October is the start of the National Council’s new fiscal year, a time to reflect on the past year’s accomplishments and a time to plan for the coming year. And last week at the National Council’s Fall Board meeting, we accomplished both those tasks.

We enter fiscal year 2008 with our membership at an all time high, with a balanced budget, and with a highly skilled Board supported by a talented team of staff. Over the past year, the National Council’s provided leadership in the areas of health integration, returning veterans, continuity of care, access and retention, and workforce development. We introduced an array of print and web-based materials and resources including National Council Magazine, State Policy Focus, the bi-weekly Technical Assistance Newsletter; and our monthly webinar learning series, “National Council Live.” And we hosted, as we do annually, the industry’s most comprehensive and exciting conference.

But it is the National Council’s public policy leadership of which we are most proud. When I joined the National Council three years ago, we committed to becoming a stronger voice on behalf of our member organizations and the adults and children they serve – and we have made considerable progress. The introduction on October 17, 2007 of our “Community Mental Health Services Improvement Act” by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) in the United States Senate is an important milestone in National Council history and in behavioral health.

The Surgeon General, the President’s New Freedom Commission, and the Institute of Medicine reports helped us understand that freedom from mental illnesses and addictions is integral to overall health and that effective treatments make recovery possible. Our member organizations have embraced the findings and each week, the trade press is filled with articles about how these organizations are working to improve care and introduce innovation. Now, S.2182, the Community Mental Health Services Improvement Act, developed under the leadership of the National Council’s Public Policy Committee, offers new resources and opportunities supporting member efforts to meet some of America’s most pressing healthcare challenges.

S.2182, the Community Mental Health Services Improvement Act, contains a combination of provisions designed to enhance the ability of community behavioral health organizations to better fulfill their missions on behalf of those they serve and of the taxpayers who provide many of the resources necessary to do the job.

S.2182 calls for offering comprehensive primary care and specialty mental health services in one setting, addressing our workforce crisis, integration of treatment for serious mental illness and co-occurring addiction disorders, supporting tele-psychiatry infrastructure, and reducing our paperwork burden are all important steps in strengthening community behavioral health nationally.

Provisions of S.2182 include:

• Creating a new federal grants program to support co-locating primary care services  at community mental health facilities funded at $50 million in FY 2009 and authorized through FY 2013.
• Integrating treatment for mental health and substance abuse co-occurring disorders funded at $14 million in FY 2009, $20 million in FY 2010 and authorized through FY 2013.
• Improving the workforce through grants for the recruitment and retention of mental health professionals funded at $10 million in FY 2009 and authorized through FY 2013.
• Enhancing behavioral health education and training of para professional staff through a new grants program funded at $4 million in FY 2009 and authorized through FY 2013.
• Establishing a new $20 million federal grants program to finance infrastructure costs for telecommunications technology supporting tele-psychiatry and patient education at community behavioral health facilities located in rural and other medically underserved areas.
• Requiring the Secretaries of the HHS and DVA collaborate with the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology and SAMHSA to develop and implement a plan for ensuring that various components of the National Health Information Infrastructure address mental health and substance abuse provider needs supported by $10 million in funding in FY 2009.
• Commissioning a paperwork reduction study to be submitted to Congress no later than a year after enactment that evaluates the combined paperwork burden of safety net behavioral healthcare programs funded at $550,000.
• Directing a nationwide analysis and submission of a report to Congress of the compensation structure of professional and paraprofessional behavioral health personnel as compared with that of other health safety net and private sector employers also funded at $550,000.

Chuck Ingoglia, the National Council’s Vice President, Public Policy and the rest of our public policy team are conducting a comprehensive lobbying effort supporting S.2182 in the U.S. Senate, and in the House when a companion bill is introduced there.

We are working very hard to explain the importance of the provisions of S.2182 and value of community treatment and rehabilitation services to every Congressional office we can reach.

By reaching out to a broad range of national organizations, we will develop a strong and diverse group of allies supporting the legislation including African-American, Hispanic, children’s, local government, law enforcement, and church organizations.

WHAT YOU MUST DO

But no matter how hard and smart we work in Washington on your behalf, S.2182 and other measures good for you and your communities have little chance of advancing without strong support from back home.

