Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News
November 9, Vol. 07-179

New SAMHSA Report to Congress on Mental Health Emphasizes Promotion and Prevention

A new SAMHSA report to Congress promotes the use of research-based approaches that provide parenting support skills and child resilience - even in the face of adversity. Promotion and Prevention in Mental Health: Strengthening Parenting and Enhancing Child Resilience emphasizes that these proactive approaches help prevent mental health problems from developing or can greatly mitigate them if they do occur - especially among children and youth.

SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline, Ph.D., today announced the report's availability in his remarks before the 23rd Annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy in Atlanta, Georgia. The theme of this year's Symposium is "The Time is Now: Creating a Public Policy Action Agenda on Preventing Mental Illnesses" and the focus is on promoting mental health and advancing prevention efforts across the lifespan of people to reduce the incidence and prevalence of mental illnesses. Dr. Cline noted that the report's recommendations advance the growing medical consensus that mental health needs must be aggressively addressed early in life in order to fully promote the Nation's public health interests.

Prepared by SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services at the request of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, the report outlines the public health rationale for launching a "strength-based" approach to address the mental health needs of children on a societal, rather than just individual, basis. It also summarizes evidence that these programs can make a real difference in strengthening families and children.

In particular, it notes that one half of all diagnosable mental illnesses begin by age 14, and three fourths by age 24, and that early detection and early intervention can yield enormous benefits to the individual, the family and society.

The report's other major findings include:

• The need to communicate the promise, societal benefits and cost-effectiveness of investing in prevention and resilience building efforts,
• The importance of developing evidenced-based practices with accountability systems to ensure better insight into how to maximize program efficacy, and
• The benefits of developing a coordinated assessment and accountability system for promotion, prevention and treatment in children's mental health.

Copies of Promotion and Prevention in Mental Health: Strengthening Parenting and Enhancing Child Resilience are available on the web at http://samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/svp-0186 . They may also be ordered free of charge by calling SAMHSA's Health Information Network at 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727). Request inventory number SMA07-0186. For related publications and information visit the SAMHSA website at http://www.samhsa.gov.

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The Center for Mental Health Services is a component of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States Department of Health and Human Services.