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March 24, 2022 Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) and state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex) introduced legislation (A3703) that would grant "independent authority to a newly configured Staffing and Oversight Review Committee, which is now overseen by the existin...

March 23, 2022 Awards to Be Presented during the Spring Conference, Nurturing Diverse Communities, April 5th at Noon The New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies, Inc. (NJAMHAA) will honor Lieutenant Governor Sheila Y. Oliver, who also serves as Commissioner ...

March 22, 2022 Many telehealth flexibilities are tied to the national public health emergency designation, which the U.S. is currently under and which is set to expire on April 16, unless renewed by President Joe Biden. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Be...

March 22, 2022 On March 21, 2022, Debra Wentz, Ph.D., President and CEO of the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies (NJAMHAA), testified before the New Jersey General Assembly Budget Committee. Dr. Wentz's oral testimony focused on the critical status of the ...

March 21, 2022 The COVID-19 Omicron strain subvariant, BA.2, known as stealth Omicron, is on track to overtake the original Omicron variant as the dominant strain in the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), BA.2 currently accounts for 39% of all...

March 17, 2022 The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), has announced new funding for substance use treatment and prevention programs. The funding will come through two grant programs, totaling $...

March 15, 2022 A Legislative Package of six bills was introduced on Thursday, March 10, 2022 by Assemblyman Louis Greenwald (D-Camden, Burlington), along with a number of his fellow Assembly members, that aims to more comprehensively meet the mental healthcare needs of New Jersey resi...

March 14, 2022 Governor Phil Murphy announced today that New Jersey will receive $641 million in the massive $26 billion opioid manufacturer and distributer settlement that was recently finalized. He also announced that the funds will be allocated over the next 16 years to confront...

March 14, 2022 NJAMHAA Calls for More Funding to Create New Opportunities for All New Jersey Residents "I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia…everything shut down for me. With [everyone at] Oaks Integrated Care, I was able to get back to living a normal life…[Now] I feel I...

March 10, 2022 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the ...

March 9, 2022 NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals, has approved NJAMHAA as an education provider. This status identifies NJAMHAA's "program as meeting nationally approved standards of education developed for the ...

March 8, 2022 Statement from Debra L. Wentz, PhD, President and CEO While Governor Murphy only briefly touched on mental health and substance use treatment investments in statements during his budget address today, digging deeper into the State of New Jersey Budget in Brief Summar...

March 8, 2022 Funding for federal COVID-19 programs has almost run out nearly a year after the passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Programs that bolster COVID-19 testing supplies, guarantee uninsured Americans COVID-19 treatment, purchase antibody treatments and prevent...

March 7, 2022 The New Jersey Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS) has posted the 1115 Waiver Demonstration renewal application that they recently submitted to the Centers for Medicare ...

March 2, 2022 Statement from Debra L. Wentz, PhD, President and CEO, NJAMHAA On behalf of the members of the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies (NJAMHAA) and those they serve, I thank President Biden profusely for highlighting our nation's mental health c...

March 3, 2022 President Joe Biden delivered his first State of the Union Address yesterday. In a statement released last night after the President's speech, the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies' (NJAMHAA's) President and CEO Debra L. Wentz, Ph.D, thank...

March 1, 2022 Moratoriums in New Jersey enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as those that prevented evictions and utility companies from shutting off electric, gas, and water services, have either already ended or will be ending soon. However, there is still a litany of assista...

February 28, 2022 Lawmakers are considering legislation that would aim to address the gaps in the behavioral healthcare system. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, was quoted on modernhealthcare.com saying, "Our mental hea...

February 24, 2022 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has proposed new guidelines for prescribing opioids for pain treatment that would eliminate dosage caps on treatment. Dr. Lewis Nelson, ...

Mental health issues have been exacerbated by the social isolation, economic stress, loss of loved ones, and other struggles due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A new study, Mental Health in People with COVID-19, published in the journal The BMJ, suggests that COVID-19 infection itself may i...