In the latest edition of Corrections & Mental Health, NIC’s mental health newsletter, Steve Allen, Director of Behavior Health Services with the Minnesota Department of Corrections, formally announced the creation of the Association of Corrections Mental Health Administrators (ACMHA). This network was developed with support from NIC and is intended to bring together corrections mental health executives from across the country for the purpose of sharing information and best practices. The members have formed workgroups focused on the following areas:

• Suicide prevention
• Managing self-harm
• Ethical and legal issues
• Mentally ill offenders in segregation
• Diagnostics
• Research
• Treatment programs

According to Allen, ACHMA’s next scheduled meeting will include discussion about the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on local healthcare systems, effective release and reintegration planning with mentally ill offenders, and ACHMA workgroup presentations.
For more information about ACMHA, please visit their network in the Corrections Community. There you can subscribe for automatic updates via RSS and e-mail.

If you know of an article, study or other resource that the ASCA Substance Abuse and Mental Health Committee should feature on the web site please send an email to the committee using this link:  Send a resource to the Committee

If your agency has a best practice for the management, treatment, or reintegration of inmates with substance abuse and/or mental health issues, share it with others using thie forum: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Best Practices