Interagency effort at South Carolina

Volume 20 Number 33 hospital improves services for ER visitors

August 30, 2010

Print ISSN 1058-1103
Online ISSN 1556-7583
In This Issue…
A South Carolina collaboration
between behavioral health providers
and a local hospital system is helping
to improve services for emergency
room patients. This strategy,
considered by many to be an
interagency model, has led to fewer
patients with commitment holds
having to wait for prolonged periods
in the emergency department before
an appropriate placement occurs.
. . . See story, top of this page
Study: More MH professionals
needed to treat college students
. . . See page 3
N
Nearly a decade ago, Monday morn-
ings brought a sense of dread to the
staff reporting for work in the emer-
gency room at Palmetto Health
Richland Hospital in South Carolina.
It was not uncommon for 15 to 20
people who had visited the ER with
psychiatric complaints sometime over
the weekend to be housed there still,
needing an appropriate placement
but with no space available.
What was referred to as the
“Monday morning snapshot” for the
week at the ER offered no pretty pic-
ture in terms of sound patient care.
Fortunately, the hospital system’s
close relationships with behavioral
health service providers in the com-
State Budget Watch
Budget cuts threaten Texas jail
diversion, crisis programs
Bottom Line…
On-site presence of mental health and
addiction professionals at the Palmetto
Health Richland emergency room has
significantly reduced wait times for
behavioral health placements.
munity placed a solution close at
hand. The issue was not character-
ized as simply the hospital’s problem
to solve on its own, and the willing-
ness of multiple partners to improve
the situation led to formation of a
strategy that many consider a model
for interagency collaboration.
“When I talk to my hospital col-
See Hospital on page 2

W
MH advocates gear up for mid-term While Texas is faced with an esti-
elections with website, legislation mated $18 billion budget shortfall,
push . . . See page 4 mental health officials and advo-
cates are determined to maintain
Emotional problems remain
their services for consumers with
for children impacted by Katrina
mental illness, particularly crisis and
. . . See page 5
jail diversion programs that have
NIMH seeks proposals saved the state money.
for Outreach Partnership program The state Department of State
. . . See page 7 Health Services (DSHS) has pro-
posed an $80 million cut to the
Oregon hospital
launches
‘Exclusively
Bottom Line…
Advocates are planning to meet with
Women’
legislatures and other stakeholders
MH program
to thwart cuts to innovative and
EDITORIAL AND . . . See page 8
ADVOCACY WRITING cost-effective crisis and jail diversion
programs that have also helped
establish successful partnerships with
© 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
View this newsletter online at wileyonlinelibrary.com law enforcement and the community
DOI: 10.1002/mhw.20247 at large.
state’s 39 publicly supported com-
munity mental health centers. The
state’s mental health crisis and tran-
sitional services could stand to lose
$10 million, according to local news
reports. The state’s budget for its
five psychiatric hospitals would be
reduced by $44 million. The state
legislature is expected to consider
the proposed cuts to its biennial
budget when it returns to session
January 2011.
“Cuts to mental health centers
could potentially be very danger-
ous,” Lynn Lasky Clarke, president
and CEO of the Mental Health
Association (MHA) in Texas, told
MHW. The state mental health sys-
tem has been poorly funded to
begin with, she noted.
Clark acknowledged the state
See Texas on page 6

