Moving to an outcomes-based mental health system in Arizona won’t be easy. It will require:
Officials to hold the various components of the system accountable for defined outcomes that measure success, but also require they have adequate resources to get the job done, and are not burdened by excessive regulation and paperwork.
That the multiple systems that provide mental health services to adults and children be given the freedom to innovate and come together in integrated systems of care. You can’t carve out a mental health system and expect it to produce integrated results when behavior itself is rooted in biology, culture and the environment.
Strong leadership and the will to persevere when disappointment sets in, as it inevitably will. Top-down or bottom-up, leadership flows both ways. All of us need to sustain the imagination and energy to move forward.
Outcomes, integration, leadership – O.I.L. These represent the areas of focus for MHDNA in the years ahead. OIL can ease the friction of change and provide a framework in which to move our common work forward. 
|