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The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors
The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), subcontracting partner with MHA: NASMHPD represents an extraordinary network of human resources, involving direct, longstanding, ongoing working relationships with a range of stakeholders in public mental health policy and practice, including more than 600 State mental health commissioners/directors and senior mental health agency policy and program staff in each of the 55 State mental health agencies that comprise NASMHPD and the NASMHPD Research Institute, Inc., (NRI) divisions, councils, task forces, workgroups, and technical advisory groups. With a 100 percent response to NASMHPD inquiries and requests, no other organization operates at such a level of cooperation and trust. Leveraging these human resources and networks, NASMHPD?s strength is its established yet independent position within the mental health community, including direct and cooperative connections with the primary providers of public mental health services. NASMHPD is partnering with MHA of NYC to identify crisis centers and existing databases of local mental health resources that will enhance both network membership and the creation of a centralized database of treatment and support services.
With respect to networking suicide prevention hotlines, NASMHPD brings a wealth of experience, resources, and overall assets to a national effort to prevent suicide. NASMHPD was included among experts tasked by the Surgeon General?s office to develop the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, which produced its Goals and Objectives for Action document in 2001. Specifically for this project, NASMHPD provide:
- Capacity to assist with identifying crisis centers and community-based resources throughout the country. In 2002, NRI conducted a survey of the State mental health agencies and found that 22 States fund or operate suicide prevention programs. This survey contains vital information for this network and illustrates NASMHPD?s capacity to obtain information from State mental health systems that will be essential in building a resource database. NASMHPD also has a number of strong relationships with key national mental health associations that can be leveraged to benefit this hotline?s objectives.
- Capacity to promote greater awareness of the hotline among stakeholders. NASMHPD is working with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials—NASMHPD?s equivalent in the national health care arena—to develop strategies for suicide prevention in primary health care settings. This collaboration extends the frontiers of suicide prevention into medical doctors? offices, where persons of all ages and cultures are more willing to seek professional attention. Additionally, NASMHPD enjoys a solid relationship with advocates in suicide prevention, including SPAN USA, and can help the network to use its voice fully to create hotline awareness in all 50 States and communities nationwide.
- Capacity to enhance network sustainability. NASMHPD?s partnership with the network extends both its credibility and priority to State mental health suicide prevention efforts, including State funding for suicide hotlines. NASMHPD also has the capacity to survey current fiscal supports for crisis/suicide services in each State, which, in turn, can contribute to sharing ?best practices? financial models among regions.
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