# Presentation: 313534

## Joint DoD/VA Conference on Post-DeploymentMental Health

- Alexandria, VA
- March 8, 2005

**Joint DoD/VA Conference on Post-Deployment****Mental Health**

**Transforming Mental Health Care in America**

## SAMHSA’s Vision: A Life in the Community for Everyone

**U.S. Department of Health and Human Services**

**Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration                    (SAMHSA)**

**Center for Mental Health Services**

**Center for Substance Abuse Prevention**

**Center for Substance Abuse Treatment**

**SAMHSA’s Vision: A Life in the Community for Everyone**

## ...the soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.  But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of philosophers: “Only the dead have seen the end of war. 

- General Douglas MacArthur
- West Point, May 12, 1962

- Photo courtesy of U.S.
- Air Force

## The time has long passed for yet another piecemeal approach to mental health reform.  Instead, the Commission recommends a fundamental transformation of the Nation’s approach to mental health care.

*The time has long passed for yet another piecemeal approach to mental health reform.  Instead, the Commission recommends a fundamental transformation of the Nation’s approach to mental health care.*

## Transformation must facilitate a culture of change and innovation.... That culture must foster leadership, education, processes, organizations, values, and attitudes that reward innovation.

*Transformation must facilitate a culture of change and innovation.... That culture must foster leadership, education, processes, organizations, values, and attitudes that reward innovation.*

## Defining Transformation

**Transformation is not accomplished through change on the margin but, instead, through profound changes in kind and in degree.  These changes result in new behaviors and new competencies.  Thus, in transformation, we look at what we can do now that we were unable to do before.**
**Transformation is meant to identify, leverage, and even create new underlying principles for the way things are done.**
**Transformation is meant to identify and leverage new sources of power.**
**Once the process of transformation begins, a profoundly different organization emerges, including changes in structure, culture, policy, and programs.**
**Retired Vice Admiral Arthur Cebrowski **
**Former Director, Office of Force Transformation, **
**Office of the Secretary of Defense**

**Defining Transformation**

## In a Transformed Mental Health 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

## Goal 1

**Recommendations**
- 1.1 — Advance and implement a national campaign to reduce the stigma of seeking care and a national strategy for suicide prevention
- 1.2 — Address mental health with the same urgency as physical health

**Americans Understand That Mental **
**Health Is Essential to Overall Health**

- Photo courtesy of
- U.S. Army

## 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
- 2.5 —  Protect and enhance consumers’ rights

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

- Photo courtesy of
- U.S. Army

## Slide 10

## Defining Recovery

- Recovery is a process, sometimes lifelong, through which a person achieves independence, self-esteem, and a meaningful life in the community.
- For some individuals, recovery implies the reduction or complete remission of symptoms.
- For others, recovery is the ability to live a fulfilling and productive life despite a disability.

## Goal 3

**Recommendations**
- 3.1 — Improve access to quality care that is culturally competent
- 3.2 — Improve access to quality care in rural and geographically remote areas

**Disparities in Mental Health Services Are Eliminated**

- Photo courtesy of
- U.S. Navy

## Goal 4

- 4.1 — Promote the mental health of young children
- 4.2 — Schools should have the ability to play a larger role in mental health care for children
- 4.3 — Screen for co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders and link with integrated treatment strategies
- 4.4 — Screen for mental disorders in primary health care, across the lifespan, and connect to treatment and support

**Goal 4**

**Early Mental Health Screening, Assessment, and Referral to Services are Common Practice**

## Available from
www.health.org

*www.health.org*

## Goal 5

- 5.1 — Accelerate research to promote recovery and resilience and, ultimately, to cure and prevent mental illnesses
- 5.2 — Advance evidence-based practices (EBPs) using dissemination and demonstration projects and create a public-private partnership to guide their implementation
- 5.3 — Improve and expand the workforce providing evidence-based mental health services and supports
- 5.4 — Develop the knowledge base for...
-  Eliminating mental health disparities
-  Assessing long-term effects of medications
-  Reducing the impact of trauma
-  Improving acute care

**Goal 5**

**Excellent Mental Health Care Is Delivered and Research Is Accelerated**

## Goal 6

**Recommendations**
- 6.1 —  Use health technology and telehealth to improve access and coordination of mental health care, especially for Americans in remote areas or in underserved populations
- 6.2 —  Develop and implement integrated electronic health record and personal health information systems

**Technology Is Used To Access Mental Health Care and Information**

- Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy

## Federal Partners Workgroup

_**Human Services**_**	****	****       **_**Other Federal Partners**_
**AoA****	****	****NIH/NIDA****	****       Department of Education**
**ACF****	****	****NIH/NIMH****	****       Department of Housing ****	****	****	****	****	****	****and Urban ****	****	****	****	****	****	****Development**
**	****	****	****	****	****	****   ****	****    **
**AHRQ****	****	****OS/ASPE****	****       Department of Justice**
**CDC ****	****	****OS/OCR****	****       Department of Labor**
**CMS ****	****	****OS/OD****	**** ****	****       ****	****	****	****	**** ****	****OS/OPHS****	****       Social Security ****	****	****	****	****	****	****Administration**
**	**** ****	****	****	****   **
**HRSA****	****	****SAMHSA ****	****       ****Department of Veterans**** **
**IHS****	****	****	****	****	****Affairs**** **
** ****	****	****	**** ****	****	****	****	****	**

**Federal Partners Workgroup**

## The Promise of Transformation

*We envision a future when everyone with a mental illness will recover, a future when mental illnesses can be prevented or cured, a future when mental illnesses are detected early, and a future when everyone with a mental illness at any stage of life has access to effective treatment and supports—essentials for living, working, learning, and participating fully in the community.*

- Vision statement from
*Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America*