Behavioral Health News

WASHINGTON – U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan today awarded $1.47 billion to renew funding to more than 7,100 local homeless programs operating across the country. The funding announced today will ensure these housing and service programs remain operating in 2012 and are a critical part of the Obama Administration’s strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness. Read More

SAMHSA led this effort as part of its Recovery Support Strategic Initiative. Read More

(North County Times 12.29.11)

Mack Jenkins, San Diego County's chief probation officer, has been named 2011's law enforcement official of the year by a regional crime panel. Read more

MHS continues to build strong community collaborations in Fresno. MHS Senior Vice President Rich Bradway has begun work with the Fresno Business Council on the Fresno Flourish Initiative. In another partner activity, MHS Vice President for the Central Valley Region, Jenny Bates was selected by Comcast for an interview on “Newsmakers”. (continued)

The “Holistic Campus” is one of the most innovative and inventive programs funded by the County of San Bernardino to date; and MHS has been awarded a contract to provide these exciting services! The MHS Holistic Campus will be located in the City of Ontario. Designed to provide culturally inclusive, holistic health to our mental health consumers, the program will be driven by a board of community, peer and county behavioral health team members. This board will decide upon the alternative wellness to be offered, which will include nontraditional healing and health programs.

Clients of our Harmony West and Central East Regional Recovery Center are now able to have primary healthcare needs addressed at their program sites. Once a month, they are visited by Family Health Centers of San Diego’s Kids Express Mobile Medical Unit, which aims to reach people throughout the county by providing services as locations that can be easily accessed.

 The global economic impact of the five leading chronic diseases -- cancer, diabetes, mental illness, heart disease, and respiratory disease -- could reach $47 trillion over the next 20 years.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/18/us-disease-chronic-costs-idUSTRE78H2IY20110918

 By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor

The economic cost of untreated mental illness is more than 100 billion dollars each year in the United States (NAMI). Cutting mental health services means costs are shifted to emergency rooms, schools, police, local courts, jails and prisons. The taxpayer still pays the bill—and at a far greater price than that of treatment and intervention. Mental health cuts mean that successful community-based services close; emergency room visits increase; jails and prisons become overcrowded. Those few services that are spared are over burdened.

Mental Health and Substance Use Services in Primary Care Settings and Primary Care Services in Specialty Mental Health and Substance Use Settings.

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