Awards of Excellence honorees celebrated at
NatCon18 gala
Decreasing inappropriate use of opioids and supporting
evidence-based tools to fight the opioid epidemic, boosting
integrated mental health treatment and Mental Health First Aid
training for police are among the themes of this year’s National
Council for Behavioral Health Awards of Excellence.
Last night, at a gala celebration outside the nation’s capital,
the National Council for Behavioral Health honored leaders who used
technology to overcome systemic problems, pioneers who built unique
community behavioral health practices and elected leaders who put
aside partisan differences for the good of their constituents.
Eighteen individuals and organizations were honored during the
event at NatCon18, the National Council’s annual conference,
outside Washington, D.C.
“The Awards of Excellence honor the best and the brightest in
behavioral health,” said Linda Rosenberg, president and CEO of the
National Council. “We honor the changemakers, the innovators and
the visionary leaders. And we honor the advocates, the agitators
and the change champions. We honor these leaders because they are
not afraid to stand up and say, ‘We will be heard!’”
Award categories ranged from the Change Champion Award given to
Born This Way Foundation, the organization co-founded by Lady Gaga
and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, to the Doc of the Year,
Christian Moher, who reduced opiate prescribing, and to visionaries
across the country.
The Scattergood Foundation and the National Council teamed to
bestow an Innovation Award on Kristina Saffran, the founder of
Project HEAL, a peer recovery program for people living with eating
disorders. Saffran was selected by her peers at NatCon18 through a
voting process.
NOTE TO PHOTO EDITORS: Photos of award winners are available on
the National Council’s Flickr account at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123875765@N02/. Please contact
aaroncohenpr@gmail.com if you have a specific photo request.
About the National Council for Behavioral Health
The National Council for Behavioral Health is the
unifying voice of America’s health care organizations that deliver
mental health and addictions treatment and services. Together with
our 2,900 member organizations serving over 10 million adults,
children and families living with mental illnesses and addictions,
the National Council is committed to all Americans having access to
comprehensive, high-quality care that affords every opportunity for
recovery. The National Council introduced Mental Health First Aid
USA and more than 1 million Americans have been trained. For
more information, please visit www.TheNationalCouncil.org.
THE HONOREES
Change Champion Award, Sponsored by the National Council
for Behavioral HealthBorn this Way Foundation, Los Angeles,
CaliforniaCo-founded by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia
Germanotta, Born This Way Foundation held Mental Health First Aid
trainings along all U.S. stops of the 2017 Joanne World Tour. All
totaled, 150,000 concert-goers took the training and as part of
their engagement with the Foundation, were urged to create a
kinder, braver world. “Everyone should feel empowered to share
their story and discuss their mental wellness without fear of
judgment,” said Germanotta. “Mental Health First Aid is a powerful
tool to help demystify mental health and break down barriers to
treatment.”
Innovation Award, Sponsored by ScattergoodKristina
Saffran, Project HEAL, Douglaston, New YorkInitially created as a
program to raise money for those who could not afford treatment for
eating disorders, Kristina Saffran founded Project HEAL after
seeing firsthand that many clients experienced relapse due to a
lack of inexpensive step-down care from residential or acute
programs. In this gap, Kristina created Communities of HEALing, the
first peer mentorship program for people with eating disorders.
This year, Project HEAL is embarking on a partnership with the
Columbia University Eating Disorders Research Program to study the
program in a randomized controlled trial. The program continues to
grow, with plans to replicate in their 40 Project HEAL chapters
across the U.S.
Doc of the Year, Sponsored by EnvolveChristian Moher,
Community Partners Integrated Healthcare, Tucson, ArizonaBecoming
aware of his clinic’s and his own high level of prescribing opiates
led Christian Moher to an awakening. Using electronic medical
records and an online pharmacy database, he helped 70 percent of
the clinic’s members on a 120 mg. morphine-equivalent dose decrease
of their level of opiate use and weaned some off completely. More
than that, Dr. Moher integrated nutritionists, pharmacy leaders and
peer services to create a wellness program that resulted in a 65
percent reduction in depression and 72 percent decrease in anxiety.
How did he succeed? Dr. Moher said, “I learned to listen, so that
the goals of our members could be heard.”
Excellence in Addictions Treatment, Sponsored by
MyStrengthHelen Ross McNabb Center, Knoxville, TennesseeThe East
Tennessee not-for-profit’s vice president, Mona Blanton-Kitts said,
“The largest barrier to treatment is [mothers] having to leave
their babies. We eliminated this barrier.” Their neonatal
abstinence syndrome (NAS) continuum of care program achieved
impressive results for pregnant and parenting women, as well as
infants born with NAS. In the first half of 2017, 71 percent
successfully completed a program for women who live with their
children for six-to-nine months (the national average is 47
percent) and 80 percent of families were discharged into safe,
stable housing with 87 percent reporting no substance use.
