July 2003 NACBHDD Newsletter
The Newsletter of the National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors
In this Issue...
Vouchers to be Used in President's Substance Abuse Treatment Initiative Access to Recovery
NACBHD's Substance Abuse Committee Chair Sherry Knapp calls the vouchers proposed as part of President Bush's substance abuse treatment initiative a "phenomenal change."
The vouchers were discussed by SAMHSA administrator Charles Curie in his March 26, 2003 testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor/HHS/Education regarding the FY 2004 budget request for SAMHSA, and first mentioned in the President's State of the Union address.
The program, Access to Recovery, will use vouchers to purchase substance abuse treatment and support services, and will utilize $600 million over three years, with the first $200 million in the SAMHSA FY 2004 budget. It is projected that the initial $200 million will allow treatment for an additional 100,000 people per year.
According to Curie's testimony (see www.samhsa.gov/news/curie_testimony), Access to Recovery would accomplish three critical goals:
Dr. Knapp, also CEO of the Hamilton County, OH, Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board, says that "the idea of increasing capacity is welcomed and desperately needed." The program has aroused a lot of interest and concern, she says.
While using vouchers represents a major change, Dr. Knapp focuses on two key issues regarding their use: informed consumer choice and the concept of good performance.
Dr. Knapp says that states that use county-based substance abuse services will be in for a significant change. As she understands the process, states will have to apply for this "pot of money" and explain how they will meet the program's key principles and how they will administer the vouchers, and there is no guarantee a state will get funding. Counties will need to communicate with their state agencies about this. In addition, it is not clear whether the initial $200 million will be distributed among a number of states. The $600 million is already dedicated to SAMHSA and is refocused for the program, but it is not new money.
While reflecting on the questions and unknowns associated with Access to Recovery, Dr. Knapp notes that the ultimate end is always to get clients the best services, and that the process involved with such a program "may make us think about how to sell ourselves to consumers."
NOTE: As the newsletter went to press, SAMHSA issued two press releases detailing Access to Recovery. A Request for Applications (RFA) is under development by a workgroup of stakeholders in the field. Eligibility criteria will be delineated in the RFA, and applications will be coordinated through governors' offices. See www.samsha.gov/news/newsreleases, "Access to Recovery" and "Access to Recovery: How It Will Work."
IDEA Funding in Jeopardy in California
Patricia Ryan, Executive Director of the California Mental Health Directors Association (CMHDA), spoke with NACBHD about the complex funding issues surrounding IDEA reauthorization in California. In 1984, as a result of advocacy and lawsuits to increase special education students' access to mental health services, the state transferred mental health services for students who are designated those services in their IEPs, from special education to county mental health departments (AB 3632). Since then, the costs have far exceeded the amount of money allocated for these services, so that they qualified for mandated reimbursement, a provision under the California constitution. In FY 2000-2001, these services cost counties over $100 million.
However, as part of the FY 02-03 budget, California put a moratorium on all mandates for reimbursements to local governments, so that the counties have still been providing these services to special education students, but receiving no reimbursement. Since July 2002, California counties have not been funded for the mental health services they provide to 27,000+ special education students. Parents cannot be charged, or sliding scales used, because students are legally entitled to a free, appropriate education. AB 3632 is one of the largest mandates on counties not being reimbursed. The proposed FY 03-04 budget would continue the moratorium on reimbursement mandates to counties.
Counties are "just eating the cost of providing these services," says Ryan, and taking the funds out of other non-mandated services, advancing about $8 million monthly out of county general funds for the mental health services of the federally mandated program. "The bottom line is that it has created a huge fiscal crisis on the county level all over the state."
In answer to this crisis, one county has already decided they will discontinue these services - putting the federal IDEA funds for the state in jeopardy. Without the required "related services," available for students, which include mental health services, as part of statewide compliance with IDEA, the entire $900 million for IDEA funding for the state of California is threatened.
While California may not meet the June 30/July 1 fiscal year budget process deadline, counties are at the breaking point on this issue. Ryan reports that there have been various proposals for finding the money to continue the services, but that nobody knows how it is going to end up. There are many advocacy efforts ongoing around the issue, and her association is advocating that the program be given back to school districts, with the recognition that this has to be funded in some way. The state law would have to be repealed. Education could contract with CMHS for the services. CMDHA says, in its position statement of AB 3632, that county mental health authorities are committed to "effective collaboration partnerships with education under a restructured system," and that they are committed to a system that "continues to meet the mental health needs of special education pupils."
