Administrative Office
1199 W. Harris Ave.
P.O. Box 310
Tawas City, MI 48764
Phone: (989) 362-8636 ~ Fax: (989) 362-7800
Open Monday - Friday 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
After Hours Emergencies:
1-800-442-7315
Welcome to AuSable Valley CMH
News Items
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AuSable Valley CMH was established on October 1, 1976 and currently provides Mental Health,
Developmental Disability and Prevention Services
to residents of Iosco, Ogemaw and Oscoda Counties.
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a place for FAMILIES to SHARE, Learn and Laugh!
FREE for any family raising children between the ages of 4 to 7 years old!
Parents learn about nurturing parenting skills and ways to connect with their children through leader-led discussions, videos, group sharing and support. Children (ages 4 to 7 years) learn comparable skills at age-appropriate levels through leader-led discussions, role playing, art and craft activities and games. A light dinner is provided and FREE child care is offered for other children in the family.
START UP DATES ~ Coming in the Fall
Clara Bolen Elementary:
Hale Elementary:
Whittemore-Prescott:
Programs are from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
For more information or to register, please contact
your child’s elementary school or call
Family Connections at 989-362-8636 or
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10 Things To Do For Your Mental Health
Millions of people start their New Year with resolutions to improve their well-being. This year resolve to put yourself first and keep your mental health in mind. Although the hustle and bustle often gets in the way of keeping resolutions, making your mental health a priority will help you find a positive balance in life.
The University of Michigan and the National Mental Health Association developed a list of 10 positive but simple things to do for your mental health this year. Make the effort to incorporate these tips into everyday life will help start 2010 with a positive and healthy tone.
1. Value Yourself: Many individuals are their own worst critic, treat yourself with respect and kindness as you would others and avoid self-criticism. Taking time to participate in activities and hobbies you like is important too! Whether it’s taking dance lessons, painting or learning a new language, you deserve to enjoy yourself.
2. Take Care of Your Body: Staying physically healthy can help your mental health. Be sure to eat nutritiously, get enough rest, drink plenty of water and avoid cigarettes. If you feel good physically, the likelihood of depression and anxiety are significantly reduced.
3. Surround Yourself with Good People: Having a good support network of family and friends will keep you generally healthier than individuals who don’t. Actively make plans with family or friends or seek out social situations where you can meet new people.
4. Give Back: Volunteer your time and energy to help others in need. It will be extremely rewarding to see the positive results of your assistance.
5. Learn to deal with stress: Dealing with stress is an unavoidable part of life. Practice good coping skills such as deep breaths, exercise, and journal writing. Also remember to smile and look for the positive things in life.
6. Quiet your mind: Relaxation exercises can help you improve your outlook on life and improve your state of mind. Meditation and prayer can be helpful in doing so.
7. Set realistic goals: Set goals for yourself personally and professionally and determine steps to help you accomplish those goals. Set your goals high, but be realistic in doing so. In making progress toward your goals you’ll feel a significant sense of accomplishment.
8. Avoid repetitive routines: Although routines help make people efficient, a change in pace can perk up a tiresome schedule. Small changes in your routine can make all the difference. Try changing your exercise routine, trying a new restaurant, or planning a road-trip.
9. Avoid alcohol and drugs: Alcohol and drug use can aggravate existing problems that exist and are only detrimental to your health, both physically and mentally.
10. Get Help when you need it: Seeking help is not a sign of weakness, but in fact shows strength. Don’t forget that treatment is effective, and those who seek appropriate help often recover from mental illnesses.
AuSable Valley Community Mental Health provides services to residents of Iosco, Ogemaw and Oscoda counties.experiencing a severe emotional problem,serious mental illness or developmental disability. Persons wishing to know more about the agency are encouraged to visit www.avcmh.org, or to
access services call 1-800-834-3393.
Have a wonderful 2012!
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We are one of 46 Community Mental Health Services Boards in the State of Michigan who contract with the Michigan Department of Community Health for the funding of these services. We are an affiliate of the Northern Affiliation. The NCCMH - Northern Affiliation is a partnership of three Mental Health Boards (AuSable Valley CMH, Northeast Michigan CMH and North Country CMH) and Northern Michigan Substance Abuse Services (the Regional Substance Abuse Services Coordinating Agency). This Affiliation is based on the belief that these agencies could come together to form an integrated management structure for mental health, developmental disability and substance abuse services, drawing on each other’s strengths and areas of expertise, and raising the entire region to the highest standards set by any affiliate.
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Memorandum to: Consumers, Family Members, Board Members,
Staff and Concerned Citizens
The State of Michigan has made public its plan to serve those with Medicare and Medicaid eligibility. Click here to access Michigan's Integrated Care Proposal To fully appreciate the State’s plan, one must first understand the federal government’s purpose and requirements related to the plan, the progression of activities to date, with additional consideration for all that must and will follow before a single service is delivered under the plan.
It all began with a long overdue realization that the federal government operates an economically and politically unsustainable health insurance system that is duplicative, complex, and costly. They decided to seek ways to change the system to save money and enhance care. The State of Michigan responded to this opportunity to create a model for change. The initial concept paper submitted by the State began a process of public input and unprecedented collaboration, which produced the proposal in hand. Bravo to the State’s leadership at all levels, to the citizens who actively participated, to the leadership of the various trade associations, and their members who came together in a demonstration of concern and compassion for those who will be impacted by the program. What was produced by this laudable effort was not a political solution or simply an economic alternative, but the opportunity to improve health care through coordination and integration while producing a better result for the citizen consumer. Yet, before we begin to respond to the plan, let us consider it in context. For illustrative purposes, understanding the difference between the use of a chart and map in planning a trip that requires air travel seems fitting.
