Key Update, December 2019, Volume 16, Number 6

December 17, 2019 Susan Rogers

The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is affiliated with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion!

TO CONTACT THE CLEARINGHOUSE: SELFHELPCLEARINGHOUSE@GMAIL.COM

TO CONTACT SUSAN ROGERS: SUSAN.ROGERS.ADVOCACY@GMAIL.COM

TO CONTACT JOSEPH ROGERS: JROGERS08034@GMAIL.COM

A Rare Side Effect of Some Medications Is Little Known, Sometimes with Tragic Consequences

“In rare cases, antidepressants and other psychoactive drugs cause a condition called akathisia, which can drive people to end their lives,” according to a recent article in Elemental, a Medium publication. “Akathisia is often understood as a motor problem that causes tremors and restless legs brought on by new medication, a dosage change, or withdrawal from medication. It often strikes at lightning speed…Without treatment—and even sometimes with it—the symptoms can become chronic…There has not been a definitive study on the prevalence of akathisia, and experts say that rates vary widely—somewhere between 5% and 20%, depending on the trial…There’s also no data or expert consensus on the exact rate of deaths from akathisia complications. Experts say that the lack of scientific data means that prescribers often don’t warn patients about the risk, if they are even aware themselves.” For the article, click here.

Peerpocalypose 2020 Announces Exciting Slate of Keynote Speakers!

The organizers of Peerpocalypse 2020, to be held in Seaside, Oregon, April 20-23, 2020—and which will incorporate elements of the Alternatives conference—have announced the keynote speakers! They are (alphabetically) Donita Diamata, program director, Peerlink National Technical Assistance Center; Daniel B. Fisher, MD, PhD, executive director, National Empowerment Center; Deandre Kenyanjui, coordinator, Multnomah County (Oregon) Office of Consumer Engagement; Chrissy Peirsol of the MindFreedom International Youth Voices for Choices in Mental Health Campaign; and Nadia Richardson, PhD, founder and executive director, No More Martyrs. (The organizers of the Alternatives Conference have decided not to hold an independent conference this year. Instead, the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery (NCMHR), which organized the 2018 and 2019 Alternatives conferences, is collaborating with the Mental Health & Addiction Association of Oregon (MHAAO) to host key elements of Alternatives in MHAAO’s Peerpocalypse conference.) For more information and to register, click here.

Making Peer Support Count: A Campaign to Create a Single Classification for the 2020 Census

The International Association of Peer Supporters (iNAPS) has launched the “One Classification Counts” campaign to urge all peer workers—regardless of job title, population served, or workplace setting—to submit their occupation on the 2020 census under a single standard classification: Peer Support Specialist. Currently, the Department of Labor (DOL) does not recognize peer support work as a unique occupation, iNAPS notes. With hundreds of job titles, peer support ends up classified under a number of different helping professions, many of which do not require (and sometimes prohibit) having and sharing lived experience as a defining feature. A standard DOL occupational classification will allow better data collection and reporting on numbers of peer specialists, workplace settings, and rates of pay. This will lead to greater leverage to advocate for improved working conditions and wages. “Early in 2020, we will post a survey on the iNAPS website for you to indicate your job title (and comments about this effort), which will be used in our outreach efforts. In the meantime, if you belong to a specific organization or group (or know of a group) we should be reaching to help spread the word, please email us at info@inaops.org.” To learn more, click here.

SAMHSA Offers Free Webinar Series: Recovery from Serious Mental Health Conditions and the Practices That Support Recovery

SAMHSA is offering a free webinar series to introduce participants to “many of the evidence-based and promising practices that support recovery.” The webinars are “Key Elements of Recovery and Recovery Oriented Services” (12/18/19, 1 p.m.-2 p.m. ET), Register; “Supported Employment: How to Support Someone with Obtaining and Maintaining Employment” (1/16/20, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. ET), Register; “Supported Education: Supporting Individuals to Begin or Return to Higher Education” (2/6/20 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.ET), Register; “Permanent Supportive Housing: Practices that Support Independent Community Living” (2/26/20 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. ET), Register; “Illness Management and Recovery: Self-Management Program Providing Psychoeducation, Relapse Planning, Coping and Social Skills Training, and Approaches for Medication Management” (3/10/20 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.ET), Register; “Peer Services: Peer Providers Offer Understanding, Respect, Mutual Empowerment, and Support to Others Through Use of Their Personal Experiences” (March 2020 TBA), Register: (Link to Follow); “Supervision of Peer Providers: Effective Supervision of Peers by Non-Peer Supervisors” (April 2020 TBA), Register: (Link to Follow); “Role of Health and Wellness in Recovery: Interventions to Reduce the High Rates of Morbidity and Mortality Among People with Serious Mental Illnesses” (4/23/20, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. ET), Register; “Role of Religion and Spirituality in Recovery: Benefits and Challenges of Religion and Spirituality in Recovery and Strategies for Navigating this Topic” (5/7/20 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. ET) Register; “Recovery in the Hispanic and Latinx Community: What is the Understanding of Recovery in the Hispanic and Latinx Community and How Can We Support It” (5/21/20 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. ET) Register. Questions? Contact Katty Rivera, M.Ed. (908.889.2552) katty@shp.shp.rutgers.edu.

Courtesy of NYAPRS E-News

“Power Statements: A Peer Specialist’s Best Friend” Video Provides Useful Advice

A 2017 video created by Pat Deegan PhD & Associates LLC and narrated by Deegan talks about how “power statements” can “help peers remain ‘peer.’” Power statements are “carefully crafted self-advocacy statements that amplify the voice of our peers to the treatment team. When peer specialists invite peers to create power statements, we know we’re remaining true to what makes our work unique,” Deegan says. “In my opinion,” she notes, “all too commonly, peer specialists get assimilated into working and talking just like traditional mental health clinicians…The danger is that if we drift away from what is unique about being ‘peer,’ our work will become indistinguishable from the work of the clinical staff.” Deegan gives an example of how to avoid this trap, and notes that “peers should not be judging or assessing peers” and “the work of peer specialists should always be guided by the goals of our peers.” To view the short video, click here.

Courtesy of Jacek Haciak

Three New Scholarly Articles About Peer Specialists Are Available for Free Download

Three new scholarly articles about peer specialists are available for free download, courtesy of researchers Dr. Nev Jones and Dr. Jessica Wolf. “Our original goal was to explore issues of workforce mobility and advancement that had previously received little empirical attention—including differences in career development supports and lived experience climate between peer-run and traditional services, as well as perceived barriers to advancement—and [we] hope we have done just that,” Jones writes. “To facilitate access to these articles across the peer community we've created a direct Dropbox link that also includes the brief report-out from the national survey of state certifying entities that Jessica Wolf and I undertook.” For the articles—“National Trends in Peer Specialist Certification,” “Organizational Climate and Support Among Peer Specialists Working in Peer-run, Hybrid and Conventional Mental Health Settings,” and “Investigating the Mobility of the Peer Specialist Workforce in the United States: Findings from a National Survey”—click here.

Children in Florida and California Suffer and Sometimes Die in Psychiatric Hospitals, Two Newspapers Report

“A cop car comes. A child is handcuffed and taken to a mental health facility. The scene is all too frequent at public schools across the state.” The state in question is Florida, which the Tampa Bay Times covers in the second part of its series on Florida’s deeply flawed mental health system. “Over the past seven years,” the paper reports, “children have been taken from public schools in Tampa Bay more than 7,500 times and temporarily placed in mental health facilities. They often leave campus handcuffed in the back of police cruisers. Some are as young as 6. The numbers are climbing here and across Florida under the Baker Act, a 48-year-old state law used to involuntarily commit people deemed a danger to themselves or others…” For the article, click here. And, on the other side of the country, the Los Angeles Times has reported on the deaths of children on psych wards. “The Times review identified nearly 100 preventable deaths over the last decade at California psychiatric facilities…The total includes deaths for which state investigators determined that hospital negligence or malpractice was responsible, as well as all suicides and homicides, which experts say should not occur among patients on a psychiatric ward. It does not include people who died of natural causes or other health problems while admitted for a psychiatric illness.” For the article, click here. For the first article in the Tampa Bay Times series—“You’re Trapped. They’re Cashing In. How one Florida psychiatric hospital makes millions off patients who have no choice”—click here. (This article was included in the October 2019 Key Update.)

FCC Approves a New, 3-Digit Suicide Hotline; However, Caution May Be Warranted. And Youth Suicide Rises

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has unanimously approved designating a three-digit phone number―988―as the country’s nationwide suicide hotline. The decision is up for public comment before it can be formally implemented, which may take 18 months. “Overall, the record supports the use of a dedicated 3-digit dialing code as a way to increase the effectiveness of suicide prevention efforts, ease access to crisis services, and reduce the stigma surrounding suicide and mental health conditions," according to an FCC study, reported by NPR (click here). (You can also text HOME to 741-741 for free, 24-hour support from the Crisis Text Line.) According to one source, a major shift in suicide prevention and mental health crisis response is envisioned with the new 3-digit 988 number (including the development of national standards of care, services, training, resources, and more). However, calling a suicide hotline may sometimes lead to police showing up and, at the least, an involuntary commitment. At worst, the police, fearing a threat to themselves, may shoot the caller (click here). There is also a warm line directory (www.warmline.org) but warm lines may also call the police if the warm line staff perceive an imminent risk of self-harm, according to a source. See also “The Crisis in Youth Suicide” (click here), “3 Suicides in 2 Months Jolt a College Campus” (click here), and “Youth Suicides, County-Level Poverty Go Hand in Hand—Association most striking for gun suicide” (click here).

Forbes Contributor Advises Employers to Step Up Their Accommodations for Staff with Disabilities

In recognition of the annual UN-sponsored International Day for Persons with Disabilities, on December 3, Forbes published an op ed entitled “Bring Your Whole Self to Work! Hiding Disability at Work Is Damaging to Productivity.” Its author advises employers “to stop waiting for disclosure to provide adjustment. Ask ALL your employees what they need to work at their best. At every HR interaction point (recruitment, appraisal, promotion) talk about accommodations that you are providing already. Give examples!...” For the Forbes piece, click here. For the Purple Space Network’s #PurpleLightUp campaign, a global movement to draw attention to the economic empowerment of people with disabilities and highlighted by Forbes, click here. And for more employment resources, including “Full Disclosure: When Mental Health Professionals Reveal Their Mental Illness at Work,” “Promoting Supportive Academic Environments for Faculty with Mental Illnesses: Resource Guide and Suggestions for Practice,” “Welcoming Work Environments,” and more, see the Temple University Collaborative’s Employment Resources: click here.

Doors to Wellbeing Invites Veterans to Apply for the National Advisory Council of Veteran Peers

The “National Advisory Council of Veteran Peers (NACVP) has been established to provide valuable feedback on peer support to strengthen relationships between communities and service members, veterans, and their families,” Doors to Wellbeing writes. NACVP is “our ‘boots on the ground’ to give recommendations and feedback regarding programs, practices, and resources that enhance and support veterans both locally and nationally. All members will be veterans.” The deadline to apply: January 3, 2020. To apply, click here.

Western Mass RLC to Host Hearing Voices Group Facilitator Training in Boca Raton, Florida

The Western Massachusetts Recovery Learning Community is hosting a Hearing Voices Group Facilitator Training February 24-26, 2020, in Boca Raton, Florida. Its primary purpose is to train people to start their own Hearing Voices Groups. There is a $100 fee for this training, which can be waived upon request. Participants are responsible for their own food and travel expenses. Application deadline: January 3, 2020. For more information and/or to apply, click here. Questions? Email info@westernmassrlc.org

Two Latest TU Collaborative Newsletters Feature New Training Manual & Invitation to Research Study, and Year’s Wrap-up, Respectively

The first of the Temple University (TU) Collaborative’s two latest newsletters highlights its new “Independence Through Community Access and Navigation (ICAN)” training manual. “This supported leisure intervention uses the Individualized Placement and Supports model to promote participation in community-based recreation and leisure,” the TU Collaborative writes. “This training manual is designed to support mental health professionals interested in implementing the ICAN intervention…” The newsletter also includes a request for volunteers for an exciting research study!” For the newsletter, click here. And for the latest newsletter, featuring the TU Collaborative’s yearly wrap-up (which is hot off the press!), click here.

“Framework for the Development of the Mental Health Lived Experience Workforce”

Although the “framework” at the links below is “Queensland [Australia]-focused,” it incorporates findings from social scientist Louise Byrne’s U.S.-based research into the effective employment of peer workers, and she believes there is “transferability across many settings…” According to the summary, “The framework and associated resources are intended to increase understanding of lived experience value and functions and provide clear information for organizations on how to structure and support lived experience roles; as a set of tools to assist and guide organizations along all stages of lived experience workforce development; [and] to provide a detailed framework that can support the development/expansion of lived experience roles across Queensland and improve collaboration within mental health settings.” For the “Lived Experience Resource Framework,” click here. For the summary, click here. For a poster for organizations to have as a reminder on the wall, click here. For a “role titles and descriptions companion document to help organizations develop appropriate peer roles across a range of settings and at different levels within the organization (including senior or management roles), click here.

Courtesy of Jessica Wolf

“The Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Context of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)”

“The Parties to the UN Climate Agreements have recognized that persons with disabilities are key stakeholders in the international response to climate change,” the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) writes. “As such, they must be engaged throughout the UNFCCC processes and their rights respected and promoted through any climate activity, including mitigation, adaptation, or capacity building. This document recalls the relevant provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and of the Sendai Framework and provides a compilation of all references to persons with disabilities adopted by governments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.” To download the free report, click here.

