Llano Estacado Alliance for Families (LEAF) Provides Workshop for Employers
"I Am Not My Mental Illness": Strategies for a Productive Workplace
"Have you ever wondered what to do for an employee who is obviously having problems - perhaps coming in late or taking a lot of sick leave - but has said nothing about a disability or an accommodation? What are some ways to provide "safe harbors or islands of safety" for individuals who have had, or are prone to having, panic attacks? What does the Americans with Disabilities Act say in regards to accommodations for workers with mental illness?
Rather than banishing the topic to the back burner, we believe that openness about mental illness will help employers recognize that supporting the mentally ill and providing reasonable accommodation is good for business. Recognizing symptoms early can reduce the cost that mental disorders - depression, anxiety and panic disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder - can have on employee morale and your company's productivity. Helping your workers to seek and obtain help will enhance job retention, increase employee loyalty and avoid the high cost of turnover."
The Llano Estacado Alliance for Families, in conjunction with WorkForce Solutions, provided a free seminar for employers, Thursday, June 5th, 2008, at the Plainview Country Club, 2902 West 4th Street, in Plainview, Texas. The purpose of this seminar was to develop successful strategies for maintaining a productive workplace and featured a panel of experts and partners with experience in the area of employment and training of the mentally disabled.
Key speakers included:
Ron Trusler, Chief Executive Officer, Central Plains Mental Health/Mental Retardation Director of Llano Estacado Alliance for Families (LEAF)
Martin Aguirre, Chief Executive Officer, WorkForce Solutions South Plains
Dr. Perry Collins, Wayland Baptist University
For more information about this seminar, please contact: Ron Trusler, LEAF at (806) 293-2636 or ron@clplains.org For photos of this event, please click here. Other LEAF News: City, county agree on patient transports
By TOMMY YOUNG
Published: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 2:19 PM CDT
Plainview Daily Herald Staff Writer
Hale County Commissioners and the Plainview City Council recently agreed to partner up when it comes to transporting residents in need of emergency mental health commitment transportation. Currently when residents in either the city or county need to be transported to mental health facilities, usually in Big Spring, the city or county uses off-duty peace officers to transport the patients. Transporting patients forced whichever entity to pay the officers overtime for the 7-8 hour round trip. "These are usually officers who have just come off a 10-12-hour shift and we are asking them to go right back to work and not get nearly enough rest," Plainview City Manager Greg Ingham said recently in a council work session. In the terms of the agreement, the county would be responsible for finding a certified peace office who is no longer working full-time to be on call and to operate the transport service. "This would probably be a retired officer or maybe one of the sheriff's reserve deputies," said County Judge Dwain Dodson. The state requires at least one certified officer to be in car during transports. Ingham said, "We identified a challenge and found an opportunity by working together to make it better for everyone." Dodson added, "I think even the patients will benefit from this." Implying that officers who are not coming off duty or having to work overtime will be more relaxed and not as stressed having to work the extra hours, he said, "They (patients) will be more at ease as the officers are more at ease." The Llano Estacado Alliance for Families (LEAF) gave a $10,000 grant to the program. Dodson indicated that those funds would "more than likely" be directed toward the purchase of a vehicle for the program. The county will administer the program and will bill the city when it provides the service within the city. Mayor John C. Anderson feels good about the mutual effort and benefit for both the city and county. "This is just another example of what we can accomplish by working together. It is an example of what we can do when no one cares who gets the credit," Anderson said. Ron Trusler, president of LEAF and a member of the Plainview City Council, played a major role in putting the agreement together. He presented a check to Anderson and Dodson in a ceremony at City Hall on Monday afternoon. "This grant money came from a grant LEAF received from the Texas Health Institute," said Trusler, explaining that it was only one of six grants awarded by THI. (Contact Tommy Young at 806-296-1356 or tyoung@plainviewdailyherald.com) Representation from the Community Collaborative on the TWG Workgroups
Please send Susan Griffin the names and contact information for representatives from your collaborative who wish to participate in the following TWG Workgroups and Action Committees: Child and Adolescent Workgroup
- School-based Mental Health Action Committee
- Early Intervention Action Committee
- Evidence-based Clearinghouse Action Committee
Adult Workgroup
- Veterans Action Committee
- Aging Action Committee
- Employment
Data Workgroup
Housing Workgroup
Workforce Workgroup
Susan Griffin will then provide this contact information to the appropriate workgroup executive sponsors.
