Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Recent Reports
SAMHSA releases estimates from the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The report discusses the prevalence of addictions and mental illness in the U.S. and reports on the need for and barriers to addiction treatment, mental healthcare and co-occurring addictions and mental illnesses.
USA Today: "Schizophrenia is Eight Different Diseases, Not One." New research sets the stage for scientists to develop better ways to diagnose and treat schizophrenia. Read more.
Only about 1 in 10 people with a serious mental illness hold full-time jobs. The Bazelon Center’s new report, Getting to Work: Promoting Employment of People with Mental Illness, describes victories that have occurred for states providing supported employment services. The report offers recommendations to help states expand the availability of supported employment services for people with mental illnesses.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Most Churches Do Not Address Congregants’ Mental Health Conditions
Protestant
clergy rarely preach about mental health conditions to their congregations and
only a quarter of congregations have a plan in place to help congregants deal
with mental health challenges, according to a new LifeWay Research survey of a
thousand Protestant pastors. Sixty-six percent of the respondents reported that
they mention mental health once a year or never; 26 percent talk about it
several times a year; 4 percent mention it once a month, and only 3 percent talk
about it several times a month. Although 68 percent of pastors said that their
church maintains a list of local mental health resources for congregants, only
28 percent of families are aware of such resources, the survey found.
Ironically, nearly a quarter of pastors surveyed – 23 percent – said they had
personally experienced a mental health challenge. For the LifeWay report, click
here. For the article about the study, click
here.
Website Offers Information about Free Webinars for Mental Health Professionals
The “Social
Work Career Development” blog “helps social workers (and other mental health
professionals) with their professional development.” “This site provides a
variety of social work career resources such as: roundups of webinars and best
in mental health posts from around the web, self-care, interviews with mental
health professionals on different modalities/practices, key learnings from
trainings, as well as LMSW licensing exam strategies, interviewing tips and
more.” Although not all of the webinars will be of interest to those in the
mental health arena, October 2014 webinar topics include “Providing Financial
Planning, Coaching and Education to People with Disabilities, Part I” (Oct. 1),
“WHAM: Feedback from Graduates, Research, and Billable Funding of Peer Program”
(Oct. 6), “Supporting Homeless LGBTQ Youth Through Better Access to Care,”
(Oct. 8), “Self-Compassion and Psychological Well-Being” (Oct. 9), “Is Bipolar
Disorder an Energy Disorder? Evidence and Novel Treatments” (Oct. 14), and
“Making Connections and Networking for a Coordinated Community Response” (Oct.
29). For information on more than three dozen webinars in October, click
here.
SAMHSA Report on Substance Use and Mental Health Conditions Is Released
According to
a recently released report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,
24.6 million Americans aged 12 or older had used illegal drugs (mostly commonly
marijuana) in the previous month – this is 9.4 percent of this age group. In
addition, the report notes that 34.6 million adults aged 18 or older (14.6
percent of this population) had received mental health treatment or counseling
in the previous 12 months. “Nearly one in five American adults (18.5 percent),
or 43.8 million adults, had a mental illness in 2013,” according to the
report. “Ten million adults (4.2 percent of the adult population) had a
serious mental illness in the past year. Serious mental illness is defined
as mental illness that resulted in serious functional impairment, which
substantially interfered with, or limited, one or more major life activities.”
The report is available by clicking
here.
SAMHSA Offers a “New, Evidence-Based Recovery Tool”
“SAMHSA’s
new, evidence-based recovery tool – Taking
Action: A Mental Health Recovery Self-Help Educational Program –
can help health care officials, providers, and peers promote recovery and
wellness for individuals with mental and/or substance use disorders. Taking Action includes
24 training sessions educating individuals about self-help concepts, mental
health management, and other effective ways of promoting ongoing
recovery. It also helps individuals identify and attain their life and
vocational goals, improve self-esteem, and become full contributing members of
the community.” To obtain a copy of Taking Action, click here.
Upcoming Conferences
National
Conference Focused on Fighting Stigma to Take Place Feb. 18-20, 2015
The 7th International
Together Against Stigma conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency San
Francisco Feb. 18-20, 2015; there will be a pre-conference institute on Feb. 17.
The theme of the conference is “Together Against Stigma: Each Mind Matters.”
The conference is organized in partnership with the California Institute for
Behavioral Health Solutions, the California Mental Health Services Authority,
the World Psychiatric Association Scientific Section on Stigma and Mental
Health, and the County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California.
For more information, click
here.
National
Dialogues on Behavioral Health Conference in New Orleans, Nov. 2-5
A national conference
titled “Opportunities in Behavioral Health Crisis Services: What Is the New
Frontier?” will take place at the Renaissance Arts Hotel in New Orleans Nov.
2-5, 2014. On Nov. 2, there will be a pre-conference workshop entitled “Implementing
Trauma-Informed Approaches across Service Systems.” The conference organizers
write: “What happens when a person experiences a behavioral health crisis?
Unfortunately, inappropriate involvement with law enforcement and
hospitalization is often the result. The question is: What should happen?” The
conference will focus on “issues and models related to services for persons
experiencing a behavioral health crisis.” The conference is co-sponsored by the
National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability
Directors and the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education. For more
information and to register, click here.
Engage
in Social Media at Alternatives 2014, Including a Pre-Conference Workshop on
Twitter!
Be part of
the conversation by sharing your Alternatives 2014 conference experience
on Twitter and Facebook! You can Tweet quotes and highlights during
sessions, and post photos and short videos! Post to Twitter with our
hashtag #AltCon14. (All Tweets are the opinions of individuals and do not
constitute endorsement or recommendation by SAMHSA.) And if you’re new to
social media, you can learn to use Twitter by attending a pre-conference
workshop on “Using Twitter to Learn, Share and Connect: Introductory Hands-On
Orientation,” taught by Leah Harris and Tanya Naranjo! (Thanks, Leah and
Tanya!) The session will take place in the Multicultural Room (Grand Sierra C)
on Wednesday, Oct. 22, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Here is the workshop description:
“Do you want to use Twitter but find it intimidating to get started? What are
hashtags and how are they used? What is ‘live Tweeting’ and how does one do
that? In this hands-on introductory session, you will discover how to use
Twitter to learn, share, and connect. Please plan to bring your smartphone,
tablet, or laptop with the Twitter application downloaded, and an account
created. To sign up with Twitter, click
here.”
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