Thursday, October 10, 2002

Catholic Charities To End Care For Hundreds (New York)
Newsday story - "In a move that could leave Suffolk County scrambling to serve nearly 500 indigent, mentally ill people, Catholic Charities plans to terminate a $1.1 million program that manages their home care. The nonprofit organization, which has worked with the county for more than a decade to operate the program, told officials last week that the services will end in December, saying mounting expenses were making it impossible to continue."  
  

AA's doors open to dually diagnosed
Story in The Trentonian (New Jersey) - "For the founders of AA the malady was viewed as a spiritual one which was only overcome by surrender to a "Higher Power" and rigorous adherence to a Twelve Step program. While the principles of AA's 12 steps remain, the progress of research in mental health, particularly in brain chemistry, has led to new insights not only into chemical dependency and addiction but also into the realization that alcoholism and addiction are only different faces of a far greater spectrum of mental illness."  
  

Psychiatric services demand soaring (Ohio)
Dayton Daily News story - "The number of psychiatric patients in the Dayton area is climbing by roughly one-third each year. That soaring demand and other findings from a study released this week are likely to trigger fundamental changes in the Miami Valley's approach to health care for mental and addictive disorders, say members of a new task force."  
  

Northern Ireland charities form mental health group
BBC story - "Four of Northern Ireland's main mental health organisations have merged to become the province's largest charity."