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EVENTS
The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health invites you to register today for an important Texas conference this fall:
Integrated Health: Connecting Body and Mind
Robert Lee Sutherland Seminar XV
September 8 - 9, 2008
Austin, Texas
State and national experts will meet with stakeholders from across Texas for two days to explore ways to improve health care for Texans by integrating physical and behavioral health care. The conference is open to Texans residents only. Register online and learn more about the conference and integrated health care at www.hogg.utexas.edu/programs_RLS15.html
Announcing:
The Prisoner's Family Conference
& Call for Presentations
The 1st Annual Prisoner's Family Conference will increase awareness of the devastating effects incarceration of a loved one creates for families and lead to solutions for integrating and embracing The Prisoner's Family as valuable and valued members of mainstream communities across our country.
For more information, go to www.solutionsforelpaso.org and click on The Prisoner's Family Conference, February 26 and 27, 2009 in El Paso, Texas.
Prevent Child Abuse Texas - 23rd Annual Conference on the Prevention of Child Abuse, for February 23-24, 2009 at the Omni Hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Help Needed:
Conducting a breakout workshop
Publicizing the Conference to your mailing lists
Becoming a member of Prevent Child Abuse Texas
Keynote Speakers at the Conference will be
· Cordelia Anderson, Prevention Consultation & Training, Sensibilities, Inc., Chair, National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Exploitation - "From Dr. Seuss to Pornography: A New Frontier for Primary Prevention" - Not Bold
· Jim Hmurovich, President, Prevent Child Abuse America - "Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect: Where We Are, Where We Need to Go"- Not Bold
For more information please visit www.PreventChildAbuseTexas.org
2008 Annual Texas Behavioral Health Institute
August 24-29, 2008
Hilton Anatole
Dallas, Texas
Knowledge in the Neighborhood:
Partnerships to Healthy Communities
This year's 2008 Institute seeks to increase mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment knowledge and skills to support healthy communities.
Link to the conference website: http://www.texinstitute.com/
Conference Attendee Brochure
NIJ Conference, July 21-23, 2008, in Arlington, VA.
The Office of Justice Programs' National Institute of Justice (NIJ) will hold its annual conference bringing together criminal justice scholars, policymakers, and practitioners at the local, state, and federal levels to share the latest research findings and technology.
This year's conference includes a panel on youth gang research and best practices. Other panel topics include commercial sexual exploitation of children, school-based prevention programs, and bullying.
Conference registration is free, and early registration is recommended.
Resources:
To obtain additional information about the 2008 NIJ Conference and register online, visit http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/redirects/welcome-resources.htm
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| 2008 National TA Conference Calls
ALL CALLS ARE HELD FROM 1:00-2:30PM ET
There are no registration fees for these calls. The only cost that you will incur will be the long-distance phone charges.
Previous Calls : 2007 - 2006 - 2005
ONLINE REGISTRATION
ONLINE EVALUATION
Data Matters: Electronic Newsletter
No July or August calls (Training Institutes & summer vacations)
September 18 Building Capacity for School Mental Health
This call will feature efforts underway in states and communities to build the capacity of schools, communities and states to initiate and sustain quality system change. We will also discuss the economic benefits of integration of mental health and education.
October 16 Addressing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Child Serving Systems
This session will focus on the persistent challenge of racial and ethnic disparities in child serving systems and will highlight strategies from within these systems to correct these problems, their outcomes to date, and suggestions for next steps.
November 20 Child and Family Services Reviews - An Opportunity to Work Together to Meet the Mental Health Needs of Children and Families
The Child and Family Services Review (CFSR), conducted by the federal Children's Bureau in partnership with State governments, is a comprehensive monitoring and system reform effort designed to assist states in improving outcomes for children and families who receive services from public child welfare systems. The CFSR identifies strengths and needs within state programs related to the safety, permanency, and well being of children. The CFSRs have identified an urgent need for mental health reform, and they also provide an opportunity for multiple child-serving agencies and families to work together on such reform. During this conference call, leaders from the Children's Bureau will present a federal perspective, describing what they are looking for and what they have found in states. Leaders will describe concrete strategies for working together to address the mental health needs of children and families in the child welfare system. Researchers will describe the implications of national service delivery and management trends. Presenters will describe how a shared commitment to system of care values lead to improved outcomes for children and families.
December 18 Partnership Based Leadership: Anchoring Challenges in the Common Vision
This session will offer participants an opportunity to reflect on the process of building and sustaining strategic family-professional relationships, collaboratively identifying potential challenges and responding to them when they occur, and making necessary adjustments to ensure that challenges do not interfere with the relationship or the common vision. |
Grant Opportunities
Request for Proposals: Evaluation of Seclusion and Restraint Reduction Project
The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health has issued a request for proposals (RFP) to
evaluate a statewide project aimed at reducing seclusion and restraint practices in Texas agencies, including juvenile justice facilities, psychiatric hospitals, residential treatment centers and schools.
