NNED Partner of the Month

In order to highlight pockets of excellence across the country the NNED selects an organization to highlight once a month. Asian Counseling and Referral Service has been selected as the NNED Partner of the Month for May 2012 in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization offering a broad array of human services and behavioral health programs to Asian Pacific Americans in King County, Washington State. ACRS is the largest multiservice organization serving all the different Asian Pacific American communities - immigrants, refugees and American born - in the Pacific Northwest.

ACRS assists and empowers people affected by mental, emotional and behavioral problems to progress towards recovery and improve their quality of life. ACRS case managers, psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses work together as a team to provide linguistically appropriate behavioral health services to individuals and support services to their families. Treatment combines both Eastern and Western approaches and is sensitive to the unique needs of the community.

View a list of previous NNED Partners of the Month here.

Using Data to Eliminate Disparities: New Online Data from the National Survey of Children’s Health

April is National Minority Health Month. In honor of this year's theme--"Health Equity Can't Wait. Act Now in Your Community"--the Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health (DRC) announced new data available from the 2009-2010 National Survey of Children's Health and National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs. In order to better understand and advocate for minority children with special health care needs (CSHCN), the DRC website lets you compare important key indicators and outcomes for CSHCN by race/ethnicity, highest educational level in the household, and two new measures of complexity. The data allows users to view over 100 indicators of child health and well-being, including emotional and mental health. Here are a few examples of findings you can access on the DRC website:

• Among the 46% of CSHCN who experience 4 or more functional difficulties, only half have access to community based services
• The 14% of CSHCN who meet 4 or more qualifying CSHCN Screener criteria are half as likely to experience quality care within a medical home as those whose conditions are less complex
• Hispanic CSHCN are most likely to lack insurance coverage

Using Data to Reduce and Eliminate Health Disparities

Disparities continue to exist in the health status of minority CSHCN in the United States. Data showing the differences in health status and access to care among minority children in the United States are an important tool in eliminating disparities and improving the health and well-being of all children. Recently released data from the 2009-10 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs reveal that: 

• Only one-quarter of Hispanic and African American youth with special needs received sufficient transition planning whereas nearly 45% of white youth received such planning
• 71% of white CSHCN received family centered care, while only 56% of Hispanic CSHCN and 52% of African American CSHCN received that level of care.
• Access to care issues are extremely important given that Hispanic CSHCN are more likely to be affected by their conditions in their daily lives and their families are more likely to experience financial problems

Visit the DRC website. Learn more about the National Survey of Children’s Health. Learn more about the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs.

SAMHSA’s Office of Behavioral Health Equity has a New Website

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) Office of Behavioral Health Equity (OBHE) has a new website. The website features a resources sections, news archives, the NNED, and populations of focus -- American Indian/Alaska Native; Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander; Black or African American; Hispanic/Latino; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender.

SAMHSA’s OBHE coordinates agency efforts to reduce behavioral health disparities for diverse populations. OBHE seeks to impact SAMHSA policy and initiatives by:

• Creating a more strategic focus on racial; ethnic; and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender populations in SAMHSA investments
• Using a data-informed quality improvement approach to address racial and ethnic disparities in SAMHSA programs
• Building on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) attention to health disparities to influence how SAMHSA does it work, including grant-making operations and policy development

Visit the new SAMHSA OBHE website.

Promoting Social & Emotional Well-Being for Children and Youth Receiving Child Welfare Services

The Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF) is promoting the social and emotional well-being of children and youth who have experienced maltreatment and trauma and are receiving child welfare services. To focus on social and emotional well-being is to attend to children's behavioral, emotional, and social functioning—those skills, capacities, and characteristics that enable young people to understand and navigate their world in healthy, positive ways. This approach can significantly improve outcomes for children while they are receiving child welfare services and after their cases have closed.

ACYF has released the Information Memorandum Social and Emotional Well-Being for Children and Youth Receiving Child Welfare Services to provide guidance to child welfare agencies looking to expand their capacity to make meaningful and measurable changes in social and emotional well-being for children who have experienced maltreatment, trauma, and/or exposure to violence. The document:

• Articulates the impact of maltreatment on the health and well-being of children.
• Demonstrates opportunities in the current policy framework and current available resources for attending to well-being.
• Suggests strategies for transitioning child welfare systems toward promoting social and emotional well-being.
• Emphasizes the use of screening, functional assessment, and effective interventions.
• Provides a listing of Federal resources to aid states, tribes, and territories in this work.

Download the report (pdf).

Eliminating Behavioral Health Disparities by Integrating Behavioral Health & Primary Care Services

The goal of integrating health care for racial and ethnic minority populations and people with limited English proficiency is to improve their health and behavioral health status while eliminating disparities in care. To examine the role and impact that integrated health care can have in promoting health equity and eliminating health disparities, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health partnered with the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health to convene a two-day expert meeting on Nov. 7-8, 2011 in Austin, Texas.

National experts in the fields of health, mental health, substance use and addiction, integrated health care, and cultural and linguistic competency were invited to share best practices, insights, strategies and tools for creating a framework for national models that can improve integrated health care for racial and ethnic minorities and people with limited English proficiency.

The consensus statements and recommendations listed in the meeting highlights were identified by the national experts as being critical components of a successful strategy to eliminate health care disparities through integrated health care. They are provided to inform a broad audience of health and behavioral health care providers, educators, advocates, consumers and their families, researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders with an interest in eliminating behavioral health disparities.

Download the meeting highlights (pdf).

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