Resource Center
Friday, January 01, 2010
Schools as Entry Points for Children's Mental Health Services
With over 50 million children and youth attending public schools in this country, these systems are a logical entry point for reaching children and their families (GIH 2008). Schools are major institutions in children’s lives, providing oversight for many hours of a typical weekday. Though health improvement is not the primary mission of the education sector, it has extensive influence in shaping children’s health and long-term development outcomes.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
An Employer's Guide to Behavioral Health Services
This comprehensive guide examines major trends in epidemiology, and assesses the treatment and cost of behavioral health care in the United States. It also analyzes the state of employer-sponsored behavioral health services and makes recommendations to improve the design, delivery and purchase of services.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration Financing Center of Excellence
SAMHSA's Financing Center of Excellence website features information about health care financing with a special focus on mental health and substance abuse. Using blog-style posts, this site offers original content and news, reports, briefs, scholarly article citations, legislation, and data sets regarding the financing of mental health and substance use treatment and prevention.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Changing the Conversation About Child and Family Mental Health
In 2008, FrameWorks began a multi-year study of American thinking about child and family mental health. Building on a decade of research on public perceptions of children’s issues, this research was designed to compare expert understanding with public patterns of thinking and to use framing research to close the conceptual gap. The full research design includes both qualitative and quantitative methods, documenting the dominant frames used to explain these issues in media and in expert discourse, as well as providing extensive documentation of how the public hears these communiques. The reports that follow document an evolving “core story” of child and family mental health, using framing techniques to plug the cognitive holes in lay understanding of this critical issue.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Children's Mental Health Services in New Hampshire
NH's mental health care system is under assault. The impacts of the broken system are seen in the stress it is putting on local law enforcement, hospital emergency rooms, the court system and county jails, and, most importantly, in the harm under-treated mental health conditions cause NH citizens and their families. This report is a compilation of research that examines children's mental health services for early childhood, school-age children, adolescents and young adults, and vulnerable populations.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Suicide Across the Lifespan
New Hampshire has made great gains in supporting and bringing forward the voices of survivors -- those who have lost someone to suicide -- to understand and support them and reduce the isolation that often comes with their profound grief. This report outlines many successful efforts to educate the public, collect and analyze data and shape sound public policy that can help prevent suicide.
Monday, June 01, 2009
What We Know About Young Adults Aged 18 - 24 in New Hampshire
Young adults aged 18 - 24 are in a transitional period of life as they move out of adolescence and into adulthood. Although little research has been conducted on the psychological well-being of young adults, for most people this is a time of positive physical and metal health. However, for some young adults this is a period of great vulnerability and risk. This report examines prevalence of health care access, substance abuse, suicide and educational factors among this population and makes recommendations for improving the well-being of young adults in New Hampshire.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Children's Mental Health: What every policymaker should know
Mental health is a key component in a child's healthy development; children need to be healthy in order to learn, grow, and lead productive lives. The mental health service delivery system in its current state does not sufficiently meet the needs of children and youth, and most who are in need of mental health services are not able to access them. With the addition of effective treatments, services and supports, the mental health system can become better equipped to help children and youth with mental health problems, or those who are at risk, to thrive and live successfully.
