Alaska’s youths are experiencing severe mental health crises, which spurred the nation’s surgeon general to visit the state in an effort to help remedy the problem. Dr. Vivek Murthy listened to concerns from behavioral health providers at a consortium at the University of Alaska at Anchorage last week. “This is the defining public … Read more
A new Washington crisis lifeline that will explicitly serve American Indian and Alaska Native callers is expected to launch this month. Colleen Thompson, Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs for the Division of Prevention and Community Health at the Washington State Department of Health, discussed the new line during an Oct. 26th Joint … Read more
Mental health professionals are working to implement a plethora of new crisis response services in Alaska, and a few experts discussed current initiatives at the 2022 Alaska State of Reform Health Policy Conference. Eric Boyer, Senior Program Officer at Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority (AMHTA), has been guiding the implementation of the state’s … Read more
Michele Roberts is the Assistant Secretary for Prevention & Health at the Washington State Department of Health. She is also co-chair of the Washington State Health Care Authority’s Crisis Response Improvement Strategy (CRIS) Committee. The CRIS Committee has been working on initiatives to prepare for Washington’s implementation of the 988 suicide prevention line. Residents will … Read more
Alaska health care professionals are working on several initiatives to help residents with behavioral health needs. Comagine Health and the Alaska Department of Health & Social Services (DHSS) hosted a teleconference Thursday to discuss Alaskans’ behavioral health needs. Comagine Regional Director of Behavioral Health Dr. Sarah McCutcheon hosted the panel discussion. She noted … Read more
A big thank you to our Convening Panel members who met last week to help us think through the issues and themes that will form our agenda at the 2022 Inland Northwest State of Reform Health Policy Conference. We are working internally to develop a draft of our Topical Agenda, which we will then release to you … Read more
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R – AK), along with Sen. Jacky Rosen (D – NV), introduced a bill that would allow direct federal funding for school districts to promote student mental health and suicide prevention efforts. The bill is known as the Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Act, and would authorize the Substance Abuse and … Read more
The Utah Department of Health (DOH) recently released a report on suicide and accidental drug overdose data in Utah. Though increases in suicides and overdoses increased in other states and nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no significant change or increase in Utah’s cases, according to the report. Michael Staley, suicide prevention … Read more