SAMHSA’s Lack of Focus on Serious Mental Illness Is Concerning

(Aug. 9, 2012)  Treatment Advocacy Center Reports on Barriers

"Del Vecchio is also known for his very public stand against mandated treatment for the very few and very ill it is designed to help, going so far as to compare court-ordered treatment to a “personal Holocaust.” This week, SAMHSA announced his appointment as director of its Center for Mental Health Services."

Read more here: http://treatmentadvocacycenter.org/about-us/our-blog/69-no-state/2137-samhsas-lack-of-focus-on-serious-mental-illness-is-concerning

Navigating the mentally ill away from jail - CNN

If KY would support a bill that would provide AOT, taxpayers could also save $10,000,000 a year!

View this well written article by Rich Phillips here: http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/21/health/mental-health-navigator/index.html

By Rich Phillips, CNN

updated 3:15 PM EDT, Tue August 21, 2012

Rich writes about a special program in GA, that is: putting state money into a front end program rather than funding prisons and hospitals --

"We've saved the state probably about $10,000 per participant and we have 100 participants ... and that's a minimum," said Nora Haynes, overseeing the project for the National Alliance of Mentally Ill, or NAMI, citing data compiled by NAMI. "We're keeping them out of jails and prisons and state hospitals and we're moving them to recovery which means they'll be going into the system less."

Stop Listening to Excuses! ‘Unabomber’s brother on violence and treating mental health

” David Kaczynsk, brother of Ted known as the Unabomber states: "What we need is to embark on a conversation that doesn't immediately default to ideology, but rather one that takes serious measure of the human costs of untreated mental illness."

What advocates and local/state leaders must learn to do is: learn to work together. Anytime we ask, "Why can't we work on policies and programs that would provide better mental health screening and easier to access out-patient treatment", we are told: "We don't have enough funding for that!"

"It is time communities across the US stop listening to excuses as to why the federal government will not fund or support it and figure out ways to protect our most vulnerable." GG Burns, KY Mental Health Advocate

 

Read the entire article here:

http://treatmentadvocacycenter.org/about-us/our-blog/69-no-state/2136-unabombers-brother-on-violence-and-treating-mental-health