Monday, January 12, 2004

Knowing a person has schizophrenia affects police officers’ attitudes
Item in Mental Health Notes from CMHA/Ontario - "Police officers responded to hypothetical scenarios differently when they were told some people in the scenarios had schizophrenia: they saw people with schizophrenia as more dangerous and less responsible for their situation, as well as more worthy of help, according to a University of Chicago study. ... The results showed that when officers are told that a person has a mental illness, their attitudes and decisions are affected. The group who were told the person had schizophrenia had a higher perception of dangerousness than the group who had no label applied. They also felt more pity, were more willing to help, and believed the person with schizophrenia to be less responsible for their situation. The officers were more likely to perceive the person in need of assistance as credible if that person had schizophrenia, but were less likely to consider victims credible if they had schizophrenia."  
  

Human services rally planned (Kentucky)
Courier-Journal story - "Hundreds of disabled and elderly people and their advocates plan to go to Frankfort on Wednesday to support better funding for human services, and they'll hear from Gov. Ernie Fletcher. Organizers hope to focus attention on what they say are the urgent needs of some 874,000 Kentuckians who are frail, elderly or have disabilities including mental illness and mental retardation. They are calling themselves the 874K Coalition..."  
  

Shelters bulging at the seams (Maine)
Story at Maine Today on demand for space at Maine's homeless shelters - "...Mary Ann Gleason, president of the Maine Coalition to End Homelessness and executive director of the York County Initiative to End Homelessness, said the demand for shelter beds across the state and the nation has skyrocketed. The rise in demand comes in part because federal programs that built low-income housing in the mid-1980s were eliminated and because federal rent subsidies have failed to keep up with growing demand."  
  

Local mental health board offices to be relocated (Ohio)
Marietta Times story - " The administrative offices of the Washington County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Board will move next week, in the latest of budgets cuts made by the board. In the last year, staff positions and hours have been reduced, and patients have been turned away from the mental health clinic because of growing expenses and a tightening budget..."  
  

Mental health facility closure leaves gap (Florida)
NBC2 (Lee County) story - "It has helped people through hard times for 13 years, but now a community mental health facility is going through its own hard times. The non-profit group had no choice, but to close Genesis III’s doors December 31st, after losing nearly half of its income over the past two years. They say the money that once was used to defray costs for people who needed mental health services just wasn't available anymore."