Folks that face challenges with mental & behavioral health tend to smoke at a higher rate than others. That makes this group a high priority for interventions to reduce their smoking rates. Throughout 2010, we’ll be focusing on various intervention strategies for important health topics along these lines- and March is the final month of this year’s first Quarterly Health Initiative addressing “Tobacco and Mental Health.” Through the Initiative, we’ll be providing education on health topics affecting people who receive behavioral health services in an effort to improve their overall health and well-being. A new “QHI Kit” is introduced each quarter and includes a Consumer Handout, a Provider Handout and a Provider Webinar. The handouts and training materials are developed in collaboration with one or more public health partners: for this quarter’s initiative, Behavioral Health partnered with the Bureau of Tobacco and Chronic Disease & the Arizona Smokers’ Helpline.
For more information on this health initiative and to access the handouts and recorded Provider Webinar, please visit http://www.azdhs.gov/bhs/qhi/. We’re getting geared up for next quarter’s topic which is “Hepatitis and Mental Health.” If you have questions on this initiative, please contact Claudia Sloan.
