Title: Other Section and APHA News
Author:
Section/SPIG: Mental Health
Issue Date:
Funding Appeal
The extraordinary aspects of this year’s program (e.g., sponsoring Dr. Sartorius as a keynote speaker) combined with an unanticipated budget shortfall and the fact that San Francisco is an expensive city means that we really need your help. Janice Cohen is preparing a flyer for all members to be released shortly in which she is asking each Section member to contribute $5 to help with this year’s costs.
In addition, if you know of any outside sources of funding, your help in encouraging them to support the Section would be appreciated. Suggested contribution categories include the following:
Friend: donations of under $100
Supporter: donations of $100 to $249
Contributor: donations of $250 to $499
Sponsor: donations of $500 to $999
Patron: donations of $1,000 or more
All contributions are tax-deductible (federal tax ID number 131628688). Please make your check payable to the APHA Mental Health Section Enrichment Fund and forward to:
APHA Finance Department
800 I Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20001-3710
___________________________________________
Implementing Evidence-based Practices Workshop
Our Mental Health Section is sponsoring a workshop on Saturday, November 15 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in San Francisco, just prior to the start of the APHA Annual Meeting. The title of the workshop is "Implementing a Mental Health Evidence-based Practice in Your Setting: ACT, Dual Diagnosis, or Supported Employment." Workshop instructors are David Shern, Rex Green, Gary Bond, John McGrew, David Lynde and Neal Adams. Persons interested in obtaining continuing education credits for attending can register online at <www.apha.org/meetings>. The cost of the workshop is $150. Help spread the word about this opportunity to hear how to make effective treatments work in public service systems.
-- Rex S. Green, Section Member
____________________________________________
Section Booth
Dear Section members –
It is getting closer to November and the Annual Meeting in San Francisco, and I am looking for new articles and consumer information to the broader public health community. I would like to have a variety of information available.
I need your suggestions for making the booth innovative, interesting, and informative. I need your help in staffing the booth. I look forward to hearing from you and working with you. Please contact me at <Gloria.thornton@wellpoint.com> or at (415) 474-2212.
-- Gloria Thornton, Booth Chair
____________________________________________
Monday Morning Breakfast
This year the Section is sponsoring a New Freedom Commission Report Breakfast on Monday morning. This will be the follow-up to a full day pre-meeting workshop on Friday, November 14th on issues , opportunites, and Barriors: Implementation of the New Freedom Commission Report Recommendations. Anticipated contributors to the workshop, many of whom will also be discussants at the breakfast, include Mike Hogan, Ohio DMH Commissioner and Chair of the NFC; Steve Mayberg, Commissioner of CA DMH and also a Commission member; Neal Adams, CA DMH Medical Director and one of our EBP CME faculty; Sandra Goodwin of the California Institute for Mental Health and also a session presenter, and our Consumer Survivor Committee Chair, Sylvia Caras.
______________________________________________
Policy Committee Update
At last year's Annual Meeting, the Governing Council approved a policy-archiving trial project to identify out-of-date policies, policy gaps and policy overlaps. Policy review groups reviewed a list of policies compiled by staff on a number of topics - injury control, abortion, global infectious diseases, aging and the elderly and public health infrastructure. The final recommendations by the review groups were compiled into a "consent calendar" for consideration by the Governing Council at this year's Annual Meeting. Our Chair, Janice Cohen, has reviewed them and found the choices reasonable. None of the policy statements selected to be archived involve mental health issues specifically, and those which were and might have some relevance to mental health were outdated and/or have subsequently been replaced by more current policy statements.
The Third edition of "Standards for Health Services in Correctional Institutions" has finally been published and is available from APHA at a discounted rate for members at <www.apha.org/media>. Janice Cohen and several Mental Health Section members made a major contribution to the rewriting of this publication, particularly the Mental Health Sections, the expansion of which APHA is highlighting as one of main improvements in this new expanded edition.
-- Janice Cohen, Chair
____________________________________________
Results of Leadership Poll on the Idea of Merging the Mental Health (MH) and Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug (ATOD) sections
A few months ago I informally polled the Mental Health Leadership on their reactions to exploring a merger with the ATOD Section to become a Behavioral Health Section. I asked people to state their position and support it with their reasons. I received 14 responses: 6 negative, 7 positive, and one undecided. I will be placing this item on one of our Business meeting agendas for discussion.
Main arguments PRO (# endorsing):
MH and SA already being integrated by states, public health systems, healthcare organizations, and research programs. (6)
Co-occurrence is prevalent and evidence supports the effectiveness/cost-effectiveness of dual diagnosis treatment and services. (6)
A merger would re-energize MH, provide more visibility and a more powerful voice in APHA, and allow us to provide national leadership on integration initiatives. (3)
Main arguments CON (# endorsing):
MH would suffer a loss of professional identity, lose its core focus on mental health issues, and might have important issues (parity, recovery, etc) diluted by a merger. (5)
ATOD has major differences in treatment philosophy, research interests, and policy priorities (7)
Merger might limit and/or skew the number of scientific sessions/program space we would have at the Annual Meeting. (3)
-- Janice Cohen, Chair