Mental Health America Hosts Inaugural Promotion and Prevention Summit

Summit Convenes International Leaders to Explore and Advance Cutting-Edge Promotion and Prevention Strategies

Each year, Mental Health America brings together hundreds of leaders and advocates from across the country for its Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. to learn about critical issues in the behavioral health field and develop strategies for collective action. This year's conference featured a two-day event, the Inaugural Promotion and Prevention Summit, which gathered the foremost leaders in the field to explore the latest in promotion and prevention science and set a course for promoting wellness in individuals, communities and the nation at large.

The Summit, held June 6-7, represented a clarion call to recognize that mental health is integral to overall health and that promotion and prevention are our best hope for improving the health and well-being of the nation.

Day One

Mental Health America President and CEO, David Shern, Ph.D., set the stage with the premiere of the groundbreaking FundaMENTAL Health presentation, which examines the current state of mental health and proven strategies to promote wellness and drive down the unacceptably high rates of early death and co-morbidity among people with mental illnesses.

Afterwards, internationally known researchers, authors and Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee members William Beardslee, M.D., and Carl C. Bell, M.D., prepared attendees for the much-anticipated release of the IOM report, “Prevention of Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse among Children, Youth, and Young Adults: Research Advances and Promising Interventions.” Dr. Beardslee’s presentation looked at the current status of scientific research with a focus on family approaches and on what citizens and organizations can do to help, while Dr. Bell shared his perspective as an advocate and scientist. Later, Kevin Haggerty, M.S.W., of the Social Development Research Group at the University of Washington in Seattle, told attendees that effective prevention programs at the community, school and family levels can make a difference while saving dollars.

During a keynote lunch, John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, discussed the strategies the cancer movement has used to drive down mortality rates while increasing awareness and reducing stigma. His talk examined which approaches work, which don’t and how the mental health movement can model its efforts after those of the American Cancer Society.

Later that afternoon, attendees learned about international mental health promotion efforts from experts leading their countries’ national mental health and wellness programs. Gregor Henderson, MSC, former director of the Scottish Government’s National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing, and Helen Herrman, M.D., director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Mental Health in Melbourne, Australia, shared their countries’ respective experiences and offered insight into what it takes to get a promotion and prevention agenda adopted in the United States.

Day Two

Day two began with a presentation by William McFarlane, M.D., director of the Center for Psychiatric Research at Maine Medical Center and a leader in research on severe mental illness and early intervention techniques to prevent the onset of psychosis in at-risk persons. Dr. McFarlane summarized the literature on the prevention of psychosis and described his own integrated model, which is currently being tested in six communities throughout the nation.

For the Summit’s final plenary, leading U.S. health care journalist Susan Dentzer hosted a roundtable discussion, “Breakthroughs in Genetics and Neuroscience and What They Mean for Prevention,” featuring the biggest names in mental health genetics and neuroscience research, including Thomas Insel, M.D., director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and Leslie Leve, Ph.D., research scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center. The panel examined recent advances in our understanding of the human brain – from neuroscience and behavioral research to genomics – and their implications for the future of prevention.