Excellence in Advocacy – Individual Achievement,
Sponsored by SunovionConstance Peters, Association for Behavioral
Healthcare, Natick, MassachusettsWhen funding for addiction
services in Massachusetts was down and advocates were more like
adversaries, Constance Peters formed a state coalition uniting
various groups around a common purpose. She said, “It truly takes
many people, with a common vision, and speaking with one voice for
change to happen.” The stellar results since 2003 are a 341 percent
increase in funding, increased use of medication-assisted treatment
(MAT) and more beds for patients enduring the rigors of addiction
recovery.
Excellence in Advocacy by an Organization, Sponsored by
SunovionFlorida Alcohol & Drug Abuse Association, Tallahassee,
FloridaWith 14 individuals dying daily from opioid overdoses, the
Florida Alcohol & Drug Abuse Association (FADAA) developed an
awareness plan in 2017 because, according to FADAA executive
director and National Council board member, Mark Fontaine, “Mental
illness or substance use disorder is a treatable medical condition
deserving appropriate care.” FADAA coordinated with elected
officials and launched their legislative strategy. Five substantive
bills were enacted on comprehensive ethical marketing and increased
funding for MAT. As a result, Palm Beach County made nearly four
dozen fraud and patient brokering arrests and shut down four
unethical “sober” homes.
Excellence in Advocacy by Elected Officials, Sponsored by
SunovionKansas Republican Senator and Majority Leader Jim Denning
and Democratic Representative Kathy Wolfe Moore, Topeka, KansasJim
Denning and Kathy Wolfe Moore formed a bipartisan team to shift
funding from a long-serving, but soon-to-close Kansas City area
mental health center, into a new program. The sobering and crisis
stabilization units for jail inmates with mental illnesses were
created and expanded services for a two-county area that is serving
as a model elsewhere in Kansas. As a result, Denning said, “We have
transformed the mental health delivery landscape in Kansas.”
Excellence in Behavioral Health Care Management,
Sponsored by MHRGG NegleyMental Health Center of Denver, Denver,
ColoradoThe Mental Health Center of Denver’s (MHCD) eclectic Dahlia
Campus is more than just a mental health facility, as it boasts a
greenhouse, gardens, a pediatric dental clinic, a gym and a
pre-school – all to increase the community’s food security, dental
health and, of course, mental health care. “When our ideas about
what would be helpful met the heartfelt vision of the community, it
created something beyond imagination,” said president and CEO, Carl
Clark. Results are still coming in, but MHCD expects to increase
preventative services and decrease chronic disease management
expenses.
Excellence in Mental Health First Aid Community Impact,
Sponsored by Mental Health First AidThe Southern Arizona Mental
Health First Aid Program, Tucson, ArizonaArrest, use of force and
death were too frequent outcomes when police confront people with
mental illnesses, so the Tucson Police Department and Pima County
Sheriff’s Department took steps to reverse the unsettling trends.
Their mantra is, “Yes to treatment, yes to alternatives to
incarceration and yes to care and compassion,” said Jason Winsky of
the Tucson Police. They trained 100 percent of their officers,
dispatchers and corrections officers in Mental Health First Aid, a
first-aid-for-the-mind-program taught to public safety officials
and others. But 2,500 First Aiders weren’t enough, so the Southern
Arizona group is now training smaller departments and members of
the communities they serve.
Mental Health First Aid Business Leadership
Award, Sponsored by Mental Health First AidNetsmart,
Overland Park, KansasNetsmart is a champion of Mental Health First
Aid. The company is being honored for demonstrating a commitment to
the delivery of Mental Health First Aid USA trainings within their
organization and beyond. The company trained more than 500 Netsmart
employees in the program and plans to offer the training to local
communities.
Excellence in Technology, Sponsored by QualifactsCrisis
Tech 360 LLC, Atlanta, GeorgiaRI International was managing its
admissions and discharges using a low-tech, centrally located dry
erase board. RI’s CEO and president, David Covington said, “[To]
dramatically improve access and throughput for our crisis programs
… we had to leave the post-it notes, white boards and voicemails
behind.” In partnership with Behavioral Health Link, they created
Crisis Tech 360 and upped their game considerably. Now RI uses
Crisis Tech 360 for up-to-the-minute census information on its 200
beds and has increased its occupancy rates without increasing
length of stay.
