Home SPRC > Policy and Legislation
Scope Note: Local, state, and national legislation or bills; policies related to suicide prevention in schools and work settings, including crisis response/management policies; mental health parity laws, other policies related to mental health
- 2007 State legislation, policy trends & synopsis, FY2007: Suicide prevention and mental health
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/stateleg07.pdf
A summary of state policy trends, along with a state-by-state listing of legislation passed during the 2007 federal fiscal year (Oct. - Sept.)
Show Details - 2008 Federal legislation and policy trends, 110th Congress (January 1, 2007-December 31, 2008): Suicide prevention and mental health
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/fedleg08.pdf
A summary of federal policy trends, along with a listing of federal legislation on suicide prevention or mental health for the 2008 federal fiscal year. Each item contains the bill number, a summary, the sponsors and the status of the item.
Show Details - 2008 State legislation and policy trends, FFY 08 (October 1, 2007-September 30, 2008): Suicide prevention and mental health
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/stateleg08.pdf
A summary of state policy trends, along with a listing of state legislation on suicide prevention or mental health for the 2008 federal fiscal year. Each item contains the bill number, a summary, the sponsors and the status of the item.
Show Details - 2009 Federal legislation year-end analysis and summary: Suicide prevention and mental health. 111th Congress, 1st session (January 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009)
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/2009FedLegYearEndAnalysisSummary.pdf
An analysis and summary of federal legislation on suicide prevention and mental health for 2009. For major laws, there is a brief description. There is a listing of enacted bills including the bill number, a summary, and the sponsors.
Show Details - 2009 Federal legislation year-to-date report: Suicide prevention and mental health. 111th Congress (2009, 1st session)
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/2009FedLegYearEnd.pdf
A summary of the status of federal legislation on suicide prevention and mental health for 2009 that shows legislative activity for the year. Each item contains the bill number, a summary, the sponsors and the status of the item.
Show Details - 2009 State legislation year-end analysis and summary: Suicide prevention and mental health. January 1, 2009-December 31, 2009
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/2009StateLegYearEndAnalysisSummary.pdf
An analysis and summary of state legislation on suicide prevention and mental health for 2009. There is an overview of laws passed on specific topics, and a listing of enacted bills including the state, the bill number, a summary, and the sponsors. Each item contains the bill number, a summary, the sponsors and the status of the item.
Show Details - 2009 State legislation year-to-date report: suicide prevention and mental health
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/2009StateLegYearEnd.pdf
A summary of the status of state legislation on suicide prevention and mental health for 2009 that shows legislative activity for the year. Each item contains the state, the bill number, a summary, the sponsors and the status of the item.
Show Details - 2010 Federal legislation update: Suicide prevention and mental health
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/fedleg.update.pdf
A summary of the status of federal legislation on suicide prevention and mental health that is updated each month till yearend. Each item contains the bill number, a summary, the sponsors and the status of the item.
Show Details - 2010 State legislation update: Suicide prevention and mental health
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/stateleg.update.pdf
A summary of the status of state legislation on suicide prevention and mental health that is updated each month till yearend. Each item contains the state, the bill number, a summary, the sponsors and the status of the item.
Show Details - Achieving the promise: Transforming mental health care in America
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/freedomcomm.pdf
The New Freedom Commission on Mental Health was charged with studying the mental health service delivery system and making recommendations that would enable adults with serious mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbance to live, work, learn, and participate fully in their communities. Six goals and corresponding recommendations have been identified. Includes Executive Order 13263 of April 29, 2002.
Show Details - The American Geriatrics Society and American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry Recommendations for Policies in Support of Quality Mental Health Care in U.S. Nursing Homes
- URL: http://www.americangeriatrics.org/education/policies2003.pdf
Policy recommendations from a 2003 expert panel are included on the following issues: access to screening, assessment, and treatment referral; adequately financing needed services; ensuring a skilled and responsive workforce; providing incentives for quality mental health care; and changing the culture of nursing home life through greater involvement of residents in decision making.
Show Details - Bazelon action alerts and legislative updates
- URL: http://bazelon.org.gravitatehosting.com/What-You-Can-Do/Take-Action.aspx
The Bazelon Center provides some of the most up-to-date information mental health policy and laws.