“Film and TV Miss the Mark in Portraying Mental Health Conditions,” Researchers Say

“A new USC report reveals that mental health conditions are rare in film and TV: Few characters…exhibit mental health conditions, and those who do are routinely dehumanized,” according to a University of Southern California press release. “The study examined 100 top-grossing films and 50 popular TV series…Fewer than 2% of all film characters and roughly 7% of TV characters experience mental health conditions on screen…The majority of portrayals also feature straight, white, adult males.” For the press release and a link to the 42-page report, click here. But do some TV shows get it right? For “Not a Stereotype: 5 TV Shows That Depict Mental Health Surprisingly Well,” click here.

Documentary—Free to View Online—Highlights a Sports Announcer’s Lived Experience with Bipolar Disorder

ShowTime calls Bipolar Rock ‘N’ Roller “[a] raw and unflinching account of Mauro Ranallo’s decades-long struggle with Bipolar Affective Disorder. The voice of WWE and Showtime Championship Boxing, Ranallo has called some of the biggest sports events in history—all the while fighting his own epic battles with mental health. Follow his journey as he combats the stigma behind mental health issues and sheds light on what it’s like being at the top of the industry despite seemingly insurmountable odds.” To watch the 70-minute video for free, click here.

Courtesy of @zookmann

A Comic Artist Tells Her Story of Dealing with Depression

“How I Got Out,” by Caits Meissner—the prison and justice writing program director at PEN America—uses graphic images to tell how she dealt with depression. The story ends, “I thought about 15-year-old me, covered in bad poems and glue. I thought, what would she do? And that’s what I did.” To read it, click here.

Digest of Articles about Alternatives to Traditional Mental Health Treatment and Resources, and Healthy Lifestyle Advice

For “New Therapies Help Patients with Dementia Cope with Depression,” click here. For “Mental Health Benefits of Gardening: Nature’s Healing Touch,” click here. For “You are what you eat? How Nutrition May Affect Brain Health,” click here. (Editor’s note: At the preceding link, to a video and transcript of a segment from CBS’s Sunday Morning, the psychiatrist who is interviewed briefly endorses anti-depressants; but that is not the focus of the piece.) For “The Worst Part of Schizophrenia Isn’t What You Think It Is: Even after the voices go quiet, people with schizophrenia struggle to focus and think clearly. Can computerized brain training solve a problem that drugs have not?” click here. For “Psychologists Explain How to Stop Overthinking Everything: Overthinking can lead to serious emotional distress and increase your risk of mental health problems,” click here. For “The Time Has Come to Take the Self out of Self-Care: While the reminder to care for oneself can lead to improved wellbeing, the idea is increasingly commodified and weaponized against those who are most vulnerable. Here are four problems with our golden age of self-care,” click here. For “National Parks a Boost to Mental Health Worth Trillions: Study,” click here. For “Hypnosis Changed My Life: When my anxiety and insomnia returned, my therapist suggested a new form of treatment. The results challenged my inner skeptic,” click here.

The December 2019 Digest of Articles about the Criminal Justice System, in Which Many Individuals with Mental Health Conditions Are Incarcerated (and the Key Update continues after this Digest)

Here is the December wrap-up of stories about the criminal justice system. (Note: Some of the titles and other language are not politically correct but are reproduced as written.) For “Sick and Alone: Jailing the Mentally Ill in Alabama,” click here. For “Federal panel told roadblocks to prison mental health services violate inmates' civil rights,” click here. For “Multnomah County staff mishandled hundreds of mental health abuse complaints, report finds,” click here. For “Peer support inside jail helps inmates have hope,” click here. For “Prepping for Parole: A group of volunteers is helping incarcerated people negotiate a system that is all but broken,” click here. For “College behind bars: Education’s transformative power for America’s incarcerated men and women,” click here. For “In College Behind Bars, Prisoners Step into the Classroom,” click here. For “Incarcerated People Can Do More Than Beat Harvard in a Debate,” click here. For “How Dehumanizing Language Fuels Mass Incarceration,” click here. For “The Growing Racial Disparity in Prison Time: A new study finds black people are staying longer in state prisons, even as they face fewer arrests and prison admissions overall,” click here. For “A Jury of One’s Peers: Prosecutors use a system of “strikes” to engineer nearly all-white juries. Eliminating this system would not only make juries less racist, but also bring us closer to the original intent of the jury system,” click here. For “Broken Ground: Why America Keeps Building More Jails and What It Can Do Instead,” click here. For “Prosecutors Usually Send People to Prison. These Are Getting Them Out: Prisoners who fought for years to prove their innocence couldn’t win in court, no matter how much evidence they amassed. Then the offices that put them away got involved,” click here. For “How This Prison Collaborated on a Larger-Than-Life Work of Art: French artist JR worked with California prisoners to create his latest installation,” click here. For “Imagine Being on Trial. With Exonerating Evidence Trapped on Your Phone. Public defenders lack access to gadgets and software that could keep their clients out of jail,” click here. For “The Steep Costs of Criminal Justice Fees and Fines: Court fees and fines unjustly burden people with debt just as they are re-entering society. They are also ineffective at raising revenue,” click here. For “He spent 27 years in prison making murals he’d never see finished. Now, he’s the Philly DA’s artist-in-residence,” click here. For “Pennsylvania will no longer hold death-row prisoners in endless solitary confinement,” click here. For “Why 1,200 people who never took a life are condemned to die in Pa. prisons,” click here. For “NJ Bail Reform Leads to Fewer Arrests, New Report Shows,” click here. For “For Some Death Row Inmates, Kelley Henry Is the Last Line of Defense: As Tennessee continues a historic execution spree, tireless lawyers stand by the condemned,” click here. For “Lee Correctional and other prisons working to offer inmates hope and skills,” click here. For “Racism and Probation in the ’80s: It’s ‘History Repeating Itself,’” click here. For “How Dehumanizing Language Fuels Mass Incarceration: Projects to dismantle the system of mass incarceration must exist alongside a concerted effort to restore the humanity of incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated people, and other justice-involved people,” click here. For “He Waited 6 Hours for Help at Rikers. Then He Tried to Hang Himself,” click here. For “Restorative Justice: A Much-Needed Alternative to Mass Incarceration,” click here. For “‘What we’re doing doesn’t work’: Poverty incarcerated by incarceration, recidivism,” click here. For “Smart Decarceration Project at the University of Chicago: SDP is excited to announce a new collaborative study with the Cook County Illinois Adult Probation Department that will implement an evidence-based screening tool to respond to probationers’ mental health needs,” click here.

FROM PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THE KEY UPDATE BUT STILL FRESH!

Free SHARE! Conference on “Supervising the Peer Workforce” Seeks Proposals

A free conference for supervisors, peers, managers, human resources specialists, and administrators—where they can “learn best practices for hiring, employing, supervising and supporting the peer workforce”—will be held on March 25, 2020, in Culver City, California. SHARE! (the Self-Help And Recovery Exchange)—a non-profit organization that operates two community self-help support group centers in Los Angeles—is organizing the conference. For more information and/or to submit a proposal (deadline: January 15, 2020), click here.

Survey Seeks Respondents Who Are in Administrative/Leadership Positions in the Mental Health Field

If you are in an administrative/leadership position in the mental health arena, “the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) Committee on Psychiatric Administration and Leadership invites you to participate in the International Survey on Administrative Psychiatry. The survey has two purposes: 1. To identify the concerns and needs of mental health professionals/psychiatrists in administrative and leadership positions. 2. To determine training needs in administrative psychiatry. We ask you to complete this brief, [15- to 20-minute] questionnaire to help us in developing recommendations for action. We also want to let you know that, if you fill out this questionnaire, you permit the committee to use your anonymous data for scientific work.” Peer providers are included. For the survey, click here.

Courtesy of Oryx Cohen

Free Resources for Peer Worker Supervisors Are Posted on the iNAPS Website

The International Association of Peer Supporters (iNAPS) has posted an array of resources for supervisors of peer support staff. The sources of the 18 disparate resources include the Transformation Center, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), the Café TA Center, the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS), the Carter Center, the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network, SAMHSA-HRSA and the Center for Integrated Health Solutions, and other organizations and individual experts. For the peer support supervision resources, click here.

If You Have Experienced Psychosis, “Psychosis Beyond the Box” Wants to Hear From You.

“Psychosis Beyond the Box” seeks to gather anonymous descriptions of “aspects of psychosis that are often neglected, such as felt presences, visual or quasi-visual experiences, and alterations of space, time or distance,” as well as strategies to help with any distressing or challenging aspects of the experiences. The narratives will be compiled and shared in early psychosis programs and other service settings across the U.S. A major aim of the project—which is not a research project—is “to validate the diverse range of things people with psychosis experience, and help people, especially young adults experiencing psychosis for the first time, feel less alone and isolated (in these experiences).” For more information about the project, based at the University of South Florida, or to share your story, click here. Questions? Write to Nev Jones (genevra@usf.edu) or ShannonPagdon@gmail.com.

“Experiences with Hospitalization” Survey Seeks Participants

“The purpose of this survey is to help us understand people's lived experience with voluntary and involuntary treatment because of suicidal thoughts. It was created by people with lived experience…We are planning to use this information to facilitate discussions with suicidologists and the suicide prevention community about the impact of the use of these interventions, particularly within marginalized populations. We feel the voice of people with lived experience with these interventions has not had adequate opportunity to be heard, and hope that by completing this survey anonymously, people who have been most impacted can find a safe way to share their experiences. Please note that this is not a research project.” For more information and/or to participate, click here.

Thanks, Leah Harris

International Survey on Antipsychotic Medication Withdrawal Seeks Respondents

“Have you taken antipsychotic medication (such as Zyprexa, Seroquel, Abilify, Risperdal, Haldol, Geodon, Stelazine, and others), for any condition or diagnosis, with or without other medications? And did you ever stop taking antipsychotics, or try to stop taking them? Are you 18 years or older? If yes, you can take this survey about antipsychotic withdrawal and attempts to withdraw, including if you stopped taking them completely or if you tried to come off and still take them. The survey aims to improve mental health services by better understanding medication withdrawal. Lead researcher is Will Hall, a therapist and Ph.D. student who has himself taken antipsychotics. Service users/survivors/consumers from around the world also gave input. The study is sponsored by Maastricht University in the Netherlands; co-sponsors include the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal. Questions? Please contact will.hall@maastrichtuniversity.nl.” For more information or to take the survey, click on www.antipsychoticwithdrawalsurvey.com

Virtual Group Is Launched to Advance Peer Research Capacity, Leadership, and Involvement

Nev Jones, Ph.D., and Emily Cutler, a doctoral candidate, have launched a new listserv dedicated to building research capacity, leadership, and involvement among peers, survivors, and service users. Dr. Jones, assistant professor, Department of Mental Health Law & Policy, University of South Florida, was part of the team that developed “User/Survivor Leadership & Capacity Building in Research: White Paper on Promoting Engagement Practices in Peer Evaluation/Research (PEPPER),” published by the Lived Experience Research Network. For the white paper, click here. Anyone interested in joining the virtual group can email Nev at nev.inbox@gmail.com.

Do You Supervise Peer Support Workers? Then Researchers Have Some Questions for You

Researchers in the University of South Florida’s Department of Psychiatry and at Magellan Health are investigating the backgrounds, training, and experiences of individuals who currently supervise at least one peer support worker in a behavioral health setting or agency. “To the best of our knowledge, this will be the first comprehensive research study of the landscape of peer support supervision practices in the United States,” writes Dr. Nev Jones, the primary investigator of the study (Protocol Number 00040223). Participants must be at least 18 years old and work in the United States or U.S. territories. An online survey lasting approximately 10 minutes will ask about respondents’ backgrounds, training and preparation for supervision, perspectives and practices, and views on barriers and facilitators to high-quality supervision. There is no monetary compensation. Questions? Contact Dr. Nev Jones (genevra@health.usf.edu) or the co-primary investigator, Dana Foglesong (dfoglesong@magellanhealth.com). To access the survey, click here.

What Happens to People after Discharge from First Episode Psychosis/Early Intervention Programs? New Study Seeks Answers—and Participants

A study led by Dr. Nev Jones at the University of South Florida seeks current and former clients as well as family members of clients previously enrolled in early intervention in psychosis (EIP)/coordinated specialty care (CSC) services. The study aims to better understand what happens after discharge from EIP/CSC programs, including in the areas of school or work and access to/use of other mental health services. Eligible participants must be at least 18 years old and must be “current clients within one month of discharge from an EIP/CSC program, former clients discharged at least six months (at the time of the scheduled interview), and the family members of former clients.” In exchange for a phone interview of approximately 1.5 hours, each participant in the study (Protocol Number 00035193) will receive a $75 money order. Questions? Contact Dr. Jones at 813.415.5532 or by email at genevra@health.usf.edu.

Disclaimer: The Clearinghouse does not necessarily endorse the opinions and opportunities included in the Key Update.

About The Key Update

The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is now affiliated with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion!

The Key Update is the free monthly e-newsletter of the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse. Volume 16, No. 6, December 2019. For content, reproduction or publication information, please contact Susan Rogers at selfhelpclearinghouse@gmail.com. Follow Susan on Twitter at @SusanRogersMH

Key Update, November 2019, Volume 15, Number 5

November 15, 2019 Susan Rogers

The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is now affiliated with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion!

TO CONTACT THE CLEARINGHOUSE: SELFHELPCLEARINGHOUSE@GMAIL.COM

TO CONTACT SUSAN ROGERS: SUSAN.ROGERS.ADVOCACY@GMAIL.COM

TO CONTACT JOSEPH ROGERS: JROGERS08034@GMAIL.COM

“Rights-Based Education Could Help Resolve Global Health Inequities,” Says UN Special Rapporteur

“Many of the problems in global health stem from power imbalances in the health workforce, and these can be traced back to medical education systems,” the UN Special Rapporteur, Dainius Pūras, wrote in a Health and Human Rights Journal blog about his recent report to the UN. “In the report, I recommend that all health workforce education is reframed around human rights imperatives, and I give practical recommendations as to how this could happen. We should ensure that health-care workers have rights-based competencies and skills not only to stop violations of human rights in the care of patients but also to promote and protect their own rights, for example, rights to a decent wage and equal rights to participate in the health system. We must also acknowledge that people enter health education with their own biases; a rights-based health education helps health-care workers recognize and address their inherent discriminatory behaviors and attitudes.” For the blog post, which includes a link to the UN report, click here.

