Kentucky is one of five states chosen to investigate ways to reduce smoking among people with behavioral health issues. In June, a group from Kentucky will participate in the Policy Academy in Maryland. Mary Begley is state Commissioner of the Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities. "I believe that the goal is to just unite the leadership at the state level to come together, to pull our resources, our knowledge so that we're all moving in the same direction," said Begley.
Begley says strategies to reduce smoking among illicit drug users may differ from those used when working with individuals who have mental health issues. "I think that's what we will learn when we go to the policy academy," she said. "What are the strategies and, if they are different, how do we best reach the individual populations that we need to touch?"
One goal of the policy academy is to create a statewide collaboration among tobacco control, public health, mental health, and addiction treatment departments. Officials from Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Montana, and Wyoming will travel to Maryland in June for the two-day meeting.?
