The Michigan Department of Community Health established the Advisory Council on Mental Illness (ACMI), also known as the State’s Planning Council, in 1990 in compliance with federal Community Mental Health Block Grant requirements for comprehensive statewide planning. States are encouraged to involve Planning Council members at all levels of decision-making to ensure that community-based services are consumer- and family-driven and that they are responsive to the needs of adults with serious mental illness (SMI) and children with serious emotional disturbance (SED).
An annual plan, due September 1st of each year, which addresses community-based services for adults with SMI and children with SED, is submitted to the federal Center for Mental Health Services and is used as the basis for a subsequent implementation report, due on December 1st of each year.
Federal law states that the planning council is expected to do the following:
- Review State plans and submits any recommended modifications to the State.
- Serve as an advocate for adults with SMI, children with SED, and other individuals with mental illnesses or emotional problems.
- Monitor, review, and evaluate, not less than once each year, the allocation and adequacy of mental health services within the State.
The revised bylaws of the ACMI, approved by the MDCH department director on January 1, 2007, call for the appointment of 22 or more individuals who represent consumers, families, advocates, service providers, and principal state agencies that coordinate services to the target populations. The Council currently has 26 members. Membership composition is 69% consumers, family members, youth, or advocates (the block grant law requires that at least half of the members be in these categories). The remaining 31% of the membership consists of required state agency representatives and providers.
Members are appointed by the director of the MDCH for two-year terms. Current appointments run through December 31, 2012. The inclusion of two youth representatives, an additional older adult representative, and a consumer in recovery with a co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder has enriched the Council. The Council meets four to six times per year, usually in Lansing. Dates and locations of the meetings, which are open to the public, are posted at
http://www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,7-132-2941_4868-195300--,00.html
In addition to the above duties, the Council reviews requests for proposals to the Prepaid Inpatient Health Plans and Community Mental Health Services Programs. Council representatives have served on block grant proposal review panels. The Council has also worked on special projects such as the Mental Health Commission Recommendations at the request of the department director.
For more information regarding the ACMI, please contact Karen Cashen, Grants Manager, at cashenk@michigan.gov or (517) 335-5934.
ACMI Meeting Schedule
- February 11, 2011
- June 3, 2011
- August 12, 2011
- November 14, 2011
ACMI Meeting Minutes