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 fund

ed 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.