Proposed Legislation Designed to Move Us Toward a “Stage 0 System”
Ron Manderscheid, PhD 09/05/2023
“…In close collaboration with the public health field, we can introduce community-level programs to address stress and trauma, while also promoting resilience and improved community and personal wellbeing. This can have the effect of reducing some of the burden on our behavioral healthcare providers.
“To achieve this goal, the Community Mental Wellness and Resilience Act of 2023 has been introduced in the US House (HR-3073)…” “This bill is designed to bring a needed public health approach to address our current behavioral health crisis.”
“For far too long, behavioral health has been a “Stage 4 System” in which care is provided only when people are in severe crisis, if at all. This approach frequently harms those who receive such care, and it definitely wastes precious financial resources. Recent work on Phase 1 psychosis has begun to move us toward a “Stage 1 System” that provides care when symptoms first appear. This is an incredibly positive development for those experiencing psychosis. The draft legislation proposes to go even farther, in the direction of a “Stage 0 System” in which community interventions are undertaken in an effort to reduce and prevent trauma and decrease the prevalence of behavioral health conditions…”
Read the full article here.
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