SENATE MEMORIAL 79

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2014

INTRODUCED BY

Carlos R. Cisneros

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PLANNING COUNCIL, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LOCAL COLLABORATIVE ALLIANCE, TO CONVENE A TASK FORCE MADE UP OF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH RESOURCE PROVIDERS AND STAKEHOLDERS TO INCREASE COLLABORATION IN WORKING ON SHARED GOALS.

     WHEREAS, recipients of behavioral health services and their families need to be involved in guiding how behavioral health services are delivered in order to improve the delivery system to better serve them and the community; and

     WHEREAS, persons who are recovering from behavioral health challenges benefit in many ways from having a voice in their own service delivery system; and

     WHEREAS, with the establishment of the interagency behavioral health purchasing collaborative in 2004, "local collaboratives" were established, made up of behavioral health services recipients, their families and advocates; and

     WHEREAS, there are now eighteen local collaboratives that serve as advisory bodies to the interagency behavioral health purchasing collaborative to provide input on local and regional behavioral health issues to the interagency behavioral health purchasing collaborative, the collaborative's leadership, called the behavioral health planning council, and the managed-care entities administering the provision of publicly funded behavioral health services statewide; and

     WHEREAS, while members of the behavioral health community have been empowered by the establishment and operation of local collaboratives that provide a space for them to discuss local challenges and conditions, there remains much untapped potential for local collaboratives to connect behavioral health services recipients effectively with state and local policymakers; and

     WHEREAS, in recent years, local collaboratives' funding and staff support have been cut to the point where the local collaboratives find their effectiveness in serving as a voice for behavioral health services recipients has been severely curtailed in many communities; and

     WHEREAS, there are a number of examples of community groups, other than local collaboratives, formed in New Mexico to improve behavioral health service delivery and to heal communities; and

     WHEREAS, collaborative community partnerships are more effective and far-reaching at addressing behavioral health needs than the efforts of individuals or agencies can be; and

     WHEREAS, the state of New Mexico has a number of effective and innovative collaborative community partnerships that serve as successful models for other communities; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has experience with initiatives that empower consumers to participate in decision-making and giving feedback to agencies that provide services; these initiatives include:

          A. the children, youth and families department's "systems of care" and "communities of care" programs that encourage local communities to take the lead in developing and improving behavioral health services and supports for children and their families;

          B. groups devoted to improving community behavioral health crisis response;

          C. programs that assist in preventing homelessness and provide supportive housing, which may include behavioral health services, for homeless persons;

          D. jail-diversion programs for individuals living with behavioral health challenges;

          E. specialty courts, such as drug courts, mental health courts and teen courts;

          F. programs targeting the behavioral health needs of pregnant women;

          G. infant mental health programs;

          H. programs that help seniors understand and address behavioral health issues; and

          I. the "mental health first aid" program; and

     WHEREAS, these programs and others like them benefit from having access to a wide array of community partners that can address the complex challenges in the lives of the people whom the programs are trying to help. For example:

          A. communities of care programs for children need local schools to be active partners;

          B. jails need to partner with behavioral health providers to help assure that people released from incarceration have a chance to recover from the behavior that led them to be locked up in the first place; and

          C. the justice system can participate in jail- diversion programs to help save the costs of locking up people who are not a danger to their community, but whose behavioral health challenges have led them to encounters with law enforcement; and

     WHEREAS, connected communities are healthier communities; and

     WHEREAS, communities that address their members' behavioral health needs in the community before they become severe can save themselves substantial expenditures on health care services, protective services, police and judicial system interventions and human services; and

     WHEREAS, communities bring knowledge and experience of their own needs and can make better use of scarce resources through collaborative partnerships;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico behavioral health planning council, in partnership with the local collaborative alliance made up of the eighteen local collaboratives, be requested to convene a task force charged with:

          A. describing and helping to bring behavioral health-focused community partnerships into existence where they do not exist;

          B. better connecting existing behavioral health partnerships and programs to strengthen their efforts; and

          C. devising ways to advise and support behavioral health partnerships to keep them effective into the future; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be requested to meet regularly to identify and prioritize those community challenges that need to be addressed and work together, with advice from the people who are most affected by their decisions, to address those issues; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico behavioral health planning council be requested to invite as members of the task force experts who are working within state government and in state universities to operate behavioral health programs and who could help communities learn from one another as well as gain expertise from outside New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico behavioral health planning council be requested to use the task force to help connect community partnerships with the appropriate resources to help them learn more to achieve their agreed-upon goals; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico behavioral health planning council and the local collaborative alliance be requested to invite representatives from the following stakeholders to participate in the task force:

          A. the New Mexico alliance of health councils;

          B. the New Mexico association of counties;

          C. New Mexico's twenty-two Indian tribes, nations and pueblos;

          D. the New Mexico school boards association;

          E. the New Mexico magistrate judges association;

          F. the New Mexico hospital association;

          G. the university of New Mexico's addiction and substance abuse program;

          H. associations of New Mexico behavioral health providers;

          I. the New Mexico association for infant mental

health;

          J. the four medicaid managed-care organizations operating in New Mexico;

          K. the community foundation coalition of New Mexico;

          L. the national alliance for the mentally ill-New Mexico;

          M. the juvenile justice advisory committee;

          N. disability rights New Mexico;

          O. the children, youth and families department's systems of care program;

          P. the department of health's health promotion specialists;

          Q. the department of public safety;

          R. the public education department; and

          S. any other partners the task force or its convener identifies as able to contribute expertise; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the chair of the behavioral health planning council and the co-chairs of the local collaborative alliance.

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