Achievement Award Winners Recognized for Innovations in Expanding Access to MH Care
Abstract
This year’s winners encourage students to talk to other students about mental health, extend psychiatric specialty care to primary care, and offer holistic care from a mental health clinic.
Three programs that use creative strategies to extend mental health care to communities were honored at APA’s 2019 IPS: The Mental Health Services Conference in New York in October. At the conference’s Opening Session, APA President Bruce Schwartz, M.D., presented two Gold Awards (one for a community-based program and one for an institutionally based program) and a Silver Award.
The Psychiatric Services Achievement Awards recognize innovative models of service delivery and programs for people with mental illness or disabilities. This year’s winners are the following:
Gold Achievement Award for Academically or Institutionally Sponsored Programs: Michigan Peer-to-Peer Depression Awareness Program. The Peer-to-Peer Depression Awareness (P2P) program was formed in 2009 as a collaboration between the University of Michigan Depression Center and the Ann Arbor Public Schools District. The P2P program is a student-to-student initiative that emphasizes early detection and prevention of mood disorders and anxiety through schoolwide intervention. Specifically, the program seeks to raise awareness of mental health conditions, fight stigma, and encourage help-seeking behavior to ultimately reduce the impact of mental illness on adolescents. Since its launch, more than 700 P2P team members have delivered awareness-themed events and projects to thousands of students. More information is posted here.
Gold Achievement Award for Community-Based Care: Minnesota Psychiatric Assistance Line. The Psychiatric Assistance Line (PAL) is provided by PrairieCare Medical Group of Brooklyn Park, Minn., through a grant from the Minnesota Department of Health Services. PAL has provided more than 1,500 consultations with child and adolescent psychiatrists and other specialized mental health practitioners to health care professionals in Minnesota. Through these consultations, PAL delivers trainings to help educate and empower other health care professionals to treat mental health conditions in their own practice settings. These consultations include treatment plan support and feedback to help patients get better mental health treatment in a timely manner. PAL has created unprecedented access to psychiatry in the state in a cost-effective manner. More information is posted here.
Silver Award: Banner Health—University of Arizona Whole Health Clinic. The Whole Health Clinic (WHC) in Tucson, Ariz., provides integrated health and behavioral services from the departments of psychiatry and family medicine to people living in Tucson and the surrounding areas. The clinic’s behavioral health and primary care teams work side by side to address the whole health needs of the people it serves. What distinguishes the WHC from other integrated clinics is the fact that it was conceived primarily as a mental health clinic and uses population health statistics as metrics to assess its success. The clinic’s behavioral health and primary care teams work side by side to address the whole health needs of the people it serves. Services include individual, group, and family therapy; case management and referrals; peer support services; psychiatric evaluation; medication monitoring; comprehensive physical health assessment and care; lab and pharmacy services; vocational support; benefit-eligibility assessment and enrollment assistance; substance abuse services and referrals; court-ordered treatment monitoring; and family psychoeducation and support groups. More information is posted here. ■
