Beyond Beds: A Series of Working Papers | National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors

FY 2024

The Advancing Crisis Care and Beyond series aims to build upon the work being done to implement the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and crisis services continuum that accompanies it, while pushing progress in prevention, safety, resiliency, and recovery. Beginning with the “umbrella paper” that covers leading policy themes related to each of the subsequent papers, the series highlights key areas of consideration and puts forth recommendations for specific strategies to advance crisis care, promote personal and community safety, and foster wellbeing.

FY 2023

The Connected and Strong series focuses on implementing a connected, strong, accessible, and effective behavioral health crisis services system nationwide. The series highlights key areas of consideration and puts forth recommendations for specific strategies to connect the oftentimes fragmented crisis care system and strengthen America’s approach to providing behavioral healthcare overall, in accordance with President Biden’s Unity Agenda.

2022

The From Crisis to Care series aims to provide topical guidance on several areas of services to help drive policy and practice, promote funding to meet the ongoing needs in system infrastructure, assist in developing the necessary mental health workforce, and promote learning about the behavioral health system for legislators. July 16, 2022 marked a turning point for crisis services with the transition to 988 as an easy-to-remember, three-digit national suicide and crisis line. Putting the pieces together of a true and robust continuum of psychiatric care from the lens of the crisis system is a key theme.

2021

The Ready to Respond series comes at a critical time with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, rising suicide rates and the opioid crisis resulting in numerous challenges in meeting demands for mental health services across the country. Ready to Respond provides 10 papers on critical topics related to crisis services and the post-COVID-19 vision for mental health services.

2020

Crisis Services: Meeting Needs, Saving Lives furthers the “Beyond Beds” strategy by describing the vision of the first point of entry into the continuum of care to prevent and manage crises in a way that offers an immediately accessible, interconnected, effective and just continuum of crisis behavioral health services. The “umbrella paper” and other nine in the series sets the stage for the next iteration of a national dialogue for developing and expanding the much-needed continuum of quality mental health and substance use care for all who need it, when they need it.

2019

The Beyond the Borders series steps beyond the borders of the United States and explores promising and successful practices from around the world. The series aims to further efforts in linking mental health leaders to new ideas by expanding horizons to build more global collaborations and facilitate learning.

2018

Bolder Goals, Better Results proposes seven bold goals to produce breakthroughs for people living with serious mental illness akin to the breakthroughs seen by other medical conditions that have benefited from the power unleashed by dedication and funding of concrete goals for solving seemingly unsolvable problems. More than a half century since President John F. Kennedy called for a “bold new approach” to treating mental illness, each goal is bold but supported with sufficient evidence or progress to make the ambition achievable.

2017

Beyond Beds is the bedrock of NASMHPD’s annual policy paper series that proposed a fundamental shift in moving the field towards building and invigorating a robust, interconnected, evidence-based system of mental health care to reduce the human and economic costs associated with untreated and undertreated severe mental illness. The series includes discussions surrounding aspects of psychiatric care that enhance the capabilities of a robust continuum and is grounded in the premise that people with serious mental illness need and deserve access to the same levels of care that individuals with other medical conditions already commonly experience.