Federal Resources

This resource (PDF, 8 pages) can guide youth- and young adult-led organizations that want to make policy changes in the mental health system. Developed bythe Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures and Portland State University, it contains recommendations and quotes from a series of interviews with young adult leaders from advocacy groups that focus on mental health challenges or living in foster care.

This resource (PDF, 8 pages), developed by Pathways Research and Training Center, introduces service providers to scientifically-informed findings about brain development and trauma specific to young adults, and describes the implications for trauma-informed interventions and trauma-informed engagement of young people in services. 

This policy guide, developed by Pathways RTC (Research and Training Center), is written for youth- and young adult-led groups and organizations that want to make changes in policies related to mental health and other human services that affect them and other transition-age youth. The guide is intended for use by youth and young adults working together within a group or organization to make specific change, usually in partnership with other agencies, groups, or organizations. 

This webpage, developed by the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability, provides multiple resources on the mental health needs of youth, especially as they relate to employment. Youth service practitioners can use this information to better understand the needs of youth, and policymakers can utilize it in their work to address system and policy obstacles and improve service delivery systems for youth with mental health needs. 

The 2015 Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day national event recorded webcast is now available. The event highlighted the needs of youth and young adults with mental or substance use disorders and their families, while demonstrating how these needs can be best met through integrated care. The event also introduced cutting-edge community strategies for integrating behavioral health care with primary health care, education, and child welfare. 

This podcast describes how children exposed to traumatic events can exhibit symptoms that overlap with ADHD and, in some cases, could result in inaccurate diagnoses. It also provides suggestions for ways to talk about impulsive and disruptive behaviors with school staff and pediatricians to make sure that children receive the services they need. 

The “Behavioral Health Equity Barometer” (PDF, 20 pages) report is a one-year snapshot of the state of behavioral health of youth and adults by demographics and insurance status. Highlights of the findings show there are gaps in treatment for some behavioral health conditions among racial/ethnic minority populations and people without health insurance. 

This resource equips care providers and administrators with information on caring for people who have experienced trauma or may be at risk for developing trauma stress reactions. It addresses prevention, intervention, and treatment issues and strategies.

In this blog post, SAMHSA's Pamela Hyde announces her resignation and recounts SAMHSA’s accomplishments and its federal partners during her tenure. 

As highlighted in a recent blog post by HHS officials, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a new report, “Psychosocial Interventions for Mental and Substance Use Disorders.” The report is a result of a collaboration to identify key steps to ensure individuals receiving mental health and substance use services receive evidence-based, high-quality care. It details the reasons for the gap between what is effective and what is currently practiced, and it offers recommendations for how best to address this gap. It proposes a framework to establish standards for psychosocial interventions. The HHS blog post addresses how SAMHSA, ASPE, and other HHS agencies will implement the recommendations in the report. 

SAMHSA’s 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health report shows progress in reducing substance use, especially among adolescents. However, it also indicates that adolescents are experiencing higher levels of depression than in past years. 

This blog post describes the Resource Guide for Reporting on Behavioral Health: How You Talk About It Matters, which provides information to the media about mental illness and substance use disorders. It also includes tips and supporting facts that can help ensure representations of mental illness and substance use disorders are fair, balanced, and accurate. 

A Journey Toward Health & Hope: Your Handbook for Recovery After a Suicide Attempt is available to order or download from the SAMHSA Store. This booklet helps people who have attempted suicide take their first steps toward healing and recovery. Tools and stories in the booklet come from first-hand experiences of individuals who have survived a suicide attempt and their supporters.

This report highlights research on disasters (PDF, 21 pages) and their relationship to traumatic stress, suicide rates, and suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts. It examines rates of suicide and suicidal thinking and behaviors following disasters as well as the populations that may be at risk for traumatic stress and suicide after disasters. 

This blog post describes the benefits of participating in sports, as well as the risks. It highlights many of the programs and resources available to support athletes who may be struggling with mental illness or substance abuse. 

This blog post highlights recent research which found that from 1993 to 2012, school-aged suicide trends stayed constant, but suicide incidence in black children significantly increased. The post describes the need for more research into risk and protective factors for African American children and the experiences that put them more at risk for depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. It also provides resources for individuals who want to learn more about suicide prevention or who may know someone who is at risk of harming themselves. 

This blog post describes the impact of experiencing and/or witnessing violence or traumatic events and the effect it can have on mental health and daily functioning. The post also highlights SAMHSA’s efforts to better understand how communities respond to violence and protect the safety and well-being of citizens. 

An anniversary of a disaster or tragic event can renew feelings of fear, anxiety, and sadness in disaster survivors. This resource provides tips for survivors and their families for coping with renewed stress as an anniversary approaches or when trigger events suddenly occur.

SAMHSA offers many of its resources in an eBook format, allowing readers to access these materials more easily on mobile devices, tablets, and e-readers. 

This article describes SAMHSA’s efforts to use social media to provide information and participate in the conversation about behavioral health issues through popular social networks. It lists examples of how SAMHSA has used blogging, Twitter, and Facebook to respond quickly to trending stories and engage with the public. 

SAMHSA released a series of behavioral health barometers presenting data for each of the 10 HHS regions of the United States. Each report uses data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health related to youth and adult mental health and substance use and treatment. 

This infographic provides key statistics and information to help the public recognize the signs of child traumatic stress. This infographic can be downloaded as a whole or by the three key subject areas and will also be available for Spanish-speaking audiences later in 2016. 

This PSA videos were developed to help people better understand child traumatic stress and the importance of support in a child’s recovery. There are two versions, and both are available in English and Spanish.

This infographic provides key statistics and information to help the public recognize the signs of child traumatic stress. 

This article (PDF, 19 pages) summarizes the relationship between substance use and suicide and provides state and tribal prevention professionals with information on the scope of the problem, an understanding of traditional barriers to collaboration and current programming, and ways to work together on substance misuse and suicide prevention strategies.