Ryan says families were frustrated with the school districts when the services were transferred to the counties in 1984, and that the counties have been doing a good job providing the services. Parents have been very sympathetic to the counties' plight, and somewhat anxious about the services being returned to education.
Update on Federal IDEA Legislation
NACBHD last reported on issues in the IDEA reauthorization (H.R. 1350) in the May newsletter. (Issues of concern included suspending and expelling students with disabilities, less frequent IEPs, one year to file a complaint, and funding.) Since then, the House has passed H.R. 1350 and the issue has moved on to the Senate. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has introduced the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2003, which is markedly different from H.R. 1350, and comes closer to ensuring an appropriate education for children with mental illness.
Aspects of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2003, the bill now in the Senate, that are most likely to effect students with mental illness are summarized from an E-News from NAMI dated June 20:
The full Senate will vote on the bill in July, with a conference committee of House and Senate members meeting after that to resolve differences in the two bills.
The Child Medication Safety Act
The House of Representatives recently passed the Child Medication Safety Act (H.R. 1170) by a vote of 425-1, a bill that would require that each state have policies and procedures in place prohibiting schools from requiring children to take medication as a condition of attending school or receiving school services. States that do not comply would lose federal education funding. Significantly, the House accepted an amendment from Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), strongly advocated for by a coalition of mental health groups, regarding the critical communication between parents, schools, and mental health providers.
While not disagreeing with the policy intent of the bill - that schools may not condition services on whether or not a child takes medication -- the coalition of six organizations (CHADD, NAMI, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the National Mental Health Association, and the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health) was concerned that the bill's strict enforcement provisions could inhibit communication between teachers, other school personnel, and families regarding a child's learning, emotional, and behavioral issues. The coalition successfully advocated for language that addresses these concerns. In addition, "News for CHADD" (CHADD's electronic newsletter) subscribers submitted accounts of family experiences with school personnel that were shared by CHADD with members of the House Education Workforce Committee and their staff.
Regarding the critical and essential area of communication, Clarke Ross, Executive Director of CHADD, says H.R. 1170 as originally proposed caused great concern about the "chilling effect on communication between schools, teachers, parents, and outside professionals." ("News from CHADD," the organization's electronic newsletter, has featured information on the role of teachers, physicians, and families in recognizing ADHD (August 19, 2002, vol. 2, no.36)) The language added by Kennedy (see below) specifically responds to this concern by addressing the legislative area that deals with communication, language characterized by Ross as a "very positive development."
"Nothing in subsection (a) shall be construed to create a Federal prohibition against teachers and other school personnel consulting or sharing classroom-based observations with parents or guardians regarding a student's academic performance or behavior in the classroom or school, or regarding the need for evaluation for special education or related services under 612(a)(3) of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (20 U.S.C. 1412 (a)(3).
Ross notes that it is important to understand the movement behind the legislation -- the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, established by the Church of Scientology and co-founded by Thomas Szasz, which he says, "creates doubt that childhood mental disorders exist in the first place." In addition, Ross says there is a question of whether the problem of families feeling forced by schools to medicate their children are common enough to require legislation. Referring to such incidents as "isolated and highly publicized" and noting that a number of states and school boards have passed their own laws or resolutions or taken action around the issue, Ross calls the bill "legislative overkill," and says the coalition saw no need for a national law that would affect 15,000 school districts.
The Child Medication Safety Act will receive more support from the Citizens Commission on Human Rights this summer. The Washington Post reported in its May 25 issue that actress Kirstie Alley, a longstanding member of the Church of Scientology, was due in Washington in June to lobby the Senate for passage of the bill. The Post quoted Alley as saying, "I'm very adamant against drugs. When teachers and school administrators talk about problems with attention span and left brain, right brain, I say '(Bleep) the left brain, (bleep) the right brain! We're talking about a whole human being, not one side of the brain or another side!" In addition, the Post noted that Alley did not vote for her candidate of choice in the last presidential election, Al Gore, because she objected to Tipper Gore speaking during the campaign about her own depression and treatment with medication.