A Wiley Periodicals, Inc. publication. wileyonlinelibrary.com

 Mental Health Weekly August 30, 2010
2
Hospital from page 1
leagues elsewhere, not too many
have this level of involvement [from
behavioral health providers] in their
ER,” Greg Gattman, a Palmetto
Health vice president, told MHW.
Headlines all over the country
talk of how funding cutbacks in
local mental health systems have
sent a growing number of people
with mental health needs to general
hospital emergency rooms for serv-
ices. With many emergency depart-
ments not having sufficient on-site
mental health and addictions
expertise, this trend has led to
numerous concerns about quality of
patient care and about safety for
hospital staff and patients.
At Palmetto Health Richland,
one of several South Carolina hospi-
tals operated by Palmetto Health, an
arrangement that has now been in
place for several years results in a
presence at the ER for four entities
in addition to hospital staff. These
include the Columbia Area Mental
Health Center, the local community
mental health agency; the Lexing-
ton/Richland Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Commission, a local alcohol
and drug services authority; the
Richland Springs psychiatric hospi-
tal; and the University of South
Carolina School of Medicine, which
houses a psychiatrist on site. Both
the Columbia Area Mental Health
Center and Richland Springs operate
their own facility on the campus of
Palmetto Health Richland.
“We offer a pretty large behav-
ioral health service,” Gattman said.
“We’ve had the presence of a mental
health center in our ERs for 25 years.
The ER tends to be the place every-
one goes after 5 and on weekends.”
Team development
Many years ago, Bruce Cannon
by himself was often that presence
of mental health expertise in the
hospital ER. The emergency service
director at Columbia Area Mental
Health Center recalls when he or a
person supervised by him would
constitute the only mental health
staffer on site at the Palmetto Health
Richland emergency department.
“There was only so much I
could do by myself,” Cannon told
MHW. “I was somewhat limited to
my own [organization’s] resources.”
Today, with the presence of
multiple providers in the ER, agen-
cies can pool their resources in
order to tailor an appropriate
response to each patient with
behavioral health issues who comes
in. If a person with a significant co-
occurring substance use problem
needs a detox bed, that service is
easier to access now that the
Lexington/Richland Alcohol and
Drug Abuse Commission is repre-
sented on site, Cannon said.
The idea of pooling resources in
this fashion to improve emergency
services seems extremely logical, but
still is not being commonly applied
across the country. Cannon thinks
that’s because organizations in gen-
eral are too protective of their own
turf, or perhaps do not see the big
picture regarding how a lack of time-
ly and effective emergency response
hurts the entire service system.
“It is not in any of our interests
for people to back up in the emer-
gency department with no place to
go,” he said.
At its worst, there was a night
back around 2003 when a record 28
patients with psychiatric needs were
awaiting services in the Palmetto
Health ER at one time, Gattman
recalls. With the main psychiatric
area of the emergency department
equipped to handle only about five
patients, the situation was chaotic to
say the least.
“No emergency department is
set up physically to provide what
really amounts to a de facto acute-
care psychiatric hospital,” Cannon
added. “If a patient has to stay there
for days, that’s what you’re running.”
Collaboration among the partic-
ipating agencies manifests in a vari-
ety of ways. Cannon said that the
Columbia Area Mental Health
Center provides a portion of the

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It is illegal under federal copyright law to reproduce this publication or any portion of it without the publisher’s permission Mental Health Weekly DOI:10.1002/mhw

funding that makes possible the
presence of substance use treatment
expertise; the local drug and alcohol
agency staffs the emergency depart-
ment with one clinician and with a
case manager who is familiar with
placement options from acute care
to sober housing.
A member of the treatment
team also meets monthly with a
first-year family practice resident to
orient the physician to how to
access appropriate referrals for
behavioral health services.
Gattman said that the on-site
presence of behavioral health
expertise makes a difference in
moving patients through the system
more efficiently, regardless of illness
severity level. “A psychiatrist can
convince an ER doctor that it’s safe
for a certain patient to go back out
into the community and to pursue
outpatient care,” he said.
August 30, 2010 Mental Health Weekly
3
‘A psychiatrist can convince an ER doctor
that it’s safe for a certain patient to go
back out into the community and to
pursue outpatient care.’
Greg Gattman
Brighter Mondays ful of patients still await a move to
Interagency collaboration has an appropriate treatment site, he
led to fewer patients with commit- said. “The numbers are drastically
ment holds having to wait for pro- reduced from what they used to
longed periods in the emergency be,” he said.
department before a placement Cannon does not hesitate to
occurs. reply when asked to cite the factor
Cannon said that a more typical most critical to the success of an
Monday now finds fewer than 10 interagency collaboration such as
patients awaiting placement after this, pointing to the commitment of
having spent time at the ER over the executive leadership at all of the par-
weekend. By the end of the day ticipating agencies. “The top execu-
Monday, maybe only a small hand- tives have to buy in,” he said. •

