Mental Health Summit

Summit draws representatives from across the region to focus on mental illness

Mental health professionals from across the region came to EVMS in January to focus on care of the mentally ill.

The EVMS Brock Institute for Community and Global Health and EVMS Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences convened this second annual Mental Health Summit in light of problems with the care of individuals with severe and persistent mental illness.

Earlier in the day, the group heard from two nationally recognized mental-health experts as part of a special "Grand Rounds" lecture. Lisa Dixon, MD, MPH, Director of Mental Health Services for the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Courtenay Harding, PhD, Vice Chair of the Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care, lent their expertise to the discussion.

The roundtable discussion identified a series of hurdles to effective care – such as transportation, funding, public/provider education and care coordination. Later this year, the participants will reconvene to consider concrete solutions to some of the issues and a plan to deal with more complex issues, says Cynthia Romero, MD, Director of the Brock Institute.