Martina Reynolds

HS328
23 September 2022
Friday Folder #3
Part 1
1. Agency Name: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Vison: “To provide leadership and resources – programs, policies, information and data,
funding, and personnel – advance mental and substance use disorder prevention,
treatment, and recovery services in order to improve individual, community, and public
health.”
Mission: “SAMHSA's mission is to reduce the impact of substance use and mental illness
on America's communities.” Summary of
Function: SAMHSA essentially exists to support individuals and families affected by
behavioral health issues and/or substance abuse issues.

2. The most recent news on their website gives an update that there is a help line called the
National Disaster Distress Helpline. The post reaches out to those affected by Tropical
Storm Fiona to call the helpline if they are facing mental or emotional distress caused by
the destruction from the storm. This shows me that they care about ensuring that a wide
variety of life events are considered when dealing with mental health. We are used to
hearing about aid after natural disaster in the form of reconstruction, medical care, etc.,
but it is good to know that this agency is thinking about the mental impacts of disaster as
well. This could easily get overlooked otherwise.

3. An office that really stood out to me that is under the umbrella of SAMHSA is the Office
of Behavioral Health Equity. This office focuses on making mental health care accessible
to folks of all different backgrounds and ensures that each individual’s unique set of traits
is considered in mental health care outreach. They also have an initiative to provide
mental health outreach in traditionally underserved and under-funded communities.

4. SAMHSA offers an internship for college students who have at least finished their
freshman year. You get paired with someone who works for SAMHSA and has a similar
job to what you are interested in pursuing. They spend 40 hours a week for 15 weeks
guiding you on how to create mental health and substance abuse prevention programming
and what influence you can have on public health policy. This internship is probably not
a very useful fit for me, but it sounds like a great opportunity for someone who may want
to work specifically in the public health realm surrounding mental health and substance
 abuse. SAMHSA is still good for me to know about as an educator because it is important
to have an abundance of resources in my back pocket to be able to help the families of
my students.
Part 2
1. I compared Idaho and Washington. Idaho is divided into 7 larger health “districts” with
their own health department, whereas Washington has a health department for each
county.
2. What stands out to me is that Washington has a spot on their website specifically
dedicated to providing information to health care providers about rural health. I find this
exciting, as I have done a ton of research on rural health care and the unique needs of
rural communities. This is a great step in the right direction, and I wish that Idaho would
follow suit, as I would argue that there is just as much, if not more, of a rural population
in our state.