Bay State's mental health services rate a grade of B.Byline: Lee Hammel Massachusetts tied with five other states for the best grades given by the National Alliance on Mental Illness the National Alliance on Mental Illness (aka NAMI), founded in 1979 as the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, is a nation-wide American advocacy group, representing families and people affected by serious Mental disorders as a non-profit grass roots organization. in a report issued yesterday on mental health care given to adults. While no state earned an A, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Maryland, Oklahoma, and Maine all earned Bs. The average grade was D, with 18 Cs, 21 Ds and six Fs. The scores are based on 65 criteria, including access to medicine, housing, family education, and support for National Guard members. "Mental health care in America is in crisis," said NAMI NAMI National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (now National Alliance on Mental Illness) NAMI National Alliance on Mental Illness (formerly National Alliance for the Mentally Ill ) NAMI Naval Aerospace Medical Institute Executive Director Michael J. Fitzpatrick Michael J. Fitzpatrick is a New York State Assemblyman elected in 2002, representing the 7th district, which is in Suffolk County. . "Even states that have worked hard to build life-saving, recovery-oriented systems of care stand to see their progress wiped out" by budget cuts. Massachusetts earned Bs in basic measures such as the number of programs delivering evidence-based practices, emergency room waiting times, and the number of psychiatric beds, and in financing measures, such as whether Medicaid reimburses providers for all or part of evidence-based practices. NAMI gave the Bay State Cs in consumer and family access to essential information from the state, promotion of consumer-run programs, family and peer education and support, and collaboration among state mental health agencies, other state agencies and systems. Massachusetts' overall grade of B improved from a C three years ago, the last time NAMI issued a report card. NAMI gave the state credit for comprehensive health care reform, expansion of the state's parity law, reduction of the use of restraint and seclusion seclusion Forensic psychiatry A strategy for managing disturbed and violent Pts in psychiatric units, which consists of supervised confinement of a Pt to a room–ie, involuntary isolation, to protect others from harm that serves as a national model, and the use of clinical performance measures for Medicaid services. But the organization said Massachusetts needs to address the prison suicide crisis A suicide crisis, suicidal crisis, or potential suicide, is a situation in which a person is attempting to kill themselfs or is seriously contemplating or planning to do so. , as well as restore funds for supported employment and day services, and expand jail diversion programs. Barbara A. Leadholm, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, said, "Although Massachusetts received a terrific grade, we are in a precarious position to sustain our forward momentum - all the more reason why we must be constant in our vision of community first and a consumer-driven and family-centered behavioral health Behavioral health was first used in the 1980's to name the combination of the fields mental health and substance abuse. As an example, an organization serving both mental health and substance abuse clients might refer to its practice as behavioral health or system." |
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