In This Issue

Paul Gionfriddo, President of Mental Health America, launched a campaign this fall that focuses on mental illnesses and why, sadly, we wait until the final stages of this chronic disease process before treating and often use incarceration as a treatment modality.

Paul encourages us not to accept this reality.  Our community must move upstream, just as  has been happening with progress for many other chronic diseases or conditions.  

These interventions for mental health include:  

* First, screening everyone for mental health, just as we do for vision, dental, hearing, and blood pressure. Early detection is always a key to changing the trajectory of a chronic condition. Some argue that the reason for not screening for mental health is that we don't know where to refer people for treatment. But failing to screen ubiquitously hasn't moved mental health care out of the primary care office.

* Second, focusing on children. Half of all mental illnesses emerge during childhood. And yet ten years often pass between the emergence of symptoms and proper diagnosis and treatment. Those ten years offer many opportunities to change the trajectories of lives.  Serious mental illnesses during childhood have immediate impacts in two settings - the home and the school.

* Third, developing a range of treatment and support options for people with mental illnesses. Those investments would include such things as more social services options as well as clinical treatment options including the right medication to the right patient at the right time. Those services would include housing, employment, wrap-around services, and social supports have all been proven to reduce isolation and improve health. The effectiveness of Peer Support services is evidence-based.  

* Fourth, re-thinking both crisis stabilization and consumer choice in treatment. Everyone should be entitled to emergency health care when they need it.  

* Fifth, focusing on recovery.  

Join Mental Health America of Arizona's Network found at our website by adding your voice and efforts to those who want policy and programmatic investment in earlier identification and intervention "before Stage 4".  Engage our community in these discussions.