was a strategic move on our part. We hold a belief similar to that of Stephen Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Like him, we are convinced that one person such as yourself can be a change catalyst, a transformer in any situation and any organization. Such an individual, Covey writes, “is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf.”
Because of who you are and where you sit, you are in an excellent position to raise your State’s mental health care to new heights. You can (1) make others aware of specific areas of concern in your State and (2) stress potential opportunities to address these concerns by expanding service coordination and efficiency. This meeting hopefully has helped you to clarify both the challenges and opportunities faced by your State.
Another next step is to help your State build on the knowledge gained through this meeting. Your work gives you a head start on the long-term planning and decisionmaking needed to develop or refine a comprehensive State mental health plan. As described in Achieving the Promise, a comprehensive plan will create new partnerships among Federal, State, and local governments. It will increase flexibility in resource use, establish greater accountability, and expand the array of services and supports. Its development will involve consumers and their families as the center of care. In short, such a plan will operationalize your vision of transformation!
Also, take steps to ensure that your State makes full use of resources offered by Federal agencies. At the outset of this meeting conference, Kathryn Power discussed the need for a Federal-State partnership in transformation. We are especially proud that eight Federal departments and the Social Security Administration are now members of our Federal Partners Workgroup for transformation. They are collaborating with us in providing new and expanded opportunities to improve mental health care at the State level.
We at the Center for Mental Health Services are doing all that is within our reach and resources to help States move toward transformation. Our most recent initiative is our new State Incentive Grants for Mental Health Transformation Program. These grants approach transformation broadly. Their purpose is to enable States to develop the systemwide infrastructure needed to ensure that the comprehensive needs of consumers can be met. Applications for the first round of grants currently are under review.
We also offer services that enable States to take a more focused approach to transformation. The Center for Mental Health Services supports more than 50 technical assistance centers. These centers offer resources and training to transform service delivery in any number of critical areas, such as offering integrated treatment for co-occurring disorders. We currently are looking at a model for centralizing requests for assistance through a “transformation action center.” Our goal is to make it easier for you to navigate among our many centers to get the technical assistance you require.
Other ways we are supporting transformation at the State level is through our grants for implementing and evaluating evidence-based practices and our policy academies. Invest in the time and planning it takes to apply for our grants and academies. Let us know how else we can be your partners in transformation.
You have heard many reasons why we need to transform our mental health system. I will close by adding one more. Just this month, the National Institute of Mental Health published the results of its National Comorbidity Survey Replication. The new numbers suggest that the United States may rank number 1 globally for mental illnesses!
Each of us bears some responsibility—some accountability—for resolving this national mental health crisis. We have a solution: to follow through on the goals of transformation and to create a consumer-driven system focused on recovery. In partnership with each other and with the people we serve, we can transform the mental health care we offer to Americans: State by State, community by community, and consumer by consumer. Thank you.
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