Florida Coalition for Optimal Mental Health & Aging Newsletter, Summer 2002, Vol 5, No 1

in the news

"No Wrong Door"
Coalition Members collaborate on grant proposal to SAMHSA to improve elders' access to services

Coalition members recently collaborated on a federal grant proposal to the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). If funded, Florida would be one of nine sites in the U.S. to expand and evaluate services to older adults over three years.

The SAMHSA proposal, submitted in June, was a product of collaboration among Broward County Elderly and Veterans Services, three Area Agencies on Aging (headquartered in Palm Beach, Orange and Hillsborough Counties), the Florida Dept of Elder Affairs, the Florida Dept. of Children and Families, and members of the Florida Coalition for Optimal Mental Health and Aging.

The Broward agency, recognized for its model services to elders, would develop programs to ensure that older adults find "no wrong door" in accessing mental health and substance abuse services, then work with the other three AAA service areas to replicate these efforts. Stephen Ferrante, Executive Director of the Broward program, would be Principal Investigator (PI) and Dr. Larry Schonfeld of the Florida Mental Health Institute would be co-PI/evaluator.

"Creating the Foundation for Change"
Coalition members submit proposal to Retirement Research Foundation

In August, the same participants in the SAMHSA grant submitted a proposal to the Retirement Research Foundation, with Dr. Larry Schonfeld of FMHI/USF as Principal Investigator. This would fund four Area Agencies on Aging to conduct in-home screening of elders and their caregivers for depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse, and medication misuse and investigate cultural, language, or other barriers to accessing behavioral health services. The project would evaluate the benefits of distributing results to the Coalition, state organizations, DOEA, DCF, and to legislators looking for such outcomes as new inter-agency referral agreements, legislative budget requests, or other new advocacy efforts.