Mental Health

The AHRQ Academy has released a new guide on health equity and behavioral health integration designed to help practices reduce health disparities and advance health equity by promoting belonging, dignity and justice for providers and patients from marginalized groups. The AHRQ Academy aims to support the integration of behavioral health into primary and ambulatory care settings with a focus on providing care for patients using substances, particularly opioids, and for those with mental health conditions. This guide provides tools and resources for addressing economic and social inequities, bias, discrimination and racism.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is working with states to promote access to Medicaid services for people with mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) crises. Authorized under President Biden’s American Rescue Plan (ARP), states have a new option for supporting community-based mobile crisis intervention services for individuals with Medicaid. This option will help states integrate these services into their Medicaid programs, a critical component in establishing a sustainable and public health-focused support network.

This blog post by Keri Lipperini, ACL's Director of the Office of Nutrition and Health Promotion Programs, discusses how social isolation during COVID-19 has affected the health and wellbeing of older adults. The post also highlights ACL programs that are targeting this issue, including PEARLS, Healthy IDEAS, and BRITE, which are three evidence-based programs that aim to reduce the risk of suicide by tackling depression and substance abuse among older adults.

ACL is announcing two new grants to University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDDs) including Community-Based Transitions Planning and Implementation Grants and a National Training Initiative to Support People with IDD Experiencing Co-Occurring Mental/Behavioral Health Issues.

ACL’s Administration on Aging funds “Innovations in Nutrition” grants to support the quality, effectiveness, and outcomes of the nutrition programs funded through the Older Americans Act. The nutrition programs work to reduce food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition; enhance socialization; and promote the health and well-being of older adults. This guest blog post features Innovations in Nutrition grantees as they describe how one project is helping build capacity within the aging network.

The Center on Aging and Trauma of The Jewish Federations of North America’s Holocaust Survivor Initiative, invites organizations to participate in a national survey on PCTI Care. This ACL grantee is working to build the capacity of aging service providers to provide PCTI care to older adults with a history of trauma as well as their family caregivers. They are conducting this survey to collect information on the current capacity of organizations to provide this type of care.

The 2019 Transportation Trends Report reviews popular transportation matters and provides in-depth analysis of each transportation topic. This analysis includes a summary of the major challenges, information about related opportunities, and a case example.

This report explores the need for resources and funding to train professionals on how to better support people who have I/DD and a mental health need. Over the past year, The Arc has conducted focus groups on this subject with 66 stakeholders in Maryland, Indiana, and Florida. The findings from these discussions are highlighted in this report.

This tip sheet helps people understand how to talk about mental health in a more sensitive and accurate way. This resource presents common myths and misunderstandings found in the media and provides correct information along with suggestions about how to reframe the conversation. The sheet also offers additional resources and tips to learn more about being a good mental health ally.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) published a report that examines the way health plans are handling parity for mental health treatment. NAMI conducted an online survey in 2015 with the main question being, "What do insurance beneficiaries experience when they seek mental health care?" Additionally, the report offers several recommendations regarding network adequacy, plan transparency, and covering out-of-network costs.