January, 2012
Inside This Issue:
I Hear You: Responding to Cries for Emotional Help | New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) Adult State Services Flourish Through Adaptation | "Project Dignity" | Cultural and Linguistic Competence Training
Medical Updates
I Hear You: Responding to Cries for Emotional Help
Cries for emotional help come in all forms. We witness these cries in ways direct and indirect: from outright requests to help me stay alive to the less direct but no less obvious self-starvation of anorexia or leaving empty pill bottles or illegal drugs in plain sight.
Providing Quality Services
New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) Adult State Services Flourish Through Adaptation
It has been an essential element in our survival and thriving as a species; it advances our happiness individually; and it is critical to the success of our psychiatric centers and endeavors. Adaptability. Government operated health services, both physical and mental health services, are entering a time of substantial change as newspaper headlines attest. OMH Adult State Services is adapting to this change by strengthening ties with tried and true allies and welcoming new partners in the provision and monitoring of quality care for adults with mental health conditions, specifically Health Home Services (HHS) and, for Psychiatric Centers with children's units, Behavioral Health Organizations (BHO).
Consumer Affairs
The Bureau of Consumer Affairs (BCA) has the charge of overseeing and caring for 17 cemeteries that are, or once were, connected to New York's "State Hospitals" or Psychiatric Centers. Over the years as hospitals have been closed or operations moved, the cemeteries associated with our facilities and the maintenance of them were, in some cases, inadvertently forgotten as they were almost always located at the perimeters of the hospital grounds. In more recent years, OMH has joined the movement of other states and the nation in recovering the dignity of those former patients and sometimes employees, laid to rest there.
Promoting Cultural Competence
Cultural and Linguistic Competence Training
The Bureau of Cultural Competence (BCC) wants to support your agency or program needs when it comes to providing cultural and linguistic competence training. Cultural competence training enhances quality of services and provides positive outcomes that are "client-centered" and meaningful to the individuals and families served by the New York State public mental health system. Our training is provided at no cost to agencies, OMH facilities, and licensed programs.
OMH News is published monthly for people served by, working, involved or interested in New York State’s mental health programs.
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