Operating any type of medical or behavioral health facility is a balancing act. It’s especially delicate at the Arizona State Hospital because we deal with patients who suffer from the most severe symptoms of mental illness. Treatment practices at ASH has changed through the years to reflect contemporary approaches. Decades ago, people with mental illness were heavily medicated [...]
Now that Cory Nelson has officially been appointed as our Deputy Director for Behavioral Health, we’re moving full steam ahead to recruit for the Chief Executive Officer of the Arizona State Hospital. The CEO is a critical member of our team and has the responsibility of managing the day-to-day operations of the civil, forensic and [...]
In our April issue of Recovery WORKS you’ll find inspiring recovery stories, behavioral health news, resources, and information from our community. Our featured peer success story this month is about MedHat Zekri, a peer who’s been able to overcome severe depression, anxiety and stress and is being very successful in achieving his life's goals. In our [...]
Our Vision at the Arizona Department of Health Services is, ”Health and Wellness for all Arizonans.” Part of our mission includes helping individuals with substance abuse issues achieve and maintain self-reliance and independence. To get there, some individuals simply need occasional outpatient services. Some need wrap-around, community or home-based services. Others require more intensive treatment [...]
One of our primary objectives over the last couple of years has been to shift the focus of our performance measures away from process and procedures toward actual outcomes. In other words, we don’t want to measure our success on whether someone’s paperwork is right, but on whether the services we provide actually help folks achieve [...]
Thanks for your patience as we developed our continuity plan for leadership in our Division of Behavioral Health. I know you’re all anxious to hear the transition plan for after Dr. Nelson leaves on August 24. Fortunately, we are very lucky to have so many strong leaders here at the agency, including a really great [...]
Check our our July Recovery WORKS Newsletter. It's full of excellent inspirational stories about Recovery and is a great source of news and other community information.
The Governor signed the budget this week - here's a look at how some of it affects public health: Behavioral Health Services for folks that don’t Qualify for Medicaid The budget that was just signed includes about $39M in new funding for services for folks with a serious mental illness that don’t qualify for Medicaid. [...]
Check our excellent new web page about the history of the AZ State hospital. The stuff on the new hospital history page is fascinating. One of the things that struck me is that the issues of concern to the Superintendent of the Hospital 100 years ago were remarkable similar to today. The 100 year old [...]
Over the last few weeks, we've been working on ways to engage family members in the treatment of patients- as part of our continuing efforts to promote a culture of care at the hospital that reflects recovery and resilience. One of those ways is to make sure that our policies make it easier for family members to visit the [...]
