Activities in October
Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee: (See previous descriptions and links for background). During October, the ISMICC group (of which Dr. Minkoff is a member) has kicked into high gear by organizing five major workgroups to provide input to the first ISMICC report to Congress that is due in mid-December. The five workgroups focus on: Access and Engagement; Continuum of Treatment and Recovery Supports; Reduction of CJ/JJ Involvement; Quality and Data; and Financing. All workgroups focus on ALL age groups, including children, transitional age youth, adults, and older adults. ISMICC has formally identified a long-term mission, which is that through interdepartmental federal leadership and collaboration, in partnership with states, tribes, and counties, to transform the behavioral health system nationwide so that people with serious needs get the help that is necessary to make progress toward hopeful, meaningful lives. In addition to the input provided directly by ISMICC members, Dr. Minkoff facilitated receiving formal input from the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), the National Council of Community Behavioral Health Care, and the American Association of Community Psychiatrists (AACP). After repeated iterations by ISMICC, the final draft of the report was completed and submitted for Federal “content clearance” on November 3. Stay tuned for more information as this important effort unfolds.
Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute: Houston Endowment Substance Use Disorder System Assessment of Houston/Harris County: Continued work this month on researching best practices for Substance Use Disorder services, and working with the project team on beginning the creation of a framework for the “ideal Substance Use Disorder system of care” that will form the backbone of the report and recommendations for this project. The “ideal Substance Use Disorder system of care” has been turned into a visual diagram that illustrates the links between “Life in the Community”, prevention, early intervention, integration of Substance Use Disorder services in primary health care, co-occurring capable specialty care in Substance Use Disorders, Mental Health, and specialty health settings of all kinds, and ongoing recovery coaching and recovery support. Dr. Minkoff has supplied a narrative description of the ideal system that will be used to not only guide the report to the Houston Endowment on Harris County but will also be used by MMHPI to provide policy guidance to Texas leadership. The Texas legislature has empaneled a Select Committee on Substance Use Disorders (with a particular focus on the opioid epidemic), and this work will contribute to identifying findings and recommendations that can have statewide policy impact.
Follow MMHPI at www.texastateofmind.org
Common Ground, Oakland County, MI: Dr. Minkoff provided two days of staff training and consultation to help this innovative crisis program serving Oakland and surrounding counties improve its ability to address the needs of individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, as well as to more effectively design the flow of clients with complex needs through their continuum of services – which includes a crisis intervention center, mobile crisis, crisis residential unit, and a sobering center.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON: CAMH is the premier institution for service, training, and research in Canada, and provides a wide array of services in Toronto, but also tertiary services that are directed toward the province of Ontario and the nation as a whole. CAMH has undergone a comprehensive strategic planning effort to improve its ability to delivery person-centered integrated care and has a new leadership team to implement its strategic vision. Dr. Minkoff was asked to provide one day of training and consultation to all the service divisions in CAMH to help identify a collective vision based on universal progress toward concurrent capability, and to illustrate steps that could be taken to make progress in addressing the clinical, programmatic, and organizational challenges of this large organization with many competing priorities. The visit was extraordinarily successful and is expected to result in ongoing collaboration with ZiaPartners in implementation.
College for Behavioral Health Leadership, Denver, CO. Dr. Minkoff has just been elected to the Board of Directors of this amazing organization, which has inspired Behavioral Health leaders of all types for many decades. CBHL is working on a new strategy to grow the organization’s reach, and Dr. Minkoff is one of three new board members who has been brought on to provide “fresh ideas”. The board meeting was held at the annual “convening” of CBHL, which provided an exciting forum focused on the application of “design thinking” on complex behavioral health system challenges.
Institute for Psychiatric Services, New Orleans, LA. The IPS is the annual American Psychiatric Association meeting that focuses on community psychiatry services. Dr. Cline and Dr. Minkoff presented a workshop on “Changing the World” by implementing universal co-occurring/complexity capability and were joined by Dr. Aniedi Udofa, MD. DABPN, Medical Director of Capital Area Human Services, which is the primary safety net community behavioral health organization serving Baton Rouge and the surrounding region. Dr. Udofa did an amazing job sharing the work that Capital Area launched after a presentation by ZiaPartners ten years ago, under the leadership of Jan Kadofsky, CEO, that has led to steady progress in building capacity to provide integrated services for individuals with co-occurring mental health, Substance Use Disorders, and health conditions throughout the organization. Dr. Minkoff also joined with Drs. Fred Osher, Jackie Feldman, and Stephanie LeMelle in a symposium of their Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) Report, entitled People with Mental Illness in the Justice System: Answering a Cry for Help – a practice manual for practitioners (American Psychiatric Press, Inc. 2016). The presentation involved reading Dear Abby letters that contributed to the book and then illustrating how the manual provides specific guidance for ANY practitioner to take steps to make a difference – in your own work, in your agency, and in your community. Everyone was encouraged to find at least one thing that they would change inside their own “Serenity Prayer of Change”, as well as encouraged to get their community involved in the nationwide county-based “Stepping Up Initiative.”
Florida Criminal Justice Behavioral Health Technical Assistance Center webinar: Dr. Minkoff did a webinar on co-occurring services within the criminal justice/behavioral health system, illustrating how all services have to be designed to address co-occurring challenges, including mental health, Substance Use Disorders, cognitive disabilities, and criminogenic risk behavior. This webinar was coordinated by Mark Engelhardt of the Florida Mental Health Institute and reached over 20 Florida counties that are working in local collaboratives to effect change.
Tennessee Co-occurring Disorders Strategic Initiative: ZiaPartners is continuing to work with the Tennessee Association of Mental Health Organizations and the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services leadership to identify next steps to advance statewide progress in implementing co-occurring capability.
Mid-Hudson Region Seven County Collaboration to Implement CCISC: Last, but certainly not least, ZiaPartners has finalized the planning for a launch of a seven-county regional project to launch welcoming, co-occurring capable systems of care in Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester. Approximately 200 people, representing 7 county teams, with participation from state and regional managed care (DSRIP anchor agencies) representatives, will be attending this two-day event November 13-14 in Fishkill, NY. Each county team has committed to take action based on next steps identified in this event. This is the largest such effort ever in NY State and the first time in any state that seven counties have launched a regional collaboration all at once, without state direction.
Stay tuned!!!!