Monday, May 05, 2003

May 6 is Childhood Depression Awareness Day
NMHA News Release - "On May 6, Childhood Depression Awareness Day, thousands of children, families, physicians and advocates will be working in communities around the nation to get the word out that childhood depression is real, common and treatable."  
  

Ailment of Nurse Nightingale Is Diagnosed
New York Times article on comments by Kathy Wisner, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, at a conference at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, that Florence Nightingale may have suffered from bipolar disorder. [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Strategies for Developing Treatment Programs for People with Co-Occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Disorders
Report, in Adobe Acrobat format, that is "a joint effort by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the State Associations of Addiction Services, and the National Council for Community Behavioural Healthcare, the report stems from a national meeting of dual-diagnosis specialists, brought together to find out how they developed and managed highly successful programs."  
  

Family Treatment Court graduates look forward to new life (New York)
Valley News story on the Oswego County Family Treatment Court, a program that provides job training, mental health treatment, education, and literacy services in addition to substance-abuse treatment.  
  

Recovery center will host open house Friday (Wisconsin)
La Crosse Tribune story on Partners in Empowerment, a drop-in and resource center in downtown La Crosse for individuals with mental health issues. The center is "run by peers for people with a mental health diagnosis. It offers a variety of services, including peer-to-peer mentoring, a support group, arts and crafts materials and classes, literacy programs, movies and a safe, nonjudgmental environment......The center also has five computers connected to the Internet, plus a library of materials on mental health as well as fiction and nonfiction books."  
  

Mental health care gets the ax: States’ budget woes force deep spending cuts
MSNBC story - "With Louisiana running low on cash, lawmakers are considering cuts at state centers housing more than 1,600 mentally retarded and disabled people. Louisiana is not alone — thirty states have already slashed mental health funding this year and more cuts are on the way. Researchers worry the reduction in spending could lead to a rise in everything from the number of homeless on the streets to rising crime rates."  
  

Mother fights mental health system (North Carolina)
Story in the Raleigh News-Observer on Diane Bauknight - "Her efforts to get her local mental health authority -- an arm of the state agency charged with caring for the mentally ill -- to provide better care for her daughter has made Bauknight something of a hero to families of the mentally ill in the mountains."