Essentially the document in hand is a navigational chart, not a map. A chart covers a great area, lacks detail for navigation on the ground, but allows one to plan and complete the flight phase of the journey. A chart covers vast space, shows landmarks, high and low terrain, identifies obstacles to be planned for and gives information necessary to stay on course to the destination, where a more detailed map will be essential for successful ground navigation. Using the chart to develop a course, the pilot then files a flight plan to gain the approval of the federal government to travel through controlled air space, military air space, and other restricted areas, attain cruising levels and make course corrections to avoid climate issues, receive radio frequencies for weather information and flight following to ensure that the journey stays on the course approved to complete the journey in accordance with the federal regulations. The MME plan is a charted course, not a road map. It contains information sufficient to make a successful flight to Washington and back in a manner consistent with the federal government’s needs. Without the federal government’s clearance, the flight does not get off the ground. At this point, they are not interested or able to discuss the mapping of our subsequent journey. In respect to the Federal purpose at hand, it appears that we have charted a useful course.
The concepts presented in the plan are clearly an advantageous starting point, which includes the various key aims of the federal government, and the best care configuration for the consumers who will be engaged in the plan. The plan endeavors to keep authorization and care provision local, advances the quality of care through the coordination of care, includes a Person Centered Planning model, and calls for medical information sharing. It emphasizes cost savings through reducing the use of expensive care options and promoting preventative and early detection and treatment options to create savings, rather than relying on destructive blind cost cuts that lead to diminished care and social harm. The plan sustains social fabric services, and allows consumers to remain with familiar, trusted, and experienced providers. This course aims to reduce costs by providing a better local system of health care that is well coordinated and person centered. This proposal is an advancement in health care and merits support. It is the right course, not a final detailed map to success, but sufficient to meet the requirements of the mission at this juncture.
To coin a phrase, “the devil is in the details”, and indeed, there are many cautions being raised that must eventually be addressed. Please consider that the mere process of developing this document has put into a motion a process that will be hard pressed to reverse. Discussion and collaboration between MDCH and trade associations and advocacy groups such as this has not been witnessed in the past. There are ongoing gatherings at regional and local levels to discuss care coordination and the sharing of services and expertise. Practitioners of all sorts are dipping their toes in the waters of other practitioner’s practices, and in some cases, diving in head first. There are joint trainings, plans being drawn for collaboration; grants have been written involving previously nonaligned partners, and memorandums of agreement being signed. These are exciting times. The environment is changing. It will be difficult to go back. To the extent we all remain willing and committed to progress and change for the benefit of all being served, the details become the next steps toward success, and not obstacles.
One can choose to focus on fears related to the lack of details, or can embrace the hope and opportunity represented in the process that has brought us to this point. One can allow fears to immobilize the process, or based on the experience of this process, trust that each one of us, consumer, guardian, advocate, professional, administrator, regulator, and citizen, is committed to continuing the process in the spirit of true collaboration, and together, arrive at meaningful and beneficial answers to all the questions. With an eye on the details, a commitment to improving health care for our most vulnerable citizens, and a continued willingness to do the heavy lifting together, this plan is a viable option and a sturdy platform from which to launch the next phase of the journey. The details remain important, but this is not the time or the place to bog down in detail. It is through the continued use of the process that is in place that we will achieve the outcome desired. The entire system will be best served if we continue to “Dance with the one that brought us” and place our faith and our efforts in the process.
As you have asked, I consider the plan to be an excellent product, consistent with the AVCMH mission. It creates, in the current national environment, the best opportunity to continue the provision of locally authorized and delivered mental health care in a responsible and beneficial manner. I advocate on behalf of the plan out of respect for the leadership and process that developed it, and as the best opportunity for improved and sustainable healthcare for the population served under the plan.
I cannot and will not tell any citizen how to exercise his or her right to participate in this process. Read the plan and share your thoughts. The greatest failure possible in respect to this plan is the failure of all concerned to participate, and therefore, abdicate influence: Influence that has been recognized and respected to date. In the words of English author Milton, “Let not opportunity pass that now smiles”.
Talking Points:
It is an advantageous starting point.
It keeps authorization, service planning, and service delivery local.
It advances the coordination of physical and behavioral health care.
It requires Person Centered Planning.
It relies on prevention, early identification, and intervention to control cost rather than blind cuts.
It sustains the social supports necessary for true recovery, habilitation, and community integration.
It allows consumers to remain in care with familiar, trusted and experienced providers.
It fiscally rewards collaboration and integration of services to improve health care.
I will continue to post on the AVCMH website information regarding opportunities for comment. You may also wish to keep up with developments through the MDCH website.
Thanks for your concern and involvement.
David L. Beck, Ed.D., LPC
Executive Director
If you or someone you know is at immediate risk of seriously harming themselves or someone else, call 911
Dual - Eligibles
(people who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid)
Michigan's Intergrated Care Proposal
Roughly 9.2 million Americans, referred to as “dual eligibles,” are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare.
