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[Music]
Hello, welcome to the 2010 Mental Health
Block Grant Peer Review Program.
My name is Fran Harding and I'm currently the
Director for the Center of Mental Health Services.
Some of you may be wondering where Kathryn Power is.
Kathryn and I are in the middle of a leadership
exchange program where we have swapped jobs.
My current role as the Director for Substance Abuse Prevention
is now being led by Kathryn and I get the honor of
leading the Center for Mental Health Services
until the middle of January.
Our message today is around behavioral health.
First I want to let you know that behavioral health includes
substance abuse programming as well as mental disorders and
mental health promotion.
Behavioral health is essential to overall health.
The Block Grant is the single largest
initiative that CMHS funds.
We focus on prevention works, treatment is effective and
people indeed do recover.
National commitment and a renewed focus on preventing
substance use and mental health disorders and
promoting mental health are also important messages.
To help us with this we have eight strategic initiatives.
Hopefully by now you've all gone online and
looked at our initiatives.
They include not only substance abuse and mental health
prevention and promotion and treatment.
They also include areas of interest that we are all
working on, looking at the life of military families,
trauma and justice and several other important
areas of interest to us.
I applaud the fact that many of you have made significant
progress in these areas especially during a time of
budget cuts and reductions.
Use of technology to improve our health status,
for instance, by using this video conferencing capabilities
will help us during this time of budget cuts.
Yes, SAMHSA has a Facebook page now.
We are Twittering to everyone, and of course
doing the occasional E-Blast.
We would like you to review your challenges and
share your successes with us.
We want to learn from you so that we can do better in
offering you the technical assistance that you need.
We cannot do this work alone.
Collaboration is critical to our success and yours.
Prevention is the necessary first step
in keeping individuals, communities and the nation
healthy and productive.
Help us do better so that we can help you
do the best you can in your communities and neighborhoods.
I'll leave you with a message that behavioral health is
essential to overall health, and
I thank you for the work that you're doing.