Courtesy of Keris Myrick

Doors to Wellbeing’s Next Free Webinar, on Smoking Cessation, Is on November 19

The next free, one-hour webinar in the monthly series hosted by Doors to Wellbeing will take place on November 19, at 2 p.m. ET. The topic will be “Peer Support and Smoking Cessation.” For more information and to register, click here.

A Philosopher of Science Asks: “Is Medicine Overrated?”

“Given medicine’s poor record, physicians should prescribe and patients consume far fewer medications, a new book argues.” This is the teaser on a recent Scientific American review of Medical Nihilism, published in 2018 by Oxford University Press. The book’s author, Jacob Stegenga, “presents a devastating critique of medicine,” according to the blog, by John Horgan, who directs the Center for Science Writings at the Stevens Institute of Technology. Horgan continues: “Many ‘widely consumed’ medications are ‘barely effective and have many harmful side effects,’ Stegenga writes. Examples include drugs for high cholesterol, hypertension, type-two diabetes and depression.” Although Stegenga makes some exceptions, such as antibiotics, insulin for some diabetics, treatment to repair injuries after accidents, and others, in general he believes that “[m]ost treatments…do not work very well, and many do more harm than good…Stegenga warns readers not to stop taking prescribed medications without medical supervision…But our health will improve and our costs shrink, Stegenga contends, if we resort to treatments much less often. As Hippocrates once said, ‘to do nothing is also a good remedy.’” For the blog, click here.

Have You Undergone ECT? If Your Answer Is Yes, Please Consider Taking a Four-Minute Online Survey

Have you undergone electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)? If you have, and you have four minutes to spare, please consider filling out a questionnaire for an article that freelance mental health care reporter Michael Simonson is writing about ECT. Simonson has previously written about involuntary mental health treatment laws for Mad In America. For his past articles, click here. If you have any questions or concerns about the questionnaire, you can contact him at msimonson19@gmail.com or 201.572.1030. For the ECT survey, which will close on December 1, 2019, click here.

Mental Health America Publishes Latest Report on the “State of Mental Health” in the U.S.

The new report on “The State of Mental Health in America,” recently released by Mental Health America, ranks each state on the basis of 15 measures. Based on its rankings, the Number One state, in terms of lower prevalence of mental health conditions and higher rates of access to care, is Pennsylvania; Nevada was ranked last. MHA has identified its key findings as follows: “Youth mental health is worsening. Adult prevalence of mental health is relatively stagnant, but suicidal ideation is increasing. Prevalence of substance use disorder (SUD) decreased in both youth and adults. More Americans are insured, but their coverage is lacking. There is still unmet need for mental health treatment among youth and adults. Youth are not being identified as having an Emotional Disturbance, which can keep them from accessing necessary accommodations.” For more information and/or to download the report, click here.

Courtesy of Mark Davis

SAMHSA Issues “First Episode Psychosis and Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorders”

As part of its “Evidence-Based Resource Guide Series,” the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has published a free, 54-page guide entitled “First Episode Psychosis and Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorders.” “For young people experiencing first-episode psychosis, reducing or stopping substance misuse yields significant improvements in psychotic symptoms, depressive symptoms, and the young person’s ability to lead a meaningful life,” SAMHSA writes. “Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC)…respects the autonomy and expertise of young people as part of the treatment process and allows young people and their families to feel better, gain hope for the future, and move towards recovery.” To download the free guide, click here.

Courtesy of the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion

Peer Support Staff Are Invited to Participate in a Job Satisfaction Survey

If you are at least 18 years old, employed for at least six months as peer support staff in a mental health-related treatment and/or recovery-oriented service, and live in the U.S. or a U.S. territory, you are invited to participate in an online survey—“Exploring Factors Associated with Job Satisfaction among Peer Support Staff Working in Mental Health Treatment Settings”—which takes about 20 minutes to complete. The purpose of this research is to inform practice in three ways: (1) strengthen peer support staff’s understanding of themselves in the context of their work relationships, settings, and tasks; (2) help organizations better understand some of the interpersonal and institutional factors that support or prevent successful integration of peer support staff; and (3) produce knowledge to help organizations cultivate a more satisfied and sustainable peer support workforce. For more information and/or to participate, click here.

“Training Health Workers in Therapy Leads to Improvements and Less Medication Use,” Researchers Say

When researchers in Nigeria compared two types of training in depression treatment, they found that (a) the providers in the “intervention” group, which received specific training in psychotherapy, were less likely to prescribe medications: Only 13 percent of their clients with depression received medication, as opposed to 32 percent of those treated by the other group, according to Mad in America. And (b), “Despite being prescribed less than half as many antidepressants, patients in the intervention group did just as well.” Twelve months later, “the researchers found that 76 percent of those in the intervention group, and 77 percent of those in the control group, had experienced ‘remission’ of depression.” Although both groups had received “psychoeducation and counseling to address stressors and active social networks, and pharmacotherapy when necessary,” the “intervention” group “also received specific training in how to administer behavioral activation and problem-solving therapy—two forms of psychotherapy that follow a manualized structure and are considered to be ‘evidence-based’ for the treatment of depression.” For the Mad in America article, click here.

“CDC: Childhood Trauma Is a Public Health Issue and We Can Do More to Prevent It”

“Americans who had experienced adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, were at higher risk of dying from five of the top 10 leading causes of death,” which include suicide, according to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reported by NPR (National Public Radio). “And those who had been through more bad experiences—such as abuse or neglect, witnessing violence at home or growing up in a family with mental health or substance abuse problems—were at an even higher risk…‘Preventing ACEs can help children and adults thrive and has the potential to substantially lower the risk for conditions like asthma, cancer, depressive disorder and diabetes,’” said the CDC's principal deputy director. For the NPR article, click here.

Peerpocalypse 2020, in Beautiful Seaside, Oregon, April 20-23, Will Incorporate Elements of Alternatives!

The organizers of the Alternatives Conference have decided not to hold an independent conference this year. Instead, the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery (NCMHR), which organized the 2018 and 2019 Alternatives conferences, is collaborating with the Mental Health & Addiction Association of Oregon (MHAAO) to host key elements of Alternatives in MHAAO’s Peerpocalypse conference, April 20-23, 2020, in beautiful Seaside, Oregon. For more information and to register, click here.

A Disturbing Trend: Researchers Analyze Social Media Posts for Clues to People’s Mental Health

Some researchers have tried, or are trying, to predict people’s mental health, or lack of it, from their social media posts, The Atlantic writes. For example, between 2012 and 2016, University of Pennsylvania researchers analyzed 400 million tweets by Pennsylvanians, looking for tweets with at least five mentions of the words lonely or alone, and compared them with a similar control group. “(The authors did not explicitly ask those who often tweeted about loneliness whether they actually were lonely.)” In another study, “researchers from the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and the Georgia Institute of Technology analyzed 52,815 Facebook posts from 51 [people] who had recently experienced psychosis. They found that the language the [people] used on Facebook was significantly different in the month preceding their psychotic relapse, compared with when they were healthy...” But such studies may be inherently flawed. “One particularly cringeworthy example,” The Atlantic noted, “came in 2014, when an app made by a British charity meant to predict suicide risk from the use of phrases such as help me on Twitter was swiftly pulled after it was overrun by trolls and false positives (for example, ‘Someone help me understand why the bus is always late’).” For the Atlantic article, click here.

“14 Hospital Systems to Collaborate in Addressing Social Determinants of Health”

“A coalition of 14 large hospital systems [recently] said they would collectively commit $700 million toward community-based initiatives aimed at addressing the social determinants of health,” Nonprofit Quarterly reports. “The money…will be used to address, among other things, housing instability, food insecurity, and economic revitalization. This effort flows from a two-year-old collaboration called the Healthcare Anchor Network, which includes 45 hospitals and health systems and is overseen by the Democracy Collaborative…‘It’s the first time that systems have acknowledged that this strategy of impact investment should be part of their overall strategy for improving health and well-being in their communities,’” said David Zuckerman, a Democracy Collaborative spokesperson. For the article, click here. At the same time, according to Open Minds, “[a] recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that social determinants are a major impediment to managing care for high-cost Medicaid beneficiaries. The biggest impediments include a lack of transportation to medical appointments, lack of stable housing, and inconsistent access to food and other basic resources.” For the Open Minds story, click here.

Free MHA Report Highlights Student-led Programs That Fill Gaps in Campus Mental Health Services

A new report from Mental Health America (MHA)—“Making Space for Mental Health on Campus,”— “showcases student-led programs that are filling gaps in traditional mental health services and supports on campuses across the United States.” Among the highlights: “Expanding campus-based mental health resources should not rely on students finding traditional resources and services…Students continue to demand and create formal peer support programs, even with pushback from universities…To make support accessible, resources need to be available 24/7 in-person, via phone, and across campus, including in living spaces…Disability cultural centers create spaces where students with disabilities can connect with one another and celebrate disability culture and identity, as opposed to emphasizing disability as an impairment.” To download the free, 27-page report, click here. (You’ll need to provide your contact information but you can opt out of receiving MHA emails.)

DBT May Provide Some Hope for Teenagers who Practice Self-Harm, Study Finds

“In a study of 800 adolescent inpatients at Zucker Hillside Hospital, in Glen Oaks, New York, a team of doctors found that those who received Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) had far fewer incidents of self-injury, spent less time on suicide watch and had shorter hospital stays, by two weeks on average, compared to adolescents who had been treated before DBT was standard,” according to The New York Times. “Another kind of standardized talk therapy, called cognitive behavior therapy, or CBT, can also be adapted to help people who habitually self-harm. Both strategies are more likely to be helpful when driven by guided or driven by the person in pain, a recent review found.” “About one in five adolescents report having harmed themselves to soothe emotional pain at least once, according to a review of three dozen surveys in nearly a dozen countries, including the United States, Canada and Britain. Habitual self-harm, over time, is a predictor for higher suicide risk in many individuals, studies suggest.” For the story, click here. For “Suicide following presentation to hospital for non-fatal self-harm in the Multicentre Study of Self-harm: a long-term follow-up study,” in The Lancet, Nov. 6, 2019, click here.

“Suicide Risk Elevated After Psychiatric Hospital Stay”; “Screening + Drug Treatment = Increase in Veteran Suicides”; and Advice to Journalists for Reporting on Suicide

“Suicide rates and attempts are far higher in patients who have had a psychiatric hospitalization, compared with the general population and even patients with similar psychiatric disorders who were not hospitalized, according to a research review in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The ‘findings underscore the need for improved monitoring and care of patients discharged from psychiatric hospitalization, researchers advised. The review included 48 studies involving 1.7 million patients. The studies were published between 1964 and 2017. The suicide rate within 12 months of discharge was 2.41 per 1000 psychiatric discharges, according to data from 41 studies. That equates to 1 suicide in every 415 discharges. Attempted suicides occurred at a rate of 1 in every 46 discharges—nearly nine times higher than the rate of completed suicides, data from six studies showed.” For the Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Learning Network article, click here. For a related story, “Screening+ Drug Treatment = Increase in Veteran Suicides,” click here. For advice to journalists on reporting on suicide, click on www.reportingonsuicide.org

A New Study “Considers the Future of ACT by Examining the Factors That Have Fueled Its Spread”

Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) includes “continuous treatment outside the hospital setting, and rigorous case management featuring individualized treatment plans and multidisciplinary care teams.” But “a growing number of critics today are calling for alternatives.” A new Milbank Quarterly article “considers the future of ACT by examining the factors that have fueled its spread…as well as factors that have constrained it, like cost concerns and the rise of a consumer-oriented ‘recovery movement.’” For more information and to download the free, 49-page article, click here. For a letter published in Psychiatric Services critiquing the ACT program, click here. For an article and two sidebars, published in 2010, about the implementation of ACT in Pennsylvania, click here.

The Milbank Quarterly article is courtesy of Marie Verna.

Survey Seeks Respondents Who Are in Administrative/Leadership Positions in the Mental Health Field

Courtesy of Orxy Cohen

2020 NACBHDD Legislative and Policy Conference in D.C. March 2-4

The National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors is holding its 2020 conference, “Building Resilience Amidst Rapid System Change,” March 2-4 at the Cosmos Club, in Washington, D.C. “This conference will provide the latest information on the status of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and evolving federal reimbursement models. The current human resource crisis and our field crises—opioids and suicide—also will be highlighted,” according to the conference announcement. For an online registration form, click here.

“What You Say About Mental Illness vs. What You Actually Mean”

“People often misuse words like depression and ADD. Sure you might be having a bad day, but are you really depressed? Likewise, you might sometimes struggle to concentrate, especially if you're doing something boring, but does that really mean you've got Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)? We all have our little quirks and idiosyncrasies, but does that make us all Obsessive Compulsives? In order to differentiate between what people say about mental illness and what mental illness actually feels like for those who [experience] it, Annie Erskine has created these five useful comics for College Humor.” Interested? Then click here.

Digest of Articles about Alternatives to Traditional Mental Health Treatment and Resources, and Healthy Lifestyle Advice

For “Mediterranean Diet May Help Ease Some Symptoms of Depression: A diet high in fruits, vegetables, fish, olive oil and nuts and low in sugar and saturated fat boosted mood in college students prone to depression,” click here. For “Pets Help People Manage the Pain of Serious Mental Illness,” click here. For “The Llama as Therapist: The charismatic llama is a welcome addition at some nursing homes and rehabilitation centers,” click here. For “Petal Power: Why Is Gardening So Good For Our Mental Health? 10 ways horticulture helps us heal, overcome anxiety and lift low mood,” click here. For “8 Alternative Mental Health Therapies Explained,” click here.

