The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) and the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) are pleased to announce that the latest edition of the Positive Approaches Journal is now available. Positive Approaches Volume 11, Issue 2 focuses on lived experiences and emerging treatments and supports for people with mental health challenges, including those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Article topics include the training process and outcomes of Mental Health First Aid, a Pennsylvania DHS and Allegheny County DHS pilot program to better address the complex needs of individuals with intellectual disabilities, autism, and/or acute behavioral health needs, and an interview with a person with lived experience discussing the gaps, challenges, and opportunities of supporting someone with an autism spectrum diagnosis and co-occurring mental health diagnoses.

There are also articles detailing the transition process from an institutionalized setting to a community setting and the outcomes for individuals with autism and drawing on research and lived experience to conclude that mental health conditions in autistic people are a result of the society in which they live with autism, not autism itself.

This issue of Positive Approaches Journal is in digital form, available for viewing online or for downloading at: https://www.myodp.org/mod/book/view.php?id=40986

To print a copy of the PDF, online journal, or a specific article, you will find these options within your left navigation bar on any Positive Approaches Journal page. A new window will open with your selected document. In your browser, you may click the Print button in the top left corner of the page, or by using the Print capability within your browser.