CMHS Outlines Collaboration

CMHS Outlines Collaboration

NYAPRS Note: In the wake of call for a 'mental health transformation' as detailed in the President's Mental Health Commission, Center for Mental Health Services Director Kathryn Powers recently made strong public commitments to a recovery-centered system, called on existing interests to 'give up turf', referenced a planned new womens' trauma resource center and highlighted housing as a major focus of new interagency collaborative efforts.

CMHS Director Outlines Unprecedented Collaborative Efforts

Mental Health Weekly August 16, 2004

From evidence-based practices to trauma to homelessness to co-occurring disorders, Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) Director A. Kathryn Power, M.Ed., laid out a future plan for federal efforts in the mental health field last week at the annual conference of the Association for Ambulatory Behavioral Healthcare (AABH) in Cambridge,Mass.

The overriding themes surrounding Power's more specific proposals for the mental health field were collaboration in and transformation of the nation's mental health system, and recovery.

Using the backdrop of Boston's Freedom Trail, Power told AABH attendees that revolutionary ideas were nothing new to them, calling ambulatory behavioral healthcare cutting edge and flexible, going to the heart of the recommendations of the President's New Freedom Commission Report on Mental Health.

"You are challenging conventional wisdom on how behavioral health should be provided - you are not content with the status quo," Power told AABH attendees. "You're helping people find their personal paths to recovery."

Power called the notion of transformation "a very powerful concept" profound change, complete upheaval - it's a revolution of new ideas and beliefs, and a process."

She said embarking on change will involve navigating rough waters and giving up old ideas. "Real change in real organizations is personal and political - it involves giving up turf," said Powers.

Power added that collaboration is needed to bring about transformation - "it's complicated in the mental health field but it can be done."

Power has set the example at the federal level on collaboration. In an unprecedented effort, 21 federal agencies have come together to review and assess how the federal government is funding and delivering mental health services. They also thoroughly reviewed the New Freedom Commission report.

In addition to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), these agencies include the Departments of Education, Labor, the Social Security Administration, the Veterans Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The goal is to develop measurable steps to be taken at the federal level. The collaboration also set a strong example for state and local jurisdictions.

"We've got to leverage existing resources and share emerging best practices," said Power. "If it can happen at the federal level, it can happen at the state and local level."

The four redwoods

SAMHSA Administrator Charles G. Curie has established four redwoods: the agency's strategic investments over the next decade. One of them is co-occurring disorders. The other three are the Access to Recovery program for substance abuse treatment; mental health transformation; and the Strategic Prevention Initiative.

For co-occurring disorders, Power said the priority is to develop a single system of care. There will also be a major emphasis on recovery for all mental health care.

"We know recovery, but we have to speak recovery," said Power. A recovery-based system puts the unique person at the center, said Power. She added that it integrates mind and body and lets individuals take control of their lives. "It doesn't imply a cure but a lifelong process," said Power.

"For some individuals, a fulfilling and productive life - for others, recovery," she said.

Power said a recovery-focused system demands change from state agencies and local providers. She emphasized cross-discipline care with a nexus among primary care, substance abuse treatment and prevention, and mental health, and behavioral and medicinal approaches.

Power also emphasized the importance of collaborating with other organizations to address trauma. She said SAMHSA will be establishing a women's trauma resource center to share information and practices.

There exists a need to get evidence- based treatment to the field faster, said Power. SAMHSA has establish a National Registry for Effective Programs (NREP) that currently includes more than 45 model programs.

On the prevention side, CMHS would like to eliminate the bright line that exists between prevention and treatment. "We need to eliminate the dichotomy between the two," said Power. "We need treatment-minded prevention and prevention-minded treatment."

At an earlier AABH session, Curie talked a great deal about the agency's Strategic Prevention Framework. He said the aim of the initiative is to use State Incentive Grants to facilitate efforts to bring together agencies in states that receive prevention money.

"Entities for the first time will know what [prevention] dollars are being contributed total," said Curie.

Power added that SAMHSA continues to focus on homelessness, through the PATH program and other efforts, and recognizes it as a barrier to treatment.

She added that the Department of Housing and Urban Development is a member of the collaborative federal team.

In summary, Power said that "the transformation underway today will leave a modern mental health delivery system in its wake. You must speak it, spread the word of recovery-focused care, tell the success

stories, fight stigma."

"We will start a modern revolution of our own" she added, from near the banks of the historic Charles River.

Source: Mental Heatlh Weekly

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