The November 2019 Digest of Articles about the Criminal Justice System, in Which Many Individuals with Mental Health Conditions Are Incarcerated (and the Key Update continues after this Digest)

Here is the November wrap-up of stories about the criminal justice system. (Note: Some of the titles and other language are not politically correct but are reproduced as written.) For “SC inmates with mental illness abused by staff, psychiatrist tells lawmakers,” click here. “A Jail Increased Extreme Isolation to Stop Suicides. More People Killed Themselves,” click here. For “Why Jails Have More Suicides than Prisons” (from 2015), click here. For “People with criminal records deserve a second chance—and business can help provide it,” click here. For “Imagining safety without prisons; seeking a holistic solution to violence in Detroit,” click here. For “‘The Writing on the Wall’: Voices of the Incarcerated,” click here. For “New Exhibit Challenges Beliefs About Value & Morality of Long-Term Incarceration,” click here. For “Despite Common Belief, Floridians Can’t Always Get a Free Public Defender,” click here. For “More Women Are Behind Bars Now. One Prison Wants to Change That,” click here. For “Why Handcuffing Schoolkids Is a Path to Criminalization,” click here. For “Why Prisoners Get the Doctors No One Else Wants: Even after a major class action suit required Illinois to revamp its prison healthcare system, doctors whose alleged neglect resulted in major injury or death still remain on the prison system payroll,” click here. For “The Final Five Percent: If traumatic brain injuries can impact the parts of the brain responsible for personality, judgment, and impulse control, maybe injury should be a mitigating factor in criminal trials—but one neuroscientist discovers that assigning crime a biological basis creates more issues than it solves,” click here. For “Categorical Mistakes: The Flawed Framework of the Armed Career Criminal Act and Mandatory Minimum Sentencing,” click here. For “New York’s Jails Are Failing. Is the Answer 3,600 Miles Away?” click here. For “America’s local jails have more incarcerated women than state prisons, 60% of them not convicted, says report,” click here. For “The Criminal Justice System Is Not Broken. It’s Doing What It Was Designed to Do,” click here. For “Police chiefs propose ways to reduce ‘suicide by cop’: When confronted by people in mental crisis, officers have little or no training on alternatives to pointing gun, yelling commands,” click here.

FROM PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THE KEY UPDATE BUT STILL FRESH!

If You Have Experienced Psychosis, “Psychosis Beyond the Box” Wants to Hear From You.

“Experiences with Hospitalization” Survey Seeks Participants

Thanks, Leah Harris

Mental Health First Aid Australia Seeks Research Participants to Update MHFA Guidelines

Mental Health First Aid Australia is inviting people from Australia, UK, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, New Zealand, Sweden, and the USA who have expertise in the field of psychosis to participate in research whose goal is to update the Mental Health First Aid guidelines for psychosis, which were last updated in 2008. Invited participants include people with lived experience of psychosis, people who have cared for or provided significant support to someone with psychosis, and professionals with research, education, or clinical experience related to psychosis. For more information, click here.

International Survey on Antipsychotic Medication Withdrawal Seeks Respondents

Virtual Group Is Launched to Advance Peer Research Capacity, Leadership, and Involvement

Do You Supervise Peer Support Workers? Then Researchers Have Some Questions for You

What Happens to People after Discharge from First Episode Psychosis/Early Intervention Programs? New Study Seeks Answers—and Participants

Disclaimer: The Clearinghouse does not necessarily endorse the opinions and opportunities included in the Key Update.

About The Key Update

The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is now affiliated with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion!

The Key Update is the free monthly e-newsletter of the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse. Volume 16, No. 5, November 2019. For content, reproduction or publication information, please contact Susan Rogers at selfhelpclearinghouse@gmail.com. Follow Susan on Twitter at @SusanRogersMH

Key Update, October 2019, Volume 16, Number 4

October 23, 2019 Susan Rogers

The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is now affiliated with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion!

TO CONTACT THE CLEARINGHOUSE: SELFHELPCLEARINGHOUSE@GMAIL.COM TO CONTACT SUSAN ROGERS: SUSAN.ROGERS.ADVOCACY@GMAIL.COM TO CONTACT JOSEPH ROGERS: JROGERS08034@GMAIL.COM

Journalists Expose Psychiatric Hospitals’ Depredations in Florida and Washington State

“A Tampa Bay Times investigation has found that North Tampa Behavioral [Health Hospital] makes huge profits by exploiting patients held under Florida’s mental health law, known as the Baker Act. The hospital illegally cuts patients off from their families. Then it uses loopholes in the statute to hold them longer than allowed, running up their bills while they are powerless to fight back. Some patients describe getting virtually no psychiatric treatment. Meanwhile, people at risk of suicide have been allowed to hurt themselves, and helpless patients have been attacked on the ward. For this, the hospital charges up to $1,500 per night.” For the Tampa Bay Times article—“You’re Trapped. They’re Cashing In. How one Florida psychiatric hospital makes millions off patients who have no choice”—click here. And, in Washington State, for people “who check in voluntarily, the revelation that they can’t leave when they want to has shaken their faith in a system they turned to for help. The reasons for holding such patients vary, but the practice of doing so—sometimes for days—is a regular occurrence at some of Washington state’s private psychiatric hospitals, an investigation by The Seattle Times has found.” For the Seattle Times article, click here.

Peerpocalpse 2020 Conference to Host Key Elements of the Alternatives Conference

“The organizers of the Alternatives Conference have decided not to hold an independent conference this year. Instead, the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery (NCMHR), which organized the 2018 and 2019 Alternatives conferences, is collaborating with the Mental Health & Addiction Association of Oregon (MHAAO) to host key elements of Alternatives in MHAAO’s Peerpocalypse conference, April 20-23, 2020, in Seaside, Oregon. MHAAO welcomes Alternatives to Peerpocalypse 2020 and encourages prospective participants to learn more and/or submit a workshop proposal [by clicking] on the ‘Submit a Workshop’ tab.” The deadline to submit workshop proposals is November 15, 2019. For more information, click here.

SAMHSA Issues RFP for National Consumer and Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Centers

“The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2020 National Consumer and Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Centers grants. The purpose of this program is to provide technical assistance to promote evidence-based care for adults with serious mental illnesses. These programs recognize the value of those with lived experience as a component of the treatment system. The entities responsible for providing technical assistance for this program may be either consumer or consumer supporter organizations.” Applications are due December 10, 2019. For more information, click here.

Doors to Wellbeing’s Next Two Free Webinars Are on October 29 and November 19

The next two free, one-hour webinars in the monthly series hosted by Doors to Wellbeing will take place on October 29 and November 19, respectively; both webinars will begin at 2 p.m. ET. On October 29, the topic will be “Peer Specialists in Integrated Care.” On November 19, the topic will be “Peer Support and Smoking Cessation.” For more information and to register, click here.

Free SHARE! Conference on “Supervising the Peer Workforce” Seeks Proposals

“Stanford and Students with Mental Health Disabilities Reach Landmark Settlement”

“A coalition of Stanford students and Stanford University have reached a groundbreaking settlement agreement that will result in significant changes to Stanford’s leave of absence policies and practices, all of which will help ensure that students experiencing mental health crises have access to appropriate accommodations and services and are not unnecessarily excluded from campus and housing,” according to a press release by Disability Rights Advocates (DRA). “This settlement agreement—the first of its kind—includes a rewritten Involuntary Leave of Absence and Return Policy, staff training, and increased staff to assist students with mental health disabilities with reasonable accommodations that may enable them to avoid taking a leave of absence…This historic settlement, developed in consultation with students and experts in mental health and higher education, will make Stanford University’s leave of absence policies and practices ‘a significant step forward not only for Stanford, but for colleges and universities across the country,’ says Monica Porter, DRA staff attorney.” For the article, click here.

Courtesy of Elizabeth Stone

Free Diversion to What? Guide to Help Reduce Incarceration of People with Mental Health Conditions

“The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law has released a report describing the essential community mental health services that must be expanded to divert people with significant psychiatric disabilities from the criminal justice system. Diversion to What? Evidence-Based Mental Health Services That Prevent Needless Incarceration “is designed to provide guidance to stakeholders engaged in efforts to reduce incarceration of people with psychiatric disabilities, laying out the types of services that should be the focus of such efforts. The report describes what those services do and how they are structured, and identifies the evidence demonstrating their success in reducing incarceration.” For the free 13-page report, click here. (Note: For more about the intersection of mental health and criminal justice, see the monthly digest, below, of articles about the criminal justice system, in which many individuals with mental health conditions are incarcerated.)

TU Collaborative Newsletter Highlights Supported Education Manual and Free Oct. 30 Webinar

The new edition of the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion newsletter highlights its new, 49-page manual, Campus Engagement-Oriented Supported Education. “This intervention focuses on campus engagement, including strategies to support students to identify their interests, find opportunities on campus, and develop and utilize natural support systems,” the TU Collaborative writes. In addition, the TU Collaborative is hosting a free Zoom webinar on October 30 at 1 p.m.; the subject is “Practitioner Researchers: Strategies for Conducting Community Participation Research.” To read the newsletter, click here.

Coercive Practices Harm Those in Mental Health Care, Study Shows

“A review of the literature, published in Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, examines the effectiveness of coercive practices in mental health care,” according to a recent article in Mad In America. “The review indicates that coercive practices are not only ineffective, but unethical, anti-therapeutic, and violate human rights. The authors suggest steps that can be taken to reduce coercive practices in mental health care but ultimately arrive at the conclusion that a paradigm shift in the field of psychiatry is required for large-scale changes to be made. ‘There is increasing recognition that we need to make mental health care more consensual and ensure that the human rights of people with mental health problems are always respected. However, little attention is given within current mental health policies and programs to reducing coercion in clinical practice despite our commitment to clinical safety,’ write the authors, led by Dr. S.P. Sashidharan, a professor and researcher at the University of Glasgow.” For the article, click here.

Survey to Measure Treatment Outcomes for Youth with Anxiety or Depression Seeks Respondents

“How do we know if young people receiving support for anxiety or depression or getting ‘better’?” asks the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement. To answer this question, they are conducting a survey. “A group of mental health professionals and lived experience experts (including young people and parents) have proposed a set of treatment outcomes they think are important and how best to measure them in clinical practice. We want to use this recommendation to help organizations understand whether support is helping! Are you someone with experience of anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) before you were aged 24, or are you the parent of a young person with one of these conditions? Please let us know your thoughts on this proposal using this anonymous survey, which takes 10-15 minutes to complete.” For the survey, click here.

Courtesy of Emily Cutler

One Study Indicates Link Between Smartphone Dependency and Depression in Youth; For Other Researchers, It’s Complicated

Young people who are hooked on their smartphones may be at an increased risk for depression and loneliness, according to a new study from the University of Arizona. In the study of 346 older adolescents, ages 18-20, researchers “found that smartphone dependency predicts higher reports of depressive symptoms and loneliness, rather than the other way around,” according to an article in NeuroscienceNews.com. In that study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, the researchers “focus on smartphone dependency—a person’s psychological reliance on the device—rather than on general smartphone use, which can actually provide benefits.” For the article, click here. The issue of “dependency” rather than “general smartphone use” may explain why a Brigham Young University study asking, “Does time spent on social media impact mental health?” found that “screen time isn’t the problem.” “We found that time spent on social media was not what was impacting anxiety or depression,” said the lead BYU researcher, Sarah Coyne. “For example, two teenagers could use social media for exactly the same amount of time but may have vastly different outcomes as a result of the way they are using it,” Coyne said. For the Brigham Young University press release, click here.

Americans Increasingly Fear Violence from People with Mental Health Conditions, All Evidence to the Contrary Notwithstanding.

Americans are becoming increasingly afraid of people with mental health conditions, despite the fact that guns—not mental health conditions—are the operative factor in the violence that plagues the United States. According to an epidemiological study published in 2015, “Even if we had a cure for serious mental illnesses that completely eliminated active psychotic and mood disorders, the problem of interpersonal violence in the population would be reduced only by an estimated 4%, while 96% of violent acts would still occur.” And a study published online by Schizophrenia Bulletin in 2009 found “a pooled estimate of 1 stranger homicide per 14.3 million people per year.” Yet, “in 2018, roughly 70% of respondents judged people who would probably be diagnosed with schizophrenia to be a potential danger to others,” according to a recent Los Angeles Times article. “In 1996, roughly 57% held that opinion, as did about 60% of those surveyed in 2006. The surveys also revealed that 59% of Americans in 2018 supported laws requiring the hospitalization, even involuntary hospitalization, of those who meet the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. Fewer than half shared that view in 2006.” For the Los Angeles Times article, click here. For the Schizophrenia Bulletin study, click here. For “It’s the Guns. It’s Always Been the Guns,” in The Nation, click here.

California Is Launching a Statewide Peer-run Mental Health Warm Line

California is launching a statewide mental health warm line, Capital Public Radio reports. “‘It’s for people who are, quite honestly just feeling alone,’ said Democratic Assemblymember Phil Ting, who pushed for the statewide line. ‘You’ll get callers who say ‘Hey, I’m not feeling suicidal, but I just want to talk to somebody.’” “The Mental Health Association of San Francisco has been running a Bay Area warm line since 2014, but outreach manager Peter Murphy says they lost their state funding in 2018 and have had to rely on volunteers to stay open. Now, they’re using $10.8 million from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first budget to expand the line statewide and operate it for the next three years… The line will be staffed 24/7 by people who have lived experience with mental illness. The center expects to receive 25,000 calls per year. Reach the California Peer-Run Warm Line at 1-855-845-7415. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255.” For the article, click here.