From the Hill
Report from Robert Egnew, NACBHD's Director of Public Policy
The National Governors Association (NGA) has developed their Medicaid Reform package. While nothing has been officially released by NGA, the most recent draft proposal has a number of significant changes from the current Medicaid program. These proposed changes are as follows:
Mandated and optional eligibles and benefits
NGA proposes that mandated eligibles and mandated benefits should be excluded from any allocation-based methodology (block grant)
and that these coverages should continue under entitlement status and continue to be funded at the state's current Federal Medical
Assistance Percentage (FMAP). For behavioral health services, however, only those individuals who receive Medicaid in conjunction
with their Social Security Insurance disability status or children are enrolled in TANF would be considered mandatory eligibles.
The only mental health services that are mandatory services are acute inpatient care and outpatient services provided by psychiatrists.
Within developmental disability, the only service that is mandatory is long-term care and for substance abuse, there are not mandatory
services at all.
States participating in the budget allocation program for optional eligibles and optional services would agree to budget neutrality for this portion of the program over a ten year period. Under the NGA proposal, states would contract individually with CMS for a hybrid reform model that consisted of:
Exceptions would be made for certain defined events such as extraordinary increases in unemployment rates, disasters or other catastrophic acts that would affect enrollment or benefit use. In addition, NGA proposes some form of stop/loss provisions capping state risk under the budget allocation portion of the program. NGA proposes that the $12.8 B the administration put in the budget for Medicaid Reform could either be used by states as in initial investment for new programs or could be banked to all states to meet any budget neutrality provisions.
Increased state flexibility in Medicaid program design and administration
Under the NGA proposal, there would be an increase in state flexibility in designing and administering their Medicaid programs. Examples of additional state flexibility would include:
What happens next?
While it is unclear whether the Administration is willing to reach agreement with the NGA on key elements of their proposal, the Medicaid Reform debate will warrant close review. If the NGA and the Administration are able to reach an agreement, a bill will still have to pass through Congress to rewrite the current framework of the Medicaid program. The House has already established a Medicaid Reform Task Force of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which is chaired by Congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-NM). The House would most likely pass out a Medicaid Reform bill if one were introduced. A more substantive debate on Medicaid Reform would clearly occur in the Senate.
Medicaid is a key funding source within the public mental health system where it is estimated to currently pay for 53% of all services. It is estimated that Medicaid pays for approximately 90% of all services within the public sector developmental disabilities system. The public substance abuse treatment system is much less reliant on Medicaid with only about 10% services paid for by Medicaid. Given the significance of the funding levels, Medicaid Reform is an issue that should be closely followed by all NACBHD members.
NACBHD Unveils Newest Publication
We are pleased to announce the publication of Psychiatric Medications: The Technology of Recovery. Thanks to Bob Egnew for researching and developing an outstanding contribution to our policy and membership services efforts. The booklet outlines the problem faced by skyrocketing prescription drug costs and states several cost effective approaches to medication management as alternative to preferred drug list formularies. It states NACBHD's position clearly and offers recommendations for change. All NACBHD members will receive several copies for distribution. Requests for additional copies can be made by email: Lauren@nacbhd.org or (202) 234-7543.
In addition, the booklet, Listen To The Children, is available through the NACBHD office. The booklet provides an outstanding discussion of the Surgeon General's report on children's mental health. The video will be ready for distribution in the next few weeks.
New Appointments at SAMHSA
SAMHSA recently filled two top administrative positions. Following is information about each appointment.
SAMHSA Has New Deputy Administrator, James L. Stone
SAMHSA recently issued a press release (May 28) announcing the appointment of James L. Stone as its new deputy administrator. Stone comes to the job from his position as Commissioner of the New York State Office of Mental Health, where he supervised the 27 psychiatric centers serving over 6,000 inpatients and 20,000 outpatients of the state's public mental health system.
Co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders are a priority for SAMHSA under administrator Charles Curie, and Stone has extensive experience in this area. In New York, he developed the concept of service coordination by severity of disorders and location of care that is the standard for determining the level of treatment for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders. In addition, he oversaw the development of a diagnostic assessment instrument for co-occurring disorders, and facilitated the relationship between mental health authorities and the New York Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, which led to funding 12 co-occurring specialists for county mental health offices to in turn further enable cooperation between mental health and substance abuse professionals.
Stone's other achievements include: full accreditation of all state mental hospitals, the only statewide fully accredited correctional mental health system, and reduction of seclusion and restraints by 65 percent. He supports performance indicators, evidence-based practices, and data to support service enhancement. During 9/11, he worked with SAMHSA and New York City on a command center for mental health and substance abuse services; and he created Project Liberty for services to special populations.