Show Details - A call to collaboration: The federal commitment to suicide prevention
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/collabcall.pdf
Originally published as an article in (2003), Suicide & Life Threatening Behavior, 33(2):101-10. The Federal government, largely through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, sponsors many science-based suicide prevention initiatives. This article details the prevention-related agendas and collaborative efforts of five divisions within agencies.
Show Details - CDC Recommendations for a Community Plan for the Prevention and Containment of Suicide Clusters
- URL: http://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/PrevGuid/p0000214/p0000214.asp
Published as: MMWR 37(S-6);1-12. Recommendations in this report were developed to assist community leaders in public health, mental health, education, and other fields to develop a community response plan for suicide clusters or for situations that might develop into suicide clusters. A workshop for developing these recommendations was jointly sponsored by the New Jersey State Department of Health and CDC on November 16-17, 1987, in Newark New Jersey.
Show Details - Child and Youth Emergency Mental Health Care: A National Problem
- URL: http://www.aecf.org/~/media/Pubs/Topics/Health/Other/ChildandYouthEmergencyMentalHealthCareANation/Child%20%20Youth%20Emergency%20Mental%20Health%20Care%20NCCP%202007.pdf
This issue brief reviews the state of mental health services for children and youth who visit hospital emergency departments for mental health-related reasons and provides an overview of the challenges associated with mental health-related emergency department visits. It discusses the policy implications of using emergency department services for mental health reasons for children and youth and makes recommendations for policy action.
Show Details - Effects of the Vermont mental health and substance abuse parity law
- URL: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/PDFs/vtparity.pdf
Vermont implemented the Nation's most comprehensive parity law in 1998, extending equality of health insurance coverage to both mental health and substance abuse services. This evaluation includes an implementation case study, an employer survey, and an analysis of health plan claims/encounter data. Much of the analysis focuses on the experiences of two health plans, Kaiser/Community Health Plan and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Vermont, which covered 80 percent of the privately insured state population at the time.
Show Details - Evidence-Based Mental Health Treatments and Services: Examples to Inform Public Policy
- URL: http://www.milbank.org/reports/2004lehman/2004lehman.html
This report aims to inform policymakers about the significance of recent advances in evaluating evidence for allocating resources to and within public mental health programs.
Show Details - Federal Action Agenda: First Steps
- URL: http://www.samhsa.gov/Federalactionagenda/NFC_TOC.aspx
This agenda is part of Transforming Mental Health Care in America, a multi-year effort to alter the form and function of the mental health system. The agenda is a collaborative product of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies and offices, along with five other Departments and the Social Security Administration. Each participating Federal Department and agency created an inventory of its current mental health activities. An additional list was created by each Federal partner outlining proposals for transforming programs and practices. From these inventories and lists of transforming activities, the agenda was developed.
Show Details - Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act programs: Authorized and appropriated dollars
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/GLSMA_Authorized_and_Appropriated_Dollars.pdf
This list reports authorized and appropriated funding amounts spend by all the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act programs, and separately by the state/tribe, campus, and TAC programs, in 2005-09.
Show Details - GLBTQI mental health: Recommendations for policies and services
- URL: http://www.upennrrtc.org/var/tool/file/222-GLBTQI_MH_Recommendations_for_Policies_and_Services-1.pdf
This companion* resource guide provides important considerations for service providers and policy makers, including an assessment of the barriers faced by individuals in the GLBTQI community who are seeking mental health care and practical strategies to address these obstacles. The information is based on both a growing body of literature on the topic and the focus groups conducted by the authors. *A Mental Health Recovery and Community Integration Guide for GLBTQI Individuals: What You Need to Know
Show Details - Health Policy Communications
- URL: http://www.kaiseredu.org/tutorials/media/player.html
In this narrated slide tutorial, Jackie Judd, vice president and senior advisor for communications at the Kaiser Family Foundation, provides information and guidance on how to effectively communicate with the media. She also provides suggestions for how to frame key messages for print, broadcast and radio interview settings as well as other policy audiences.
Show Details - Laws requiring or encouraging suicide prevention training for school personnel
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/Laws_Requiring_or_Encouraging_SP_Training_for_School_Personnel.pdf
Lists state legislation passed during 2006-2009 requiring suicide prevention training for school personnel.