Excellence in Whole Person Care, Sponsored by
EnvolveMemorial Healthcare System, Hollywood, FloridaThe South
Florida safety-net provider has close to 120,000 outpatient visits
a year and found ways to improve its quality of care. MAT was
adopted last year to combat the opioid epidemic and behavioral and
mental health care were integrated. As a result, nearly 100
patients have enrolled in MAT, three-quarters of whom are drug free
and integration has resulted in a significant decline in emergency
department admissions. Behind it all, Memorial Healthcare System’s
Joyce Myatt, director, outpatient center for behavioral health,
said, “Stigma and shame should not be an impediment to care.
Integrated health care must continue to evolve. Mental and physical
health are intertwined and cannot be separated.”
Peer Specialist of the Year, Sponsored by EnvolveEmily
Grossman, Organizational Development Specialist, The Jewish Board
of Family and Children’s Services, New York, New YorkEmily Grossman
has turned what she calls the “poisonous” condition of bipolar
disorder into the “medicine” that not only healed her but became
her life’s work – peer specialist. In a psychiatric hospital, she
heard the voice of her mother in her head tell her, “Emily, one day
you are going to help so many people because of this experience!”
Grossman has written two books, speaks to colleges, blogs,
maintains an active social media presence and trains burgeoning
specialists to disclose their illnesses to help those they serve.
She has reached thousands of people and has helped clients enter
the workforce, go to school and lead productive lives.
Visionary Leadership, Sponsored by the National Council
for Behavioral HealthDavid Woodlock, ICL, New York City, New
YorkThrough his book, “Emotional Dimensions of Healthcare,” David
Woodlock advanced the public conversation around integrated
treatment, the emotional impact of trauma (he lost both parents
before he was 22) and the social determinants of health on outcomes
and recovery. Woodlock’s unique perspective led to the development
of ICL in East New York where, with the teamwork of a medical
provider, it is working to eliminate health disparities.
Visionary Leadership, Sponsored by National Council for
Behavioral HealthHoward Hitzel, BestSelf Behavioral Health, Inc.,
Buffalo, New YorkDuring 20 years at the helm, Howard Hitzel has
grown BestSelf into the largest non-profit behavioral health
provider in Western New York with a budget that increased by
six-fold during his tenure. BestSelf is involved in seemingly every
cutting-edge development in behavioral health. It is a Certified
Community Behavioral Health (CCBHC) pilot at 12 of its sites,
offers same day access for MAT to curb the cravings for opioid
addiction, employs more than 20 peers and has an intensive
residential rehabilitation program for pregnant and parenting
women. As a result of his vision, Dr. Hitzel said, “We are making
measurable differences in peoples’ lives.”
Visionary Leadership, Sponsored by National Council for
Behavioral HealthJohn Van Camp, Southwest Solutions, Detroit,
MichiganJohn Van Camp lives by the belief that, “Community is an
intervention, and when you have community it is so much more
powerful than any government safety-net.” Southwest Solutions,
which boasts 50 programs serving 20,000 people a year, is a
national model of holistic services and comprehensive neighborhood
revitalization. Manifested in his belief that reviving Detroit was
key to reintegrating people with mental illness and the homeless
back into the community, he built an entire subdivision and a
Federally Qualified Health Center from scratch.
Visionary Leadership, Sponsored by National Council for
Behavioral HealthTerry Crocker, CEO, Tropical Texas Behavioral
Health, Edinburg, TexasTropical Texas Behavioral Health (TTBH) was
down to its last dollars when Terry Crocker took over as CEO in
2003 and created a more viable business model to grow the agency in
a sustainable way. Now, TTBH has quadruple the staff since Crocker
became CEO, increased its number of mental health patients by 181
percent and cut its cost-per-patient in half. He urged everyone
working in the mental health field to speak up, because, “If we
don’t make our voices heard, people with mental health issues
remain in the shadows.”
Visionary Leadership, Sponsored by National Council for
Behavioral HealthMartha Whitecotton, Atrium Health (formerly
Carolinas HealthCare System), Charlotte, North CarolinaDespite a
severe shortage of psychiatric beds in North and South Carolina, 29
counties with no psychiatrists at all, a 41 percent increase in
patients and drastically reduced funding from the two states,
Martha Whitecotton has found ways to make progress for patients
because, “through them we experience how difficult the world is to
navigate for those least able to navigate it.” With her team at
Atrium, Whitecotton built a new behavioral health center, ramped up
use of telepsychiatry, created a patient placement department just
for behavioral health care and contracted with a new transport
company to reduce that burden from police.
The Awards of Excellence are supported by Sunovion, Envolve,
Mental Health First Aid USA, Mental Health Risk Retention Group,
Inc., Negley, , MyStrength, Qualifacts and Scattergood
Foundation.
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National Council for Behavioral HealthAaron Cohen,
301-633-6773aaroncohenpr@gmail.com