In addition to taking note of Stone's record in the area of co-occurring disorders, Gary Weiskopf, Executive Director, New York State Conference of Mental Hygiene Directors, says Stone will be missed in New York from the county point of view because he has an appreciation and understanding of county government and direct service delivery and because he "has been very successful at starting to focus on the relationship between county and state mental health."
A. Kathryn Power is New Director of the Center for Mental Health Services
A. Kathryn Power has been appointed director of SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services, a role in which she will oversee SAMHSA's mental health activities.
Know nationally for her focus on recovery for individuals suffering from mental illness, she comes to SAMHSA from the Rhode Island Department of Mental Health, Retardation, and Hospitals, where as director she emphasized community based and community support living services. She is a strong supporter of integrated treatment for co-occurring disorders, a current priority of SAMHSA and administrator Charles Curie.
In Rhode Island, Power directed the largest department in the state government, with a $480 million budget and 2,200 people in the workforce. Through its publicly financed, privately operated systems, the department services 46,000+ individuals with serious disabilities.
As past president of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Mental Health Program Directors, she highlighted co-occurring disorders, substance abuse disorders, as well as trauma as a central aspect of those suffering from serious mental illness.
In a June 25 press release regarding Power's appointment, both SAMHSA administrator Curie and HHS Secretary Thompson emphasized Power's role in advancing the President's New Freedom Initiative, with the release of the final report of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health pending.
Priced Out in 2002 Now Available: Study Reveals National Average Rent Rate Is Higher Than SSI For Individuals With Disabilities
Priced Out in 2002, a study about housing affordability problems for the nation's poorest Americans, is now available. The study, from the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force and the Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC) and funded by the Melville Charitable Trust, demonstrates that the national average rent for an efficiency or one-bedroom apartment is more than the entire monthly Social Security Income (SSI) for a person with a disability. (The monthly SSI income for the 3.7 million people who relied on it in 2002 was $545 per month.)
This means that those on SSI needed to pay 105% of their monthly income to rent a modest one-bedroom apartment at the fair market rental rate determined by HUD. In areas of the country with high cost housing markets, individuals with disabilities needed even more of their monthly income to pay their rent. In San Francisco, the highest cost housing area, 204% was required. As the study's title says, in 2002, individuals with disabilities were "priced out" of every housing market in the United States.
About 1.9 million people with disabilities are in public institutions, nursing homes, or other overcrowded or unsafe facilities because they do not have enough money to pay for community housing. An additional 640,000 people are living at home with aging parents.
Ann O'Hara, of TAC, who spoke with NACBHD about the housing problems faced by individuals with disabilities for the March newsletter, said in a press release, "If SSI is the safety net, then a lot of Americans are falling through." She also noted, "As housing values surge ahead, the poorest Americans are being left behind." She reported that homelessness is the "inevitable outcome" of the dire housing situation for those relying on SSI.
Included in the study are an analysis of rents and SSI income for 2,702 housing market areas in the United States, a state-by-state analysis, and recommendations for federal, state, and local housing officials. Copies of the study can be accessed at www.tacinc.org/hc/PO2002.pdf, or call TAC at (617) 266-5657.
Winner of the Thomas M. Wernert Award Announced
TAC recently announced the winner of the fourth annual Thomas M. Wernert Award for Innovation in Community Behavioral Healthcare to be presented on July 11, 2003 at the NACBHD annual conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. TAC and the David and Lura Lovell Foundation, in collaboration with NACBHD, will present the $10,000 award to The Tenancy Preservation Program of the Mental Health Association, Inc. (TPP) in Springfield, Massachusetts.
TPP is a program designed to prevent homelessness by addressing the tenancy problems of vulnerable residents who are at risk of eviction for lease violations resulting from mental disabilities. TPP includes:
Programs receiving honorable mention are:
The Thomas M. Wernert Award for Innovation in Community Behavioral Healthcare is an annual award that grants $10,000 to a state, county, or community-based non-profit organization providing exemplary behavioral health services. TAC, the Lovell Foundation, and NACBHD are committed to supporting and honoring innovation in community behavioral health. The annual award program seeks to identify and give national recognition to a program demonstrating innovation and creativity, while ensuring community and consumer participation.