Details about the RFP requirements and process are available online at www.hogg.utexas.edu/funding_rfp_srproject.html |
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Tools and Resources
Toolkits and Resources to Help Military Families and Their Children
1. The New York Office of Mental Health, through a partnership with Sesame Street Workshop and Wal*Mart, has developed a bilingual multi-media outreach kit for parents and caregivers of children who are coping with the stressful process of military deployment.
These free kits are available through the following web site: www.militaryonesource.com
2. The DOD Special Needs Tool Kit is designed to help military families and others with special needs children navigate the maze of medical and special education services, community support and benefits and entitlements. The Toolkit can be found at:
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News Articles and Research Reports
Austin-American Statesman
June 25, 2008
University of Texas officials announced today that Dr. Octavio N. Martinez Jr., a professor and clinical psychiatrist with experience in finance and banking, has been named executive director for the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health.
House Votes to Expand Civil Rights for Disabled
New York Times
June 26, 2008
WASHINGTON - The House passed a major civil rights bill on Wednesday that would expand protections for people with disabilities and overturn several Supreme Court decisions issued in the last decade. The bill, approved 402 to 17, would make it easier for workers to prove discrimination. It would explicitly relax some stringent standards set by the court and says that disability is to be "construed broadly," to cover more physical and mental impairments.
House sets standards for juvenile boot camps
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
June 25, 2008
WASHINGTON -- The House approved national standards on juvenile boot camps and other public and private programs intended to help troubled youth. Lawmakers acted Wednesday following reports of abuse and deaths involving young people with behavioral, emotional or mental problems
NAMI Applauds Legislation Based on GAO Report on Transition-Age Obstacles
National Alliance on Mental Illness
June 26, 2008
Under the best of circumstances, the transition years from adolescence to adulthood are rarely easy. They are infinitely harder for young adults, ages 18 to 26, who live with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
LINK
Scientifically Valid Prevention Programs Cut Rates Of Juvenile Delinquency
Science Daily
June 24, 2008
Seventh-grade students in U.S. communities that have set up scientifically validated programs to reduce juvenile delinquency have a significantly smaller chance of engaging such behavior than do children in towns that have not adopted such programs.
The express route to mental illness
Globe and Mail
June 24, 2008
Research suggests that more than half of people with a mental illness also suffer from a substance dependence. A recent national survey has found strong links between depression and alcohol. The findings suggest it is not how often you drink but how much.
Peer support groups reduce emotional, social isolation in schizophrenia
MedWire News (Acta Psychiatr Scand 2008: 118: 64-72)
June 25, 2008
Schizophrenia patients who participate in a specially tailored peer support group show improvements in their social network and esteem support, and may even report fewer, less distressing negative symptoms compared with non-participating peers, a study has shown.
Psychiatric morbidity common at postnatal assessment
MedWire News (J Affect Dis 2008; 109: 171-176)
June 25, 2008
There is a high prevalence and heteroegeneity of psychiatric morbidity at 6-week postnatal assessment among women who have given birth, Spanish researchers have discovered.
LINK
Rehabilitating TYC
The Texas Observer
June 23, 2008 Problems extend beyond a handful of troubled facilities or a flawed approach to juvenile justice. Mental health advocates blame public officials' failure to recognize the importance of early intervention programs within the mental health system statewide as a key culprit. In Texas, a state ranked 49th in the nation for mental health funding, kids in need often don't get any psychiatric help until they are already deeply entrenched in the criminal justice system. LINK
Substance Use and Mental Illness Across the United States
Health News
June 23, 2008
Substance use and mental health problems have now been pinpointed in individual geographical areas throughout the nation through a major survey conducted between 2004 and 2006. This survey was able to identify variations and patterns in 340 different localities across the United States by studying and analyzing the use of 23 substances.
LINK
Prognosis: Diabetes and Depression Track Each Other
New York Times
June 24, 2008
Depressed people may have an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, and those with diabetes may be at increased risk for depression.
LINK
Special-education students more likely to face disciplinary action
Fort Worth Star Telegram
June 22, 2008
Behavior problems for Germecia Thomas began in first grade. She knocked pictures off a classroom wall, broke a clock, locked herself in a bathroom and ran away from her teachers at Souder Elementary School in Everman. Germecia is one of hundreds of Texas students who have been repeatedly remanded to school discipline programs, even though their behavior may be linked to psychological problems or other conditions.
Facing demons in 'Virtual Iraq'
Baltimore Sun
June 22, 2008
A 3-D simulator in which soldiers see, hear and smell the rigors of combat may help ease war-induced stress. Known as "Virtual Iraq," the treatment may help many soldiers who don't find relief from medication or traditional psychotherapy.
Premier Web Site on Child and Teen Mental Health Now in Spanish
Hispanic Business
June 19, 2008
New York (PR Newswire) - Hispanic families now have a trusted online source in child and adolescent mental health accessible in Spanish at AboutOurKids.org. The NYU Child Study Center (CSC) has translated its Web site into Spanish to help this underserved community find important information about children's psychiatric and learning disorders.
