Monday, January 24, 2005

Relatives of mentally ill support expanding community program (Montana) Story in the Montana Standard - "Scores of people who might otherwise be institutionalized at Montana State Hospital testified before legislators Wednesday in support of expanding a community-based mental health program that has helped them lead more ordinary lives. The Program of Assertive Community Treatment, which began in Billings and Helena in 1999, helps high-risk patients with severe mental illness to live in their own homes while they receive psychiatric care. ... The Helena and Billings programs can currently accept 70 patients, but with the program expanding to Missoula, Kalispell and Great Falls, the state needs additional funding, said Joyce DeCunzo, director of the state's Addictive and Mental Disorders Division. The goal is to reach 350 patients through assertive treatment by 2007, but 80 percent of those slots are for Medicaid patients."  
  

Outpatient Commitment Garners Broad Support Psychiatric News story - "Michigan has joined 24 other states in giving courts, police officers, psychiatrists, mental health professionals, and families with a means of forcing people with mental illness into treatment rather than jail. ... Since the nationwide closing of psychiatric hospitals beginning in the 1970s, states have had little power to mandate mental health care, unless someone is dangerous or convicted of a crime. Family members and advocates for mentally ill individuals in Michigan have pushed for Kevin's Law since 2001. Public awareness that the state's mental health care system is broken helped create a consensus for the bill this year."  
  

Why Are Mental Illness Rates Lower in Some Immigrants?  Psychiatric News story - "Close-knit family and social supports that Mexican Americans bring when they immigrate appear to help them ward off aspects of U.S. culture that raise risks of psychiatric disorders. Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white immigrants both have a lower prevalence of psychiatric disorders than their U.S.-born counterparts, but Mexican Americans born in the United States retain that advantage over non-Hispanic whites born here, according to a study by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). "  
  

Mental health system may see more changes (Texas) Houston Chronicle story - "House Bill 2292 has changed the way mental health services are delivered in Harris County. But it's just the beginning. State Rep. John Davis, R-Houston, has filed a bill that would regionalize state-funded programs for mental health, mental retardation, substance abuse, aging and services for the disabled. Among other things, it would prohibit agencies from both overseeing services and providing them, as the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County now does." See also the related story at the same source, In the shadow of a crisis.  
  

A cry for help from those with mental illnesses (Florida) News-Press story - "Demand overwhelms Lee's only psychiatric treatment facility... Ruth Cooper Center for Behavioral Health in Fort Myers operates the only program for people in urgent need of psychiatric treatment. Its crisis stabilization unit, which can treat 30 adults and 10 children at a time, stays constantly full. The county has been without a psychiatric hospital since 2000, when Charter Glade closed after its parent company ran to financial problems."  
  

Study: Bay Area Counties Rank Low in Mental Health (California) Daily Californian story - "Residents of Alameda and San Francisco counties show the greatest need for mental health services in the state, according to a report released by four UC Berkeley professors last week. Alameda and San Francisco counties ranked lowest in the state, receiving a score of 3 on a 1 to 10 scale devised to test overall well-being. Questions included limitations on activity or work due to emotional problems, sadness, anxiety, binge drinking and perceived need for mental health services..."