This award is given in memory of Thomas M. Wernert, former Executive Director of the Lucas County Mental Health Board in Toledo, Ohio. The winning programs embody the ideas and ideals Mr. Wernert exercised in his leadership in public behavioral healthcare.
NACBHD Awards Program - Member Poll
NACBHD is interested in expanding its awards program to recognize those individuals and programs that exemplify model services and community leadership. An awards program is an ideal way for a membership organization to show appreciation to those whose devotion and commitment to their programs and communities has been exemplary over the past year. Let us hear from you at Lauren@nacbhd.org or fax: (202) 462-9043.:
Please include your:
Name
Organization
State
Phone
~ Thanks for your input ~
ARC Offers State Medicaid Fact Sheets
As states struggle with budget crises and with the Administration and Congress considering significant Medicaid changes, the ARC of the United States is offering a state-by-state picture of the current Medicaid situation as it affects services for persons with disabilities. Medicaid is the primary source of public funding of healthcare services and supports for people with disabilities in the United States, and covers over 7 million people.
The two-page fact sheets can be accessed by state at www.thearc.org/medicaid, and are intended for consumers, families, providers, policymakers, and advocates. Items discussed, by state, include essential services, financial resources and Medicaid expenditures, and alternatives to Medicaid cuts.
Few States Dedicate Alcohol Excise Tax To Fund Alcohol Treatment Programs
New Analysis Shows How Critical Programs Can Be Saved By Little-Known Revenue Source
A George Washington University Medical Center initiative to increase access to treatment for individuals with alcohol problems, Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems, today released an analysis to determine which US states use taxes on alcoholic beverage products to fund treatment programs. The analysis found that only nine states - Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee and Utah - earmark excise tax revenues from alcohol sales in their state to fund alcohol treatment programs.
Because states face revenue shortfalls of an estimated $80 billion, more are forced to consider cuts to crucial programs, such as those that identify and treat alcohol problems. For example, in Pennsylvania, alcohol and drug treatment programs have been hit hard. They are slated for a $100 million or 50 percent reduction on July 1. By the end of June, even more states will be putting critical services on the chopping block as they come up against budget deadlines. Despite these pending cuts, most states are not tapping a valuable revenue stream that the nine states identified in this analysis are using to support treatment and other programs.
"Our analysis shows that only nine states are taking advantage of the alcohol excise tax to pay for these valuable alcohol treatment programs," said Eric Goplerud, PhD, director of Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems at The George Washington University Medical Center. "Cutting funding for treatment doesn't make economic sense when untreated alcohol problems cost the country billions more in health care costs." Each year alcohol problems drain nearly $185 billion from the American economy - health care costs alone amount to $26 billion and over 51 million extra sick days are taken annually. Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems at The George Washington University Medical Center seeks to increase access to treatment for individuals with alcohol problems. Working with policymakers, employers and concerned citizens, Ensuring Solutions will provide research-based information and tools to help curb the avoidable health care and other costs associated with alcohol use and improve access to treatment for Americans who need it. The project is supported by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts.
States with Alcohol Excise Taxes Dedicated to Treatment |
|
State |
Program |
Arizona |
Drug and Alcohol Treatment Fund |
Idaho |
Alcoholism Treatment Account. |
Kansas |
Community Alcoholism and Intoxication Programs Fund. |
Mississippi |
Alcoholism Treatment and Rehabilitation Fund. |
Montana |
Treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention of alcoholism and chemical dependency. |
New Jersey |
Alcohol Education, Rehabilitation and Enforcement Fund. |
Oregon |
Mental Health Alcoholism and Drug Services Account. |
Tennessee |
To assist municipalities and counties in carrying out the provisions of the state's 1973 Comprehensive Alcohol and Drug Treatment Act. |
Utah |
Programs or projects related to prevention, treatment, detection, and prosecution. |
Source: Various state statutes/codes. More information can be found at www.ensuringsolutions.org. |
|
CEUs and Mental Health Screening Materials Available to Clinicians Who Participate in National Depression Screening Day
This year's National Depression Screening Day (NDSD) - held on October 9 and cosponsored by the National Association of County Behavioral Health Directors - offers a concise, easily comprehensible questionnaire that screens patients for a range of disorders in an effort to bolster resiliency during trying times. In addition to screening for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and bipolar disorder, materials now include information on how to manage stress and recognize the physical symptoms that often go hand-in-hand with mental health disorders. NDSD has developed this multi-faceted approach to provide solutions for the more than 54 million Americans, and their communities, affected by mental health disorders.