“If You Are Black and in a Mental Health Crisis, 911 Can Be a Death Sentence,” Writes Shaun King

“Over the past five years, I’ve closely studied thousands of police shootings and seen a trend of black families under duress calling 911 during a mental health emergency, only for their loved one to be killed by police as a result,” writes civil rights activist Shaun King in a recent piece in The Intercept. “Of course, when a black family calls 911 for support in a mental health emergency and it goes well, that doesn’t make the news….Police killings of people with mental illnesses are a huge problem for those of all races. Studies show that as many as 50 percent of people killed by American police had registered disabilities and that a huge percentage of those were people with mental illnesses. One study states that people with untreated mental illnesses are a staggering 16 times more likely to be shot and killed by police. But African Americans are at even higher risk due to the racism in our country and in our police forces.” To read more, click here.

“Schools Now Letting Students Stay Home Sick for Mental-Health Days,” Washington Post Reports

“In the face of rising rates of depression, anxiety and suicide among young people, some states and school systems have started allowing students to take mental sick days off from school,” the Washington Post reports. “Last year, Utah changed its definition of valid excuses for absences to include mental health issues. This summer, Oregon enacted a law—driven by a group of high school student activists—that allows students to take days off for mental health. Students in other states, including Colorado, Florida and Washington, are attempting to get similar laws passed…A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [in October 2019] showed the rate of suicide increased by 56 percent from 2007 to 2017 among people ages 10 to 24. Suicide in recent years has become the second-most-common cause of death among teens and young adults, overtaking homicides and outpaced only by accidents.” In Oregon, a high school senior responded to lawmakers’ concerns about abuse of the new law as follows: “The bottom line of this is there will be students that will abuse the system but there will be students that this will save.” For the article, click here.

“Uberheroes Comics Teach Children about Mental Health”

“[A] new comic series, Uberheroes, is trying to encourage young people to face reality and not hide their identities behind a mask.” The comics tackle “mental health issues that children and young people are facing, and its storylines are provided from the personal accounts of youngsters from Northern Ireland who have dealt with mental ill health. So far, four issues of Uberheroes have been published—both online and in hard copy. They are then taken into primary and secondary schools across the country to educate pupils about critical issues such as self-harm, drug addiction, body image and depression.” All of the storylines are real. Hope 4 Life NI is the mental health charity sponsoring the comics. For more, click here.

A Digest of Articles about Alternatives to Traditional Mental Health Treatment and Resources, and Healthy Lifestyle Advice

For “Depression: Brief change in diet may relieve symptoms,” click here. For “Brave Your Day” Apple Podcasts, click here. For “Can Brain Science Help Us Break Bad Habits?” click here. For “A psychologist says that the secret to living longer may be your social life,” click here. For “New research finds coastal living linked with better mental health,” click here. For “Mindfulness for middle school students: Focusing awareness on the present moment can enhance academic performance and lower stress levels,” click here. For “Learning Not to Fear: Mindfulness meditation training alters how we process fearful memories, study says,” click here.

The October 2019 Digest of Articles about the Criminal Justice System, in Which Many Individuals with Mental Health Conditions Are Incarcerated (and the Key Update continues after this Digest)

Here is the October wrap-up of stories about the criminal justice system. (Note: Some of the titles and other language are not politically correct but are reproduced as written.) For “Mentally Ill Prisoners Are Dying. Are Private Health Care Companies to Blame?” click here. For “Nowhere else to turn: Jail shouldn’t be go-to spot for mentally ill, sheriff says,” click here. For “A Radical Approach to Helping Former Prisoners Start Over: Let Them Into Your Home…Oakland’s Homecoming Project is sort of like Airbnb—but for people getting out of prison,” click here. For “Sen. Osten asks Sentencing Commission to study mental illness in CT prisons,” click here. For “Torture by Another Name: Solitary Confinement in Texas” (an 18-page report by the Texas Civil Rights Project,” click here. For “Death in Solitary: Russell Johnson’s sister warned officials that nearly three years in solitary confinement had broken him. His suicide in isolation two months later points to compounded crises inside Texas prisons,” click here. For “Caregivers, relatives hope mentally ill man’s death after police encounter can bring changes to ‘impossible situation,’” click here. For “A slice of love: Bruno Abate teaches inmates to make pizza and earn a living in Chicago jail,” click here. For “Closing Rikers: Competing Visions for the Future of New York City’s Jails,” click here. For “In Historic Vote, NYC Council Agrees to Shut Rikers by 2026,” click here. For “2020: The Democrats on Criminal Justice,” click here. For “Project Reset: Avoiding prosecution of minor offenses through art,” click here. For “ExiT: Executives Transforming Probation and Parole,” click here. For “It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It,” click here. For “Prison Writing Exhibit ‘SEEN’ Is Made Even Richer with Portraits,” click here. For “These Sheriffs Release Sick Inmates to Avoid Paying Their Hospital Bills,” click here. For “Sentenced to death by incarceration in New York State prison,” click here. For “How to End the Era of Mass Supervision,” click here. For “‘Where’s My ID?’ Prosecutors Get a Harsh Lesson in Post-Prison Life,” click here. For “Rescaled: Movement for Small Scale Detention,” click here. For “‘Tutweiler’ Reveals the Hearbreak of Pregnancy in Prison,” click here. For “It’s hard to land a bank job if you have a record. But JPMorgan Chase tells people in Chicago with criminal records: ‘We’re hiring,’” click here. For “Counselors will join NYPD to combat mental health crisis,” click here. For “Therapeutic-Relationship Building for People on Probation with Serious Mental Illnesses,” click here. For “From the Producers of Uncuffed,” click here.

FROM PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THE KEY UPDATE BUT STILL FRESH!

60th Annual National Dialogues on Behavioral Health Conference November 3-6 in New Orleans

The National Dialogues on Behavioral Health—formerly known as the Southern Conference on Mental Health—is “the oldest ongoing annual conference on mental health and substance abuse in the United States. The 2019 conference, its 60th, will be held in New Orleans November 3-6. This year the conference will focus on “the disconnect between individuals and families’ need for care, and the need for the interconnectedness across systems that is necessary to provide true integration of care that results in good outcomes for individuals, families and communities.” For more information and to register, click here.

If You Have Experienced Psychosis, “Psychosis Beyond the Box” Wants to Hear From You.

“Experiences with Hospitalization” Survey Seeks Participants

Thanks, Leah Harris

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin Seek Participants for Depression Study

Trinity College Dublin researchers write: “We are a team of psychologists at Trinity College Dublin who are trying to better understand depression. We are interested in using language to predict the occurrence of depression early. Our hope is that in doing so we can one day be able to help doctors provide treatments earlier and maybe even prevent depression altogether. In order to participate, you must be at least 18 years old, have had a Twitter account for at least one year, [and] have at least 500 Tweets. Interested in participating? Learn more by clicking. If not, thanks for taking the time to read about our research.” For the “continue” link to more information, click here.

Mental Health First Aid Australia Seeks Research Participants to Update MHFA Guidelines

International Survey on Antipsychotic Medication Withdrawal Seeks Respondents

Virtual Group Is Launched to Advance Peer Research Capacity, Leadership, and Involvement

Do You Supervise Peer Support Workers? Then Researchers Have Some Questions for You

What Happens to People after Discharge from First Episode Psychosis/Early Intervention Programs? New Study Seeks Answers—and Participants

Disclaimer: The Clearinghouse does not necessarily endorse the opinions and opportunities included in the Key Update.

About The Key Update

The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is now affiliated with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion!

The Key Update is the free monthly e-newsletter of the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse. Volume 16, No. 4, October 2019. For content, reproduction or publication information, please contact Susan Rogers at selfhelpclearinghouse@gmail.com. Follow Susan on Twitter at @SusanRogersMH

Key Update, September 2019, Volume 16, Number 3

September 18, 2019 Susan Rogers

The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is now affiliated with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion!

TO CONTACT THE CLEARINGHOUSE: SELFHELPCLEARINGHOUSE@GMAIL.COM

TO CONTACT SUSAN ROGERS: SUSAN.ROGERS.ADVOCACY@GMAIL.COM

TO CONTACT JOSEPH rogers: jrogers08034@gmail.com

“Proposal to monitor people with MI to predict violence sparks field outcry,” MHW Writes

“Following a recently announced proposal by the Trump administration to create a new research arm within the proposed Health Advanced Research Projects Agency (HARPA), mental health and disability rights advocacy groups banded together on a preliminary conference call [recently] to weigh concerns and discuss potential steps should this proposal move forward,” according to a September 16, 2019, article in Mental Health Weekly. “‘National mental health and disability groups have joined together and are planning a steady stream of joint action to counter these proposals and to fight against the level of scapegoating that is occurring at this time,’ Harvey Rosenthal, CEO of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS), told MHW. ‘Public fears, gun lobbying tactics and the failure of politicians to stand up to the NRA [National Rifle Association]’ are fueling these proposals, he told MHW. ‘A proposal to monitor people with mental health conditions and look for neurological signs of potential violence would be ludicrous, if not outrageous.’” For the Mental Health Weekly article as well as numerous links to other articles debunking the spurious link between mental health conditions and violence, click here.

Peer Support Outpaces Clinical Practice in Fostering Mental Health Recovery, Research Says

“Systematic reviews have confirmed that, while peer support and clinical practice typically perform fairly equally on traditional outcome measures like rehospitalization and relapse, peer support scores better in areas related to the recovery process,” according to a recent Psychiatry Advisor article. “In particular, peer support tends to offer greater levels of self‐efficacy, empowerment, and engagement…‘There is a lot of value in sharing with people who have overcome similar mental health challenges,’ says psychotherapist Hilary Jacobs Hendel,” author of It’s Not Always Depression. “‘Peer support builds confidence and hope for healing.’…”For the article, click here.

2020 Presidential Candidates Talk about Mental Health

Mental Health for US, a nonpartisan coalition “intended to elevate mental health and addiction in policy conversations during the upcoming election season,” has reached out to a number of the 2020 presidential candidates to ask them about their positions on mental health issues, and has posted on its website the answers of those who have responded: Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren. As of August 27, 2019, candidates Joe Biden, Julian Castro, Donald Trump, William Weld, and Andrew Yang had not replied. For the positions of the candidates who went on the record about their mental health policy positions, click here.

Courtesy of Jacek Haciak

“Union Alleges Illegal Practices at SAMHSA”

“The National Treasury Employees Union is in the process of filing ‘many grievances,’ including a complaint over the sudden elimination in August of telework accommodations for disabled employees, the union’s national president told POLITICO. The union is also asking for examples of legal and ethical violations after some staff alleged that they were reassigned or suffered other retribution when they raised concerns about labor practices. ‘SAMHSA is at the center of our government’s response to the nation’s opioid crisis,’ said Tony Reardon, the union's national president. ‘SAMHSA employees are concerned that the agency’s poor treatment of its own workforce will impede this vital work as skilled, veteran employees head for the exits.’ A senior SAMHSA official disputed the allegations in an interview with POLITICO, stressing that the agency is appropriately implementing the union contract and focused on ‘an all-hands-on deck approach’ to combating the opioid crisis. ‘We certainly did not take telework away from disabled employees,’ said Deepa Avula, who oversees the agency's HR practices and suggested that the allegations stemmed from miscommunication. SAMHSA has experienced considerable turnover and declining morale during the Trump administration, ranking 413th out of 415 agencies in a government employee engagement survey last year. More than a dozen senior officials have departed or been reassigned since the summer of 2018, including a handful of staffers—like the agency’s new chief medical officer—who only lasted several months in their roles.” For a brief summary, click here.

“PRA Releases Free Safe Messaging Icons to Honor Suicide Prevention Month”

“In honor of Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, suicide prevention efforts, and survivors everywhere, Policy Research Associates Inc. (PRA) has collaborated with experts in the field to create a suite of nine icons that illustrate key suicide prevention concepts in a strength-based and recovery-oriented manner. This suite addresses key concepts within Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Preventing Suicide: A Technical Package of Policy, Programs, and Practices, as well as critical topics addressed in suicide prevention work.” For more, click here.

Free Webinar: “Financial Wellness and Peer Support” on September 24

On September 24, 2019, at 2 p.m. ET, Doors to Wellbeing will present a free 60-minute webinar on “Financial Wellness and Peer Support: Building Hope for a Better Financial Future.” Among the learning objectives are recognizing “concrete strategies peer support providers can use to help build financial hope in five domains: day-to-day financial stability, long-term financial security, autonomy from public benefits, ability to control their financial decisions, economic citizenship and participation”; and following “a six-step economic empowerment process to engage people in culturally meaningful conversations about life dreams and financial goals, build financial hope, develop financial wellness action plans and coach people through a process that helps them to move toward financial goals.” For more information and to register, click here.

U.S. Should Create a National Agenda to Improve Child and Youth Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health, Says Report

“A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine calls for a comprehensive national agenda to improve mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) health in children and youth…The report finds that new research into factors that influence MEB health, effective interventions, and better ways to implement those interventions on a broad scale are forming a foundation for significantly improving healthy MEB development.” The report—Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Development in Children and Youth: A National Agenda—“calls for federal leadership and coordination between public and private partners at the national, state, and community levels to make MEB health a priority, and for them to take full advantage of research on interventions and implementation.” For the press release, which includes a link to the free report, click here.

Courtesy of Fran Hazam

Free Webinar: “How to Embed Strategic Planning into the Culture of Your Organization”

A free, 90-minute webinar on “How to Embed Strategic Planning into the Culture of Your Organization” will be presented on September 26, 2019, at 2 p.m. ET, as part of a collaborative series by the five federally funded national technical assistance centers. “In this webinar, participants will not only learn the basic tools and techniques of developing a strategic plan for their peer-run organization, but they will also discover how to incorporate their strategic plan into their organization’s culture and day-to-day operations. This webinar will feature the National Empowerment Center's work with the Wisconsin Milkweed Alliance as an example of how we can work toward embedding strategic planning into the culture of an organization. The presenters will offer tips, practices, and exercises that organizational leaders can utilize to ensure that their strategic plan is not just a document to be referenced but a practical vision that unites and guides staff, board members, and stakeholders under shared aspirations.” To register, click here.