Study: More MH professionals needed to treat college students

Severe mental illness (SMI) is
more common among college stu-
dents than it was a decade ago, with
‘While the condition of students seeking
more young people arriving on counseling doesn’t necessarily reflect the
campus with pre-existing conditions
and a willingness to seek help for experience of the average college student,
emotional distress, despite a lack of
much needed staff, according to a our findings may suggest that students with
new study presented at the 118th
annual convention of the American
severe emotional stress are getting better
Psychological Association (APA) in education, outreach and support during
San Diego earlier this month.
Researchers looked at the childhood that makes them more likely
records of 3,256 college students who
accessed college counseling support
to attend college than in the past.’
between September 1997 and August John Guthman, Ph.D.
2009 at a mid-sized private university.
Students, both undergraduate and
graduate, were screened for mental disorders, suicidal thoughts and self- years is becoming apparent, said
injurious behavior. Several tools were John Guthman, Ph.D., lead author
employed to make a diagnosis, of the study and director of student
Bottom Line…
including clinical evaluations, struc- counseling services at Hofstra
More counselors, psychiatrists are
tured interviews and two widely used University in Hempstead, N.Y.
needed for college counseling programs
tests of mood — the Beck Depres- “University and college counseling
to help improve the quality of care
sion Inventory and the Beck Anxiety services around the country are
for an increasing number of students
Inventory. reporting that the needs of students
entering college with more severe
The needs of students seeking seeking services are escalating
mental health issues.
counseling services in the last 10 Continues on next page

Mental Health Weekly DOI:10.1002/mhw A Wiley Periodicals, Inc. publication. wileyonlinelibrary.com

 Mental Health Weekly August 30, 2010
4
Continued from previous page
toward more severe psychological
problems,” Guthman said of the
study that is to be published in a
peer-review journal.
Guthman added, “While the
condition of students seeking coun-
seling doesn’t necessarily reflect the
experience of the average college
student, our findings may suggest
that students with severe emotional
stress are getting better education,
outreach and support during child-
hood that makes them more likely
to attend college than in the past.”
In 1998, 93 percent of the stu-
dents coming into the clinic were
diagnosed with one mental disor-
der. That number rose to 96 percent
in 2009. Most students in the current
study were diagnosed with mood
and anxiety disorders as well as
adjustment disorders or problems
associated with significant impair-
ment in functioning. Researchers
noted there were no significant class
or age differences.
“Overall, the depression and
anxiety experienced by students in
counseling has remained constant
and relatively mild during the last
decade,” said Guthman. “However,
the percentage of students with mod-
erate to severe depression has gone
up from 34 to 41 percent. These out-
liers often require significantly more
resources and may contribute greatly
to the misperception that the average
student is in distress.”
Guthman said the rise in the
more severe cases of depression
and anxiety in college students may
be because more students are com-
ing to college with pre-existing
mental health difficulties.” The aver-
age college student is not having
this problem, but the students who
are seeking help are frequently
socially isolated, depressed and may
be on medication,” he said.
Medication increases
The study found that the number
of students on psychiatric medications
increased more than 10 percentage
points. In 1998, 11 percent of the clin-
It is illegal under federal copyright law to reproduce this publication or any portion of it without the publisher’s permission Mental Health Weekly DOI:10.1002/mhw
ical sample reported using psychiatric said Guthman.
medications, mostly for depression, “It used to be that students
anxiety and attention-deficit/hyper- would come to university counsel-
activity disorder (ADHD). In 2009, ing because they broke up with
24 percent of those attending coun- their partner or failed a test,” said
seling reported using psychiatric Guthman. “Now, they are coming
medications. with emotional distress and request-
Guthman also found that the ing mental health treatment for the
number of students who acknowl- same reasons that other adult popu-
edged that they had thought about lations seeks out treatment.”
suicide within two weeks of coun-
seling intake declined from 26 per- Psychiatrists needed
cent in 1998 to 11 percent in 2009. Even though campuses are
This decrease may reflect general responding better to the influx of
improvements in suicide prevention students with mental illness attend-
education and outreach and greater ing colleges and universities than
awareness of available assistance, they did 25 years ago, limited
MH advocates gear up for mid-term elections
with website, legislation push
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) last week unveiled
an Elections 2010 website for grassroots advocates to use in reminding
candidates for public office that “Mental Health Gets My Vote.”
“Election Day is less than three months away,” said NAMI Executive
Director Michael J. Fitzpatrick. “Elections this year at every level are
critical ones for mental health. Strong, non-partisan dialogue is urgent.
“State budget crises across the country have led to massive cuts in
mental health services that have put lives at risk. At the national level,
congressional actions also affect hopes for recovery.
“Everything from Medicaid to the nation's economic crisis to recovery
from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico involves mental health concerns,”
Fitzpatrick said. “Americans concerned with unemployment, for example,
need to recognize that unemployed persons are four times as likely to
report symptoms of mental illness. This is no time to cut mental health.”
The NAMI Elections 2010 website includes federal and states action
agendas and questions to ask candidates in public forums. The site also
includes voter registration information and important reference tools for
local mental health groups and individuals to use in defending the right
to vote against improper challenges by election officials. Under federal
law, people with mental illnesses who understand what it means to vote
cannot be denied the right to vote.
The Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law in its
mental health policy reporter, notes that with mid-term elections on the
horizon, advocates have geared up for reauthorization of several important
laws, including the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act and the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and for renewal of programs
and services within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA).
Congress is on its annual August recess with lawmakers set to
return to work the week of September 13.
For more information, visit www.nami.org and www.bazelon.org.