Show Details - Living is for everyone: A framework for the prevention of suicide and self harm in Australia (LIFE Framework)
- URL: http://www.livingisforeveryone.com.au/LIFE-Framework.html
This updated national plan promotes 6 action areas for suicide prevention activity: 1. Promoting well-being, resilience and community capacity across Australia. 2. Enhancing protective factors and reducing risk factors for suicide and self harm across the Australian Community. 3. Services and support within the community for groups at increased risk 4. Services for individuals at high risk. 5. Partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 6. Progressing the evidence base for suicide prevention and good practice.
Show Details - Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General
- URL: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/home.html
This report recognizes the intertwined relationship between mental and physical health. Focuses on following aspects of the subject: age groups (children, adults and older adults); services' organizing and financing; and confidentiality of information.
Show Details - National healthcare disparities report
- URL: http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr05/nhdr05.htm
This report represents the first national comprehensive effort to measure differences in access and use of health care services by various populations. The report includes a broad set of performance measures that can serve as baseline views of differences in the use of services. The report presents data on the differences in the use of services, access to health care, and impressions of quality for seven clinical conditions, including cancer, diabetes, end-stage renal disease, heart disease, HIV and AIDS, mental health, and respiratory disease as well as data on maternal and child health, nursing home and home health care, and patient safety. It also examines differences in use of services by priority populations.
Show Details - National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/nssp.pdf
The National Strategy for Suicide Prevention creates a framework for suicide prevention for the Nation. The Goals and Objectives for Action articulate a set of 11 goals and 68 objectives, and provides a blueprint for action. Published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in May 2001 with the leadership from the Surgeon General, the NSSP represents the combined work of advocates, clinicians, researchers and survivors around the nation. It lays a framework for action to prevent suicide, and guides the development of an array of services and programs. Designed to be a catalyst for social change with the power to transform attitudes, policies, and services, NSSP will guide the nation's suicide prevention efforts for the next decade. To order paper copies: http://store.mentalhealth.org/publications/ordering.aspx phone: 800-789-2647 inventory code full text - SMA013517 inventory code summary - SMA01358
Show Details - National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action: Summary
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/nsspsummary.pdf
This is a 17 page summary of National Strategy for Suicide Prevention - Goals and Objectives for Action and includes the 11 goals and 68 objectives. To order paper copies: http://store.mentalhealth.org/publications/ordering.aspx phone: 800-789-2647 inventory code summary - SMA01358; inventory code full text - SMA013517
Show Details - Parental consent act of 2009
- URL: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2218&tab=related
This bill, H.R. 2218 (111) introduced in April 2009 by Congressman Ron Paul of Texas to prohibit the use of Federal funds for any universal or mandatory mental health screening program. Similar bills, both dead, were introduced in 2005 and 2007.
Show Details - Ranking America's mental health: An analysis of depression across the states
- URL: http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/state-ranking
This report compares depression levels and suicide rates in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and uses the information to highlight solutions to improve states' mental health status.
Show Details - Recommendations on issues of access to and inclusion in behavioral health services for LGBTQI consumers
- URL: http://www.upennrrtc.org/resources/view.php?tool_id=223
The Pennsylvania Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) through contract with the UPenn Collaborative on Community Integration, formed a workgroup to make recommendations to ensure that OMHSAS, and other health providers and agencies acted to reduce disparities in outcomes between GLBTQI individuals with a mental illness and the general population. The workgroup recommendations centered around the goals of ensuring that GLBTQI individuals with a mental illness were protected from mistreatment and offered clinically competent mental health care services in welcoming environments.
Show Details - Reducing suicide: A national imperative
- URL: http://books.nap.edu/books/0309083214/html/index.html
Contents include: Magnitude of the problem, Psychiatric and psychological factors, Biological factors, Childhood trauma, Society and culture, Medical and psychotherapeutic interventions, Programs for suicide prevention, Barriers to effective treatment and intervention, Barriers to research and promising, Findings and recommendations.
Show Details - Reporting on suicide: Recommendations for the media
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/sreporting.pdf
These unified recommendations for reporting on suicide were developed at a consensus workshop co-sponsored by Annenberg Public Policy Center and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Workshop participants also included the American Association of Suicidology, Office of the Surgeon General, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute of Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health SerÂÂvices Administration, World Health Organization, National Swedish Centre for Suicide Research and New Zealand Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy.
Show Details - Rural health disparities
- URL: http://www.raconline.org/info_guides/disparities/
This webpage discusses rural health disparities and links to various resources on the topic.
