How to Communicate with Congress
Communicating With Congress
Lessons From Recent Research
Thirty years ago, no one e-mailed their member of Congress. Today, millions of Americans do. What many people don’t realize is that members of Congress have virtually the same number of staff today that they did in the 1970’s, despite the explosion of the telecommunications industry and the growth of the U.S. population by roughly a third.
What does this mean? It means that form e-mails and letters no longer work. Congress has had enough of them. Lawmakers are still hungry for information about what their constituents really think, though, and on most issues even a small number of contacts can make a big difference. In order to be effective, contacts need to be individualized.
On Thursday, November 20th ACA hosted an hour-long conference call with counselors from across the country to hear from an analyst with the Congressional Management Foundation on the current state of communications between constituents and members of Congress. Click here to listen to the audio of the call and see the PowerPoint file used.
ACA needs strong, effective grassroots support to succeed on the public policy initiatives we’re pushing to advance the counseling profession. Thank you for getting involved!
The Effectiveness of and Need for Professional Counseling Services (2008)
SAMHSA Releases Two New Resources for Mental Health Community
01.24.08
During the first week of January, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released two new resources: one report and one informational source.
On January 4, 2008, SAMHSA provided three new overview papers with state of the art information on co-occurring disorders. Its Co-occurring Center for Excellence, which was created in 2003, provides information and a range of services to mental health and substance abuse providers, administrators and policy makers at the state and local levels.
Among the many services offered by COCE are the following:
Clinical Capacity:
- Technical assistance
- Training
- Information and resources
- Linkages to other resources
Infrastructure Development:
- Services integration
- Information sharing
- Certification and licensure
- Financing mechanisms
- Systems change
Read about the three overview papers
Visit the COCE Website
Along similar lines, the Office of Applied Studies released a new report on co-occurring substance abuse disorders in males titled “Male Admissions with Co-occurring Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders: 2005.” The report provides statistics on co-occurring disorders and an analysis of their effects on substance abuse disorders in males. Highlights from the report include:
- Sixty-two percent of male admissions with co-occurring disorders reported more than one substance of abuse compared with 52 percent of male admissions without co-occurring disorders
- Male admissions with co-occurring disorders were more likely than those without co-occurring disorders to report five or more prior substance abuse treatment episodes (17 vs. 10 percent)
Read the Report
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