resources and workforce challenges
remain (see MHW, Nov. 2, 2009).
A review of many college sur-
veys have found that only about 60
percent of college campuses say
that they have any psychiatrist rep-
resented in college counseling cen-
ters, said Jerald Kay, M.D., professor
and chair of the Department of
Psychiatry at Boonshoft School of
Medicine at Wright State University.
“To improve the quality of care you
have to increase the presence of
psychiatrists within college campus
programs,” Kay told MHW.
Meanwhile, the findings of
Guthman’s new study confirm find-
ings from other research examining
students with mental health issues,
said Kay, who is not affiliated with
the study. “The Guthman findings
support every study over the last 10
or 15 years with respect to what
people are seeing,” he said. “Serious
Emotional problems remain for children impacted by Katrina
Five years in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina more than one-
third of the children in displaced
families have been clinically diag-
nosed with at least one mental
health problem — with behavioral
and conduct disorders the most
common of the problems — accord-
ing to a new study by the National
Center for Disaster Preparedness
(NCDP) at Columbia University’s
Mailman School of Public Health.
The Gulf Coast Child & Family
Health Study, funded by Children’s
Health Fund (CHF) is published in
the current issue of the American
Medical Association’s (AMA’s)
Journal of Disaster Management
and Public Health Preparedness.
The study found that 60 percent of
children, as many as 20,000, dis-
placed by Katrina either have seri-
ous emotional disorders, behavioral
issues and/or are experiencing sig-
nificant housing instability.
More than 160,000 children
were displaced from their homes
after Hurricane Katrina, according to
Mental Health Weekly DOI:10.1002/mhw
August 30, 2010 Mental Health Weekly
mental illnesses [for students on col-
lege campuses] are more common
than a decade ago.”
Kay is executive director of the
Higher Education Mental Health
Alliance (HEMHA), an initiative
where mental health and college
health care professionals are at the
same table attempting to address
college mental health issues. Its
membership includes the American
Psychological Association (APA), the
American Psychiatric Association
(APA) and the American College
Health Association (ACHA).
Kay, co-editor of “Mental Health
Care in the College Community,”
noted the many advances in psy-
chotherapy and medications over
the past 25 years. “We know it’s
very effective when students go to
seek help,” Kay said. “We also know
that a large number of [students] are
not getting the help they need.”
the study. Researchers also noted
that tens of thousands of these chil-
dren experienced the ongoing chaos
and uncertainty of displacement and
transiency, as well as significant
social disruptions in their lives.
The prevalence of serious emo-
tional disturbance was assessed
among 283 school-aged children in
Louisiana and Mississippi. These
children are part of the Gulf Coast
Child & Family Health Study, involv-
ing a longitudinal cohort of 1,079
randomly sampled households in
the two states, encompassing a total
of 427 children, who have been
interviewed in four annual waves of
data collection since January 2006.
The majority of data collected for
this analysis were drawn from the
fourth round of data, collected
through March 2010.
The study found that although
access to medical care for children
has expanded considerably since
2005 in the region affected by
Hurricane Katrina, more than 37
percent of the 427 children have
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Stigma is another major prob-
lem, added Kay. Despite the posi-
tive efforts of such mental health
initiatives as the American Psychi-
atric Association’s “Healthy Minds.
Healthy Lives.” students still fear
seeking help, he said.
Students perceive seeking help
for their mental health issues as an
admission that they’re weak or that
they’ve done some things wrong,
Kay said. “Ultimately, they don’t
want to be identified as having a
‘psychiatric problem.’ •
For more information about the
study, contact John C. Guthman at
516-647-7232 or by e-mail at
john.c.guthman@hofstra.edu.
received a clinical mental health
diagnosis of depression, anxiety, or
behavior disorder, according to par-
ent reports.
Children exposed to Hurricane
Katrina were nearly five times as
likely as a pre-Katrina cohort to
exhibit serious emotional distur-
bance, according to the study.
The study found that children
post-Katrina are 4.5 times more like-
ly to have serious emotional distur-
bance than pre-Katrina. For the pur-
poses of this study, such distur-
bances were defined as emotional
issues, hyperactivity, conduct and
problems related to peers.
According to the study, even as
long as 41⁄2 years after the event,
about 45 percent of parents report
that their children are experiencing
emotional or psychological prob-
lems that they hadn’t experienced
prior to Katrina.
Addionally, researchers found
that fewer than 50 percent of parents