60th Annual National Dialogues on Behavioral Health Conference November 3-6 in New Orleans

PIER Program May Prevent Psychosis

A program developed in 2001 may help prevent the onset of a psychotic episode, according to a recent New York Times article. The PIER—Portland Identification and Early Referral—program involves multifamily group sessions, and each group has “two professional leaders, some combination of the following: a nurse, a social worker, an occupational therapist, a psychologist and sometimes a young person who has been through the experience and is now well…The intervention is adapted to each individual and focuses on practical issues like how to stay in school, make and keep friends or jobs, how to handle stresses and plan for the future. ‘We also emphasize the value of healthy eating and exercise and spending more time outdoors,’ [Dr. William R. McFarlane, who developed the program,] added. ‘Only when necessary do we use medication, like a mood stabilizer or anti-depressive. This isn’t about drug treatment.’ The PIER program has been replicated at some 18 centers around the U.S., and SAMHSA has authorized funding to establish 21 additional sites. For the article, click here.

New Research Center Will Study Using Compounds Like LSD and Psilocybin for Mental Health Problems

“Johns Hopkins Medicine recently announced the launch of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, to study compounds like LSD and psilocybin for a range of mental health problems, including anorexia, addiction and depression. The center is the first of its kind in the country, established with $17 million in commitments from wealthy private donors and a foundation,” The New York Times reports. Some researchers urge caution, but others believe that the new Center can help provide answers that have previously eluded scientists. “‘This is an exciting initiative that brings new focus to efforts to learn about mind, brain and psychiatric disorders by studying the effects of psychedelic drugs,’ Dr. John Krystal, chair of psychiatry at Yale University, said in an email about the Johns Hopkins center.” For the article, click here.

Depression Can Be Physically Painful, Researchers Find

When Columbia University researchers analyzed nerve cell activity in more than 200 MRI scans and considered brain changes associated with both depression and treatment, they observed a network of nerve activity that is central to processing pain, “but it has never been previously connected to depression,” according to study author David Hellerstein, MD. “The Columbia researchers noted that treatment with antidepressant medications relieved both psychological and physical symptoms, while treatment with the placebo had no effect on pain in study subjects,” according to a recent article in Bustle. For the article, click here.

'FACT' Teams Aim to Keep People with Mental Health Conditions Out of Jail

Around the country, Forensic Assertive Community Treatment—or FACT—teams have been launched to provide an array of support services intended to keep people with serious mental health conditions out of the hospital and out of the criminal justice system. The concept is based on Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams, which were developed in the 1970s. Current evidence indicates that the teams work well for some people, some of the time, according to a recent BBC World Service article. For the article, click here. For an eight-page SAMHSA publication about FACT, click here.

Air Force Launches “Resilience Tactical Pause” to Combat Suicide in Its Ranks

“The Resilience Tactical Pause (RTP) is intended to provide an opportunity for leaders to engage their Airmen in a manner that fosters interpersonal connection,” the Air Force writes. “The RTP is not a ‘down day,’ but deliberate time to promote trust and confidence in leadership, drive awareness, and to highlight the importance of candid feedback about how we can better support our Airmen…This is not a one-and-done effort, but the beginning of an ongoing, sustained effort to combat the challenge. Care should be taken to ensure facilitators and participants of small group discussions do not view this event as training. The RTP will foster discussion, connection, and identification of potential solutions to optimize Airmen performance.” For the RTP Playbook, click here.

Archived Webinar on “Trauma and Brain Science: Why Can’t I Think My Way Out of This?” Will Be Available in October

Approximately one week after it airs on September 24, 2019, a National Training & Technical Assistance Center webinar that has been fully subscribed will be available via YouTube. The webinar “will address how trauma responses, protective during traumatic experience, change our brain function and physiology in ways that are not subject to our voluntary control. It will explain how those changes can result in negative impacts to our functioning, thinking, relationships, and work if they are not addressed. Participants will learn why we can't just decide to make the effects of trauma recede, based on recent brain science. The webinar will address why we need to learn skills that actually address the changes in brain function during trauma to prevent negative effects. Skills for addressing trauma responses during traumatic experiences that are not dangerous and immediately post-trauma exposure will be presented.” For the YouTube link, at which other archived NTTAC webinars are also available, click here. NTTAC is a program of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which is part of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Courtesy of Jacek Haciak

Optimists May Live Longer, Study Shows

“Researchers found that people who scored higher on an optimism assessment were more likely to live past the age of 85,” according to a recent article in Scientific American. “Those with higher optimism levels at the start of the study were more likely to have advanced degrees and be physically active, and less likely to have health conditions like diabetes or depression. However, when researchers accounted for these variables, they still found that optimism was associated with people living significantly longer.” The article noted that the study participants were “mostly white people of higher socioeconomic status. It is difficult to determine how generalizable these findings are.” To read more, click here.

“DC Comics’ ‘Heroes in Crisis’ Explores the Mental Health of Superheroes”

“…comics are actually a lot like the real world: Their heroes suffer a physical and psychic toll as a result of cyclical violence…That friction is the main theme of DC Comics’ Heroes in Crisis, the latest endeavor from writer Tom King and artist Clay Mann. An early example of this friction appears in the premiere issue, in which King cleverly turns the struggle of Blue Jay—a Justice League rotational player beginning to lose grasp on his shrinking power—into a genuine testimony on the ways depression breeds stasis: ‘I go to sleep,’ said the hero. ‘And wake up small … I’ll be drowning in my own bed.’” For the article, click here.

A Digest of Articles about Alternatives to Traditional Mental Health Treatment

For “Anxiety and depression: why doctors are prescribing gardening rather than drugs,” click here. For “Healing Depression with Integrative Medicine: Dr. Kim Celmer,” click here. For “Nature and Mental Health: An Ecosystem Service Perspective,” click here. For “Surprising Alternative Treatments for Mental Disorders,” click here. For “Feeling depressed? Mahjong might be the answer,” click here. For “Why more depression treatments should include exercise,” click here.

The September 2019 Digest of Articles about the Criminal Justice System, in Which Many Individuals with Mental Health Conditions Are Incarcerated (and the Key Update continues after this Digest)

Here is the September wrap-up of stories about the criminal justice system. (Note: Some of the titles and other language are not politically correct but are reproduced as written.) For “Documentary to Showcase Education in Prison,” click here. For “When Solitary Confinement Is A Death Sentence: Mariam Abdullah died by suicide after the teen spent much of the final two years of her life in solitary confinement,” click here. For “‘I’m Gonna Die in Here’: 19-Year-Old ‘Mentally Ill’ Woman in Jail for Spitting,” click here. For “How Southern California jails are changing the way they treat the mentally ill,” click here. For “In Prison, and Fighting to Vote,” click here. For “KOLD INVESTIGATES: Battle over conditions inside Arizona prisons heating up,” click here. For “The graying of America’s prisons: ‘When is enough enough?’ Inmates over 55 are among the fastest growing population. They burden prisons and taxpayers, but pose the lowest threat to society,” click here. For “Unlocking Prison Problems: Four questions on the future of incarceration,” click here. For “After prison, more punishment” They did their time. But as the formerly incarcerated reenter the workforce, will their past be held against them?” click here. For “Federal prison suicides were quietly rising before Jeffrey Epstein's death in a New York detention center,” click here. For “Mourning a Stranger’s Suicide in Prison: ‘Together we prayed and talked about who this girl might have been—and who she might have become,’” click here. For “Misdemeanor and Felony-Friendly Jobs: 70 Million Jobs will connect you with great companies that offer second chance jobs for people with criminal records. No cost to you,” click here. For “She Begged Them to Take Away His Police Handgun. He Died Anyway: New York is facing a record number of police suicides, but has lagged in mental health initiatives for troubled officers,” click here. For “How Would You Spend a Life Sentence? For one inmate, a new federal law gave hope where there had been none,” click here. For “Art vs. Mass Incarceration,” click here. For “What Gate Money Cab (And Cannot) Buy: Most states give money to people leaving prison. But some formerly incarcerated people say it’s often not enough to meet their basic needs,” click here. For “A Fair Fight: …indigent defense systems across the country have been chronically under-resourced for decades,” click here. For “An illusion of justice: The baffling conviction and death sentence of Toforest Johnson reveal a broken system,” click here. For “The Criminal Justice Debate Has Changed Drastically. Here’s Why. Democratic candidates are pushing ideas that were considered radical just a few years ago. But the American public has changed its views, too,” click here. For “‘Treatment Facilities’ Aren’t What You Think They Are: Convicted of no crime, more people are being forced behind bars to undergo involuntary addiction treatment,” click here.

FROM PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THE KEY UPDATE BUT STILL FRESH!

If You Have Experienced Psychosis, “Psychosis Beyond the Box” Wants to Hear From You.

“Experiences with Hospitalization” Survey Seeks Participants

Thanks, Leah Harris

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin Seek Participants for Depression Study

Mental Health First Aid Australia Seeks Research Participants to Update MHFA Guidelines

International Survey on Antipsychotic Medication Withdrawal Seeks Respondents

What Is a Peer Support Specialist? Your Opinion Is Wanted

“On behalf of iNAPS, a national workgroup has developed a proposed definition for peer support specialist to submit for federal standard occupational classification through the U.S. Department of Labor,” iNAPS writes. “We are asking you to complete this short survey regarding the proposed definition...The proposed title, Peer Support Specialist, does not prevent the use of other job titles, such as Recovery Coach, Peer Bridger, Peer Navigator, etc.” To complete the survey, click here.

New Virtual Group Is Launched to Advance Peer Research Capacity, Leadership, and Involvement

Do You Supervise Peer Support Workers? Then Researchers Have Some Questions for You

What Happens to People after Discharge from First Episode Psychosis/Early Intervention Programs? New Study Seeks Answers—and Participants

Disclaimer: The Clearinghouse does not necessarily endorse the opinions and opportunities included in the Key Update.

About The Key Update

The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is now affiliated with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion!

The Key Update is the free monthly e-newsletter of the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse. Volume 16, No. 3, September 2019. For content, reproduction or publication information, please contact Susan Rogers at selfhelpclearinghouse@gmail.com. Follow Susan on Twitter at @SusanRogersMH

Key Update, August 2019, Volume 16, Number 2

August 22, 2019 Susan Rogers

The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is now affiliated with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion!

TO CONTACT THE CLEARINGHOUSE: SELFHELPCLEARINGHOUSE@GMAIL.COM

TO CONTACT SUSAN ROGERS: SUSAN.ROGERS.ADVOCACY@GMAIL.COM

TO CONTACT JOSEPH ROGERS: JROGERS08034@GMAIL.COM

“Study Casts Doubt on Evidence for ‘Gold Standard’ Psychological Treatments”

A paper published recently in a special edition of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology “questions much of the statistical evidence underpinning therapies designated as ‘Empirically Supported Treatments,’ or ESTs,” NeuroscienceNews.com reports. “For years, ESTs have represented a ‘gold standard’ in research-supported psychotherapies for conditions like depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders, substance abuse, generalized anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. But recent concerns about the replicability of research findings in clinical psychology prompted the re-examination of their evidence. The new study, led by researchers at the University of Kansas and University of Victoria, concluded that while underlying evidence for a small number of empirically supported treatments is strong, ‘power and replicability estimates were concerningly low across almost all ESTs, and individually, some ESTs scored poorly across multiple metrics.’” For more information, click here.

Courtesy of Fran Hazam

NCD Finds an “Alarming Pattern” of Institutionalization of People with Disabilities after Natural Disasters

The National Council on Disability (NCD) recently reported on “an alarming pattern of institutionalization of people with disabilities during and after natural disasters,” the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) writes. In violation of federal laws and because of a lack of equal access to emergency and disaster-related programs and services, “many people with disabilities are institutionalized against their will in assisted living facilities, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, psychiatric institutions, and other long-term care facilities during and after natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires,” the NRDC writes. This human rights violation has a potential impact on a huge number of individuals: According to NCD figures, 12 million of the 47 million people affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria were people with disabilities. “Once institutionalized, it can be difficult for people with disabilities to return to independent life in their communities,” the NRDC writes. “In some instances, survivors can’t even be located by their loved ones.” For the NRDC article, which includes a link to the NCD report, click here.

Nearly 50 Percent of People Wouldn’t Tell Their Doctor If They Were Suicidal or Depressed, Study Finds

Nearly half of all people withhold critical information about their mental health—or about sexual assault or domestic violence—from their doctors, a new study has found. And “over 70 percent of those surveyed said the reason they wouldn't disclose information about sexual assault, domestic violence, suicidal thoughts or depression was because they were embarrassed or feared being judged or lectured.” For more information, click here.

Free Webinar: “Avoiding Compassion Fatigue and Burnout for Mental Health Peer Specialists”

On August 27 at 2 p.m. ET, Doors to Wellbeing will present a free 60-minute webinar on “Avoiding Compassion Fatigue and Burnout for Mental Health Peer Specialists.” “This presentation will explore tools, role plays, and discussions that will help mental health peer specialists build up their wellness and resilience and avoid compassion fatigue and burnout. Additionally, this presentation will include lessons learned about burnout and compassion fatigue for peer support specialists during the initial implementation of Medicaid billable peer support services in Arizona.” For more information and to register, click here.

Free Webinar: “Serious Mental Illness/Substance Use Disorders & Tailoring FEP Programs to Serve Women”

On August 27 at 1:30 p.m. ET, the National Council for Behavioral Health will present a free, 90-minute, SAMHSA-sponsored webinar called “Serious Mental Illness/Substance Use Disorders and Tailoring FEP Programs to Serve Women.” “This webinar will explore how mental health and substance use treatment providers currently care for women with co-occurring first episode psychosis (FEP), serious mental illness, and substance use disorder; and what questions remain…Also of note is the high prevalence of ACEs [Adverse Childhood Experiences] in women and the ways to address this in care…The speakers will identify specific knowledge gaps and potential areas for improvement from a research and clinical standpoint.” For more information and to register, click here.