Book Review: Handbook of PTSD: Science and Practice
The New England Journal of Medicine
June 19, 2008
The publication of Handbook of PTSD represents an extraordinary effort to consolidate the immense, complex, and at times contradictory body of knowledge on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a single textbook. The editors and more than 50 other contributors successfully deliver a book that meets the goal stated in the preface: to provide a sophisticated introduction to the trauma field for graduate students, interns, fellows, scientists, and practitioners.
LINK Trust Leads to Better Health
Psych Central
June 17, 2008 A unique study discovers community involvement and a sense of belonging aids physical and mental health.
Maintaining mental health in the workplace has many benefits
The Newark Advocate, OH
June 15, 2008
Untreated depression takes a hefty toll on the American workplace, costing at least $30 billion each year in lost productivity? ... Mental illness short-term disability claims are growing by 10 percent annually and can account for 30 percent or more of the corporate disability experience for the typical employer.
Study sees discrepancies in VA care for men, women
Washington Post
June 14, 2008
Health care for female military veterans lags behind the care offered to male vets at many VA facilities, an internal agency report says:
LINK Extra hours at work could cause anxiety, depression
Philadelphia Inquirer
June 16, 2008 If you work a lot of overtime, especially doing heavy manual labor, you're at increased risk of anxiety and depression.
Depression and anxiety are risk factors for coronary artery disease
MedWire News (J Affect Dis 2008; 109: 177-181)
June 16, 2008
Depression and anxiety are associated with the incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and should be considered risk factors for coronary artery disease, say scientists who also found no such association with schizophrenia.
You've got mail -- from your shrink
Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
June 16, 2008
A growing number of people are turning to the Internet for therapy via instant messaging, e-mail exchanges or videoconferencing.
Homelessness a problem for women veterans
Medill Report
June 13, 2008
She is one of roughly 7,000 homeless female veterans living in the United States today, according to Department of Veterans Affairs statistics--a number that VA officials expects to rise as more women return home from Iraq and Afghanistan, where women are on the front lines as never before in our nation's history.
UT Southwestern investigators test groundbreaking depression research in real-world setting
Eureka! Science News
June 12, 2008
UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatry researchers have taken what they learned from their groundbreaking research on treating depression and are applying it to real-world clinical settings. The Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) study was the largest ever on the treatment of major depressive disorder and is considered a benchmark in the field of depression research.
Annie E. Casey Foundation Releases 2008 KIDS COUNT Data Book
Philanthropy News Digest
June 13, 2008
National trends in child well-being taken together continue to improve only slightly since 2000, with five indicators showing at least modest improvements while more children are living in relative poverty in the United States than in any other economically advanced nation, a new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation finds.
LINK Link to report Updated SAMHSA Directory of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Programs Now Available
SAMHSA News Release
June 12, 2008
A new, updated guide to finding local substance abuse treatment programs is now available from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). National Directory of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Programs 2008 provides information on thousands of alcohol and drug treatment programs located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and five U.S. territories.
Mental health disorders linked to substantial societal-level loss of earnings
MedWire News (Am J Psychiatry 2008; 165: 703-711)
June 13, 2008
Mental health disorders are associated with marked societal-level impairments and reductions in earnings that need to be taken into account when making decisions on the allocation of treatment and research resources, recommend US investigators.
Stress hitting military youngsters hard
San Antonio Express-News
June 10, 2008
A suicide prevention project in San Antonio found that nearly 35 percent of more than 200 children from local military families needed to be treated for mental health conditions, further illustrating how the stresses of military life can affect the entire family. LINK
Mayo Clinic Study Reveals Rural, Unmarried Women at Higher Risk for Depression
Fox Business
June 11, 2008
Mayo Clinic research suggests unmarried women living in rural areas have lower self-rated health status than their married counterparts. LINK
Poor Sleep Linked To Suicidal Behavior Among Children And Adolescents With Depressive Episodes
Science Daily
June 12, 2008
A research abstract that will be presented on June 12 at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS), finds a link between poor sleep and suicidal behavior among children and adolescents with depressive episodes.
LINK Antidepressants Alone: Not For Bipolar Depression
Medical News Today
June 12, 2008 Psychiatrists have cautioned against the use of antidepressants alone in people with bipolar disorders, saying they could worsen a patient's condition by causing a destabilisation in mood.
LINK Guidelines for Clinical Treatment of Depression
Psych Central
June 12, 2008 An innovative method to guide clinical treatment of depression is now being tested in a mental and behavioral health care organization. Researchers believe the new protocols will aid primary care physicians assess and treat depression. LINK
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