The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is “the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation.” Most federal non-Medicaid funds for Mississippi’s public mental health system are from SAMHSA.
Two Families as Allies employees, Joy Hogge, executive director and Henry Moore, director of family-driven practice, will be part of in-person meetings associated with SAMHSA this week. Families as Allies is about all of us. Please let Joy and Henry know if you have feedback about either or both of these events.
On Tuesday, July 11 and Wednesday, July 12, Joy will participate in a Peer & Psychiatry Dialogue Group, supported by SAMHSA’s Office of Recovery and the Office of the Chief Medical Officer. According to the agenda, the “two-day in-person dialogue between psychiatrists and persons with lived experience to share perspectives on recovery from mental and substance use problems and consider foremost topics on systemic barriers and facilitators for recovery. The dialogue group will be asked to identify areas and needed activities for peers and psychiatrists to work together to promote recovery-oriented systems of care and a society of caring.”
Joy was particularly excited to see an emphasis on the importance of lived experience informing policy and systems in the preparation meetings for this gathering. She is also impressed and grateful that SAMHSA administrators believe this is a critical dialog to begin. If you have feedback for Joy about things she should think about during this dialog, you can email her at jhogge@faams.org.
On Thursday, July 13, Henry Moore will be a panelist at the SAMHSA-funded National Training and Technical Assistance Center for Child, Youth, and Family Mental Health’s first in-person gathering of all SAMHSA-funded system of care grantees nationwide. The audience members will be about 300 people representing states, tribes, territories, and communities who have applied for and received a Children’s Mental Health Initiative grant from SAMHSA.
Henry and other panelists from family-run organizations will share how they support family members, how family-run organizations fit within a system of care, and how the audience members can engage meaningfully with families in their communities. If you have feedback for Henry about this panel and how family-run organizations and systems of care can partner to support families and family-driven practice, you can email him at hmoore@faams.org.
