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The Youth Mental Health Crisis Worsens amid a Shortage of Professional Help Providers
The hospital where I practice recently admitted a 14-year-old girl with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, to our outpatient program. She was referred to us six months earlier, in October 2022, but at the time we were at capacity. Although we tried to refer her to several other hospitals, they too were full. During that six-month wait, she attempted suicide. Unfortunately, this is an all-too-common story for young people with mental health issues. A 2021 survey of 88 children’s hospitals reported that they admit, on average, four teens per day to inpatient programs. At many of these hospitals, more children await help, but there are simply not enough services or psychiatric beds for them. Read more here.
Related: Telehealth Startups Are Pivoting to Hybrid to Address Youth Mental Health Crisis
Demand Is High, But Pay Is Low For Frontline Social Workers
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Alternative First Responder Models Can Help Youth in Crisis
Youth across the country are facing an urgent mental health crisis. Experts like the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Children’s Hospital Association have declared this a national emergency, and research has shown an increased number of youth being hospitalized for mental and behavioral health needs. When youth use emergency departments to address mental and behavioral health crises, this is a strong indication that community-based solutions are not accessible. Thus, experts have called for action from state and local policymakers to increase the availability of a continuum of crisis and behavioral health services for young people, including school-based initiatives, primary care and telehealth options, culturally specific approaches, first response models, and community-based care. Read more here.
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Centering Youth Mental Health: Multi-Year Funding for Local Coalitions that Support Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health
The CVS Health Foundation is announcing its Centering Youth Mental Health initiative, a multi-year philanthropic investment to improve adolescent and young adult mental health. In response to the continuing decline in mental health outcomes for young people ages 12 to 24, the Foundation intends to collaborate with community-based, multi-sector coalitions that are seeking to create sustainable, systems-level improvements in cities or counties. This five-year initiative will launch in October 2023 in up to four sites across the United States. City- or county-level coalitions will each be awarded a total of $1,000,000 to implement strategies that increase young people’s access to the evidence-based care, programs and conditions that promote positive mental health outcomes. Read more here.
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SAMHSA's National Recovery Month 2023 Toolkit Is Here!
Join the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as we recognize National Recovery Month! Each September, we aim to increase awareness of recovery and to celebrate the millions of people who identify as being in recovery, their families and caregivers, and the peer workers and recovery organizations that make recovery from mental health and substance use conditions is possible. They personify this year’s tagline: "Hope is real. Recovery is real." Help spread the word that people can and do recover, by using the resources in the new National Recovery Awareness Month Toolkit. This year, we have powerful messages promoting support for youth and young people in recovery as well as for families, caregivers and the communities that support them. Read more here.
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‘Surprised I’m alive’: NY's Perennial Fight Against Opioid Overdose Crisis
It took overdosing six times for Chris Grande to seek help for his spiraling opioid addiction. The Clifton Park resident, 26, was introduced to drugs early in high school and soon pivoted to opioids after he encountered oxycodone at 16 years old. Then he started using the easier-to-find heroin, realizing along the way that the drugs he was putting in his body contained various amounts of fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid blamed for the vast majority of drug-related deaths in New York and across the U.S. in recent years. But that did not deter him, Grande said.
“I knew the risks I was taking. I knew it could kill me. But that's the type of desperation,” Grande said. “You can get to a place where you will willingly roll the dice on your life and it's really scary.” Read more here.
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The Face Of Rural Addiction Is Not What You Think
If you were asked 30 years ago, at the height of the crack and heroin epidemics, what the typical drug user looked like, what would you say? You would probably say they were some combination of urban, poor, and Black or Latino. And you wouldn’t be too far off. But by the early and mid-2000s you might have noticed that drug use was seemingly becoming more common outside of the nation’s impoverished, non-white inner cities. This was when pharmaceutical companies began to be prosecuted for deliberately misleading clinicians and patients on the benefits and risks of pain medications, like Oxycontin and Vicodin. And it was when the media began to take notice of how the social scourge of drugs had “finally” caught up to Middle White America, and began to focus on the drug-fueled struggles of white people. In less than a decade, the vision of the modern drug user became white, and the narrative around drugs changed. Read more here.
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Biden-Harris Administration Awards More Than $64 Million in Grants to Fund Mental Health Services and Awareness Training Across United States and Territories
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it has awarded, more than $64 million in funding to address the nation’s mental health crisis through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Tackling the mental health crisis is a top priority of the Biden-Harris Administration, and it is a key part of President Biden’s Unity Agenda for the nation. Among the awards are $59.4 million in new funding to states and territories through the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant (MHBG) program. This funding is part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), signed into law by President Biden, which has provided unprecedented funding to address the nation’s mental health crisis and make our communities safer. The funds released are part of the mental health investment of the BSCA which allocated a total of $250 million in supplemental funding from FY 2022-2025. Read more here.
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How HIE Tools Can Bridge the SDOH Data Interoperability Gap
While the HITECH Act of 2009 spurred widespread EHR adoption across healthcare organizations, national health information exchange (HIE) investments have largely left out community-based referral organizations, limiting social determinants of health (SDOH) data interoperability. SDOH data exchange is key for improving population health, with factors such as housing, food and nutrition, transportation, and education accounting for up to 50 percent of county-level variation in health outcomes. When healthcare providers and social services exchange SDOH data, they can coordinate care that addresses both the clinical and social needs of patients. Read more here.
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More Obituaries Acknowledge Suicide as Openness on Mental Health Grows
When Deborah and Warren Blum’s 16-year-old died by suicide in November 2021, they went into shock. For two days, the grief-stricken Los Angeles couple didn’t sleep. But when it came time to write a death notice, Deborah Blum was clearheaded: In a heartfelt tribute to her smart, funny, popular child, who had recently come out as nonbinary, she was open and specific about the mental health struggles that led to Esther Iris’s death.
