News and Commentary from the Treatment Advocacy Center January 2021 Below is a summary of recent developments and compelling news stories from across the country highlighting America's broken mental health treatment system and how to fix it. Treatment Advocacy Center Welcomes Acting Executive Director Lisa Dailey We are excited to welcome former Treatment Advocacy Center Director of Advocacy Lisa Dailey into her new role as acting executive director. We wish former Executive Director John Snook the best of luck as he moves on to the National Association for Behavioral Healthcare as the director of government relations and strategic initiatives. Read more about our leadership transition in our press release. Our leadership transition garnered media attention from Politico and former Washington Post reporter and mental health advocate Pete Earley's blog. John Snook did an exit interview with Earley, in which he reflected on his tenure with the Treatment Advocacy Center and the continued importance of the organization. Read his Q&A, here. Questions and Answers with Acting Executive Director Lisa Dailey Acting Executive Director Lisa Dailey sat down with Treatment Advocacy Center News to discuss our leadership transition, what advocacy means to her, and her goals for the organization in 2021. "We're starting to get people in power to understand why it's important to focus on this segment of the continuum of people with mental illness. And that's really exciting. I have a lot of ideas that I'm interested in working with the team to develop, and we have a great group of people," said Dailey. Read her Q&A, here. Read our open letter to President Biden Treatment Advocacy Center wrote an open letter to President Biden urging him to appoint an Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Mental Health and Substance Use who will ensure that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) prioritizes the needs of people with severe mental illness. Read our open letter, here. Personally Speaking: Time for a Transparent Look at Psychiatric Treatments In a new Personally Speaking blog, mother and advocate Mary Rossell explains the need for further advancements for the treatment of psychiatric illnesses. "While I applaud gains in our discussion about mental illness, we cannot afford to lose sight of the persistent gap that remains between what is discovered in the laboratory and what is offered in the treatment center," she writes. Read her story, here. RESEARCH WEEKLY: January 2021 Recap DATAPOINT of the month Nine to 13 times higher risk of death in the first five years after diagnosis with a schizophrenia spectrum psychotic disorder. In a large study of more than 11,000 outpatient clinic and inpatient hospital patients published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin, researchers from the University of Toronto and Western University found that death rates were much higher than expected for individuals diagnosed with a psychotic or schizophrenia-spectrum illness compared to the general population of similar age groups. This data adds to the evidence of a large mortality gap for people with severe mental illness compared to the general population. The top causes of deaths among individuals with psychosis within the first five years of diagnosis were suicide and accidents. The study authors emphasize that many patients did not see a psychiatrist within the first year of diagnosis, and that fast and timely mental health care may be able to prevent many of these deaths. - Kurdyak, P., et. al. (January 18, 2020). Mortality After the First Diagnosis of Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders: A Population-based Retrospective Cohort Study. Schizophrenia Bulletin. Find all of this month's research highlights here. To receive Research Weekly directly in your email inbox on a weekly basis, click here. Thank you for all of your continued support of our work. Please donate today. Donate View as Webpage ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Treatment Advocacy Center | 200 N Glebe Rd, Ste 801, Arlington, VA 22203 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | About our service provider Sent by [email protected] powered by Try email marketing for free today!