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HOME  » CONSUMERS

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Family and Youth

Most of the goals of the Mental Health Transformation Project touch on youth and families in significant ways. One important goal focuses on providing mental health services in the critical transitions from one age age to another, e.g., adolescents becoming adults. Another broadly focused goal is advocating for more strategic prevention and early-intervention efforts.

Youth and families are a natural focus of transformative efforts, and the resources in this section examine issues specific to them. As recipients of federal grant money via the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Mental Health Transformation Project is required to justify the use of its funds within federal tracking guidelines defined under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA).

Each time a new policy, organizational change, or training occurs, the change is entered into a GPRA database. Those changes are then rolled up into regular ongoing GPRA reports.

Read Latest GPRA Report [135KB]

The Mental Health Transformation Project tracks over 200 activities around the state that are related to mental illness. The activities are categorized by priority area. Two of these priority areas focus on youth and families. The youth and family priority areas are as follows:

• Develop and sustain consumer, youth and family organizations and membership
• Increase focus on prevention and early intervention

Educational Materials

The Mental Health Transformation Project strives to provide information to youth and families. Below are several resources:

• Publicly Funded Mental Health and School Coordination Resource Manual [ 2.6MB

• Elements of Recovery for People Experiencing Mental Illness [ 100KB]
  This fact sheet describes key elements that help many consumers in recovery.
• Feeling Better: A Guide to the Mental Health System and Getting the Help You Need [ 357KB]
  This is a guide developed with the help of people who have experienced mental illness or mental health problems to share what they’ve learned about navigating the mental health system.
• A Parent's Guide to the Public Mental Health System [ 1.7MB]
  A guide for parents developed by SAFE WA to support parents, caregivers and youth around issues related to complex mental heath, emotional and behavioral health needs.
• Supporting Recovery: An Overview [ 111KB]
  This fact sheet describes basic principles mental health providers can adopt to support persons with mental illness in their journeys’ to recovery.
• Youth Guide to the WA Mental Health System [ 5MB]
  A guide for youth designed by youth in partnership with caring adults to help youth navigate the mental health system, know their rights and access treatment.

Online Resources

• Chicago Consortium for Stigma Research
• Developing a Stigma Reduction Initiative
• In Our Own Voice: Living With Mental Illness (NAMI)
• National Mental Health Awareness Campaign
• SAMHSA's Resource Center to Address Discrimination and Stigma (ADS Center)
• StigmaBusters (NAMI)
• Stigma: Building Awareness And Understanding About Mental Illness
• Stigma Watch (NMHA)
• What A Difference A Friend Makes

 

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