seeking needed mental health coun-
Continues on next page
 Mental Health Weekly August 30, 2010
6
Continued from previous page
seling for their children were able to
access professional services. “This
study points to a major crisis facing
the children of the post-Katrina Gulf
Region,” says Irwin Redlener, M.D.,
director of the NCDP and president
and CHF president.
‘Dismal failure’
“From the perspective of the
Gulf’s most vulnerable children and
families, the recovery from Katrina
and the flooding of New Orleans has
been a dismal failure,” said Redlener.
“This study adds further cre-
dence to widely accepted views that
adults and children affected by cat-
astrophic emergencies can experi-
ence up to a 40 percent increase in
Texas from page 1
legislature’s appropriations of $82
million in its previous state budget
(2008-2009) that was divided
among the state’s Local Mental
Health Authorities (LMHAs) for
mental health services to imple-
ment a statewide redesign of the
state’s crisis services. The funding
allocation helped to develop and
expand new programs for con-
sumers, Clarke said.
The funding helped with
statewide access to competent rapid
response services, avoidance of
hospitalization and reduction in the
need for transportation. “That really
helps the public mental health sec-
tor,” she said. “The legislature saw
mental health as a priority to allo-
cate funding to helping people in
crisis and diverting people from the
criminal justice system,” she said.
Clarke said advocates are work-
ing with state legislatures to address
the potential impact of the budget
cuts on consumers in need of treat-
ment. “We are just hopeful that in
working with the state legislature
and other state leaders that the cuts
will not be as great as to what we’re
anticipating at this point,” said
Clarke. “We hope the legislature
sees mental health as a priority.”
It is illegal under federal copyright law to reproduce this publication or any portion of it without the publisher’s permission Mental Health Weekly DOI:10.1002/mhw
‘From the perspective of the Gulf’s most
vulnerable children and families, the recovery
from Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans
has been a dismal failure.’
Irwin Redlener, M.D.
mental and behavioral illness,”
added Italo Subbaro, deputy direc-
tor of the AMA’s Disaster Medicine
and Public Health Preparedness
Journal.
The study findings are support-
ed by clinical data from the CHF,
which provides mobile clinics that
travel to underserved areas in the
Maintaining services
Despite the projected budget
cuts, Texas mental health officials
are aiming to move forward with its
jail diversion and crisis programs,
said Leon Evans, president and CEO
of the Center for Health Care
Services. The center is one of the
state’s 37 LMHAs responsible for
providing services for individuals
with mental illness.
While the exact impact on the
services and programs administered
by the Center for Health Care
Services in San Antonio is unknown
at the moment, looming budget cuts
could mean at least 3,000 persons
could potentially go without servic-
es, Evans said. The center, which
oversees services for San Antonio
and Bexar counties, has had to elim-
inate 136 positions, he said.
Evans said that the county’s
Crisis Care Center opened in
September 2005 to provide a place
for law enforcement officers to
bring individuals suspected of being
mentally ill for evaluation and treat-
ment. Prior to its opening, officers
had no choice but to take mentally
ill individuals to jail, he noted.
Another initiative, the Bexar
County Jail Diversion Program, has
helped form a collaborative of agen-
Gulf Coast to provide care for
families and children. From June
2009 through June 2010, despite
improvement in housing conditions
in Louisiana, psychiatric, develop-
mental or learning-related disorders
in children were diagnosed as fre-
quently as respiratory illness, accord-
ing to researchers. •
cies to address the unique needs of
people with mental illness in the
criminal justice system. The Bexar
County jail diversion program
moves people away from inappro-
priate incarceration and use of hos-
pital emergency rooms toward the
mental health treatment they need.
Initial results of the program,
which began in 2002, revealed that
from September 2003 to February
2006, 3,674 persons were diverted
from jail, resulting in an estimated
$3.8 million to $5.0 million in avoid-
ed costs within the county's criminal
justice system, according to an arti-
cle in Psychiatric Services.
The Center for Health Care
Services released a report docu-
menting the results of its efforts to
address substance abuse and home-
lessness in San Antonio and Bexar
counties, including diversion from
jails and emergency rooms. From
April 16, 2008 to March 31, 2009, the
county documented a savings of
$6,668.693 in cost avoidance.
In 2006, the American
Psychiatric Association (APA) hon-
ored the Bexar County Jail
Diversion Program with its Gold
Achievement Award in the category
of community-based programs
because of its development of an