New this year, clinicians interested in conducting an NDSD program can receive continuing education credits for completing a complementary self-education component. CEUs are available for physicians, physician assistants, nurses, psychologists and certified counselors. Complete details can be found on the NDSD website at www.mentalhealthscreening.org.
The overarching goal of this year's program is to promote mental wellness and the ability of individuals and communities to bounce back from difficulties by ensuring that those who are at-risk or already ill become healthy and productive. Studies have shown that people with certain medical illnesses, such as cancer and heart disease, have better outcomes and treatment compliance if co-occurring mental health disorders are treated.
As part of the program, registered sites receive an Event Planning Guide that includes tips on program implementation and sample publicity materials. Also included in the kit are screening forms with scoring instructions and referral guidelines, diagnostic aids, clinician's guide, videos, posters and educational materials for diverse audiences, including older adults and Spanish speakers. There are a variety of affordable program options to choose from.
Last year, screenings took place at roughly 6,000 sites nationwide, including hospitals, mental health clinics, colleges, primary care offices and in public settings such as community centers, older adult facilities and supermarkets. For registration information, please call (781) 239-0071 or download a registration form at www.mentalhealthscreening.org/reg.
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Job Bank
Regional Reinvestment Project Director
The Regional Planning Partnership, serving nine Community Based Mental Health Centers in South East Virginia is looking for a Project Director to implement a Regional Reinvestment Initiative. The incumbent will be responsible for the development and implementation an acute care Regional Reinvestment Initiative according to a project design that has been designed to effectively facilitate and promote appropriate access to community based acute care in patient hospitalization and supports for adults with serious mental illness. Major duties will include oversight, implementation and further development of the project design and coordination of all project activities with senior management staff from the nine Community Services Boards serving the Tidewater and Peninsula region, Eastern State Hospital, the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, and other community stakeholders, including consumers and family members.
The Project Director will develop, implement and monitor all programming within the Reinvestment Project including but not limited to: utilization management, hospital diversion programming, referral, involvement with community stakeholders, community education and liaison, provider network oversight and communications, as well as financial/budget program responsibility.
The ideal candidate will possess new ideas and new energy to pilot our progressive and exciting plan to enhance the delivery of coordinated and integrated behavioral health services for adults with Serious Mental Illness (many of whom have co-occurring substance use disorders. This position requires a Masters in public health admin, public admin, nursing, education, or a related health, behavioral or social science field & considerable experience in behavioral health. For additional information contact:
Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board
2501 Washington Avenue
Newport News, Virginia 23607
Phone: (757) 245-0217
Fax: (757) 245-0218
Attn: Patty L. Gilbertson
Email: pattyg@hnncsb.org
Upcoming Conference
Cultural Competence and Mental Health Summit X: Moving Forward Together - Partnering to Promote Healthy Communities, November 19 & 20, 2003 The Fairmont Hotel, 170 South Market Street, San Francisco, CA
Co-Sponsored by: Santa Clara and San Mateo County Mental Health Services. For more information contact Maria Fuentes (408) 885-5775; maria.Fuentes@hhs.co.santa-clara.ca.us or Deborah Torres, (650) 573-3926; dltorres@co.sanmateo.ca.us
TAC is pleased to release the 2nd Edition of "Section 8 Made Simple: Using the Housing Choice Voucher Program to Assist People with Disabilities." The guidebook has been revised to provide the most up-to-date information on Homeownership assistance in the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. It also includes a revised Appendix (Appendix B) containing a list of current Public Housing Agencies with Secion 8 vouchers targeted to people with disabilities.
Section 8 Made Simple is funded by the Melville Charitable Trust.
Order from TAC's web site at www.tacinc.org
The NACBHD Bulletin is published electronically six times a year by the National Association of County Behavioral Health Directors, 1555 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036. Articles of interest to county/local behavioral health professionals are welcome by the 15th of the month prior to publication. Please submit copy to Nancy Sydnor-Greenberg at nesydnor@erols.com. Editor-in-Chief - Dr. Sandra Naylor Goodwin, sgoodwin@cimh.org. NACBHD is an affiliate of the National Association of Counties.
