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March 22, 2023

The Ally: Your Voice Matters

 

This week there are at least two ways to share your thoughts and ideas about how well services and supports work for our children and others with disabilities. Comments on the Mississippi Division of Medicaid's Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Waiver application are due March 30. We share our draft comments with you this week and welcome your feedback about them.

I strongly encourage you to take this Community Feedback Survey about substance use and mental health services in Mississippi. It is a mutual effort between the Joint Planning Council and the Mississippi Department of Mental Health. The survey results will help determine unmet needs in Mississippi and inform how the state should spend mental health block grant funds. I am on the planning council and can assure you we want to hear from everyone: people who deal with mental health or substance use issues, their families, providers, people who work in other systems, policymakers, the faith community, and anyone at all who cares about mental health and substance use. Please take the survey and share it far and wide with others. The more feedback we get, the better. I also want to publicly thank the Department of Mental Health for being so open to gathering feedback in such an inclusive way.

We have some great opportunities coming up. Please join us for our monthly virtual leadership and policy discussion on March 22 at noon. We will discuss legislation, the Medicaid waiver, changes in enrollment renewal rules, the survey, and the role of joint planning councils. Please join us!

We are excited that six parents are completing parent-peer support training this week. Please join us for their virtual graduation on Friday, March 25, from 1 to 1:30 p.m. The virtual graduation is an excellent opportunity to learn more about parent-peer support while honoring our graduates. On March 30 at 1:30 p.m. Central Time, we will have our Parent Peer Support Conversation for Anyone working with Parent Peer Supporters. Please join us if you supervise parent-peer supporters.

Join us at noon on Wednesday, March 29, for our quarterly Families as Allies Live. You can participate on Facebook or Youtube. We will give you an update, listen to any feedback you have for us and talk more about the Community Feedback Survey and how everyone can get more involved with the Joint Planning Council. 

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NEWS

 
The Mississippi Department of Mental Health (DMH) receives federal grant money from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to help adults and children with mental illnesses or substance-use disorders live successfully in the community.
 
March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day, and the theme is With Us Not For Us. We at Families as Allies resonate with that theme and encourage all of you to watch this video that brings home why this message is so important: You can learn more at the World Down Syndrome Day website.
 
The Mississippi Division of Medicaid (DOM) published its Intellectual Disabilities/Developmental Disabilities (ID/DD) Waiver renewal for public comment on February 28, 2023.

EVENTS

 
This group focuses on understanding current policy issues and also opportunities for leadership training graduates to serve on decision-making committees. Leadership training graduates are strongly encouraged to attend, but the meetings are open to anyone who is interested in learning more about policy.
 
Please join us in congratulating our newest class of parent peer support graduates. In addition to celebrating their accomplishments, this is a great opportunity to build the parent peer support community. We encourage friends and families of the graduates, as well as anyone who supports parent...
 
Please join us for this quarterly update about our recent events and future plans. Families as Allies is about ALL of us, and we want to hear your ideas and feedback on how we can all move forward together on behalf of our children.
 
This conversation is for anyone working with parents providing peer support to other parents in any system, such as Children's Services Directors, MAP Team Coordinators, Care Coordinators and Center Directors.

RESOURCES

 
Increasingly, government and nonprofit leaders are recognizing the value of engaging individuals with lived experience when creating and enhancing programs and services. Programs and services are more effective, trusted, and used when they intentionally draw on the perspectives of those they seek...
Frequently Asked Questions about Rights of Children in Homeless Situations
 
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with a deaf student who sought to sue his school for damages over profound lapses in his education. The case, Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools, involved the interplay between two federal laws, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA,...