Key Update, April 2017
Volume 13, Number 10
Report Finds Adults with Disabilities Remain Outside the Economic Mainstream
On April 25, the National Disability Institute (NDI) released a new report called Banking Status and Financial Behaviors of Adults with Disabilities: Findings from the 2015 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households. “The report finds that, in the 27 years since the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law, ensuring all individuals with disabilities the opportunity to achieve ‘economic self-sufficiency,’ this population still faces numerous financial hurdles and roadblocks to financial inclusion,” the NDI writes. “Based on data mined from the 2015 FDIC National Survey on Unbanked and Underbanked Households, this insightful report highlights the financial choices and banking habits of adults with disabilities.” For more information and to download the report, click here.
Advocates: You Can Help Counties Cut Numbers of People with Mental Health Conditions in Jails
Research estimates that approximately 15 percent of men and nearly one-third of women in jails have a serious mental health condition, according to the Vera Institute. The Stepping Up Resources Toolkit is designed to help counties reduce those numbers. “Reducing the Number of People with Mental Illnesses in Jail: Six Questions County Leaders Need to Ask serves as a blueprint for counties to assess their existing efforts to reduce the number of people with mental health conditions in jail by considering specific questions and progress-tracking measures. The report also informs the Stepping Up technical assistance that will be offered moving forward.” For more information and to download the toolkit, click here. For the Vera Institute’s Incarceration’s Front Door: The Misuse of Jails in America, click here. For the 2017 Stepping Up technical assistance opportunities, click here.
May 4 is the Deadline for Early Bird Registration for Alternatives 2017! May 19 Is the Caucus Deadline!
The deadline for Early Bird registration ($375) for Alternatives 2017, to be held in Boston August 18-21, has been extended to May 4! (The rate rises to $425 after that date.) In addition, the deadline to apply to host a caucus is May 19. The theme of the conference, organized by the National Empowerment Center, is Building Healing Communities Together. For more information and to register, click here.
Community Psychiatry Forum on Ethical Issues in Community Mental Health
A telephone forum on Ethical Issues in Community Mental Health will be held on May 4 at 11:45 a.m. ET. The forum is sponsored by the Center for Public Service Psychiatry of the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, in collaboration with the American Association of Community Psychiatrists. The discussion will include the past, present, and future of ethical challenges in the mental health field; how diagnostic eligibility criteria may create ethical dilemmas; how pharmaceutical influences may affect clinical practices and create conflicts of interest; and how psychiatrists’ experience and training can help them navigate these challenges. To join the meeting, click here, enter the meeting password (cpsp) and click “Join Now.” Or join by phone: 415.655.0002, Access Code/Meeting No. 732 767 020.
May 5 Is New Deadline for Abstract Proposals for National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media
The 11th Annual National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media, to be held August 15-17, 2017, at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, has extended the deadline for abstracts to May 5. The National Public Health Information Coalition invites abstracts for both oral and poster presentations in addition to panel sessions focusing on the areas of health communication, social marketing, media, partnerships, public health policy communication, and other topic areas that relate to the multi-disciplinary nature of this conference. Abstracts will be considered for oral, poster, or panel presentations. For more information, click here.
Registration Is Open for TU Collaborative Summer Institute!
Registration is open for the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion’s Summer Institute, to be held July 24-25 on the Temple University campus in Philadelphia. The conference will cover “state-of-the-science research findings about community inclusion of individuals with mental illnesses.” The sessions will focus on “the theoretical and research justifications for community inclusion programming, the expanding roles of peer specialists in promoting community inclusion, the effectiveness of leisure and recreation activities, the impact of educational and employment initiatives of community connections, strategies for confronting the environmental barriers to community inclusion, the role of mainstream neighborhood organizations in developing welcoming communities—and more.” For more information and to register, click here.
Deadline for Voice Award Nominations Has Been Extended to May 12
The deadline to nominate an individual or a film for a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Voice Award has been extended until May 12. “The Voice Awards program honors consumer/peer/family leaders and television and film professionals who educate the public about behavioral health.” For more information and to nominate someone, click here.
Free SAMHSA Webinar: Get to Know Your National Technical Assistance Center
On May 16 at 2 p.m. ET, SAMHSA will host a free 90-minute webinar entitled Get to Know Your SAMHSA-Supported National Consumer & Consumer-Supporter Technical Assistance Centers (NTACs). “What are they? What do they do? What can they do for you?...Discover your regional NTAC and meet the peer leaders; learn of the activities, accomplishments and initiatives; and find out how your NTAC can support you and your organization to strengthen peer-provided mental health services.” To find the National Technical Assistance Center assigned to your state/territory and to learn each center’s national focus, click here. To register, click here.
Study Finds Mental Health Conditions Are More Common Than Expected
Eight-three percent of the nearly one thousand participants in a recent study experienced some kind of mental health condition between childhood and middle age, researchers have reported. Just 171 of 988 participants, all New Zealanders, “experienced no anxiety disorders, depression or other mental ailments from late childhood to middle age,” according to the study, published in the February 2017 Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Of the rest, half experienced a “transient” mental health condition. The remaining 408 individuals (41 percent) had “more severe conditions, such as bipolar and psychotic disorders,” according to the researchers. The study indicated that “mentally healthy participants tended to possess advantageous personality traits starting in childhood…These participants rarely expressed strongly negative emotions, had lots of friends and displayed superior self-control.” For more information, click here.
iNAPS Spring 2017 Newsletter Is Out! Deadline for Conference Proposals Extended to June 16!