innovative system of jail diversion
involving community partnerships
and collaborations. The jail diver-
sion initiative was cited for
improved services, enhanced access
to and continuity of care for persons
with mental illness, and its financial
savings.
The San Antonio and Bexar
County Crisis Care Center program
activities include walk-in screening
and assessment services, a secure
law enforcement area for detained
individuals with mental illness and
10 beds for persons to occupy for
up to 23 hours for stabilization
and/or transfer to residential or
hospital.
Evans noted that the collabora-
tive efforts have resulted in:
• Greater efficiency in the use
of law enforcement resulting
in increased public safety and
return of law enforcement
officers back to community
policing.
• Reduced inappropriate incar-
ceration of persons with men-
tal illness and substance abuse.
• Reduced inappropriate use of
emergency rooms and hospi-
talizations.
• Increased efficiency and effec-
tiveness in the use of public
dollars.
• Reduced victimization and
increased support for the
Briefly Noted
NIMH seeks proposals
for Outreach Partnership program
The National Institute of Mental
Health (NIMH) is inviting the submis-
sion of proposals to become an
NIMH Outreach Partner. The
Outreach Partnership Program is an
opportunity for organizations to
receive $7,500 annually for three
years to conduct statewide, science-
based mental health outreach and
education, and to promote National
Institutes of Health/NIMH clinical
research. The Outreach Partnership
Mental Health Weekly DOI:10.1002/mhw
August 30, 2010 Mental Health Weekly
homeless population.
“We have been able to treat so
many with our current budget con-
straints over the last few years,” said
Evans. “We’ve stretched our provider
system. We expect more from our
historical service system and
employees and we expect better
outcomes and increased employee
performance standards,” said Evans.
“Our employees have really stepped
up and accepted the challenge; we
have gotten our consumers and
patients involved in the recovery
model (embracing wellness) and
helping them to manage their illness
and living much better lives.”
The legislature’s previous
‘We have been able to
increase funding due
to our data and cost
benefit analysis over
the last couple of
years, either in actual
funds or by partners
investing in services
directly.’
Leon Evans
Program provides participants with
opportunities to stay abreast of the
latest advances in mental health
research, interact with leading mental
health researchers, become involved
in clinical research efforts, and learn
about progress and new approaches
in health education, communication,
and outreach. For more information,
visit www.nimh.nih.gov.
AAPD commends Secretary of Labor
for focus on disability employment
The American Association of
People with Disabilities (AAPD), the
country’s largest cross-disability
membership organization, applaud-
A Wiley Periodicals, Inc. publication. wileyonlinelibrary.com
7
appropriation of $82 million for cri-
sis redesign, was attributed to the
county’s initiatives, he said. “That
was the result of our experience
and model here in Bexar
County/San Antonio and the fact
that the DSHS staff and taskforce
members spent time here hearing
from our community collabora-
tion/partners and the fact we had
data on cost benefit and outcomes
that informed the statewide design
and made the selling of the legisla-
tive appropriations request possi-
ble,” he said.
Evans added, “There is much
therapeutic justice going on here in
Bexar County/San Antonio and the
nation. We have been able to
increase funding due to our data
and cost benefit analysis over the
last couple of years, either in actual
funds or by partners investing in
services directly.”
Multiple sources of new fund-
ing have been received from the
City of San Antonio, Bexar County,
University Health System (County
Hospital District) and grants, he
said. “The center’s local partners
would probably continue to fund, if
we can maintain the outcomes, “he
said. “With big state cuts that may
not be possible and it could put the
services/community collaboration in
a death spiral that would undo all of
the work we have done to date.” •
ed U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda
Solis for her focus on disability
employment after the release of
data last week that focused for the
first time on the employment status
of persons with a disability from the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The
data included information about the
employment-population ratio for
people with disabilities and the
unemployment rate of persons with
a disability for 2009. The informa-
tion from the release was obtained
from the Current Population Survey
(CPS), which had questions added
to it in June 2008 that were
Continues on next page
 Mental Health Weekly August 30, 2010
8
