For Community Agencies

What is ACMH?

ACMH is a statewide non-profit family-run organization dedicated to supporting the needs of children and youth with mental health challenges and their families across Michigan, as well as, the people and agencies that support them.

ACMH’s mission is that ALL Michigan children and youth with mental health challenges and their families live in safe, welcoming communities with access to needed services and supports. We understand that a key piece of achieving that mission is you!

ACMH has a 30+ year history of partnering with local, state and federal child and family serving agencies in an effort to improve mental health services and supports and expand family driven and youth guided practices. We encourage families to build strong parent-professional partnerships and provide information, training and support so families can better advocate for their child, be more actively involved in treatment, and share their voice of experience to help improve mental health service systems for all families.

ACMH offers training and networking opportunities for families and professionals alike. Over 30 years ago, ACMH’s Annual Conference was designed as a venue for parents and professionals to learn alongside one another in an effort to build understanding and partnerships.

ACMH is also the Statewide Coordinator & Training Partner of Michigan’s Parent Support Partner and Youth Peer Support services, a statewide initiative of the Michigan Department of Community Health that provides peer-to-peer parent support to eligible families as a covered service under the EPSDT State Plan. The Parent Support Partner service is an intervention-based approach to supporting families whose children receive services through a community mental health service provider. For more information about the Parent Support Partners, the Parent Support Partner Service, or how to bring this service to your area click here. Youth Peer Support is a peer-delivered service for youth and young adults, designed to support youth and young adults with serious emotional disturbance/serious mental illness (SED/SMI) through shared activities and interventions in the form of direct support, information sharing, and skill building. To learn more about Youth Peer Support or bringing the service to your community click here.

In addition to the activities above, ACMH also advocates for mental health policies that support children and youth with mental health challenges, their families and the agencies that serve them.

How Can ACMH Be a Resource to Your Organization/Agency?

ACMH strives to be a valuable resource to community partners by providing information, training, and technical assistance to help service providers and systems better understand, support and partner with the families they serve.

We can also help you to increase family voice and input in your local system change efforts by helping you to effectively connect with interested families and even provide leadership training and opportunities for families and youth in your area.

As a provider of family support for over a quarter of a century ACMH has had the privilege to interact with thousand of families and has learned a lot about what helps families feel more engaged in services, as well as, many of the barriers that exist that may keep families from entering, actively engaging, or staying in treatment. If your agency is having difficulty with engagement, no-shows or family retention in services or if you would just like to learn more about how to better support families or create a more family friendly environment, ACMH may be able to help. We can provide information, technical assistance or customize a training to meet your agencies and community’s needs.

Recent trainings of interest requested by community partners include the following:

• Enhancing Family Engagement
• Mental Health in Schools
• Youth Mental Health First Aid
• How to bring Parent to Parent Support to Your Community
• Parent & Youth Leadership Camps or Series
• Training for families and youth on how to participate on decision making boards and committees
• Training & Technical Assistance to help create local family support groups
• Training to help improve community mental health ACCESS
• Support to create a youth and family friendly environment

If you would like to learn more about ACMH, how we might be a resource to your agency, or if you would like to arrange a local training call ACMH today or e-mail the ACMH Education Coordinator at [email protected] .

We look forward to hearing from you soon!