Alternatives 2010 Seeks Workshop/Institute and Caucus Proposals; Some Scholarships Are Available
SAMHSA Seeks Applications for CMHR Awards
Non-Citizens with Mental Illnesses Are Targeted for Deportation
Many More Americans Are Taking Psychiatric Medications
Two Web Sites Help Individuals with Psychiatric Histories Connect
There’s Still Time to Nominate Someone for the 2010 Clifford Beers Award
New Guide to Funding and Financial Management Is Published
Researchers Study Psychedelic Drugs to Treat Depression and Other Ailments
Supported Education Can Help People with Mental Health Conditions Reach Their Educational Goals, According to Literature Review
NARPA’s Annual Conference to Be Held in Atlanta
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal Issues Call for Papers
SAMHSA Identifies 10 Strategic Initiatives
Do You Operate, or Know of, a Warm Line?
Consumer-Driven Services Directory
DVD Available About Fostering Community Integration Through Peer Support
Altered States Web Site Has Been Updated
Alternatives 2010, to be held in California at the Hyatt Anaheim Sept. 29 - Oct. 3, 2010, is soliciting proposals for presentations; the deadline is May 6, 2010. The conference brochure, which includes the application form and additional information about workshop/institute categories and review criteria, is available at http://www.power2u.org/alternatives2010. Also available is the application for scholarships: http://www.power2u.org/alternatives2010/scholarships.html
Scholarship applications must be completed and sent by U.S. mail no later than June 14, 2010. The deadline to submit a caucus request is August 14, 2010; the caucus application is at the following link: http://www.power2u.org/alternatives2010/caucus-sessions.html The theme of the conference – which is being organized by the National Empowerment Center Technical Assistance Center and which is funded in part by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services – is “Promoting Wellness Through Social Justice.”
Source: http://www.power2u.org/alternatives2010
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will award six $20,000 grants to consumer-run organizations across the United States for statewide and community-based efforts that promote and expand the “What a Difference a Friend Makes” campaign, as part of the Campaign for Mental Health Recovery. The deadline for submitting applications is June 7, 2010. Complete information is available at the source below.
Source: http://www.promoteacceptance.samhsa.gov/cmhr/awards/2010awards.aspx
A recently released study has documented the shocking treatment of individuals with psychiatric and cognitive disabilities by immigration judges and deportation officers, The New York Times reports. Individuals who may be severely symptomatic are frequently transported to Texas, where 29 percent of detainees are kept while their cases are being adjudicated. Many of them come right out of mental hospitals and are sent without medication or medical records, far from their families and mental health staff who know them. This is in spite of the fact that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has the authority to leave them in the community rather than lock them up in far-away jails where they can quickly get worse. “When you take a mentally ill person from New York to rural Texas, you’re basically setting them up for almost certain deportation,” Ann Baddour, who directed the study – by Texas Appleseed, a public interest law center, and Akin Gump, a corporate law firm – told the Times. Among the tragic incidents the Times reports are the case of a man with acute psychosis who was deported four days before he was scheduled to leave voluntarily for Mexico, where his mother was waiting to meet him. Two years later, the man is still missing but someone resembling him is lying in a Mexican morgue, according to the Times article. ICE is currently reviewing the study.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/us/30immig.html?sq=ninabernstein&st=cse&scp=2&pagewanted=print
Between 1996 and 2006, the number of adults taking psychiatric medications increased by 73 percent, and the number of children taking such medications increased by 50 percent, according to a study recently published in the journal Health Affairs. The researchers, who examined data from several public health surveys by federal agencies, attribute this increase in part to expanded insurance coverage and to primary care physicians’ increased familiarity with such medications. The study, which found that the use of psychiatric medications among older adults doubled in the same 10-year period, also found that care for members of this particular population who needed help dressing, eating or bathing fell during the same time period.
Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/149004.php
An award-winning Web site to help adults find companionship and an “online community” where young adults, ages 18-25, can log on for mutual support may help counteract the isolation and loneliness that often accompany mental health conditions. TrueAcceptance.com (http://www.trueacceptance.com), which won a 2009 Lilly Reintegration Award, has been revamped to accommodate member requests, its creators recently announced. And NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) recently launched StrengthofUs.org (http://www.strengthofus.org), which offers a variety of resources for young adults.
