Quarterly Newsletter | January 2024

Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee (ISMICC)

In This Issue

• October 18, 2023 Meeting

• Announcements

• Working Group Updates

• Resource Corner

In Case You Missed It (ICYMI)

Thank you to all who attended the Fall 2023 meeting of the ISMICC! 

Membership of the Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee 

(ISMICC) convened on October 18, 2023, to discuss actions that Federal Agencies

can take to better coordinate the administration of mental health services for adults 

with a serious mental illness (SMI) and children with a serious emotional disturbance 

(SED). 
Group Photo of ISMICC Membership

At the meeting, Dr. Miriam Delphin-Rittmon and other SAMHSA leadership presented 

updates including and a review of milestones from the first year of the 988 Suicide & 

Crisis Lifeline, data updates from recent SAMHSA publications, and an overview of 

the new SAMHSA strategic plan. Representatives of the five Working Groups of the 

ISMICC, comprised of both Federal and non-Federal Members, presented their 

Working Group status reports, provided brief expert-led presentations relevant to their 

priority topic areas, and updated some recommendations. Among these updates, was 

a vote to prioritize measurement-based care (MBC) implementation in any future 

recommendations put forth by the Data and Evaluation Working Group and a 

recommendation by the Finance Working Group to identify and eliminate programs, 

practices, and policies that make it hard to implement all of the mental health services 

required to care for individuals living with serious mental illness such as The Medicaid 

Institutions for Mental Disease (IMD) exclusion federal rule. Find the full meeting 

minutes here. 

Editors’ Note

Welcome to the first edition of the revamped ISMICC Quarterly Newsletter! This 

publication will update our membership about special announcements, Report to 

Congress updates, and will serve as a channel to share resources and authored 

content across topic areas. As always, we welcome your feedback and hope you 

enjoy this new format.

Dr. Billina Shaw | Joel Fuentes
Announcements

Welcome, Dr. Sue Smith!

The ISMICC would like to welcome its newest member, Dr. Sue Smith!

Dr. Smith is the Chief Executive Officer of the Georgia Parent Support Network, Inc., in

Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Smith is well-regarded in Georgia and at the national level for her 

expertise in children’s services, advocacy, education, and Systems of Care. She plans to join 

the Access and Engagement Working Group. Read her bio here.

Working Group Updates

• Data and Evaluation Working Group: A vote was passed during the 2023 Fall 

ISMICC Meeting to prioritize measurement-based care (MBC) implementation in any 

future recommendations put forth. 

• Finance Working Group: Dr. Sunny Patel is transitioning to a new role within 

SAMHSA. The Finance Working Group extends their sincere thanks to him for 

serving as a faithful working group co-steward. Congrats, Sunny!

• Treatment and Recovery Working Group: HUD and SAMHSA collaborated to 

present a World Mental Health Day Lunch and Learn on October 10, 2023 titled 

“Creating Opportunities for those Living with Serious Mental Illness” where experts 

discussed the availability of supportive housing and services and avoiding the 

criminalization of SMI.

• Access and Engagement Working Group: Tara Andrews has joined the working 

group as the newest Co-Steward. Welcome to the group, Tara!

• Justice Working Group: Gregory Crawford has joined the working group as its

newest member. He has joined SAMHSA as a Criminal Justice Subject Matter Expert. 

A special thank you goes out to Maria Fryer (OJP/DOJ) and Michelle Keeney

(USSS/DHS) for their time and dedication as former Working Group members.

Resource Corner

• SAMHSA product: Foundation Work for Exploring Incompetence to Stand Trial 

Evaluations and Competence Restoration for People with Serious Mental 

Illness/Serious Emotional Disturbance

• Data and Evaluation Working Group product: Use of Measurement-Based Care for 

Behavioral Health Care in Community Settings – A Brief Report (PDF | 1.6 MB)

• Resource: National Center for State Courts Chief Justices/Court Administrators 

Mental Health initiative

• Resource: Judges and Psychiatrists Leadership Initiative

• Council on Quality Care product: Resource Document on Implementation of 

Measurement-Based Care
Contact Us

We appreciate your feedback! Please send your questions, comments, and suggestions to 

the ISMICC Team. You can email us at ISMICC@samhsa.hhs.gov. We look forward to 

hearing from you.

The Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee (ISMICC) was established to make recommendations 

for actions that federal departments can take to better coordinate the administration of mental health services for adults 

with a serious mental illness (SMI) or children with a serious emotional disturbance (SED). 

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