SAMHSA Releases 2009 Jail Diversion & Trauma Recovery RFA

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) is accepting applications for fiscal year 2009 for Jail Diversion and Trauma Recovery Program-Priority to Veterans grants. The purpose of this program is to support local implementation and statewide expansion of trauma-integrated jail diversion programs to address the needs of individuals with mental illness, as such as post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma-related disorders, who are involved with the justice system. Recognizing the dramatically higher prevalence of trauma-related disorders among veterans, this program will also prioritize eligibility for veterans.

Applications are due by April 28, 2009. For more information and to obtain the RFA, click here.

Solicitation for Second Chance Act Grants to State and Local Governments Released

On February 27, 2009, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), U.S. Department of Justice, released the solicitation for Second Chance Act grants to state and local governments for adult reentry demonstration projects (Section 101). Funding under this section is available to help state and local agencies implement programs and strategies to reduce recidivism and ensure the safe and successful reentry of adults released from prisons and jails.

Per the Second Chance Act, funded demonstration projects should use validated and dynamic assessment tools to determine the risks and needs of offenders. Projects should also provide offenders in prisons or jails with all necessary services, including: (1) educational, literacy, vocational, and job placement services to facilitate reentry into the community; (2) substance abuse treatment and services that represent a full continuum of treatment services during incarceration and in a community-based setting upon release; and (3) coordinated supervision and comprehensive services for offenders upon release from prison or jail, including housing and mental and physical health care to facilitate reentry into the community (including coordinated reentry veteran-specific services for eligible veterans).

The deadline for applications is 8:00 p.m. EST on April 20, 2009. To download the solicitation, or find out more about the grant program, click here.

New NAMI Report: Grading the States

In 2006, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) conducted a survey on adult public mental healthcare system in 48 states (two states declined to complete the survey). Grading the States: A Report on America's Health Care System for Serious Mental Illness was the first report in over 15 years to assess the nation’s mental healthcare system. The 2006 report offered several policy recommendations and a letter grade for each state based on four categories: Infrastructure; Information Access; Services; and Recovery.

Three years later, NAMI has released a second “Grading the States” report that examines whether states have improved or lost ground in the three years since the first report, and what strengths, innovative trends, or urgent needs can be identified in each state and nationally. The states were scored and performance was weighted in four categories: Health Promotion & Measurement; Financing & Core Treatment/Recovery Services; Consumer & Family Empowerment; Community Integration & Social Inclusion. To learn more about Grading the States 2009: A Report on America’s Health Care System for Adults with Serious Mental Illness, click here.

WHAT'S UPCOMING

3/31-4/2 – 6th Annual Hawaii Conference on Preventing, Assessing & Treating Childhood, Adolescent & Adult Trauma, Honolulu, HI more...

4/6-9 – National Council on Community Behavioral Health  - 39th National Council Conference, San Antonio, TX more...

4/14-16 – Hawaii Department of Adult Mental Health - 6th Annual Best Practices Conference, Honolulu, HI more...

4/14-16 – NRI - 19th Annual Mental Health Services Research Conference, Washington, DC more...

4/26-30 – American Jail Association – Annual Training Conference and Jail Expo, Louisville, KY more...