NAMI and Magellan Partnership Provides Public Education about Mental Illness

Posted on July 24, 2006

Arlington, VA — The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) announced today that Magellan Health Services, Inc., the nation’s largest manager of mental health and substance abuse services has expanded their program sponsorship of NAMI’s national Provider Education Program.

The program, which has been active in 19 states, will now include Arizona, Iowa, and Kentucky as new states and will expand the program in Pennsylvania and Florida

The NAMI Provider Education Program is designed for clinical staff and caregivers in the mental health field. The program presents an insightful view of consumer and family experience with serious mental illness in order to help healthcare providers understand the challenges they face.

"We deeply appreciate Magellan’s support of our Provider Education Program," NAMI national executive director Michael Fitzpatrick said. "One of NAMI’s goals is to make this program more accessible to a broader audience, and that is exactly what this expansion allows us to do. Our program is now available in 24 states."

The education program is conducted over a 10-week period for three hours each week, and is offered several times per year. Each session includes short lectures and group discussions. The lectures are led by a teaching team consisting of two consumers with mental illness who are knowledgeable about their own conditions; two family members of someone with mental illness who were trained by NAMI to teach the program; and a mental health professional who is either a family member or a consumer with mental illness.

"This expanded sponsorship enables us to continue our valuable partnership with an organization that’s committed to reducing the stigma experienced by people with serious mental illness," said Russell C. Petrella, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer of Magellan’s Public Sector Solutions unit.

Started in 1995, NAMI’s Provider Education Program is currently offered in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, as well as in Washington D.C.

For more information, or to go to a program in your area, please contact Joe Harris at NAMI at 703-524-7600 or [email protected].

About Magellan: Headquartered in Avon, Conn., Magellan Health Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:MGLN) is the nation’s leading diversified specialty health care management organization. The company serves the behavioral health needs of more than 40 million people through contracts with health plans, government agencies and employers.

About NAMI: NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of persons living with serious mental illness and their families. Founded in 1979, NAMI has become the nation’s voice on mental illness, a national organization including NAMI organizations in every state and in over 1100 local communities across the country who join together to meet the NAMI mission through advocacy, research, support, and education.

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