Continued from previous page
designed to identify persons with a
disability, and 2009 was the first cal-
endar year for which annual aver-
ages were available.
State News
Oregon hospital launches
‘Exclusively Women’ MH program
Portland’s Cedar Hills Hospital
has launched a new program tai-
lored to women with multiple MH
and chemical dependency issues.
“Exclusively Women” is designed
for women who are dealing with
drug and alcohol dependency, post-
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
spousal abuse, anxiety and obses-
sive disorders, suicidal thoughts,
eating disorders, and depressive dis-
orders related to pregnancy. Treat-
ment focuses on crisis stabilization.
Exclusively Women is one of the
few programs in the nation to offer
women such a broad variety of serv-
ices within a hospital setting. Unlike
other programs where “one size fits
all,” evidence-based therapies for
specific needs such as depression,
addiction, self-image, or life skills
are utilized within group sessions
with other women.
California’s MHN adds web-video
consultation option for clinical visits
Managed Health Network, Inc.
(MHN), the California-based behav-
ioral health subsidiary of Health
Net, Inc. announced last week that
its Employee Assistance Program
members are now able to use video
voice over Internet protocol, or
video VoIP, to consult with MHN cli-
nicians about stress, grief, relation-
ship problems, occupational issues
and other emotional health issues.
Nancy Mann, Ph.D., MHN director
of clinical operations noted that
with video VoIP clinicians can
observe members’ facial expressions
and other important non-verbal
cues, and they can send messages
and links via instant messaging.
Members can connect from the pri-
Mental Health Weekly DOI:10.1002/mhw
Coming up…
The National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health (TA
Center) will sponsor the 2010 Rural Behavioral Health Symposium September
21-23 in Glendale, Ariz. Visit http://gucchdtacenter.georgetown.edu for more
information.
The New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS) will
hold its 28th Annual Conference, “Whole Self – Whole Health – Whole Lives,”
September 22-24 at the Hudson Valley Resort & Conference Center in
Kerhonkson, N.Y. For more information, visit www.nyaprs.org.
The Center for School Mental Health (CSMH), in collaboration with the IDEA
Partnership, will sponsor the 15th Annual Conference on Advancing School
Mental Health, with the theme “School Mental Health and Promoting Positive
School Culture,” to be held October 7-9 in Albuquerque, N.M. For information,
visit http://csmh.umaryland.edu/conf_meet/AnnualConference/index.html.
Hazelden, Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches and The Change Companies
will sponsor the “Heartland Conference on Behavioral Health and Addictive
Disorders,” with a special track on adolescents and young adults, October 21-23
in Chicago, Ill. isit www.usjt.com/chicago-conference2010 for information.
vacy and comfort of their homes, ties. Coffee-Fletcher is a licensed pro-
which is particularly important for fessional counselor supervisor and
members who live in rural or under- former public administrator with 23
served areas and those who have years of experience in community-
problems with mobility. based social services, including men-
tal health, child welfare and educa-
tion. A founding member of the
Names in the News Austin Area African American Behav-
ioral Health Professionals Network,
Hogg Foundation’s program offi- Coffee-Fletcher also has served on
cer Vicky Coffee-Fletcher has been the planning committee and as a pre-
appointed to the board of directors of senter for the Central Texas African
the National Leadership Council on American Family Support Confer-
African American Behavioral Health, ences since its inception in 2000.
an organization founded to provide
leadership in building and supporting
behavioral health systems that reduce Mental Health Weekly
disparities and contribute to optimal is on Facebook
health in African American communi-
In case you haven’t heard…
Could yoga become a potential therapy for certain mental disorders? Maybe so,
according to researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) who
found that yoga may be superior to other forms of exercise in its positive effect
on mood and anxiety. The findings, currently appearing online at Journal of
Alternative and Complementary Medicine, is the first to demonstrate an
association between yoga postures, increased gamma-aminobutyric levels and
decreased anxiety. The researchers followed two groups over a 12-week long period,
three times a week for one hour; one group practiced yoga while the others
walked. Those who practiced yoga reported a more significant decrease in anxiety
and greater improvements in mood than those who walked.
A Wiley Periodicals, Inc. publication. wileyonlinelibrary.com