The Vermont Association for Mental Health is a citizen's organization working to promote mental health and mental health services. For more than 70 years, the Vermont Association for Mental Health has worked to promote mental wellnessin Vermont. Since 1981 when VAMH hired its current director, Ken Libertoff, Ph. D., the organization has expanded its vision and increased production in areas ranging from public educational activities, conferences and seminars, to provision of referral services and the dissemination of timely and relevant published materials. More dramatically, the Association has made a concentrated effort to become a true citizen's voice, a public and pronounced voice, on all critical mental and behavioral health issues. VAMH has worked hard to become an active player and public voice in the creation and implementation of movies and in the promotion of advocacy efforts. For the past decade and a half, the Association has engaged in many important legislative initiatives that have emanated in and around the Vermont State House. They include the promotion of funding support for self-help programs for consumers and parents, access to quality community-based services for Vermont citizens, a reduction in reliance on the Vermont State Hospital and expanded funding for all major components of public mental health systems. The expansion of children's mental health services has always been an important priority with dramatic improvement since the mid-1980's. In more recent years, the Association has assumed a leadership role in health care reform efforts, particularly in the field of mental health. In 1994, VAMH successfully promoted one of the first mental health managed care regulatory bills in the country, when Vermont passed the Mental Health Utilization Review bill. This measure mandated that all mental health utilization review agents be registered with the state, created a responsive grievance procedure for consumers and practitioners and established an independent review panel composed of seven mental health practitioners who are empowered to make final decisions on unresolved grievances appeals.
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