Friday, January 01, 2010
Improving Access to Mental Health Services for Abused Children in NH
Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) are community partnerships designed to coordinate multidisciplinary investigations of child abuse and other child victim crimes. The CAC team typically includes law enforcement, the County Attorney's Office, the Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), victim advocacy agencies and the medical and mental health communities. This report summarizes an assessment to determine if the CACs can increase their capacity to link child abuse victims and their families to evidence-based mental health services.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
State of NH LBA Audit on Community Mental Health System
This audit assessed the Bureau of Behavioral Health's (BBH) oversight of the community mental health system to ensure efficient and effective service provision. The audit period is State fiscal years 2008 and 2009. The BBH oversees community-based services by contracting with ten regional community mental health centers. In SFY 2009, the BBH expended $93.9 million for community mental health services. This total represents both federal and state funds. Approximately $1.3 million was spent on BBH administration. State funds are primarily used to reimburse the CMHCs for services to Medicaid recipients. The state no longer reimburses centers for non Medicaid consumers who cannot fully pay for services. Findings of the audit point to several areas in which the BBH can better align its operations with its current environment through planning, improved service oversight and risk mitigation.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Girls Speak Up
Adolescence is a critical period in the development of attitudes, behaviors, and life-style choices that can enhance health and well-being among young people. It is also a time of unique vulnerabilities, health issues, and real and perceived barriers to accessing health care. An important aspect of the Girls' Health Initiative was ascertaining not just what girls and young women do in regard to health-related behaviors, but more important, how they think about the choices they make and the meaning of their behaviors. In this report, our analyses integrate the voices of young women.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Collecting Family Voices on Children's Mental Health
The NH Children’s Mental Health Focus Groups were convened by The National Alliance on Mental Illness NH (NAMI NH) in New Hampshire. The purpose of the project was to understand the thoughts of family and youth with mental illness as well as hear the observations and attitudes towards NH children’s mental health service system (public and private). This project provided us with important information as we planned the Endowment's new theme, Improving the Mental Health of NH's Children and Their Families. It also offered insight into the education and support needs of families dealing with a child and/or adolescent with mental illness.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Children's Mental Health in New Hampshire
This paper is one of a series of reports commissioned to inform policy-makers about the status of mental health in New Hampshire. This analysis is designed to answer basic questions about the mental health status of New Hampshire’s children through an assessment of mental health prevalence estimates and an analysis of service use in the public Medicaid and privately insurance systems.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Child Mental Health: A Review of the Scientific Discourse
This research aims to better understand the ways that scientists explain child mental health and the dominant patterns in how the public thinks and talks about this concept. The research with both these groups is designed to reveal specific areas where the understanding of scientists and that of the general public are dissonant -- where gaps or holes between these two groups exist in thinking and understanding the topic of child mental health. These missing links then represent promising areas for reframing strategies designed to close the gap between the scientific knowledge and the public's understanding of the policy implications of this knowledge.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Mental Health Services in New Hampshire's Schools
As many as 55,756 children, ages 5 – 19 have a diagnosable mental health disorder and almost 14,000 have a serious emotional disturbance. Most of these children are educated in the New Hampshire public school system. Understanding if, and how, public schools manage the behavioral health issues of their students is of obvious public policy significance.
Despite this policy significance, comprehensive information about the role of schools in mental health services in New Hampshire is not available. This work – combining surveys of both school districts and schools and interviews with community mental health centers across the state – is designed to be an initial assessment of how this system is administered and funded, the mental health conditions driving this system, the services that it provides, and the manner in which the system assesses its progress in ensuring the mental well being of its children.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Mental Health Services for NH's Young Children and Their Families: Planning to Improve Access and Outcomes
Early Childhood Mental Health is the social/emotional well being of children aged birth to six years, and promotes the capacity to experience, manage and express emotions; develop and sustain stable relationships with others; safely explore the environment and learn; and demonstrate developmentally appropriate behavior. This study examines the availability, accessibility and quality of early childhood mental health supports and services for New Hampshire's youngest children and their families.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Supporting the Direct-Service Workforce in Behavioral Health Programs for Children and Youth in New Hampshire
This report examines the condition of the direct-service workforce in children's behavioral settings in New Hampshire. Many programs are under significant stress due to the tightening fiscal climate and changes to state policy that increasingly favors intensive in-home services over residential treatment for children diagnosed with mental, emotional and behavioral problems.
