President’s Message: The Time is Now to Activate Our Voices!
By any measure, our value as psychiatric-mental health nurses is rising. Pandemic-fatigue, greater risk for individuals living with severe mental illness, and increased substance use and suicide rates have added mental health to everyday conversations in our communities. Read More

Nurses in Action: Insights into Providing Care to Veterans
In honor of Veterans Day, hear from Melissa Ashely, Steven Julaka, and Laura Woodward on providing care to military veterans during a pandemic. Read More

Member News
Diane Allen featured in article in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Wailua Brandman received the 2021 Distinguished Alumnus Award - Yale University School of Nursing. Briana Snyder featured in Sigma Nursing video. Matthew Tierney co-authored a NAM Perspectives discussion paper. Karen Werder, Lyons Hardy, and Andrew Penn featured in video interviews with Healio. Learn More

Electroconvulsive Therapy
In this Q&A, you’ll hear from APNA Neuromodulation Task Force Chairs Paula Bolton and Donna Ecklesdafer on the updated APNA Position Paper on Electroconvulsive Therapy. Read More

Creating the APNA Nursing Competencies for Treating Tobacco Use Disorders
A new publication in the Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association describes how the competencies were created and more. Read More  /  View the Competencies

Suicide Prevention in the First Person
Having survived a suicide attempt, Kevin Hines not only lived to see another day, but to devote himself to saving others. Hear about the APNA 35th Annual Conference Keynote Speaker’s inspiring story. Read More

Supporting the Mental Health Needs of Veterans
In honor of Veterans Day, this 0.75 contact hours session is available at no cost to members through November 30th: Suicide in Women Veterans: The Too Silent Killer.

Now Online & with Contact Hours: APNA Annual Conference Session Recordings
Looking for education that addresses a variety of current PMH nursing issues? The first session recordings from the APNA 35th Annual Conference are here, with more on the way! Attendees: The deadline to complete your evaluations for sessions attended during the conference is November 26. Browse New Sessions

Resource Roundup:

• COVID-19 Resources: The American Nurses Foundation and the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, present Gratitude Practice for Nurses, supporting well-being and building a culture of gratitude in nursing.
• Telemental Health: Best Practice Guidelines and Resources: Providers Clinical Support Systems’ Telehealth for Opioid Use Disorder Toolkit: Guidance to Support High-Quality Care, offering help to clinicians treating opioid use disorder.
• November is Military Families month. APNA offers resources for military and their family members to assist with related issues such as anger management, sleep, and parenting. Thank you, military families!

New Members: 642 New Members Since September!

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced the release of the new HHS Overdose Prevention Strategy, designed to increase access to the full range of care and services for individuals who use substances that cause overdose, and their families.  This new strategy focuses on the multiple substances involved in overdose and the diverse treatment approaches for substance use disorder. Full Story

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is extending the methadone take-home flexibilities for one year, effective upon the eventual expiration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. This exemption is a continuation of the take-home medication flexibilities that SAMHSA put in place in March 2020 and is in keeping with the newly announced Health and Human Services (HHS) Overdose Prevention Strategy. SAMHSA is also considering mechanisms to make this flexibility permanent. Full Story

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has launched NAMI Homefront Mental Health Resources for Military Service Members, Veterans and Their Families, a free online suite of resources designed to increase understanding, communication, wellness and advocacy skills. When NAMI Homefront was launched in 2014, the classes remained closed to service members and veterans themselves. Full Story

COMPASS Pathways plc will be conducting a phase II clinical trial to assess the safety and tolerability of COMP360 psilocybin therapy in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study expands COMPASS’s research pipeline in psilocybin therapy with COMP360, the company’s proprietary formulation of synthetic psilocybin which COMPASS is currently developing for treatment-resistant depression. Full Story

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released findings from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The data suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the nation’s well-being. Americans responding to the NSDUH survey reported that the coronavirus outbreak adversely impacted their mental health, including by exacerbating use of alcohol or drugs among people who had used drugs in the past year. Full Story

The Alzheimer's Association, the American College of Radiology, the American Society of Neuroradiology and the Department of Biostatistics, Brown University School of Public Health, along with other clinical research experts, announced a national registry, The National Treatment and Diagnostic Alzheimer's Registry. This new national registry will be an FDA-approved-agent agnostic approach to gathering routine clinical practice data and outcomes for sharing quickly and transparently with all stakeholders. Full Story

Lawmakers introduced Cures 2.0 bipartisan legislation that builds on the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016, reported FiercePharma.com. The legislation includes major investments in medical research including the creation of a new agency to research difficult diseases such as Alzheimer’s, but also contains several reforms to Medicare reimbursement and coverage and make permanent key flexibilities to telehealth reimbursement for providers. Full Story

More than 70 organizations sent a letter to Congress to urge policymakers to address the impending expiration of the telehealth safe harbor enacted in the CARES Act that enabled employers and insurers to provide pre-deductible coverage for telehealth services for individuals with high-deductible health plans coupled with Health Savings Accounts (HDHP-HSAs). Full Story

Among various items included within the Build Back Better Act are those dealing with behavioral health concerns, particularly with a federal pledge to better enforce parity law, reported Behavioral Health Business. With the latest version of the reconciliation bill, authority for overseeing parity would move from the state to the federal level, which would be responsible for levying fines on health care plans that do not comply with guidelines. Full Story

A California law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom requires that mental health and substance abuse patients be offered return appointments no more than 10 days after a previous session, unless their provider OKs less frequent visits, reported HealthLeaders.com. Current insurance regulations already require giving patients an initial mental health visit no more than 10 days after they request it, but there's been nothing on the books specifically about follow-up care until now. Full Story

The Massachusetts Senate unanimously approved a bill that would guarantee Massachusetts residents are eligible for annual mental health wellness exams at no cost, reported APNews.com. The sweeping bill, which passed on a 39-0 vote, would also create an online portal to help smooth the transition from emergency to longer-term care; establish a panel to help resolve barriers to care for children with complex behavioral health needs who find themselves in an emergency room; and dedicate $122 million to support nearly 2,000 behavioral professionals. Full Story

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Calendar Year (CY) 2022 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) final rule will promote greater use of telehealth and other telecommunications technologies for providing behavioral health care services. The final rule makes significant strides in expanding access to behavioral health care  ̶  especially for traditionally underserved communities  ̶  by harnessing telehealth and other telecommunications technologies. In line with legislation enacted last year, CMS is eliminating geographic barriers and allowing patients in their homes to access telehealth services for diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of mental health disorders. Full Story

The White House released a new national strategy for preventing veteran suicide, purporting that it would harness the full breadth of the federal government to tackle the issue. The strategy contains five priorities, which include placing greater emphasis on the safe storage of firearms, limiting barriers to mental health care, reducing housing and food insecurity, increasing research and improving emergency room crisis care, among other things. These issues will be addressed with a “series of executive actions” in the coming weeks, the strategy states, reported Stars and Stripes. Full Story

Click here to see letters APNA has signed on to as a part of its participation in coalitions that further policy for nursing and mental health.

The American Psychiatric Nurses Association is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.