The latest edition of the interNational Association of Peer Supporters (iNAPS) newsletter is out! Among the topics covered is the 2017 iNAPS conference, to be held October 16-18 at the Sheraton Crescent Hotel in Phoenix, AZ. The conference theme is Recovering and Sustaining Peer Support: Creating a Path for Our Future. The deadline for conference proposals has been extended to June 16! For the newsletter, which includes links to information about the conference and the call for proposals, as well as articles by the new iNAPS executive consultant, Beth Filson, along with Lori Ashcraft, Andy Bernstein, Howard Diamond, Terrence Smithers, and Jenn Cusik, click here. (Editor's Note: iNAPS recently extended the deadline for conference proposals to June 16! When the Key Update was published, on April 28, the deadline was May 26. Sorry for any confusion!)
Exit Right Video, About Reentry from Federal Prison, Is Offered by US Department of Justice
Exit Right, a video about reentry to the community after incarceration, was developed by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys in concert with the Bureau of Prisons, the Deputy Attorney General’s office, and Second Chance Fellow Daryl Atkinson. The video was created for those who are incarcerated in federal prison and encourages people to seek assistance, treatment, education, and training while incarcerated. For the video, click here.
Accessing Behavioral Health Services: Can Peer Support Help? Free Webinar on May 24
On May 24 at 3 p.m. ET, Mathematica will host a free 90-minute webinar on Accessing Behavioral Health Services: Can Peer Support Help? “The webinar will discuss the findings from an evaluation of Health Care Innovation Awards (HCIA)-funded projects that focused on mental health services. Representatives from two of the projects will offer their perspectives on the peer role in their innovative service models and address the challenges, successful strategies, and benefits associated with incorporating peers into the workforce. The two HCIA sites represented in our discussion are the Center for Health Care Services (CHCS)—which provides integrated services to people who are homeless in San Antonio, Texas—and the Fund for Public Health in New York (FPHNY), which implemented crisis respite services that led to lower Medicaid costs and fewer hospitalizations.” For more information and to register, click here.
Thanks, Jacek Haciak
SAMHSA Sponsors Webinar Series on Trauma-informed Innovations in Crisis Services
SAMHSA’s monthly webinar series, sponsored by its National Center for Trauma-informed Care and Alternatives to Seclusion and Restraint, “will highlight the innovative work of crisis service providers employing a trauma-informed approach.” The series will take place through September 2017 on the fourth Monday of each month, 3 p.m.–4 p.m. ET. The first webinar, on April 24, covered Safety: Common Ground. Upcoming webinars include Empowerment, Voice, and Choice: Pierce County Recovery Response Center (May 22); Peer Support: Freise Hope House (June 26); and Collaboration and Mutuality: Harbel Community Organization (July 24). Two more webinars are planned. For more information and to register, click here.
Doors to Wellbeing to Host Free Webinar on the DBSA Leadership Center
On May 30, at 2 p.m. ET, Doors to Wellbeing will host the latest webinar in its free monthly webinar series. The topic of the one-hour webinar will be DBSA (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance] Leadership Center: Online Resource for Peer Workforce and Organizations. The presenters will be the DBSA director of programs, Mary Dean, and the DBSA vice president of chapters and programs, Ingrid Deetz. To register, click here.
SAMHSA eBooks Are Available for Free Download
Eight eBooks are now available from SAMHSA’s Knowledge Application Program (KAP). “These digital resources can be downloaded at no cost to any device, including a Kindle, Nook, or tablet,” SAMHSA writes. The books cover topics including Managing Chronic Pain in Adults with or in Recovery from Substance Use Disorders; Spice, Bath Salts, and Behavioral Health; Gambling Problems: An Introduction for Behavioral Health Services Providers; Take Action Against Hepatitis C: For People in Recovery From Mental Illness or Addiction; People Recover; and three versions of Substance Abuse Treatment: Addressing the Specific Needs of Women, for different audiences. To download the eBooks, click here.
Star-studded Video Series Combats the Prejudice Associated with Mental Health Conditions and Learning Disabilities
For Mental Health Month (May), actors Emma Stone and Rachel Bloom, producer Brian Grazer, and other celebrities, including Lena Dunham, Jesse Eisenberg, Michael Phelps and Jay Leno, will share brief personal videos to raise mental health awareness, in the #MyYoungerSelf campaign sponsored by the Child Mind Institute. The videos, premiered daily over the course of the month, will include nearly three dozen actors, athletes, writers, politicians and fashion designers who will share their accounts of growing up with mental health issues or learning disorders, as well as childhood photos, and offer advice and hope to children dealing with similar issues across the globe. In a trailer for the campaign, one unidentified voice, accompanied by a childhood picture, says, “What I would tell my younger self is, you didn’t do anything wrong.” “You’re not the only one who feels this way—not by a longshot,” says another. And a third says, “I have depression but, look—talking to you, I feel better already.” For a different video every day in May, click here. For more information and the preview, click here. Editor’s Note: It is important to exercise caution in seeking treatment of children for mental health conditions. For example, studies have shown that children are often given powerful psychotropic drugs with unintended consequences. For Still in a Crib, Yet Being Given Antipsychotics, click here.
Disclaimer: The Clearinghouse does not necessarily endorse the opinions and opportunities included in the Key Update.
National Technical Assistance and Networking Teleconferences Are on Hiatus for Now
The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is no longer operating under a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Although we are keeping our doors open—including publishing our monthly e-newsletter, the Key Update—we are suspending our monthly national technical assistance and networking calls for the time being. We will keep you posted.
About The Key Update
The Key Update is the free monthly e-newsletter of the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse. Volume 13, No. 10, April 2017, http://www.mhselfhelp.org. To subscribe, please send a message to: subscribe thekey. To unsubscribe, please send a message to: unsubscribe thekey. For content, reproduction or publication information, please contact Susan Rogers at srogers@mhasp.org or 800.553.4539 x3812, 267.507.3812 (direct). Follow Susan on Twitter at @SusanRogersMH