For Immediate Release From Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law!
YOU ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE! YOU ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE!
Description:
Critical to providing effective mental health services is meeting people where they are and tailoring services to each individual and community’s needs. This webinar will present key considerations for providing community-based mental health services in rural and frontier communities, including reaching people across wide geographic areas, developing trust, and being responsive to unique mental health needs and stressors. This interactive panel discussion will draw upon national research and feature several real-world examples of programs providing mental health services in rural and frontier communities. Attendees will have the opportunity to actively engage with panelists to discuss how those programs got started, how they are funded, and how they meet their community’s needs so that participants can learn how to bring or enhance similar services in their communities.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
Understand the unique mental health needs of people in rural and frontier communities;
Hear from multiple real-world successful examples of programs providing mental health services in rural and frontier communities;
Learn how to leverage various funding sources to pay for mental health services in rural and frontier communities; and
Actively engage with presenters and other participants to address any questions about bringing such programs to their communities.
Speakers:
Gregory Mruk, Executive Director, NY FarmNet
Josie Poiyuna Garnie, BHP, Certified Behavioral Health Aide Practitioner, Alaska Behavioral Health Aide Program
Rebecca Boss, MA, Senior Consultant, Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC)
Xiomara Owens, PhD, Director, Behavioral Health Aide Training, Alaska Behavioral Health Aide Program
If you have any questions, please contact us via email at communications@bazelon.org.
Live closed captioning and ASL interpreters will be available for this webinar.
***Post materials will be emailed to you within a week after the webinar. This will include the recording link and PowerPoint slides. Thank you!
REGISTER TODAY:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/W... ********
Disability Matters
Join Jennifer Mathis for her segment, Mathis on the Mic, featured on the Disability Matters podcast hosted by Joyce
Bender. New episodes air every Tuesday at 2 PM EST.
Register at this Link:
https://pittforms.tfaforms.net/424615 ********
UPDATE: May 23, 2025 - The Bazelon Center strongly condemns the House of Representatives’ passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which would strip millions of Americans of needed health care and other vital services. Passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 22, 2025, this legislation would make draconian cuts to the Medicaid program—a lifeline for millions of people with disabilities—and slash other critical services.
The House-passed bill would cut Medicaid by more than $700 billion )https://democrats-energycommerce.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-energycommerce.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/cbo-emails-re-e%26c-reconcilation-scores-may-11%2C-2025.pdf) (https://www.bazelon.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/3-28-25-Bazelon-Resource-on-Medicaid-Work-Requirements-final.pdf) and strip coverage from at least 8.6 million people, in part by imposing new requirements that would take away Medicaid from those who are not working or doing “community engagement” activities at least 80 hours per month. We know from past experience that these requirements do not increase employment but instead cause large numbers of Medicaid beneficiaries to lose their health coverage improperly by trapping them in complex verification processes. In fact, more than 90% of Medicaid recipients (https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/5-key-facts-about-medicaid-work-requirements/) already work or qualify for an exemption to work requirements because they are in school, caring for someone else, or managing a significant health condition. The true purpose of the bill’s work requirements appears to be to take away health coverage rather than to increase work.
Further, the bill would punish those who lose coverage due to work requirements by prohibiting them from receiving financial assistance to secure coverage through the state or federal health exchanges, leaving them with no viable health coverage options.
The House-passed bill also mandates more frequent Medicaid eligibility redeterminations without any basis for doing so. Far too many people, and particularly people with significant mental health disabilities, already lose coverage inappropriately due to their inability to navigate the redeterminations process. That number will only increase if Congress enacts this legislation. The bill also includes other provisions that would make it more difficult for people to receive the health care they need, including increased cost-sharing for Medicaid services and a reduced period of retroactive coverage—a critical protection for people who need health coverage but are not yet enrolled in Medicaid.
In addition to Medicaid cuts, large numbers of children are also projected to lose health coverage under the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Between Medicaid and CHIP cuts, about 10 million people would lose coverage (https://d1dth6e84htgma.cloudfront.net/E_and_C_Markup_Subtitle_D_Part_I_5_12_25_4628d60c2a.pdf). Further, another 5 million people would lose coverage due to Congress’s failure to extend premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (https://democrats-energycommerce.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-energycommerce.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/cbo-emails-re-e%26c-reconcilation-scores-may-11%2C-2025.pdf). And many would lose the ability to meet basic nutritional needs due to the bill’s expansion of work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), amounting to an estimated $267 billion cut (https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-05/61422-Reconciliation-Distributional-Analysis.pdf).
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is an attack on people with disabilities and others who rely on Medicaid and other programs that would be slashed by this legislation. As the bill moves to the Senate, we call on Senators to reject these staggering cuts to health care and other desperately needed services. Congress must reject efforts to strip essential services from millions of people in order to finance tax breaks for wealthy individuals. Americans deserve better.
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CALL your local members of [the Senate] and tell them NOT to cut Medicaid!
VISIT:
https://www.facebook.com/bazeloncenter
Posted By: agnes levine
Friday, May 23rd 2025 at 11:14AM
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