Staff in residential agencies report that they are working long and erratic schedules, and that their programs are understaffed and under-resourced. Despite their generally high educational levels, direct-service workers are poorly paid and some benefits, such as tuition reimbursement, are eroding. Weaknesses in the workforce are expensive for agencies and can affect client care. Yet it is likely that they will grow more crippling in the near future, as residential treatment becomes a last resort reserved for the most challenging young people. This report recommends a series of supports to bolster the direct-service workforce, and urges agencies to use this transition in services to craft creative solutions to workforce problems.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Reclaiming Our Future: A Pathway For Treating Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders in NH's Adolescent and Young Adults
This report contains a description of the prevalence of co-occurring disorders among young Granite Staters, as well as the challenges facing them and their families, including barriers to accessing integrated, appropriate treatment and support. Drawing upon existing expertise in New Hampshire, the Project Advisory Group convened a Scientific Advisory Board comprised of leaders in the mental health, primary care and substance abuse treatment fields to make specific recommendations for implementing consistent, integrated treatment throughout the state.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Mental Health Needs of Children Exposed to Violence in their Homes
A number of national studies have shown that exposure to violence in the home, as well as direct abuse of a child, has a detrimental effect on children, with a wide range of responses, including long-term effects on mental health. This project was designed to develop regional and local strategies to improve the mental health outcomes of children and their families who are exposed to violence in their homes, as well as to identify ways to strengthen the systems of care.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Addressing the Critical Mental Health Needs of New Hampshire's Citizens: A Strategy for Restoration
Five listening sessions were held around New Hampshire in early 2009 to hear testimony and discuss the Ten-Year Mental Health Plan. That plan has outlined the impacts of the broken system and the stress it is putting on local law enforcement, hospital emergency rooms, the court system and county jails. Most importantly, under-treated mental health conditions cause harm to NH citizens and their families.
Policy makers, families and providers were invited to attend the sessions which brought forth some very moving testimony that demonstrated a need for a long-term commitment to improve and restore the mental health system in the state.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Few and Far Between? Children's Mental Health Providers in NH
According to the 1999 U.S. Surgeon General report, one in five children has a diagnosable mental health disorder, and the vast majority of these youth – even those with the most severe impairments – receive no or inappropriate care. In New Hampshire, mental health practitioners have pointed to a shortage of providers, particularly child psychiatrists, as a primary cause of these unmet needs. These practitioners have described long waiting lists for appointments and the need for children living in rural areas to travel long distances for treatment. This paper provides an overview of the currently available data on mental health providers across the state.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Mental Health Services for NH's Children
Data on mental health service use is critical to understanding the system of mental health care for children. In addition, such data can provide a baseline against which policymakers can assess access to mental health services in light of prevalence estimates or future policy interventions designed to increase access to mental health services. This analysis assesses private insurance claims data, Medicaid data, and data on care provided to those without insurance from hospital discharge data and from the community mental health system. This report is one of a series of reports commissioned to inform policy-makers about the status of mental health in New Hampshire. This analysis is designed to answer basic questions about the mental health service system by analyzing the services that are being provided to those with mental illnesses.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Children's Mental Health: Evidence-Based Practices in NH
This report is part of an investigation designed to inform the current knowledge base regarding evidence-based practices (EBPs) both nationally and in NH, the current status of EBP implementation in the state, and areas policy makers might consider as it supports improvements in access to EBPs in mental health services for New Hampshire children and adolescents. National literature on best practices and interviews with national and regional mental health experts serve as the basis for this report.
Friday, January 01, 2010
Suicide Prevention Plan
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for New Hampshire's young people and is a major concern for citizens of all ages. The New Hampshire Suicide Prevention Council has compiled this annual report to assist professionals and the public to recognize the warning signs of suicide and to work collaboratively to intervene on behalf of those at risk.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Rural Integrative Care Planning in Sullivan County
The term Integrated Primary Care describes a clinical practice that integrates behavioral and medical health services within a primary healthcare setting...Rural areas, confronted with economic, geographic, and cultural barriers, face unique and significant challenges providing adequate mental health care...Behavioral health interventions hold promise for improving the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders in the primary care setting, with strong evidence of effectiveness in improving patients' physical and mental health status.
