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Bringing Family Lived Experience To You
Accept, Advocate, Act
August 1, 2023 | Volume 1, Issue 10
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Note from the Executive Director
Back to School:
Keeping Mental Health in Mind
As we head into August, students across the nation begin to step back into classrooms from pre-schools and elementary schools to high schools, colleges, and trade schools. August also kicks off the inaugural Teen Mental Health Month. We know that mental health is important for youth, emerging adults, adults going back to school, educators, and other youth- and family-serving systems staff all year long, but the added stress of starting a new school year is a great opportunity to center mental health alongside educational priorities like math, reading, and art.
We've got some resources to help spread the word about Teen Mental Health Month and some excellent events and opportunities for educators, young people, and others supporting those headed back into the classroom to tell their stories from a strengths-based perspective. SAMHSA's Guide to Equity Terminology is a great place to start to check in around the way you talk about mental health and how effectively it is lifting up those you support and centering them as a person.
If you haven't registered for the conference, there's still time to get an early bird price—groups of 10 or more get $50 off per person! Make sure to spread the word about reaching families, the family peer workforce, and other stakeholders through sponsorship and exhibiting at our conference to anyone who might be interested!
With hope,
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Lynda Gargan, PhD.
Executive Director, National Federation of Families
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Family Peer Support Work IS Social Justice Work
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Back to School?
Accept, Advocate, and Act !
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Our Acceptance campaign isn’t just one week in May–it’s year-round! The start of a new academic year is a good time for us to commit to new goals or resolutions, whether it’s advocating for more supports or taking action to make a difference. We appreciate the many educators, staff, schools, and campuses who invest the care, time, and resources to accept all students with mental health challenges. We applaud the schools and campuses across the country who stood with us during May 2023’s Children’s Mental Health Acceptance Week including Racine Unified School District (WI), New York State Education Department, Tulsa Public Schools (OK), Hawaii Public Schools, Prince Georges Public Schools (MD), Ohio State University, and the many affiliates who created school-based events or contests. | |
Clockwise: Racine Unified School District (WI), Maryland Coalition of Families, Hawaii Public Schools Staff and Mental Health Advocates, Ohio State University Buckeyes, Nevada Public Schools, Prince Georges (MD) Public Schools | |
National Federation of Families News and Highlights | | | |
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Register now for the 2023 NFF Annual Conference in Chicago, IL November 9-11! Groups registering 10 or more people save $50/person on registration fees!
Get your ticket now to take advantage of our early bird pricing! Explore our conference webpage to learn more about our theme, focus areas, tracks, and conference site!
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We are excited to announce our 2023 Conference Agenda with more than 90 breakout sessions from 84 staff coming from 33 states and Canada! Presenters will share their lived and learned expertise with us about supporting families of children across the lifespan who experience mental health and/or substance use challenges. | |
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There's still time to sponsor our upcoming conference! Benefits include reaching our audience of families, the family peer support workforce, and other stakeholders via social media, e-mail, and in-person at the conference; free registrations for Silver and higher sponsors; and a free exhibitor table for Gold and higher sponsors. Affiliates get a discounted sponsorship opportunity of $250! | |
| QUESTION: How does your organization advance social justice? | | | |
Responses from July Poll: How do you support the mental health of historically marginalized populations? | |
In July, you shared how you support the mental health of historically marginalized populations during Minority Mental Health Month and all year long. Many of you actively recruit a diverse staff to reflect the diversity of the families you support. Others are making sure their programming is directed towards the diversity of families and partnering with organizations that specifically support diversity. And some of you are attending community events that you know families of diverse cultures, races, and ethnicities are also attending, so you can share resources and introduce yourselves. Keep up the good work! | |
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New TAC Talk:
Are They Drinking? Recognizing the Signs of Alcohol Use in Youth and Emerging Adults
NFSTAC has collaborated with the Partnership to End Addiction on a series of TAC Talks—short videos to introduce practical strategies to family members of loved ones with mental health and/or substance use challenges. Check out our fourth TAC Talk about recognizing the signs of alcohol use in youth and emerging adults.
| NFSTAC invites you to submit requests for free technical assistance from our network of partners and subject matter experts. NFSTAC is driven by the needs of families and the workforce that supports families. You'll find education, training, and family support resources tailored specifically to families, the family peer workforce, communities, healthcare systems, clinicians, and educators. | |
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Join us IN-PERSON in Chicago for a free training from NFSTAC: Cutting-Edge Practice Skills for the Family Peer Workforce!
If you're heading to the NFF Annual Conference in Chicago this year, make sure to come a day early to preview NFSTAC's upcoming 8-hour virtual curriculum for the Family Peer Workforce. Attendees will be given the unique opportunity to receive training in-person from seasoned family experts on selected module excerpts. Participants will gain cutting-edge skills that reflect what a Family Peer Specialist (FPS) needs to be effective in this evolving field.