Only you can contact your Senators, Representatives and their staffs to let them know that you support S.2182 as constituents from back home with expertise on the issue and with knowledge of community mental health needs in your state and local areas, and that you care enough to communicate your views.

Only you can help generate critical support from leaders and organizations in your state and local communities that your Senators, Representatives and their staffs will recognize as important voices in the political process as they make up their minds on whether and to what degree they will support S.2182.

STEP 1:  CONTACT YOUR SENATORS, REPRESENTATIVES AND STAFF

Everyone reading this letter should take a few minutes in the next day to write to their two U.S. Senators asking them to cosponsor S.2182 and send it off to Washington by fax and e-mail. Template letters you can use are available on our website.

Once our House bill is introduced, you should do the same with your U.S. Representative.

Besides writing a strong letter, you should follow-up with a phone call to the Senator or Representative’s Legislative Director to ask them to make sure the issue gets proper focus by the staff person responsible for health care, mental health and related issues.

You should encourage your Board, your staff and your colleagues to do the same – and assist them in their efforts.

We ask that you forward copies of your letters – and the responses that you receive – to us so that we can use them here when we visit these offices and know what they are saying when they respond to you.

Further, we urge you to meet personally with your Senators and Representative when they are back home to ask them to cosponsor S.2182 and its House companion and support its passage – or come to Washington to do so, we’ll help you get here.

Bring some key allies with you who will resonate with the Senator or Representative based on party, issue interests, background, and other considerations.

And for those of you in Rhode Island and Oregon, a nice “thank you” letter to Senators Reed and Smith from as many of us as possible will further underscore our appreciation for their introduction of S.2182.

STEP 2:  INFORM, EDUCATE AND MOBILIZE KEY STATE AND LOCAL LEADERS AND GROUPS

Just as we will be reaching out to a broad range of national organizations for support of S.2182 and its House companion bill, it’s not just important that you conduct similar outreach to important leaders and organizations in your state and on a local basis – it’s essential.

Effectively informing, educating, developing, and mobilizing these needed allies in support of the bill at the state and local level is a critical success factor in bringing the provisions of S.2182 to fruition.

Further, stepping up our outreach efforts in this way will require organization, focus, good communication, diplomacy, follow-through, and tracking of relationships and results.

It will test our own resolve and commitment to improving public support for our issues in a way that translates into increased resources to do the most effective job possible.

Through your efforts, we ask that each state generate a minimum of 10 statewide organizations and another 25 local organizations on record in support of S.2182 and its House companion by the end of March 2008 – and to get things started within the next 30 days.

Specifically, we urge you to sign up the following kinds of organizations:

• State Legislative Caucuses (African-American, Hispanic, Health Care, etc.)
• Local government (mayors, counties, cities, etc.)
• Law enforcement (police, sheriffs, judges, prosecutors, etc.)
• Business (State and local Chambers of Commerce, economic development groups, etc.)
• Church leaders and organizations
• African-American organizations (NAACP, Urban League, etc.)
• Hispanic organizations (Hispanic Chambers, LULAC, National Council of La Raza, etc.)
• Civic groups (United Way, League of Women Voters, Rotary, etc.)
• Low income advocacy groups (Salvation Army, AMVETS, homelessness coalitions, etc.)
• Veterans (VFW, American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America, American GI Forum, others)
• Medical (state and local medical associations, physician specialty societies, hospitals, medical centers, etc.
• Academia (medical, social science, mental health, public policy, etc,)
• Mental Health and Addictions advocacy associations (Mental Health America, NAMI, etc.)

Importantly, by engaging in this exercise over the next few weeks and months, you can broaden and deepen your own advocacy relationships with these important in-state constituencies which should have great benefits to you in your state legislature and within your communities.

This exercise may prove to be one of the most effective things we can do to reach out to other key interests to lend their support for community mental health within the legislative and political processes as never before.

RESULTS

Results that we can produce together through this two-step process include:

• A strong group of Senate cosponsors for S.2182 and its House companion
• Awareness of the legislation among staff members in both Senate and House
• Hundreds of state and maybe even thousands of local organizations and leaders across the country supporting our bill
• Enhanced advocacy capability at the national, state and local levels as a result of new and strengthened relationships with key political constituencies and leaders

This is our opportunity. Our time has come. Let us make the most of it.

Best Regards,

Linda Rosenberg

President and CEO

National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare