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By Steve Allen
As people working in the behavioral health field, we’re familiar with mental health challenges and how they can affect our day-to-day lives. But it’s important to pause and remember that during the holidays, mental health challenges can become even more challenging.
While it can be a wonderful time of year to celebrate and reconnect with family and friends, it can also be a tough time. Some folks struggle during the holidays due to past trauma, grief, or behavioral health issues. And even if the holidays are full of happiness, it’s possible to get overwhelmed with the hectic pace of the season.
If you’re struggling during the holidays, know that you’re not alone. Reach out for help and look to friends, neighbors, and loved ones for support. Also, be sensitive to people who might not be "in the holiday spirit," offering support and avoiding judgment or pressure. I encourage anyone who struggles with the holidays to take the time to be extra gentle with yourself and know that it’s OK to take a break from festivities or avoid them entirely.
Being aware of our own mental health needs allows us to care for ourselves so we can care for one another. It may be the best gift we can give.
And don’t forget, you can always find OHA behavioral health resources on our website.
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Hilary Harrison joined the Oregon Health Authority on November 13 as the System of Care policy coordinator based in the child and family behavioral health unit. Hilary is the foster and adoptive parent of three and uses this perspective often in her professional life. Before coming to OHA she worked for Oregon Family Support Network, CASA of Linn County and most recently Samaritan Health Services.
Hilary will support the new Governor’s System of Care Advisory Council, created by 2019 Senate Bill 1. Please help us welcome Hilary to the team and learn more about her through the Q&A below.
1. What is your role at OHA?
My initial role is to make the new Advisory Council a reality and to ensure that the group delivers reports and recommendations for children’s system improvement. The goal is to focus the council on policy and how we ensure that Oregon has a coordinated network of services and supports for young people and their families.
2. What is the significance of System of Care to the state behavioral health system?
I hope the significance is much larger than behavioral health. We are one part of the whole that includes education, Child Welfare, developmental disability, juvenile justice and other pieces that touch the lives of young people. When we get services all truly coordinating, we help young people stay in school, in community, at home and out of trouble. From a behavioral health perspective, the outcome data from elsewhere in the U.S. shows that young people with complex needs do better under System of Care. They need less time at higher levels of care and they function better sooner.
3. What role will the System of Care Advisory Council play in your personal mission?
For years my mission has been to be a difference maker. I’ve just come from roles where I was focused on making this happen one person at a time, supporting, educating and modeling advocacy. It’s now time to make a difference at a higher level, for Oregon’s most vulnerable young people.
4. How can consumers and advocates participate or stay in the loop?
Hearing the voice of families and youth is important to OHA and is vital to us creating a true System of Care. Their mantra is, “nothing about us, without us." One way that OHA supports this goal is through the work of the Office of Consumer Activities.The OCA is responsible for connecting with youth, families and adults who use behavioral health services and bringing their voices to the table to create system change. To stay informed or learn about more ways to get involved in this council and others, consumers and advocates can contact the OCA or sign up for OCA email updates here.
In addition, the state advisory council's meetings are public and it has seats for both youth and family members. We will also have a webpage soon that will allow people to see the council's agendas and minutes.
At the community level, the coordinated care organizations have System of Care governance structures. They are often looking for more family members and youth to join these groups, talk about how processes work on the ground and help shape the future of local services and supports. For youth and families using services each coordinated care organization has barrier submission forms. These forms help local and state teams understand where systems get tripped up and what doesn’t work. I’d encourage youth and families to find where they are most comfortable and come join us in making a difference.
5. Can you share a bit about yourself outside of work?
I live in Corvallis and co-own a gas station and convenience store on Hwy 99W north of the town with my husband. Although I don’t pump gas any more it keeps me grounded in my local community. I am enjoying being an “empty nester,” walking my dog and being an active member of the local Altrusa service organization.
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The Youth and Young Adult Engagement Advisory group (YYEA) is dedicated to amplifying young adult voices in decision-making for all local and state agencies. YYEA provides opportunities for youth and young adults to engage in self-advocacy, build community relationships with youth-serving agencies and providers, and advise the Children’s System Advisory Council, the Oregon Alliance to Prevent Suicide, Healthy Transitions Steering Committee and other system partners on issues that matter to young people.
This month, YYEA welcomes 10 new youth members with lived experience, taking YYEA to a total of 20 members ages 14-25 years. In 2020 they plan to create two new YYEA chapters in Lane and Douglas counties, with the intent of helping diverse and rural youth voices to be heard on a state level. The support and expansion of YYEA is a step toward creating a culture of youth voice in Oregon. The input of youth will help the work of Oregon’s statewide steering committees be relevant and successful. Youth have thoughtful and innovative ideas about improving conditions and preventing suicide for themselves and their peers. It’s vital that adult allies are committed to creating meaningful opportunities in which young people's ideas can be heard, taken seriously, and implemented. We hope that YYEA becomes a force across Oregon!
If you know any passionate young people (14- 25 years old) with lived experience in mental health, Early Assessment & Support Alliance (EASA)-Wraparound, foster care, juvenile justice, homelessness and housing instability, addictions and recovery, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and suicide prevention, please encourage them to apply for YYEA. For more information and to apply, visit their website.
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Here are some of the youth currently serving with YYEA:
Juanita Aniceto represents YYEA as an executive youth member on the Alliance to Prevent Suicide. She has overcome behavioral health challenges, trauma and suicidal ideation. Juanita has previously worked as a peer support specialist for Youth ERA, sharing her life experiences to empower her peers’ recovery. Prior to this, Juanita worked with children with disabilities at Mount Angel High School and was a program coordinator for CAPACES Leadership Institute. Juanita joined YYEA in 2018 and is dedicated to amplifying Latino youth voice at a state level. She is a member of the Children's System Advisory Committee (CSAC), and a participant of CSAC’s schools subcommittee. Juanita is also a member of the Oregon Alliance to Prevent Suicide, and a participant of its schools subcommittee. Juanita enjoys hiking with her son and doing salsa classes.
Joseph Stepanenko is a founding member of the Early Assessment and Support Alliance’s (EASA) Mid-Valley Young Adult Leadership Council (YALC). He is a representative of the Portland YALC for the Mid-Valley YALC. He is involved in several committees on services for transitional-age youth, such as the Healthy Transitions project, EASA, and the YYEA. Joseph has been using his experience to collaborate between YYEA and EASA as well as other groups. His work is driven by his passion for people and to understand systems. Joseph is finishing up classes at Western Oregon University in computer information systems, and during his time off, he enjoys camping.
Kasper-Blaisse O’Neill, an 18-year-old non-binary person, is an avid lover of theater and dogs. Kasper has dealt with depression and anxiety for most of their life and has seen the effects of suicidal ideation and suicide on young people, and how it destroys lives, which is why they are working for suicide prevention for youth and young adults.
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In 2019 OHA and its community partners and stakeholders saw incredible gains in the work of suicide prevention. It was a year of building infrastructure so that statewide access to best practices are available to all Oregon youth.
Here is a sampling of the infrastructure (initiatives included):
Sources of Strength scale-up: With increased funding, OHA was able to issue a request for proposals (RFP) to oversee a scale-up of this evidence-rich best practice for upstream prevention. Oregon is the first and only state to secure an agreement with the national office of Sources of Strength to have a statewide trainer for this work.
Live to Tell: A youth-led nonprofit was created by students in the Salem-Keizer school district. Its goal is to support and fund students to create and sustain suicide prevention clubs, groups and initiatives. All board members of this nonprofit organization are high school students who are dedicated to making their schools and communities suicide-safer. The OHA Youth Suicide Prevention staff serve as adult advisory members for this group.
Fully funded 24-Hour Crisis Suicide Hotline: With increased funding, OHA immediately increased funding for the statewide crisis hotline to full funding levels.
Legislative wins for suicide prevention: The 2019 session held many successful pieces of legislation in the work of suicide prevention including:
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SB 52 – Adi’s Act: This bill mandates that every school district in Oregon have a suicide prevention, intervention and postvention plan and school board policy in place for the 2020-2021 school year. (Postvention refers to a community’s response to a suicide death to care for those impacted and to reduce risks for others at risk of suicide.)
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SB 707: This bill put the Alliance to Prevent Suicide into statute. The alliance is a group of professionals and community members dedicated to the implementation of the Youth Suicide Intervention and Prevention Plan (YSIPP) and serves as an advisory body to OHA. This bill also outlined membership requirements for groups that must be represented in alliance membership.
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SB 485: This bill directs youth-serving entities to report a known suicide death of someone 24 or younger to OHA within seven days of notification.
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SB 918: This bill directs local mental health authorities to notify youth-serving entities and individuals of a suicide death of someone 24 or younger as a part of their postvention response.
CONNECT scale-up: OHA contracted with Association of Oregon Community Mental Health Programs (AOCMHP) to scale up the implementation of this best practice for postvention work to be statewide. AOCMHP and the Suicide Lab at the University of Oregon have worked with NAMI New Hampshire to evaluate CONNECT as well as to rewrite pieces of the curriculum to better match Oregon’s needs.
Alliance to Prevent Suicide: Increased staffing for the Alliance to Prevent Suicide with the directive to include youth and young adult voice, engagement and meaningful inclusion into the work of the Alliance and YSIPP.
Several other RFPs have been written to support statewide access to the following programs and services:
- Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR).
- safeTALK.
- Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST).
- Support for schools and school districts to write suicide prevention, intervention and postvention plans (including mini-grants for purchasing curriculum if needed).
- Funding a peer-to-peer text line, school outreach and youth development program.
Another focus of the OHA Suicide Prevention staff was to strengthen the connection between OHA and each person identified as a reporter under SB 561 (2017). These reporters are tasked with notifying OHA within seven days of a suicide death of anyone 24 years old or younger. OHA has committed to hosting quarterly gatherings to serve as learning communities for this important group. As a result of this collaboration, OHA anticipates the postvention responses in individual counties will be stronger and more closely aligned.
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OHA recently hosted a webinar for Oregon Health Plan providers with the latest information on CCO 2.0.
You can now watch that webinar, which has the latest information about how to support Oregon Health Plan members during the transition to new CCOs in 2020.
Topics include:
- Next steps with member choice, CCO enrollment and CCO closures.
- Continuity of care for members changing CCOs in 2020.
- Engaging with CCOs about credentialing, billing and payment.
And you can download the webinar recording and webinar slides, which also are posted on OHA’s CCO 2.0 website and CCO 2.0 provider resources page.
Know someone who would benefit from this information? Please share it!
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The Oregon Health Authority is seeking providers, stakeholders, peers and consumers in a substance use disorder treatment community to participate in a six-month advisory group that will help inform how Oregon expands its current treatment delivery system.
Members of the Oregon Substance Use Disorder Treatment Accreditation Advisory Group will:
- Meet for monthly advisory meetings from January through June 2020.
- Review materials pre- and post-meetings to inform group decisions.
- Promote engagement, support and implementation of the group’s accreditation recommendations within their own organizations.
OHA aims to bring together individuals with clinical and administrative expertise, behavioral health care leadership, and individuals with life experience. Anyone with experience or expertise related to substance use disorder treatment in Oregon is welcome to apply.
To learn more about this opportunity, please visit the OHA website.
Questions? Email SUD.AAG@dhsoha.state.or.us.
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