 |
This Web site is a component of the SAMHSA Health Information Network. |
|
Center for Mental Health Services
National Advisory Council
Bethesda, Maryland
Director's Report
May 9, 2000
The Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) continues to provide leadership and direction on mental health issues. From its inception, CMHS has engaged in pioneering efforts in a number of mental health areas, such as children's mental health, women and trauma, co-occurring disorders, homelessness, school violence prevention, and resilience. As a result, CMHS is frequently asked to share its expertise.
In addition, CMHS supports a number of collaborative efforts to increase outreach to people with mental illness and their families. Recent examples include:
- The National Congress for Hispanic Mental Health B On March 20-21, 2000, a diverse group of Hispanic stakeholders met in Tysons Corner, Virginia, to identify key policy and practice recommendations for meeting the mental health needs of Hispanic Americans. Participants included consumers and family members, service providers, policy makers, researchers, and leaders of national and local advocacy organizations. The leadership of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service's (SAMHSA ) Administrator, Dr. Nelba Chavez, was instrumental in bringing this meeting about. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher and Dr. Chavez addressed the participants. The topic areas discussed were: research; prevention and early intervention; mental health services; consumer, family, and community education; and standards, accreditation, regulation, and human resources. Participants agreed that mental health services to Hispanics should meet several criteria. Services should reinforce cultural values, make use of community resources, eliminate funding disparities, enlist consumers and their families as partners, implement a holistic approach that recognizes the mind/body connection, and serve all Hispanic sub-groups. The recommendations presented at this meeting are being further refined and will be finalized as an Agenda for Action for Hispanic Mental Health to be presented at a Congressional briefing later this year.
- The Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative - Begun in Fiscal Year 1999, this unprecedented collaborative effort is the first time senior representatives from three federal Departments have come together to work on one initiative. CMHS, and the Departments of Education and Justice came to the table with their money, laid it on the table, stepped back, and produced one GFA (Guidance for Applicants) for school violence prevention. From the standpoint of the public, applying for the grant was seamless. It was Aone-stop shopping.@ The initiative is to assist communities in designing and implementing comprehensive education, mental health, social service, law enforcement and juvenile justice services for youth to prevent violence and foster healthy children.
- The Asian American and Pacific Islander Mental Health Summit – On July 10-12, 1999, a diverse group of Asian American and Pacific Islander stakeholders met in Bethesda, Maryland, to survey the current political, social, fiscal, and public opinion environments of mental health services for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the United States. Participants included consumers and family members, providers, researchers, academicians, and administrators from the Asian American and Pacific Islander mental health communities. Discussions focused on the status, needs, and goals of mental health services, with special attention devoted to ethnic-specific services, cultural competency, and child and adolescent mental health. Summit participants produced a set of recommendations for the development of policies and programs to better address the unmet mental health needs of Asian American and Pacific Islander youth and adults.
KEN01-0119
|
|
