Mental Health Weekly最新文献

Following a decade-long challenge involving long wait times for offenders with mental illness awaiting mental competency and evaluation hearings, Washington state health officials and advocates said they are pleased with the much-needed improvements in decreased wait times for those hearings. Additionally, a new behavioral health facility is slated to open in 2025 in response to the increasing demand for people in jail waiting for competency services.

In a closely watched decision involving the use of psychedelic treatment and therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Aug. 9 declined to approve the use of midomafetamine (MDMA)-assisted therapy for the disorder. The federal agency issued a Complete Response Letter (CRL) for MDMA-assisted therapy to its drug maker, Lykos Therapeutics.

The Cigna Group Foundation last week announced the launch of a $9 million grant program for nonprofit groups that work with military veterans and approach housing stability as the initial focus of an effort to improve veteran mental health.

As the number of youths in Maryland's juvenile detention facilities continues to rise, the state faces an ongoing struggle to provide timely and effective mental health services to the young people who need them, a new report suggests. Problems in recruiting and retaining qualified and culturally responsive mental health professionals have exacerbated the situation, according to the agency that regularly reports on conditions at facilities operated by the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS).

Ohio wants to make mobile response services for youth in mental health crisis available for all children and people under age 21 in Ohio. However, the service currently is only available in about half of the state's 88 counties, the Dayton Daily News reported on Aug. 9. The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) is requesting proposals from agencies that would like to be regional providers of mobile response and stabilization services. “OhioMHAS is seeking to establish contracts with providers in 18 identified regions, with the aim of broadening the service's coverage to include the full state. OhioMHAS will award up to $12 million to eligible providers to provide Mobile Response and Stabilization Services coverage.” These mobile response services are for youths under age 21 who are experiencing significant behavioral or emotional distress, OhioMHAS said. Other states have been able to divert pediatric emergency department behavioral health visits with the use of mobile response stabilization services, said Dr. Kelly Blankenship, associate chief medical officer of behavioral health at Dayton Children's Hospital, who said she believes an expansion of these services in Ohio will be beneficial. “If we can help divert youth from adult emergency departments and allow them to be evaluated in their home or school, this improves access and allows youth to be evaluated by clinicians that specialize in youth mental health crisis evaluations,” Blankenship said. OhioMHAS anticipates the new regional model to be implemented by January 2025.

Mental Health America is holding its annual meeting, “Disrupt. Reform. Transform,” Sept. 19–21 in Washington, D.C. Visit https://www.mhanational.org/annual-conference for more information.

The unprecedented mental health crisis for children in the United States often surfaces where they spend much of their days: at school, ABC News reported. With that in mind, Google's philanthropic arm is directly financing high school well-being projects on a classroom crowdfunding platform. On Aug. 12, Google.org flash funded all mental health-related listings on DonorsChoose, an online charity where members help purchase classroom supplies requested by public school teachers. With $10 million in new gifts from Google and the help of actress Selena Gomez, the Silicon Valley giant hopes to bring mindfulness as an educational goal at the start of the academic calendar. School districts have turned to teachers for psychological help after the COVID-19 pandemic brought alarming levels of childhood depression, anxiety and fights. But experts have said that increased attention has not translated to more philanthropic money donated overall toward mental health. Google's backing for DonorsChoose listings on Aug. 12, in addition to a voucher program in which Google will also provide $500 to eligible mental health high school projects on DonorsChoose campaigns in the near future, boosts the technology company's pledge to support mental health-related initiatives as high as $25 million, ABC News reported. The move comes amid widespread criticism and lawsuits that claim Google-owned YouTube and other social media sites have fueled the childhood mental health crisis by deliberately designing addictive features.

Observing a mission to support organizations that provide young people who have mental health needs with tools and resources to impact their well-being, Macy's, Inc. continues to move forward with its partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and The Jed Foundation. Commencing in 2022, this collaboration has raised $3.3 million to date to support young people with mental health resources.

Two members of the U.S. Senate aim to garner bipartisan support for proposed legislation that would enhance the mental health workforce addressing the needs of first responders.

The Cigna Group Foundation, the philanthropic arm of The Cigna Group in Bloomfield, Connecticut, has announced its first round of recipients for a new grant program supporting youth mental health, the Hartford Business Journal reported on Aug. 5. The foundation has allocated $9 million to 22 nonprofits in Connecticut and nine other states over the next three years to intervene in the youth mental health crisis. The Aug. 5 announcement follows one in April in which Cigna outlined plans to invest more than $27 million in grants over the next three years to nonprofit organizations focused on improving youth mental health, veteran mental health, and reducing barriers to health equity. The grant program will address post-pandemic stress and distress among 5- to 18-year-olds, with a focus on programs and services delivered in schools and related settings. Some of the 22 organizations planned to receive grants include Mindfulness First in Arizona, McCall Foundation Inc. in Connecticut, Children's Bereavement Center in Florida and Wings for Kids in Georgia.