Formed in 2004, the Geriatric Mental Health Alliance (GMHA) is a 3,000 member strong advocacy and education coalition that is advancing policy and practice reform to meet the mental health challenges of the elder boom. GMHA successfully led the advocacy movement that resulted in the passage of the NYS Geriatric Mental Health Act, the first of its kind in the nation. This Act laid the groundwork for systems change by establishing a state planning council and providing funding for innovative demonstration programs. GMHA provides training and technical assistance to various provider systems to increase their capacity and skill to meet the mental health needs of the older adults with whom they work. While GMHA works primarily in New York State, it also offers training and technical assistance in geriatric mental health service, funding, and advocacy nationwide.
GMHA is working to:
- Advocate for improvements in public policy
- Provide professional and paraprofessional training and technical assistance
- Provide public education
- Build a constituency for geriatric mental health
- Foster the development and dissemination of innovative and state-of-the-art service models
- Provide policy analysis regarding geriatric mental health issues
Download the Geriatric Mental Health Alliance of New York Demographic and Epidemiological Data.
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JOIN THE GMHA
To Join the GMHA, contact Lisa Furst at [email protected].