“Esther’s whole thing was that people should know and talk about mental health and it shouldn’t be a secret,” Deborah Blum told KFF Health News. “The least I could do was to be honest and tell people. I think being embarrassed just makes it worse.”
While it was once unheard-of to mention suicide as a cause of death in news obituaries and paid death notices, that has been changing, especially in the past 10 years, said Dan Reidenberg, a psychologist and managing director of the National Council for Suicide Prevention. Read more here.
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OPWDD's Institute for Basic Research Discovers Potential Treatment for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders
The New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) last week announced the publication of findings from two studies of neurodevelopmental disorders associated with the genes NAA10 and NAA15 conducted by scientists at the Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities (IBR). Two research teams were led by geneticist and psychiatrist Gholson Lyon, MD, PhD, of the OPWDD’s IBR, and included colleagues Katherine Sandomirsky and Elaine Marchi, MS, both of the Department of Human Genetics, and Maureen Gavin, RN-BC CDDN, and Karen Amble, LMSW, both of IBR’s George A. Jervis Clinic. Read more here.
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UPCOMING EVENTS & TRAININGS
How To Improve Poor Data Quality Across the Healthcare Ecosystem and Make Workflows More Manageable
August 24, 1 - 2 pm, Intelligent Medical Objects
Introducing SOAR (SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery) for Children and Youth
August 24, 3 - 4 pm, NTTAC
Better serving the workforce: How hospitals + health systems are creating a culture of mental health
August 29, 11 am - 12 pm, Becker's Hospital Review
Employing Peer Workers: An Organization’s Perspective
August 29, 2 - 3 pm, Homeless Housing Resource Center
Data Connections to Support Alternative Crisis Response Methods
August 29, 2- 3 pm, CSG Justice Center
Establishing Community Response Models for College Campuses
August 30, 2 - 3 pm, CSG Justice Center
CoE-IHS Discussion Hour: State Innovations to Improve Integrated Care
August 31, 1 - 2 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Emerging Drug Trends and the Effects on Safety and Risk to Children and Parents
August 31, 2 - 3 pm, NCSAC
Medication-Assisted Treatment Services and Community Reentry
August 31, 2 - 3:30 pm, CSG Justice Center
State Spotlights: Improving Timely Health Care for Children and Youth in Foster Care
August 31, 3 - 4 pm, CMS
Peer Recovery Support Series, Part 7: Storytelling for Recovery Professionals
August 31, 3 - 5 pm, NAADAC
Views From the Field: Enhancing Care for Black and African American Health Disparities in Rural Areas
September 6, 3 - 4 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Alternative First Responder Models Can Support Youth in Crisis
September 7, 1 - 2 pm, CSG Justice Center
Getting Candid: Practical Guidance for Framing the Conversation Around Youth Substance Use Prevention
September 7, 1:30 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Addressing Americans with Disabilities Act Obligations and Access to Care in the Justice System
September 7, 1:30 - 3 pm, CSG Justice Center
State Medicaid programs breaking new ground to address the social drivers of health: A discussion on opportunities for states and implications for community-based care
September 7, 3 - 4 pm, Camden Coalition
Views From the Field: Enhancing Care for Black and African American Health Disparities in Rural Areas
September 7, 3 - 4 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
NY Council on Problem Gambling: Shine a Light Recovery Picnic
September 9, 11 am - 5 pm, Bowdoin Park, Wappingers Falls, NY (Dutchess County)
New Data: State of the Healthcare Employee Experience 2023
September 11, 11 am - 12 pm, Becker's Hospital Review
Coming Face To Face With Suicide in American Farming
September 12, 2:30 - 4 pm, NIH
Care Coordination Coming (Or Changing) In A State Near You
September 19, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
Enhancing Harm Reduction Services in Health Departments: Harm Reduction Vending Machines
September 19, 1:30 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
The Poison Center’s Role in Suicide Prevention: Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medications and the Risk for Harm
September 20, 10 - 11 am, NYC and Upstate NY Poison Centers and the NYS OMH Suicide Prevention Center
Engaging Community Stakeholders to Reduce Mental Health Inequities in the Hispanic Community
September 21, 12:30 - 2 pm, NIH
CoE-IHS Webinar: Partnering with Schools to Improve Youth Mental Health
September 26, 11 am - 12 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Using Progressive Practices to Promote Wellness & Recovery for Veterans
September 26, 12 - 2 pm, NASW-NYS
Key Takeaways: Survey Of 4,000 Health Plans On Behavioral Health’s Future
October 24, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU
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CLMHD CALENDAR
SEPTEMBER
CLMHD Office Closed - Labor Day
September 4
CLMHD Executive Committee Meeting
September 6: 8 - 9 am
LGU Clinic Operators Call
September 12: 10 - 11:30 am
Addiction Services & Supports (ASR) Committee Meeting
September 14: 11 am - 12 pm
Mental Health Committee Meeting
September 14: 3 - 4 pm
Children & Families Committee Meeting
September 19: 11:30 am - 1 pm
Membership Call
September 20: 9 - 10:30 am
Developmental Disabilities Committee Meeting
September 21: 1 - 2:30 pm
Deputy DCS Call
September 26: 10 - 11 am
Mentoring: Steps to Developing a Threat Assessment Group in Your County
September 27: 11:30 am - 1 pm
SAVE THE DATE: Fall 2023 Full Membership Meeting
October 25 - 27, Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel
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