We all need to take care of both our physical and behavioral health needs in order to be healthy. The mind and body aren't separated- and neither should the health-care delivery system- especially for folks with a serious mental illness. Folks with a serious mental illness die more than 25 years earlier than the general [...]
Cooler temperatures have many people looking for new adventures, even in the high country. Cycling is fun for the entire family, but it’s important to be as safe as possible. Knowing the rules of the road is important, but so is personal protection – like helmets. Injuries to the head are the most common among [...]
We’re happy to announce that we’re officially adopting four evidence-based practice models endorsed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) including Assertive Community Treatment (ACT); Supported Employment; Permanent Supportive Housing; and Consumer-Operated Services. We’re adopting these evidence-based best practice models because they resonate with our core commitment to a system of care [...]
Registered Dietitians are on the front lines of our battle against obesity. They work everyday to help people understand the importance of balancing diet and exercise - not necessarily an easy task in this junk-food, drive-thru world. Some of them are really good at it - including our own Adrienne Udarbe and Maricopa County's Trudes Rodriquez. The Arizona Academy of [...]
Our Request For Purchase (otherwise known as RFP) Core Team (Bob Sorce, Victoria Navarra, Teresita Oaks, and Chris Leavitt) and our entire cast of characters has been doing a full court press for the last 6 months to put together the Scope of Work that we’ll use when we go out for bid for the massive behavioral health services [...]
Last year our Agency pulled through big-time during our bottled water drive- collecting and donating 68,000 bottles of water for thirsty homeless folks. This month we’re having our 2nd annual Water Challenge with a goal of 75,000 bottles by the end of June. If we meet the goal of 75,000 bottles collected in June, we’ll all get [...]
There’s an old tale about a Texas “Sharpshooter” that pulls his pistol out of his holster and shoots at the broad side of a barn pretty much at random without aiming. Then he goes up to the barn with a paintbrush and draws a circle around the bullet holes and says: “See, I have perfect [...]
The Governor and I and the plaintiffs in the 1981 Arnold v. Sarn lawsuit signed a landmark agreement today which will last 2 years (pending the court’s approval). Today’s agreement outlines objectives for supported care and services for folks with a serious mental illness. Over the next couple of years we’ll work together with the [...]
Our interdisciplinary team completed a major milestone this week- by developing an initial rough draft of what will become the Scope of Work that will be included in the upcoming Request for Proposal for the behavioral health (and acute care) services in Maricopa County. This effort has taken literally thousands of staff hours to put together- and [...]
We had a productive “Request For Information (RFI)” session this week regarding our ”Recovery Through Whole Health, the Regional Behavioral Health Authority with Health Homes” project. About 150 folks attended the session- including potential bidders, members of the behavioral health provider community and peers and family members. We’ll be using the information from the session [...]
