• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Wildflower Alliance

Wildflower Alliance

Home to the Western Mass Recovery Learning Community

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Calendar
  • About Us
    • Mission + History
    • Defining Principles
    • Guiding Council of Western Mass
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • What We Do
    • Peer to Peer Supports
      • Centers and Respite
      • Community Bridging
      • Discord
      • Peer Support Line
    • Trainings
    • Wild Ivy Social Justice Network
    • Individual and Systems Advocacy
    • Alternative Healing Practices
    • Employment Supports & Career Initiatives
    • Housing Supports
      • Rainville
    • Direct Support and Consultations
  • Spaces
    • Afiya Peer-Run Respite
    • Greenfield
    • Holyoke
    • Pittsfield
    • Springfield
  • Publications
    • Film Productions
    • Articles
    • Books and Handbooks
    • In The News
  • Connect With Us
    • Contact & Newsletter
    • Donate
    • Payments
  • Log In

What’s Going on at SAMHSA (And Why You Should Care)

May 17, 2017

On Friday, April 21st, Trump’s nominee for the ‘Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use in the Department of Health and Human Services’ was announced: Elinore McCance-Katz. The position McCance-Katz would be filling is a new one, created by the version of Tim Murphy’s ‘Helping Families in Crisis’ act (also known as the ‘Murphy Bill’) that got slipped in and approved with the ‘21st Century Cures’ act a few months back. This position would essentially put her in charge of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration known more commonly as ‘SAMHSA’. 
 
Some of her stated priorities include:
  • Increase the number of inpatient psychiatric beds
  • Reconfigure health privacy laws to give families access to information about individuals deemed ‘severely mentally ill’
  • Reevaluate federal funding for suicide hotlines and peer support
McCance-Katz, who previously served as the Chief Medical Officer at SAMHSA, has spoken out openly in favor of measures like <b>Involuntary Outpatient Commitment</b> (also known as ‘Assisted Outpatient Treatment’ or AOT, basically boiling down to force, including forced drugging that can even occur in people’s own homes). 
 
She has also opposed many criticisms of psychiatric drugs, even in the face of a growing scientific body of evidence that their efficacy (and potentially damaging effects) are well worth being questioned.  She even comes with the strong recommendation of DJ Jaffee, founder of  mentalillnesspolicy.org and enemy to all things peer-support-related. 
 
Interestingly, Murphy has spoken out against</I> McCance-Katz’s nomination. And, as much as we’d like to agree with Murphy that she’s not ‘the one’, Murphy only has even more damaging recommendations waiting in the wings. Fortunately, the Western Mass RLC is not funded through SAMHSA or federal funds, but it does appear that dark times loom ahead for SAMHSA, and it’s likely to trickle down to us one way or another. 
 
Involuntary Outpatient Commitment in Massachusetts? Reduction of access to peer supports  (or threats to the integrity of these important roles)? Budget cuts for some of the country’s most innovative efforts?All of it could be headed our way.
 
Stay tuned for more updates as this all develops, and check out this blog by David Oaks for more details while you wait: Trump Appoints Leader Who Campaigned for Involuntary Outpatient Drugging
 
Or read ‘Trumps Pick to Run Mental Health is Poised to Shake Things Up‘ by Meghana Keshavan.

Filed Under: Uncategorised

Footer

Our Spaces

  • Afiya Peer Run Respite
  • Springfield “Bowen” Center
  • Pittsfield Center
  • Greenfield Center
  • Holyoke Center

What We Do

  • Peer to Peer Supports
  • Trainings
  • Advocacy
  • Alternative Healing Practices

General Info

  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact & Newsletter

Donate Now

Close×

Copyright Wildflower Alliance© 2023 · Log in · Wildflower Team Email