Show Details - School Awareness Series: The Role of the School Board In Suicide Prevention
- URL: http://www.sptsnj.org/pdfs/school-board.pdf
This one-page fact sheet provides guidance to school board members on how they can ensure that policies and awareness training for staff can support suicide prevention in at-risk students as well as district-wide preparedness and response
Show Details - School-based crisis management recommendations on suicide: Prevention, intervention, and postvention
- URL: http://www.helppromotehope.com/resources/images/School_Crisis_Plan.pdf
This guide was created to support schools in strengthening their ability to prevent, intervene and respond to a suicide crisis within the school setting. In addition, the document summarizes legal cases relating to the issue of school negligence in student suicides.
Show Details - SPAN USA Action Center
- URL: http://capwiz.com/spanusa/home/
This site allows you to: a) identify and directly contact your Senators and Representatives via e-mail, fax or mail; b) learn how your Senators and Representatives voted on certain bills; c) identify and contact local media outlets; and d) read about important legislation.
Show Details - State mandates for treatment for mental health illness and substance abuse disorders
- URL: http://download.ncadi.samhsa.gov/Ken/pdf/SMA07-4228/CMHS17a_StateMandates_web.pdf
Focuses on state-mandated benefits, state laws regulating mental health and addiction treatment workers, and state-recognized mental health clinicians with authority to prescribe psychotropic medications.
Show Details - State of Tennessee Proclamation by the Governor
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/TNGovProclamation.pdf
This is a proclamation designating May 28th as "Suicide Prevention Awareness Day" in Tennessee.
Show Details - Suicide clusters and contagion: Recognizing and addressing suicide contagion are essential to successful suicide postvention efforts
- URL: http://www.nasponline.org/resources/principals/Suicide_Clusters_NASSP_Sept_%2009.pdf
This article describes the problem of contagion and the ways that administrators can act to prevent it by establishing a crisis team, recognizing and monitoring at-risk students, and mobilizing community-wide responses.
Show Details - Suicide prevention efforts for individuals with serious mental illness: Roles for the State Mental Health Authority
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/SeriousMI.pdf
This report is the fourteenth in a series of Technical Reports produced by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD). The report outlines the State Mental Health Authority’s (SMHA) leadership role in preventing suicide among persons with serious mental illness. It suggests ways in which SMHAs can increase collaboration, raise awareness of the signs of suicide, and intervene to save lives.
Show Details - Suicide prevention for older adults: Professional Reference Series, Vol. 1
- URL: http://www.samhsa.gov/OlderAdultsTAC/docs/Suicide_Booklet.pdf
Summarizes the most recent studies on preventing suicide in older (59+) adults. Describes the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention goals and objectives for meeting the needs of older adults.
Show Details - Suicide prevention: The public health approach
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/phasp.pdf
Defines the five main steps of the public health approach and applies it toward suicide prevention.
Show Details - A summary of suicide prevention recommendations from Canada, the United States, and Australia
- URL: http://www.acicr.ualberta.ca/pages/documents/SuicidePreventionRecommendationsforACICR.pdf
This report summarizes the national recommendations that Canada, the U.S. and Australia have put forth for suicide prevention.
Show Details - The Surgeon General's call to action to prevent suicide
- URL: http://www.sprc.org/library/surgeoncall.pdf
On July 28, 1999, Tipper Gore and Surgeon General David Satcher hosted a press conference at which the Surgeon General unveiled a blueprint to prevent suicide in the United States. This blueprint, The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent Suicide, uses the AIM approach - Awareness, Intervention, and Methodology - derived from the collaborative deliberations of the 1st National Suicide Prevention Conference (Reno, Nevada) participants. As a framework for suicide prevention, AIM includes 15 key recommendations that were refined from consensus and evidence-based findings presented at the Reno conference.
Show Details - Surgeon General's workshop on Women’s Mental Health. November 30 – December 1, 2005, Denver, Colorado
- URL: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/womensmentalhealth/mentalhlth_rpt.pdf
Summarizes the views and issues addressed at the workshop. Includes: an executive summary; an introduction to the background and purpose of the workshop; the Surgeon General's Women's Mental Health Project; and the state of women's mental health.
Show Details - Youth suicide prevention: Strengthening state policies and school-based strategies
- URL: http://www.nga.org/cda/files/0504suicideprevention.pdf
This issue brief by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices discusses what actions schools, governors, and state policymakers can take to strengthen statewide youth suicide prevention efforts.
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