Overview of SAMHSA’s Strategic Initiative #4: Recovery Support

2. Overview of SAMHSA’sStrategic Initiative #4:Recovery Support A. Kathryn Power, M.Ed., Director Center for Mental Health Services

3. SAMHSA’s 8 Strategic Initiatives #1 – Prevention of Substance Abuse and Mental Illness #2 – Trauma and Justice #3 – Military Families #4 – Recovery Support #5 – Health Reform #6 – Health Information Technology #7 – Data, Outcomes, and Quality #8 – Public Awareness and Support

4. 8 Strategic Initiatives – Support Goals and Drive Efforts Set budget and policy priorities. Manage grants, contracts, technical assistance, agency staff, and interagency efforts. Engage partners at every level. Measure and communicate progress.

5. SAMHSA’s Recovery Support Goal SAMHSA’s goal is a high-quality, self-directed, satisfying life integrated in a community for all people in America. This includes: Health—Overcoming or managing one’s disease (s) as well as living in a physically and emotionally healthy way; Home—A stable and safe place to live that supports recovery; Purpose—Meaningful daily activities, such as a job, school, volunteerism, family caretaking, or creative endeavors and the independence, income, and resources to participate in society; and Community—Relationships and social networks that provide support, friendship, love, and hope.

6. Strategic Initiative #4:Recovery Support Purpose of Initiative #4 - Promote resilience, recovery, and social inclusion; reduce program and systems barriers to recovery; and increase access to recovery support for persons with mental and substance use disorders.

7. Recovery Support Strategic Initiative

8. Recovery Support Strategic Initiative Strategic Initiative Lead: A. Kathryn Power Staff Lead: Catherine Nugent

9. Objectives for Recovery Support Strategic Initiative Goals Goal 4.1- Health: Promote health and recovery-oriented service systems for individuals with or in recovery from mental and substance use disorders. Promote health, wellness, and resiliency. Promote recovery-oriented service systems. Engage individuals in recovery and their families in self-directed care, shared decision making, and person-centered planning. Promote self-care and alternatives to traditional care.

10. Objectives (continued) Goal 4.2: Home: Ensure that permanent housing and supportive services are available for individuals with or in recovery from mental and substance use disorders. Improve access to mainstream benefits, housing assistance programs, and supportive behavioral health services. Build leadership, promote collaborations, and support the use of evidence-based practices related to permanent supportive housing for individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and have mental and/or substance use disorders. Increase the knowledge of the behavioral health field and SAMHSA grantees about housing and homelessness among people with mental and/or substance use disorders.

11. Objectives (continued) Goal 4.3: Purpose: Increase gainful employment and educational opportunities for individuals with or in recovery from mental and substance use disorders. Increase the proportion of individuals with mental and/or substance use disorders who are gainfully employed and/or participating in self-directed educational endeavors. Develop employer strategies to address national employment and education disparities among people with and without identified behavioral health problems.

12. Objectives (continued) Goal 4.3 (continued): Improve the employment and educational outcomes among individuals with mental and/or substance use disorders served by SAMHSA., Implement evidence-based practices related to employment and education for individuals with mental and/or substance use disorders throughout all service systems.

13. Objectives (continued) Goal 4.4: Community: Promote peer-support and the social inclusion of individuals with or in recovery from mental and substance use disorders in the community. Increase the number and quality of consumer/peer recovery support specialists and consumer-operated/peer-run recovery support service provider organizations. Promote the social inclusion of people with substance use and/or mental disorders.

14. Activities Underway Developing an education and awareness campaign for businesses to increase the hiring of individuals with mental and substance use disorders. Ready to release an on-line decision aid to assist individuals to make informed treatment decisions along with their providers regarding psychotropic medications. Collaborating with the behavioral health provider organizations to re-tool their staff to use recovery-based clinical practices. Providing information on how to promote wellness and reduce early mortality for individuals with behavioral health problems (www.10x10.samhsa.gov)

15. Immediate Next Steps Finalize Recovery Support Strategic Initiative Action Plan and developing measures of progress. Finalize definition and principles of recovery from dialogue between people in recovery from mental health problems and addictions, which will help shape ongoing efforts. Move forward with Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) contract solicitation. (Synopsis published 03/09; full RFP to be published approx. 03/25.) Continue to elicit stakeholder input on work of the Recovery Support Strategic Initiative.

16. Questions/Comments/Recommendations Thank you for your valuable comments and helpful suggestions, which are helping SAMHSA to focus the Recovery Support Strategic Initiative  and, ultimately, to improve the Nation’s behavioral health, transform health care in America, and achieve excellence in operations. Contact Info: A. Kathryn Power, M.Ed. Director, Center for Mental Health Services Kathryn.Power@samhsa.hhs.gov 240-276-1310