NACBHDD members contribute to two recent publications

NACBHDD is pleased to announce the publication of Public Mental Health by Oxford University Press and H.E.R.E And Getting There, a book that takes a philosophical look into the treatment of psychiatric disabilities by NACBHDD member James E. Colvin, Regional Administrator of the Chelan-Douglas Regional Support Network, a regional behavioral health organization that administers mental health services in Wenatchee, Wash.

This 18-chapter text of Public Mental Health provides a comprehensive introduction and reference for the public health approach to mental and behavioral disorders, and to the promotion of mental health. The volume explicates the latest methodologies for studying the occurrence of mental disorders in populations and provides estimates of burden, cultural differences, natural history, and disparities between population subgroups. It includes reviews of genes as sources of risk for mental disorders, the occurrence of stresses and their timing over the life span, and crises and disasters as sources of risk.

Public Mental Health also includes chapters on the structure and functioning of the mental health service system and a comprehensive review of population-based strategies of intervention to lower risk. A final chapter lays out a path for the evolution of public mental health in the future. This text will serve as a very valuable background source as these fields undertake implementation of national health reform through the Affordable Care Act. The text is edited by William Eaton (Department Chair) and the Faculty, Students, and Fellows of the Department of Mental Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. NACBHDD is very pleased to have participated in the production of two of the chapters in this landmark text.

“As the mental health and substance use fields move rapidly toward the public health approach, Public Mental Health will provide many insights, strategies, and methodologies to facilitate this critical transition,” said Ron Manderscheid, Executive Director, NACBHDD. “Such efforts will be necessary to optimize our work in disease prevention and health promotion in the era of reform, services integration, and upstream interventions.”

About his work, H.E.R.E And Getting There, which is now available at amazon.com, Colvin explained that, "Descriptions of recovery from mental illness are incomplete. They are missing an essential component which both completes the process and addresses the overcoming of stigma. Every recovery journey begins with Hope. It grows with Empowerment. It reaches maturity through acceptance of Responsibility and it culminates with Equality. The missing element has been Equality. When we include this and base our systems on it, everything changes." Colvin is a longtime behavioral health services administrator and a former member of NACBHDD's board.