Hello, Mental Health Section Members.  The Section leadership is gearing up for the 139th APHA Annual Meeting in Washington, D,C., Oct. 29- Nov. 2, 2011.  Kathleen Thomas and Juliane Fenster have developed an excellent scientific program that disseminates the good work of our members relevant to promoting effective mental health services for a diverse population. Registration for the meeting is now available, so please review the preliminary program included in this newsletter and plan to join your colleagues at this year’s APHA meeting “Healthy Communities Promote Healthy Minds and Bodies” (Yes, Minds and Bodies!)
 
A big “thank you” to Rani Desai for her leadership as chair of the Mental Health Section! Rani has given her talent and time over the past  decade attending to both the small and large details of leading our Section. This year Rani has taken on a new role as director of the VA Northeast Program Evaluation Center requiring her very focused attention, and she has asked to pull back on her responsibilities with the Section. The Section will have an election to select new leadership for the 2011-2013 term. Until we have newly elected leadership, I will step into the chair position in collaboration with the current Section leadership, to guide the Section in the next months through the 2011 Annual Meeting. (What am I thinking??????)

I am thinking the Mental Health Section can play an important role in APHA’s work toward health care reform. I will attend the Mid-Year APHA meeting “Implementing Health Reform – a Public Health Approach” as the representative of the Mental Health Section. Subsequent to this meeting (June 23-25), the Mental Health Section should strategize our next efforts to promote mental health care within the larger APHA health care reform efforts.

One prong of this effort is our renewed energy and participation on the APHA Action Board that will put attention on health care reform. Our seat on this board has been vacant for some years, and the Section now has a newly appointed Action Board representative, Jennifer Magnabosco. Jennifer is exceptionally well qualified to be a contributing member of the Action Board on behalf of the Section as she wears a variety of hats as researcher, management consultant and professor in the field of mental health services. She is enthusiastic and ready to put her energy toward this work and will keep us informed of impending actions relevant to mental health issues. Equally important, if you are interested in promoting new or revised APHA policy through our participation on the Action Board, PLEASE contact Jennifer, and we can begin the process of initiating APHA policy relevant to mental health within the Mental Health Section Council.

We welcome new members and look forward to meeting you at the Annual Meeting. For those of you who began your membership prior to this year, please remember to renew your membership and register soon for the Annual Meeting. Early bird registration ends Aug. 19.

Volunteering is a great way to meet your Section members and get involved!  Please contact me if you are considering how you can volunteer to make our meeting really fine – heartlandnetwork@msn.com.    

More details about the meeting to come in September!