“State Selfies: Help Develop a Picture of Peer Services in Your State”

Doors to Wellbeing writes: “For our new project, WE NEED YOUR HELP in collecting information on the peer services, organizations, programs, projects, groups, and networks in your state. Please answer as many questions as you can; it’s okay if you do not know all the answers. Please fill out a separate survey for each organization or program you want to tell us about.” For the survey, click here.

Comprehensive Psychiatry Highlights Articles on Suicide Research and Treatment

Comprehensive Psychiatry is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal covering psychiatry and mental health, and aimed at sharing “cutting-edge knowledge” in order to improve psychiatric care and advance the understanding of mental health conditions. The journal has compiled a number of recent articles on suicide research and treatment as part of its ongoing call for papers. To read the articles, click here.

Free Webinar: “Focus on the Family—Using Person- and Family-Centered Care for Mental Health”

On August 28 at 3 p.m. ET, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) is hosting a free, 90-minute, SAMHSA-sponsored webinar called “Focus on the Family Using Person- and Family-Centered Care for Mental Health. “This method involves a collaborative and strengths-based approach that relies on understanding the preferences and abilities of the individual seeking treatment and their support systems in order to tailor a personal plan for success,” NASMHPD writes. “Presenters will share tips for engaging individuals and their family members in the treatment planning process, stories of success,” and more. To register, click here.

MindFreedom International Has Published 13 “Voices for Choices ” Videos

“Psychiatric drugs are controversial. Some people take the drugs and find a benefit, some people take the drugs and are harmed, and some people avoid them altogether.” So begins the text that accompanies “Alternatives to Psychiatric Drugs,” part of MindFreedom International’s Voices for Choices video series. In the video, a number of people with lived experience, as well as award-winning journalist Robert Whitaker, discuss the subject from a variety of standpoints. For the 17:29-minute video, click here. Another Voices for Choices video—“Alternatives to Psychiatric Hospitals”—is also available: “In an effort to reduce the harmful experiences occurring in psychiatric hospitals, compassionate alternatives are being created around the world.” For that video, click here.

Courtesy of Amy Smith and Paula J. Caplan, respectively

Free Story-Telling Project Manual Published by the Temple University Collaborative

A free, 44-page Beyond the Diagnosis Story Telling Project Manual has been developed as part of a story-sharing initiative by the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion of Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities. “The manual’s mission is to encourage the sharing of real stories of community participation, beyond the diagnosis,” The TU Collaborative writes. “Inside this manual, we include suggestions for organizing events that allow people to share their stories. You will also find information and activities that will help storytellers develop narratives based on their experiences.” To download the free manual, click here.

“Does the Moon Affect Bipolar Disorder?” Some Say Yes.

Lunar tidal cycles can affect people with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder, according to a recent NPR podcast. Psychiatrist Tom Wehr—who, with a colleague, was the first to describe seasonal affective disorder and to suggest light therapy as a treatment—co-authored a study in 1996 showing that lack of sleep was the main predictor of switching from depression to mania, and that sleep was not just a symptom but a cause. He later began to wonder if people’s mood cycles were caused by something external. “And, you know, there’s always been a popular belief that the moon is somehow affecting human behavior,” Wehr said. After studying the spring-neap tidal cycle, he realized that, for many of his patients, mania seemed to correspond with the bimonthly spring tides, and depression with the bimonthly neap tides. For the podcast and the article, click here.

Mental Health Is Declining Among “Disadvantaged Adults,” Study Finds

American adults of low socioeconomic status report increasing mental distress and worsening well-being, according to a new study by Princeton University and Georgetown University. The results show that distress is not just a midlife phenomenon but a scenario plaguing disadvantaged Americans across the life course, according to a Princeton University press release. The findings should be taken into account in terms of policy and advocacy efforts, the researchers said. “Our results paint a picture of substantial social stratification in the psychological health of American adults, one that has been widening as declines in mental health have occurred unevenly across the socioeconomic spectrum,” said co-lead author Noreen Goldman of Princeton. “The findings are consistent with drug overdose death rates and underscore the dire need for improved access to, and affordability of, mental health services for low-income and less-educated American adults of all ages.” For the press release, click here.

“Trieste’s mental health revolution: 'It’s the best place to get sick'”

“Sara has struggled with her mental health since she was a child. She lives in Trieste, where ideas from a mental health 'revolution' in the 1970s are helping her recover today.” For a short (under five minutes) film about “Trieste’s mental health revolution,” click here.

Free Webinar on Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy Approaches on August 29

A free 90-minute webinar, “Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy (CT-R) Approaches in Treating People with Serious Mental Illness,” presented by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), will take place on August 29 at 2 p.m. ET. “Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy (CT-R) is a theoretically driven, evidence-based approach that operationalizes recovery, resiliency, and empowerment for individuals who experience serious mental health challenges. [Dr. Aaron] Beck’s cognitive model guides the development of a positive and personal life-space…and provides insight into often complex challenges that get in the way of living a life of one’s choosing…” To register, click here.

British Study Asks, “What Would You Do If You Were Me, Doctor?”

The goal of a study published in 2010 in the British Journal of Psychiatry was to find out whether psychiatrists would reveal their personal preferences when someone they were treating asked, “What would you do if you were me?” The study, involving 515 psychiatrists, used a “depression scenario” and a “schizophrenia scenario.” The researchers found that “[p]sychiatrists choosing treatment for themselves predominantly selected other treatments (mostly watchful waiting and oral antipsychotics respectively) than what psychiatrists recommended to patients when asked in the ‘regular recommendation role’ (i.e., antidepressant and depot[—a slow-release, slow-acting form of one’s medication—]respectively). The researchers concluded that “[t]he question ‘What would you do if you were me, doctor?’ does not motivate psychiatrists to leave their professional recommendation role and to take a more personal perspective…” For an article about the study, click here.

Free Webinar on Balancing the Behavioral Health Needs of People in the Criminal Justice System

On September 4 at 2 p.m. ET, the National Reentry Resource Center will offer a free, 90-minute webinar explaining how two jurisdictions—the State of Oklahoma and Douglas County, Nebraska—promoted recovery, successful diversion from the criminal justice system to treatment, or reentry to the community among their participants. “Jurisdictions across the country face challenges to developing case plans that balance criminogenic and behavioral health needs. In response, The Council of State Governments Justice Center developed the web-based Collaborative Comprehensive Case Plans tool, which builds upon Adults with Behavioral Health Needs under Correctional Supervision, a systems-planning framework for prioritizing supervision and treatment services.” To register, click here.

“What’s the Most Memorable Thing a Therapist Ever Told You?”

Readers respond to the question “What’s the most memorable thing a therapist ever told you?” with some wise, some foolish, and some in-between answers. (Therapists! They’re just like us!) For the story, click here. For a related video, “Sh*t Therapists Say,” click here.

Mad in America Offers a Webinar Series on “System Changes for a Green Mental Health Movement”

For $150, Mad in America is offering a series of 10 monthly webinars—beginning on September 17, 2019—on “System Changes for a Green Mental Health Movement.” “The goal of each webinar will be to describe changes needed and the real world experiences of the presenters in implementing the changes,” Mad in America writes. “The goal of the series will be to show how changes can move toward a ‘Green Movement’ in mental health systems…A Green Movement respects and supports the choices and interests of people who encounter mental health challenges in order to sustain healthy environments of living and working.” For more information or to enroll for $150, click here.

A Digest of Articles about Alternatives to Traditional Mental Health Treatment

For “The Quick Therapy That Actually Works: Just a few hours of therapy-like interventions can reduce some people’s anxiety,” click here. For “The Culture Cure: How Prescription Art Is Lifting People Out of Depression: From singing together to being read to in a library, an arts participation scheme is transforming lives in Denmark,” click here. For “Heavy metal music may have a bad reputation, but it has numerous mental health benefits for fans,” click here. For “Move Over, Therapy Dogs. Hello, Therapy Cows. The best therapists for silly human problems don’t say a word,” click here. For “A New Way to Measure the Mental Health Benefits of Nature in Cities,” click here. For “How Being a Plant Lady Improves Your Mental Health,” click here.

The August 2019 Digest of Articles about the Criminal Justice System, in Which Many Individuals with Mental Health Conditions Are Incarcerated (and the Key Update continues after this Digest)

Here is the August wrap-up of stories about the criminal justice system. (Note: Some of the titles and other language are not politically correct but are reproduced as written.) For “Shock Corridor: The first inside report from an ICE mental health facility,” click here. For “How bigotry created a black mental health crisis. Racism has led to misdiagnosis, incarceration instead of treatment,” click here. For “Police fear ‘suicide by cop’ cases. So they’ve stopped responding to some calls,” click here. For “Why Jails Have More Suicides Than Prisons: A new report and a growing phenomenon,” click here. For “Ohio Governor Wants to Detain Fewer Mentally Ill People Before Trial,” click here. For “New law makes it easier for Illinoisans in criminal justice system to get jobs in health care industry, click here. For “Beyond One-Liners: A Guide to the Democratic Debate on Criminal Justice,” click here. For “Between 2007 and 2017, 34 States Reduced Crime and Incarceration in Tandem. Some still argue that increasing imprisonment is necessary to reduce crime. Data show otherwise,” click here. For “Inside the Battle to Close Rikers: Can New York City build its way out of mass incarceration?” click here. For “Each night, Philly jails release scores of inmates without returning their IDs, cash or phones,” click here. For “Slavery gave America a fear of black people and a taste for violent punishment. Both still define our criminal-justice system,” click here. For “For Years, the Federal Death Penalty Has Been a Thing of the Past. That’s Where It Should Stay. Attorney General Barr’s justification for resuming capital punishment is everything Justice Brennan feared,” click here. For “The Redemption of Teen Killers: Why ‘Miller’s Children’ Deserved Their Second Chance,” click here. For “Georgia’s prisons face troubling rise in suicides. What are officials doing about it?” click here. For “Thirty-Two Short Stories About Death in Prison,” click here. For “The Criminal Justice System Is Bad for Your Health, Warns New York City’s Health Department. ‘Even brief contact with the police or indirect exposure is associated with lasting harm,’ said New York City’s health commissioner,” click here. For “Southern California jails are trying to improve health care. But inmates are dying,” click here. For “County votes to cancel $1.7B contract to replace Men’s Central Jail,” click here. For “From Prison to Work: Former inmates learn to be entrepreneurs at Georgetown University,” click here. For “Prison Labor: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” click here. For “An old prison wall in Philly connects inmates to the outside through animated films,” click here. For “What Juvenile Justice Needs: Care, Not Cages: We rely too much on incarceration. The pillars of the system should be healing, restoration and renewal,” click here.

FROM PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THE KEY UPDATE BUT STILL FRESH!

Call for Submissions: ISEPP Annual Awards
“Each year ISEPP [International Society for Ethical Psychiatry & Psychology] recognizes three people who have made significant contributions to the critical psychology/psychiatry movement. These awards will be presented at our conference in Baltimore, October 11-13, 2019. Please send submissions to exec@psychintegrity.org. Deadline is September 1st. You can nominate a candidate in each category.” For details, click here.

2019 Annual NYAPRS Conference, Sept. 24-26, Announces Keynotes and Schedule

The New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS) recently announced the keynotes and topics of its 37th annual conference, which will be held in Callicoon, NY, September 24-26. Among the keynote presentations is a panel featuring Lindsey Sizemore of the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network; Sarah Felman of the Mental Health Empowerment Project, in New York; and Vesper Moore of the Central Massachusetts Recovery Learning Community. In addition, Luis Lopez, of the Center for Practice Innovations in New York, will make a presentation on “Healing Trauma.” The theme of this year’s conference, which annually attracts presenters and attendees from around the U.S., is “Integrate, Innovate, Advocate, Celebrate: Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize! To register, click here.

The Five Federally Funded National TA Centers Collaborate on a Free Webinar Series

The next free 90-minute webinar hosted by the Peer-Run Organization Learning Collaborative will be on September 26, at 2 p.m. ET. The Peer-Run Organization Learning Collaborative is a joint effort of the five federally funded National Consumer/Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Centers: the CAFÉ TA Center, Doors to Wellbeing, the NAMI STAR Center, the National Empowerment Center, and Peerlink. The centers take turns presenting the webinars. To register, click here. To respond to a brief survey “to learn about the needs and priorities of peer-run organizations,” click here.

If You Have Experienced Psychosis, “Psychosis Beyond the Box” Wants to Hear From You.

“Experiences with Hospitalization” Survey Seeks Participants

Thanks, Leah Harris

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin Seek Participants for Depression Study

Mental Health First Aid Australia Seeks Research Participants to Update MHFA Guidelines

International Survey on Antipsychotic Medication Withdrawal Seeks Respondents

What Is a Peer Support Specialist? Your Opinion Is Wanted

New Virtual Group Is Launched to Advance Peer Research Capacity, Leadership, and Involvement

Do You Supervise Peer Support Workers? Then Researchers Have Some Questions for You

NARPA Annual Rights Conference September 18-21 in Hartford, Connecticut

“For more than 30 years, NARPA [National Association for Rights Protection & Advocacy] has provided an educational conference with inspiring keynoters and outstanding workshops. We learn from each other and come together as a community committed to social justice for people with psychiatric labels & developmental disabilities.” For more information, click here.

What Happens to People after Discharge from First Episode Psychosis/Early Intervention Programs? New Study Seeks Answers—and Participants

Disclaimer: The Clearinghouse does not necessarily endorse the opinions and opportunities included in the Key Update.

About The Key Update

The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is now affiliated with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion!

The Key Update is the free monthly e-newsletter of the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse. Volume 16, No. 2, August 2019. For content, reproduction or publication information, please contact Susan Rogers at selfhelpclearinghouse@gmail.com. Follow Susan on Twitter at @SusanRogersMH

Key Update, July 2019, Volume 16, Number 1

July 27, 2019 Susan Rogers

The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is now affiliated with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion!

