# Presentation: 908313

## Governor’s Conference on Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services

*December 9, 2004*
*Richmond, VA*

***A. Kathryn Power, M.Ed., Director***
***Center for Mental Health Services***

## A community-based system of services that promotes self-determination, empowerment, recovery, and the highest possible level of consumer participation in work, relationships, and all aspects of community life. 

**Virginia’s Vision**

## The Goals of a Transformed System

**Goal 1****   **Americans understand that mental health is essential to overall health
**Goal 2****   **Mental health care is consumer and family driven
**Goal 3****   **Disparities in mental health services are eliminated
**Goal 4****   **Early mental health screening, assessment, and referral to services are common practice
**Goal 5****   **Excellent mental health care is delivered and research is accelerated
**Goal 6****   **Technology is used to access mental health care and information

## I am convinced that our system will not be restructured appropriately until we fully understand, fully embrace, and fully implement the concepts of self-determination, empowerment, and recovery.
	Commissioner James S. Reinhard, M.D.

- 	Commissioner James S. Reinhard, M.D.

## “Family-driven” Care Means...

- Families have a decisionmaking role in the care of their own children as well as the policies and procedures governing care for all children in the community, State, and Nation.

- This includes:
- Choosing supports, services, and providers.
- Setting goals, designing and implementing   programs, and monitoring outcomes.
- Helping to determine the effectiveness of efforts to promote the mental health of children and youth.

## Recovery Is...

- The process by which people are able to live, work, learn, and participate fully in their communities.
- For some individuals, recovery is the ability to live a fulfilling and productive life despite a disability.
- For others, recovery implies the reduction or complete remission of symptoms.
- For still others, recovery is the ability to make choices concerning their own lives and future.

## Hope... is a search for freedom, of the spirit to assert its dignity, of having some level of control over one’s life.  To hope [for recovery] under the most extreme circumstances is an act of defiance that permits a person to live his life on his own terms.  It is part of the human spirit to endure and give a miracle a chance to happen. 

**Jerome Groopman, M.D.**
***The Anatomy of Hope***

## A Recovery-Based System...

- Has recovery, and not disability, as the expected outcome for everyone.
- Sees each individual as a unique human being—and not just as a person with a categorical disability.
- Focuses on the overall health of the whole person, and accepts the mind and body as integrated and inseparable.
- Forces the dialog of care to revolve around the comprehensive services and supports a person needs to work toward recovery (e.g., education, a job, a home, and friends)
- Empowers a person to move toward a full and independent life in the community by setting his or her own goals and charting a personal journey toward recovery.

## Most Compelling Aspect of Recovery

- 	The belief that individuals with mental disorders can take charge of their own lives, their own wellness, and their own case management.

## Goal 2

**Recommendations**
**2.1 **   **Develop an individualized plan of care for every adult with a serious mental illness and child with a serious emotional disturbance**
**2.2 **   **Involve consumers and families fully in orienting the mental health system toward recovery**
**2.3 **  	**Align relevant Federal programs to improve access and accountability for mental health services**
**2.4 **   **Create a Comprehensive State Mental Health Plan**
**2.5 **   **Protect and enhance consumers’ rights**

**Mental Health Care Is Consumer and Family Driven**

## The real issue isn’t about whether a person needs assistance or not, but that they have a voice, and choice, and access to services based on their individual needs at all levels of care.  Every opportunity of choice is a seed that will grow into a healthy, empowered self-directed life.  It’s about eliminating dependency in individuals who are capable of moving forward with their lives.
Nancy Fudge, Consumer-Director
 FloridaSDC Program 

- Nancy Fudge, Consumer-Director
-  FloridaSDC Program

## Creating an Advance Psychiatric Directive

**Part I.****	**A statement of your intent in creating an advance directive for mental health care decisionmaking. This emphasizes your strong desire that providers respect your right to influence all decisions about the your care.
**Part II.     **This form lets you name another person to make decisions for you if you are determined to be legally incompetent to make your own choices. Also, your instructions about the circumstances under which you can change your agent and who should be appointed your guardian if a court decides to name one.
**Part III.    **Your instructions about hospitalization and alternatives to hospitalization, medications, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), emergency interventions (including seclusion, restraint and medication) and experimental studies or drug trials.
**Parts IV-VI.**    (Complete information and forms available online)

- Source: Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
- http://www.bazelon.org/issues/advancedirectives/templates.htm

## Nothing ever built arose to touch the skies unless some [individual] dreamed that it should, some [individual] believed that it could, and some [individual] willed that it must!
Charles Kettering (1876-1958)

- Charles Kettering (1876-1958)