Sources: http://www.prlog.org/10605354-dating-site-for-adults-with-mental-illness-provides-greater-social-opportunities.html
http://www.prlog.org/10605354-dating-site-for-adults-with-mental-illness-provides-greater-social-opportunities.html
Nominations are due by April 30 for Mental Health America’s (MHA) Clifford W. Beers Award, presented annually to a consumer of mental health and/or substance abuse services who best reflects the example Beers set in his efforts to improve conditions for, and attitudes toward, people with mental illnesses. For more information and a nomination form for this and other MHA awards, see the source below:
Source: http://www.nmha.org/go/conference2010/awards/
The National Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Center (NCSTAC) has published a new technical assistance manual, “A Guide to Funding and Financial Management.” The guide is available at the following link: http://www.ncstac.org/NCSTAC-A_Guide_to_Funding_and_Financial_Management.pdf
Source: Consumer Affairs E-News, April 8, 2010
There is renewed interest in psychedelic drugs as potential treatments for depression and other emotional disorders as well as substance use disorders, The New York Times notes. For example, in 2008, a Johns Hopkins researcher reported on a small double-blind study he had done, which found that the individuals who were given psilocybin – a hallucinogen found in some mushrooms – noted significantly greater improvement in their feelings and behavior than the control group members did. Similar studies, with similar results, have followed. Besides Johns Hopkins, the University of Arizona, Harvard, New York University, and the University of California at Los Angeles are among the institutions doing such research, which has been supported by such nonprofit organizations as the Heffter Research Institute and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). “. . . [W]e’re showing that these drugs can provide benefits that current treatments can’t,” the MAPS executive director told The New York Times.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/science/12psychedelics.html
The Boston University (BU) Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation has conducted a systematic review of the research on supported education over the past 20 years and found preliminary evidence suggesting that supported education can make a difference in helping individuals with psychiatric disabilities reach their educational goals. Because its review of the literature found a lack of rigorous evidence indicating that supported education results in more individuals with psychiatric disabilities earning advanced degrees or certificates, or that it leads to higher employment rates, the Supported Education Study Group at the BU Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation has called for additional research on the effectiveness of supported education models. Research syntheses and fact sheets are available at the following link to Boston University’s Disability Research Right to Know Web site: http://drrk.bu.edu/research-syntheses/psychiatric-disabilities/supported-education
Sources: http://drrk.bu.edu
http://drrk.bu.edu/data/information-products/psychiatric-disabilities/supported-education/se-summary-one-page.doc
The National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy (NARPA) will hold its annual conference September 8-11, 2010, at the Hilton Atlanta. The theme of the conference is “Choice, Not Force.” More information is available at the Source below:
http://www.narpa.org/
The Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal (PRJ) is seeking article and brief report submissions focused on the rehabilitation and recovery of people with serious mental illnesses. Submissions may include, but are not limited to, qualitative and quantitative research studies on innovative program models and the topics of employment, education, housing, health promotion, peer support, and system change efforts. For detailed information, visit http://www.bu.edu/cpr/prj/callforpapers.pdf or the Journal Web site at http://www.bu.edu/cpr/prj/
Source: The eCast, Mental Health & Rehabilitation Newsletter, March 2010, from the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has announced 10 new priority areas: prevention of substance abuse and mental illness; trauma and justice; military families; health insurance reform implementation; housing and homelessness; jobs and the economy; health information technology for behavioral health providers; behavioral health workforce, in primary and specialty care settings; data and outcomes – demonstrating results; and public awareness and support. SAMHSA administrator Pamela Hyde said that SAMHSA will release a document with more details and will solicit input from the field concerning these areas, Mental Health Weekly reports.
Sources: http://www.samhsa.gov/about/strategy.aspx
Mental Health Weekly, March 22, 2010
The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is assembling a list of warm lines around the country. If you operate or know of a warm line, please share this information with us by e-mailing info@mhselfhelp.org or calling 800-553-4539.
topThe Clearinghouse welcomes all programs in which consumers play a significant role in leadership and operation to apply for inclusion in its Directory of Consumer-Driven Services. The directory, accessible at www.cdsdirectory.org, is searchable by location, type of organization, and targeted clientele and serves as a free resource for consumers, program administrators and researchers.
Apply online, via fax at 215-636-6312, or by phone at 800-553-4KEY (4539). To receive an application by mail, write to info@cdsdirectory.org or NMHCSH Clearinghouse, 1211 Chestnut Street, Suite 1100, Philadelphia, PA 19107
The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors is offering a free DVD, “Paving the Path from Hospital to Community.” Filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the video is a dialogue among peers working for an independent peer support program and a Community Treatment team and a psychiatrist who talk about the role of peer mentors in helping individuals adjust to the community after long hospitalizations. For a copy of the DVD, send an e-mail to Melanie Sutherland at Melanie.sutherland@nasmhpd.org
Source: http://www.nasmhpd.org/consumernetworking.cfm
Courtesy of Gayle Bluebird
The Altered States Web Site (http://www.alteredstatesofthearts.com) has been updated to include new showcases. Altered States of the Arts welcomes new art, writings and poetry to be included in future showcases. Please direct inquiries to ed@alteredstatesofthearts.com or gaylebluebird@aol.com.
Source: http://www.alteredstatesofthearts.com
The Key Update is the free monthly e-newsletter of the National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse Volume 6 No.7, April 2010, http://www.mhselfhelp.org
To subscribe send a message to: subscribe thekey. To unsubscribe send a message to: unsubscribe thekey. For content, reproduction or publication information, contact Susan Rogers at 215-751-1800 x288 or srogers@mhasp.org.
