Wednesday, October 22, 2003
HHS Awards $8.4 Million for Training and Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices for Treating Mental Illness
HHS press release at the SAMHSA web site - " Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced awards totaling $8.4 million over three years to support efforts in nine states to implement and evaluate evidence-based practices for treating mental illnesses. HHS Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will administer the nine grants. First year funding totals $2,825,629. All nine grantees will provide training and continuing education for mental health service providers and other stakeholders. Each grantee will implement one or more of the following six evidence-based practices for which SAMHSA has previously developed implementation resource kits: Assertive Community Treatment; Family Psychoeducation; Illness Management and Recovery; Integrated Treatment for Co-Occurring Disorders; Medication Management; and Supported Employment."
United States: Mentally Ill Mistreated in Prison Announcement at the Human Rights Watch web site - "Mentally ill offenders face mistreatment and neglect in many U.S. prisons, Human Rights Watch charged in a report released today. One in six U.S. prisoners is mentally ill. Many of them suffer from serious illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. There are three times as many men and women with mental illness in U.S. prisons as in mental health hospitals. The rate of mental illness in the prison population is three times higher than in the general population..." See also the full (215 page) report,
Ill-Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness (
Adobe Acrobat format).
Report: Mental health agency doing fair job, could do better (Michigan)
Holland Sentinel story - "Community Mental Health of Ottawa County and the county itself do a fair job of providing for their mentally ill and developmentally disabled clients, but not a great one. So said more than 200 county patients, their families and their providers in a review of the organization and county conducted by Holland-based River Hills Consulting. Brenda VanderMuelen, the owner of the firm, told the community mental health board of directors Monday that the county received a 'fair to good' rating from the participants of a needs assessment over the past few months."
Mental health services for ethnic minorities to be overhauled (UK) Brief item at
Health and Care - " The Government has set up a radical review of mental health services for ethnic minorities and promised to recruit 500 staff specifically focused on work with black and Asian people. ... The review takes the form of a combination of immediate action and consultation over future plans. A document called Delivering race equality: a framework for action, launched by the Department of Health on 17 October, identifies priorities for improvement and will be the basis for meetings across England to take place over the next three months. The National Institute for Mental Health England (NIMHE) is establishing a major implementation programme and creating nine new senior posts to lead on race equality." See also
Consultation framework for black and ethnic minorities at the NHS web site,
information about the report and the full report itself,
Delivering Race Equality: A Framework for Action (
Adobe Acrobat format).
Coroner calls for better mental health screening in prisons (New Zealand) New Zealand Herald story - "Christchurch coroner Richard McElrea has recommended urgent consideration be given to upgrading mental health screening of prison inmates. He also recommended more emphasis on suicide prevention programmes after he found that Hayden Richard Hall, a Paparua Prison inmate, took his own life in 2001."
Report on State Prisons Cites Inmates' Mental Illness
New York Times story - "Nearly one of every four New York State prisoners who are kept in punitive segregation confined to a small cell at least 23 hours a day are mentally ill, according to a new report by a nonprofit group that has been critical of state prison policies. One in five of the roughly 5,000 prisoners punished with that isolation have a serious drug problem, the report said. But despite graphic evidence that the most acutely ill prisoners in punitive segregation, or lockdown, often grow only more troubled and violent, the state Department of Correctional Services, which runs the state's 70 prisons, rarely does anything to help them, said the report, released yesterday by the group, the Correctional Association of New York." [Viewing
New York Times resources requires registration, which is free]. See also related resources at the
Correctional Association of New York web site and at the
Prison Mental Health Project site. The Prison Mental Health Project "a system-wide study of mental health services in New York State prisons. With funding from Pfizer and The New York Community Trust, the Prison Mental Health Project is conducting site visits to mental health units in all twelve maximum-security prisons, the Central New York Psychiatric Center and five of the less intensive "step down" units in medium-security facilities. ... "
Panel told Nevadas rural mental health services lagging Reno Gazette-Journal story - "A state panel was told Tuesday mental health professionals almost are nonexistent in outlying areas of Nevada and other states, leading to numerous problems including high suicide rates for people who cant get needed counseling. The state Mental Health Plan Implementation Commission also was told states must abide by a U.S. Supreme Court mandate and not discriminate against disabled people by providing services in institutions rather than community-based services."
Inquiry and new legislation needed for mental health (New Zealand) Press release at
Scoop.com - "The report into the case of a mental health patient who killed his father after Counties Manukau Health failed to provide him with adequate care, shows why we need a nationwide inquiry into why mental health services keep failing, says National Health Spokesperson Dr Lynda Scott..."
Addiction agency dislikes merger with mental health board (Ohio) Toledo Blade story - "Worried about a loss of focus, the Alcohol Drug Addiction Services Board of Lucas County is recommending against a merger with the Lucas County Mental Health Board. The merger discussion was prompted by a bill passed last year by the Ohio General Assembly permitting the seven Ohio counties - including Lucas County - with separate boards for alcohol and/or drug addiction and mental health to merge..."