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NFSTAC Events are on
Summer Break!
We are excited to bring you new event registration pages in next month's newsletter for our September events: Family Connections about parenting and recovery with Kim and Sean Humphrey and a Webinar about family engagement in schools with Jessica Gonzales and Samantha Reaves. Our Office Hour Series for the Family Peer Workforce will return from December 2023-June 2024!
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Celebrating Our Affiliates! | | |
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Milwaukee, WI
We are excited to welcome our newest National Federation of Families affiliate Peer Specialists Limited, a newly formed peer-led, peer-run, and peer-staffed nonprofit organization in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. You may have seen General Manager Shirley Drake contributing to conversations on our NFSTAC and NFF events. We can't wait to see the impact Ms. Drake and her team have in advocating for family-driven systems and services in Wisconsin. If you're in the Milwaukee area, mark your calendar for their monthly event series supporting families and coaching them about how to advocate for high quality services for their children. Keep your eyes on this organization as they deliver family peer support that offers hope to families.
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Interested in being a Featured Affiliate?
In September, we'd love to feature YOU! Reach out to dasby@ffcmh.org if your organization has a program, event, or great story to share!
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Legislative and Advocacy News | | |
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The Biden Administration and U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury just released proposed rulemaking for the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Federal Parity Act). The initial 2013 regulations were groundbreaking and important but have not proven strong enough to ensure that health plans comply with the Parity Act's statutory requirements. Strengthening the existing regulations is critical to holding health plans accountable, helping Americans get necessary care, and decreasing the enormous health care and social costs of undertreated mental health and substance use challenges.
For too long, federal and state agencies have been limited by the inadequacies of previous regulations, which have proven too weak to properly hold insurers accountable for ongoing violations of the Federal Parity Act. The proposed rules will aid in the enforcement. Specifically, the proposal would require plans to act when there are disparities in people’s ability to access care, require data reporting to evaluate plans’ compliance, and create new rules regarding “network composition” to address whether individuals can access care within plan networks. Fifteen years ago, the Federal Parity Act promised to end health plans’ discriminatory limitations on mental health and substance use treatment. These new proposed regulations bring us closer to fully implementing the Federal Parity Act.
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Keep Up with the Latest Legislative News
NFF's Legislation and Policy News for Family Advocates is the place to find the details on the bills, policies, and opportunities for input that family advocates need. Visit for the latest news and releases, proposed legislation and policies, and what's being implemented in both policy and legislation. It's updated monthly to give you the latest information in one place.
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Teen Mental Health Month Resources | | |
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This August, we're partnering with This is My Brave for the first Teen Mental Health Month! Read more about the "nonprofit leveraging the power of storytelling to help college students, adults, and teens creatively express their experiences with mental health challenges" in this press release. | |
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Take Action for
Teen Mental Health Month
- Use the hashtag #tmhm2023 and #AcceptAdvocateAct when you post about teen mental health on social media this August
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Become a partner to get access to social media graphics and sample posts, an event calendar, and more
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SAMHSA's 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline One-Year Anniversary Toolkit
It's been one year since SAMHSA rolled out the 988 Lifeline. The new line is working for teens and young adults seeking help through text and chat, with calls increasing by 45 %, chats by 52 %, and texts by 938%. A new NAMI survey shows 82% of adults were either unfamiliar with or had never heard of the 988 Lifeline. Only 17% were “very” or “somewhat familiar" with the service. Use the social media shareables, fact sheets, and more in the Partner Toolkit to raise awareness!
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SAMHSA recently released a Guide to Equity Terminology: Promoting Behavioral Health Equity through the Words We Use that offers four guiding principles to use language that is: 1) person-centered, 2) strengths-based, 3) non-stigmatizing, and 4) ever-evolving. The guide includes information on the power of words, considerations for adopting terminology, and resources from the Office of Behavioral Health Equity, HHS's Language Access Plan, CDC's Inclusive Communication Principles, NIDA's Words Matter, and an Executive Order on Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support. | | |
To take the survey in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Russian, Ukrainian, or Farsi, send an e-mail to maldonado.doris.a@gmail.com. | |
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Take Family Voice's Survey about Language Access Services
NFF partner Family Voices is working with the Office of Minority Health to learn more about language access services for families of children with special healthcare needs to improve the quality and use of language access services in healthcare settings for families whose preferred language is not English. Take their survey in different languages to share barriers or challenges you've experienced as a family member OR provider.
Please help us by sharing this survey with families and providers in your community before the survey closes on August 8th!
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