National Council for Mental Wellbeing

Judge Steven Leifman, Chair, Task Force on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues in the Court, Supreme Court of Florida and Associate Administrative Judge, County Court, Criminal Division, 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida; Tim Coffey, Coordinator, 11th Judicial Circuit, Criminal Mental Health Project The Parable of the River One day, two villagers were walking along […]

Read More on Stemming the Flow of Persons with Mental Illness into the Justice System 

Trauma is not an excuse for behavior, but it can be a reason for it.  Mike Tyson’s recent declaration that he was sexually abused as a child suggests that his early experiences might have contributed to a life defined by rage and violence. Tyson spoke of his experience during an awkward interview on Opie Radio, […]

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This article originally appeared in National Council Magazine.  As integrated care continues to advance, questions around workforce are a cause for much discussion and concern. These questions include supply, competencies, workforce makeup, scope of practice questions, and changing roles for all professional disciplines in these settings. As a nurse and integrated health consultant, I often […]

Read More on Beyond the Bedside: Nurses In Integrated Care 

This article originally appeared in the National Council Magazine.  An interview with Jeffrey Brenner, MacArthur Fellow and Executive Director, Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers The Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers is a nonprofit formed to improve the quality, capacity, and accessibility of the healthcare system for vulnerable populations in the city of Camden, New Jersey. […]

Read More on The Breakfast Club: A Healthy Start to Community Coalitions 

In anticipation of the need for California to renew its 1915(b) Freedom of Choice waiver, which sanctions the State’s carved out specialty mental health managed care program, the Association of Community Human Service Agencies recently developed a paper to articulate the critical reasons why the State’s county operated mental health carve out for this specialty […]

Read More on Why it is Critical to Preserve California’s County-Operated Mental Health Carve Out of Specialty Mental Health Services 

“Trauma-informed care is a hot issue these days. Everybody is talking about it… but not everyone knows exactly what it is or exactly what it takes to do it well. So that’s why we’re here.” With those words, Carmela DeCandia, Director of the National Center on Family Homelessness at the American Institutes of Research, kicked […]

Read More on Bringing Trauma-informed Care to Scale 

I went to the gym last week for the first time in a while. I checked in, got a towel and was headed to the studio for a class when I saw it was closed. Instead, there were 15 gym employees sitting in a semicircle listening to an instructor. CPR dummies were lined up on […]

Read More on CROSS TRAINING? NO SWEAT. 

Taking the steps necessary to become a behavioral health center of excellence does not come with a certificate or accreditation – it is simply a model of excellence that improves the care we provide to individuals with behavioral health conditions, and prepares organizations to take advantage of opportunities ahead.  The National Council recently sat down […]

Read More on Behavioral Health Center of Excellence: How to Go All In 

Jeff Rothenberg, CEO of a Vermont psychiatric hospital, discusses his experience becoming a behavioral health center of excellence.

Read More on Becoming a Center of Excellence: A Member’s Story 

As summer ends and as we observe National Suicide Prevention Week, the University of Southern California School of Social Work launched You Matter, an early intervention campaign designed to foster well-being and bring back some much-needed human connection.

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