Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Association of Substance Abuse and Depression Among Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients Article in the December issue of the
Canadian Journal of Psychiatry based on a study "to determine whether depression levels differ among suicide-attempting and non–suicide-attempting adolescent inpatients in relation to their alcohol use... The results demonstrate a positive association between depression levels and problems with alcohol in adolescents, indicating that youth who both suffer from depression and abuse alcohol may be at higher risk for a suicide attempt."
grants.govFrom the home page - "This site allows organizations to electronically find and apply for competitive grant opportunities from all Federal grant-making agencies. Navigation of the site is simple. Use the colored tabs and links at the top of the screen to access primary sections of the site and links on the left side of the screen to access content within each section. ... The Find Grant Opportunities feature provides the ability to search for Federal government-wide grant opportunities and to receive notification of future grant opportunities."
Statewide Consumer Network GrantsSAMHSA press release and index to related documents and forms - "The Statewide Consumer Networks program is one of SAMHSA’s Infrastructure Grants programs. SAMHSA’s Infrastructure Grants provide funds to increase the capacity of mental health and/or substance abuse service systems to support programs and services. SAMHSA’s Infrastructure Grants are intended for applicants seeking Federal support to develop or enhance their service system infrastructure in order to support effective substance abuse and/or mental health service delivery. The purpose of the Statewide Consumer Networks program is to enhance State capacity and infrastructure to be consumer-centered and targeted toward recovery and resiliency and consumer-driven by promoting the use of consumers as agents of transformation..."
Medicaid Outpatient Prescription Drug Benefits: Findings from a National Survey, 2003A report, in
Adobe Acrobat format, from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured - " This survey of state Medicaid pharmacy programs updates a survey conducted in 2000 and reports Medicaid prescription drug policies in effect in early 2003. It covers utilization management policies, payment and purchasing policies, utilization review policies, and policies for managed care enrollees and persons residing in institutions."
'Take mentally ill out of jails' (UK)BBC story - "Prisoners with mental health problems should be treated in specialist units rather than be locked up in jails, the Chief Inspector of Prisons has said... In response the Prison Service pointed out the scale of the problems it faces. It said that 90% of all prisoners have a diagnosable mental health problem, substance abuse problem or both. A range of initiatives were being developed to ensure that mentally-ill people who come into contact with the criminal justice system receive appropriate care in the right setting, it pointed out. "
County creates mental health task force (Pennsylvania)Wayne Suburban story - "Chester County officials ultimately hope to have a free-standing facility devoted to the treatment of mental health patients. This goal, however, may take several years to become a reality. In the meantime, with the pending closure of the 10-bed psychiatric unit at Paoli Hospital, the county is faced with fewer in-patient treatment facilities for its mental health patients. At their Tuesday meeting, the county commissioners agreed to create a task force to devise contingency plans for the potential void in its mental health services. .."
Mental health system impacts law enforcement (Montana)Helena News story - " The number of involuntary mental commitment proceedings handled by the Lewis and Clark County Attorney's Office in 2003 was down from previous years, but officials aren't sure that's a good thing. Deputy County Attorney Mike Menahan said area residents shouldn't take the dip in numbers as a sign that the community has fewer mentally ill men and women in its midst, but instead, that those people are receiving different types of assistance, or none at all. .."
Seeking better mental health service (California)Daily Republic story - "A campaign to make sweeping changes in services for the state's mentally ill is under way and proponents are looking to California's wealthiest residents to pay the tab. The Mental Health Services Act aims to serve the state's most severely mentally ill, focusing particularly on the poor and homeless. If passed, the initiative would be funded by imposing a 1 percent tax on net income in excess of $1 million. Signature-gatherers - many of them consumers of mental health services and their relatives - are trying to collect the 575,000 signatures required by March 1 to put the measure on the November ballot.."
