Elderly Mental Health Care Services
To help communities provide support services for older adults' mental health needs, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is accepting applications for the Older Adults Targeted Capacity Expansion Grants. More information is at
www.samhsa.gov/Grants/2008/sm_08_008.aspx
Substance Abuse in Young Adults
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has released a national survey short report entitled “Depression and the Initiation of Cigarette, Alcohol, and Other Drug Use Among Young Adults.” The report is based on statistics that were gathered from adults aged 18-25 years and suggests that mental disorders can cause substance abuse and vice versa. To download the report, visit
http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k7/newusers/depression.cfm
Anti-Underage Drinking Comic Book
Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four superheroes will promote a message against underage drinking in a new video comic book for the Elks National Drug Awareness Program. The comic book, launched in collaboration with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is available at
Resources on Co-Occurring Disorders
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Co-Occurring Center for Excellence has published three new reports (“Services Integration: Overview Paper 6,” “Systems Integration: Overview Paper 7,” and “The Epidemiology of Co-Occurring Substance Use and Mental Disorders: Overview Paper 8”) to help mental health professionals treat people who have co-occurring substance abuse and mental disorders. The papers can be obtained for free by calling 877-726-4727.
Helping Older Adults Search Online
The National Institute on Aging is offering a free curriculum titled “Helping Older Adults Search for Health Information Online: A Toolkit for Trainers.” Instructors can use this curriculum to teach elderly people how to find health information on the Web. The curriculum also contains easy-to-read health information from NIHSeniorHealth in different formats, including open-captioned videos and large type. To get more information, visit
http://nihseniorhealth.gov/toolkit
New Multilanguage Resources
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has released publications for non-English speakers. “What is Substance Abuse Treatment? A Booklet for Families” is now available in Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean, as well as Russian and Spanish. This and other products, including booklets translated into Navajo, can be downloaded at
Spanish Language Web Site
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has relaunched its Spanish language Web site, CDC en Español, with new features. The site provides up-to-date information on health promotion and disease prevention topics of special interest to Hispanic communities, including asthma, cancer, HIV/AIDS, immunizations, children's health, diabetes, and occupational hazards. CDC en Español receives more than 6 million visitors a year. The Web site address is