By Benjamin Chambers, June 24 2011
Good news! A few weeks ago, I asked you to submit comments to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in support of including adolescents in the state block grant guidelines for substance abuse treatment and mental health treatment.
(If you recall, SAMHSA had specified youth as a priority population. We were concerned, based on early comments, that they might be removed from the final guidelines. So far, that hasn't happened.)
It turns out all of those comments made a difference: according to the Federal Register:
772 comments from 522 individuals or organizations were received. The comments were (1) Supportive of the changes proposed to the FY 2012–2013 Block Grant Application, (2) requested clarification regarding certain areas or (3) requested specific changes to the Block Grant Application.
Among the items that SAMHSA received comments on, one of the most common was:
Commending SAMHSA on including adolescents as a target group that States can include in their needs assessment and State Plan.
So, great work! However, from what I hear, the process of finalizing the guidelines is still fluid, so SAMHSA may ask for comments. Stay tuned!
Photo: mandiberg, under a Creative Commons license.
Updated: February 08 2018