New Guide: How to Talk About COVID-19 Vaccinations with Individuals Who Have Serious Mental Illness

A new guide from SMI Advisers offers simple tips for mental health clinicians on how to talk about the COVID-19 vaccinations with individuals who have SMI. It includes, practical, effective motivational interviewing approaches to guide the discussion.

MI Adviser is funde

d by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and administered by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The APA works closely on this project with a team of experts from 30 other mental health organizations. This team includes individuals, families, clinical experts, peers, and policy makers – The rollout of vaccines for COVID-19 therefore presents an opportunity to protect the health of individuals who have serious mental illness (SMI)

Download the guide HERE

For information on Ohio’s response to COVID-19, visit coronavirus.ohio.gov or call 1-833-4-ASK-ODH (1-833-427-5634). For behavioral health-specific information, visit: https://mha.ohio.gov/coronavirus. For behavioral health-related questions, email covid19BH@mha.ohio.gov. For COVID-19-related OTP questions, email OTP_COVID19@mha.ohio.gov, for Housing questions, email COVID19Housing@mha.ohio.gov, for Telehealth questions, email COVID19BHTelehealth@mha.ohio.gov, and for Vaccine questions email BHCOVID19vaccine@mha.ohio.gov. Ohio Careline 1-800-720-9616. Click HERE for a list of pop-up COVID-19 Testing Sites and HERE for the latest SAMHSA COVID-19 training and technical assistance resources.