TO CONTACT THE CLEARINGHOUSE: SELFHELPCLEARINGHOUSE@GMAIL.COM TO CONTACT SUSAN ROGERS: SUSAN.ROGERS.ADVOCACY@GMAIL.COM TO CONTACT JOSEPH ROGERS: JROGERS08034@GMAIL.COM

Study Finds Psychiatric Diagnosis to Be “Scientifically Meaningless”

“A new study, published in Psychiatry Research, has concluded that psychiatric diagnoses are scientifically worthless as tools to identify discrete mental health disorders,” Neuroscience News reports. “The main findings of the research were: Psychiatric diagnoses all use different decision-making rules; there is a huge amount of overlap in symptoms between diagnoses; almost all diagnoses mask the role of trauma and adverse events; [and] diagnoses tell us little about the individual patient and what treatment they need.”…‘Although diagnostic labels create the illusion of an explanation, they are scientifically meaningless and can create stigma and prejudice,’” lead researcher Dr. Kate Allsopp, University of Liverpool, said. “‘I hope these findings will encourage mental health professionals to think beyond diagnoses and consider other explanations of mental distress, such as trauma and other adverse life experiences.’” For the article, click here. The study was covered in a variety of other publications, including Science Alert (click here).

Free Webinar Series Continues on July 30 with “…Key Elements in Progressive Peer Workforce Practice”

The third in a series of free one-hour webinars on “Peer Workforce and Mental Health System Change: Promise and Practice” will be offered at 11 a.m. ET on July 30 via The Central East Mental Health Technology Transfer Center. The webinars were developed by Jessica Wolf, PhD, Senior Advisor, Yale Group on Workforce Development. The third and final topic is “Chop Wood and Carry Water: Key Elements in Progressive Peer Workforce Practice.” To register for the July 30 webinar, click here to register on the website of The Central East Mental Health Technology Transfer Center, which is recording and archiving all three webinars.

Social Determinants Are the Best Way to Address Mental Health, Says UN’s Top Health Envoy

“Austerity, inequality and job insecurity are bad for mental health, and governments should counteract them if they want to face up to the rising prevalence of mental illness,” as The Guardian paraphrases a statement by the UN’s top health envoy in connection with his recently issued report to the UN. “Dr. Dainius Pūras said measures to address inequality and discrimination would be far more effective in combatting mental illness than the emphasis over the past 30 years on medication and therapy. ‘This would be the best “vaccine” against mental illness and would be much better than the excessive use of psychotropic medication, which is happening,’ said Pūras.” For the Guardian article, click here. For the UN report, click here.

Free Webinar on “Discharge and Step-Down in Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) for Persons with a First Episode of Psychosis (Part I)” on August 1

“As Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) services for persons with First Episode Psychosis have expanded and matured, awareness of the challenges surrounding discharge planning and interest in step-down programming have grown substantially.” Thus begins the description of a free, 90-minute, SAMHSA-sponsored webinar on “Discharge and Step-Down in Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) for Persons with a First Episode of Psychosis,” on August 1, 2019, at 2 p.m. ET. The expert presenters—Nev Jones, Ashok Malla, Irene Hurford, and Jill Dunstan—will address these issues from a variety of standpoints. For details and to register, click here.

“Virtual Summit on Homelessness, Serious Mental Illness, and Substance Use Disorders” on August 7-8

On August 7-8, 2019, from 10:30 a.m. ET to 5:30 p.m. ET, SAMHSA will host a “Virtual Summit on Homelessness, Serious Mental Illness, and Substance Use Disorders.” SAMHSA’s Homeless and Housing Resource Network invites you to join “The Way Home, a 2-day online conversation about the most effective approaches to ending homelessness for individuals with serious mental illness and/or substance use disorders. This virtual summit will feature more than two dozen national experts, providers, and policy makers who are making real progress toward ending homelessness across the nation…No travel required...Join us for the whole summit or drop in to only those sessions that most appeal to you.” For more information and to register—SAMHSA says that space is limited—click here.

Courtesy of Jacek Haciak

CMS to Host a Free Webinar on Demonstrating the Impact of Supportive Housing

CMS’s Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program is hosting a free, 90-minute national learning webinar on August 7, 2019, at 2 p.m. ET, on “Demonstrating the Impact of Supportive Housing.” “During this webinar,” CMS writes, “a framework and measures to demonstrate the impact of supportive housing will be presented. The webinar includes a discussion on the benefits of undertaking this type of work, as well as specific measures used across the country to assess the impact that providing supportive housing can have on health care utilization costs, homelessness, criminal justice, and other systems…” For more information and to register, click here.

Courtesy of Jacek Haciak

Mad In America Publishes “Twenty Years After Kendra’s Law: The Case Against AOT”

In a recent 11,000+-word Mad In America article—Part 1 of 2—award-winning journalist Robert Whitaker and freelance mental health care reporter Michael Simonson meticulously examine the rationale behind Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT)—also known as involuntary outpatient commitment—and debunk the myths that support its use. The article highlights the story of Andrew Rich, a young man who died by suicide after being subjected to a seemingly unending AOT order. The order had been supported by his mother, Elizabeth, a longtime civil and criminal defense attorney. “Looking back on it,” [she] said, in an interview with MIA, “I made so many mistakes in how much faith I had in the mental health system to help my son.” For the article and a link to Part 2, click here.

American Journal of Public Health Devotes Its June 2019 Issue to Mental Health

The June 2019 edition of the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) is all about mental health. The open-access issue includes a variety of editorials and articles grouped under the headings AJPH Perspectives, AJPH Policy, and AJPH Research, and further divided into such topics as a Call to Action, Depression, Technology, Genetics, Gun Violence, Psychosis, Substance Use, and others. For the issue, click here.

Courtesy of Nev Jones

2018 Peer Respite Essential Features Survey Reports Are Now Available!

Live & Learn, Inc., “a social enterprise specializing in partnerships between community members/service users and behavioral health researchers in public and academic settings,” recently issued reports from its 2018 Peer Respite Essential Features (PREF) Survey, examining aspects of peer respite operations, funding, staffing, and guest experience. “This year, the survey results were broken down into two separate reports: Program Operations, e.g., budgets and staff training; and Guest Stays, such as policies about housing status.” For highlights from the survey, click here. For the reports, click here.

“Storytelling Beyond the Psychiatric Gaze” Is Explored in a New Paper, in a Special Edition of the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies

A paper recently published in the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies—“Storytelling Beyond the Psychiatric Gaze: Resisting Resilience and Recovery Narratives”—“explores the politics of resilience and recovery narratives by bringing critical ethnography and auto-ethnographic methods to bear on [the author’s] experiences with storytelling distress in different contexts. Inviting people with lived experience to share their stories is now common practice in education, mental health, and broader community venues. Yet…it is difficult to hear such stories beyond the psychiatric gaze...” For the abstract and a link to the paper, which is available for free download, click here. For the entire special edition of the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies” (Vol. 8, No. 4, 2019), which includes 18 original works that “expose, resist, and rupture unexamined relations to difference and adversity,” click here.

Courtesy of Nev Jones

“Friendship Benches” Help New Yorkers in Need of Peer Support

“On the streets of New York, the city supports a program, first used in Zimbabwe, of having peers offer an ear to people who are suffering but are not in a position to seek professional therapy.” So begins a New York Times article about “Friendship Benches,” a project of ThriveNYC, founded by Chirlane McCray, New York City’s First Lady. The program involves peer supporters who sit on the benches and talk to people about their problems. “Their most important credential is something you can’t teach—they’ve been there,” the Times notes. “A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that Friendship Bench treatment effectively cured depression. It’s one of many studies showing that even lay people with little education can quickly learn to treat depression and anxiety.” For the New York Times article, click here. For a related story, “For Mental Health Support, NC Hospital Hires Those Who Live with It,” click here.

“Mental Health for US” Is Launched in Time for 2020 Presidential Election Season

Eight national mental health and addiction organizations have launched Mental Health for US, a nonpartisan initiative which, according to the press release, is “intended to elevate mental health and addiction in policy conversations during the upcoming election season.” The eight founding coalition leaders are the Kennedy Forum, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the Jed Foundation, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the National Council for Behavioral Health, Mental Health America, One Mind, and the Thomas Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation. Additional coalition members include 18 behavioral health organizations, among which are at least one peer-run organization, Active Minds. The three main focus areas of Mental Health for US are prevention, access and intervention, and recovery. For the press release, click here. (Editor’s note: This effort is reminiscent of a project initiated by Illinois-based mental health advocate AJ French in 2016, which was reported in the January 2016 edition of the Key Update. “I was listening to the news when one of the Presidential candidates said something that really disappointed me,” French wrote, adding, “…it caused me to wonder about the mental health policy positions of our next President and prompted me to write each candidate the following questions.” For the questions, click here.)

Courtesy of Amy Smith

Latest TU Collaborative Newsletter Highlights Its Bike Sharing Pilot Project

The new edition of the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion says: “Get on a bike and get to riding!” The newsletter includes feedback from participants in the bike share pilot project, along with a manual about the project, and more! For the newsletter, click here.

“Guidelines for the Successful Transition of People with Behavioral Health Disorders from Jail and Prison”

Policy Research Associates (PRA) has recently released a newly revised publication offering “10 guidelines to promote the necessary partnerships between behavioral health and criminal justice professionals to ensure an individual’s successful transition from jail or prison to the community.” Recommendations include universal screening, individualized treatment plans, continuity of care, and data sharing across agencies. To download the free 38-page “Guidelines for the Successful Transition of People with Behavioral Health Disorders from Jail and Prison,” click here. (For the monthly digest of articles about the criminal justice system, in which many individuals with mental health conditions are incarcerated, see below.)

Part 3 of SAMHSA’s GAINS Center’s “Advancing Early Diversion Summer Series” to Be Held August 19

“Many early diversion programs experience challenges around engaging individuals in services following the warm hand-off to mental health professionals,” SAMHSA’s GAINS Center writes. “Early diversion programs have employed follow-up engagement strategies led by a variety of professionals, including law enforcement officers, emergency medical services, mental health professionals, and peer support specialists. This webinar will examine follow-up strategies implemented in several jurisdictions to improve treatment engagement.” To register for the free one-hour webinar, August 19 at 1 p.m. ET, click here. The webinar will be immediately followed by a one-hour discussion with the presenters. To register for the discussion group, click here.

2019 Annual NYAPRS Conference, Sept. 24-26, Announces Keynotes and Schedule

Four Free “Tips for Providers” Fact Sheets Are Available from PRA

Policy Research Associates (PRA) Well-Being recently published four new Tips for Providers fact sheets. PRA writes: “The fact sheets highlight how providers can support individuals with mental health conditions to enhance their well-being in each of the eight dimensions of wellness. The newly released fact sheets focus on four dimensions of wellness: intellectual, occupational, physical, and social…” These new, free resources—each including numerous links to other resources—are now available for download. For “Intellectual Wellness,” click here. For “Occupational Wellness,” click here. For “Physical Wellness,” click here. For “Social Wellness,” click here.

A Marshall Project Article Makes a Case for Psychiatric Hospital Beds; but Sometimes “Not Guilty” Is a Life Sentence

Under the headline of a recent Marshall Project article—“Mentally Ill and Languishing in Jail”—was a provocative subhead: “A Pennsylvania case illustrates a national problem: People with psychiatric illnesses often remain incarcerated while they wait for a hospital bed.” The “nut graf”—editorial slang for a paragraph that tells readers why the story matters—reads: “But Pennsylvania is one of many states that [have] far too few hospital beds for the mentally ill defendants who need them, leaving people…to languish in jail while they wait for a spot…a nationwide problem that experts say may be linked to the downsizing of psychiatric hospitals and inadequate mental-health resources.” The article highlighted the painful story of a 34-year-old woman who had been studying for the Law School Admission Test before ending up cycling between jail and a state hospital, despite her mother’s determined efforts to help her. But a 2017 New York Times Magazine article—“When ‘Not Guilty’ Is a Life Sentence”—asks, “What happens after a defendant is found not guilty by reason of insanity? Often the answer is involuntary confinement in a state psychiatric hospital—with no end in sight.” For the Marshall Project article, click here. For the New York Times article, click here. For “I am insane,” by Reid Bertino, who is locked up in Western State Hospital in Washington for what he fears may be the rest of his life, click here. (For the monthly digest of articles about the criminal justice system, in which many individuals with mental health conditions are incarcerated, see below.)

The Rwandan Prescription for Depression: Sun, Drum, Dance, Community

“We had a lot of trouble with western mental health workers who came here immediately after the genocide and we had to ask some of them to leave,” said a Rwandan talking to a western writer, Andrew Solomon, about his experience with western mental health and depression. “They came and their practice did not involve being outside in the sun where you begin to feel better; there was no music or drumming to get your blood flowing again; there was no sense that everyone had taken the day off so that the entire community could come together to try to lift you up and bring you back to joy; there was no acknowledgement of the depression as something invasive and external that could actually be cast out again. Instead, they would take people one at a time into these dingy little rooms and have them sit around for an hour or so and talk about bad things that had happened to them. We had to ask them to leave.” To read this statement online, click here.

The July 2019 Digest of Articles about the Criminal Justice System, in Which Many Individuals with Mental Health Conditions Are Incarcerated (and the Key Update continues after this Digest)

Here is the July wrap-up of stories about the criminal justice system. (Note: Some of the titles and other language are not politically correct but are reproduced as written.) For “A judge is accused of dismissing mental illness. These lawyers want him off their cases,” click here. For “Changes to Help Those Lost in the System Because of Mental Illness,” click here. For “Judge to Fulton: Fix repulsive jail conditions for mentally ill women,” click here. For “Atlanta nonprofit to spearhead criminal justice push,” click here. For “Taking Stock of Pell Grants Behind Bars,” click here. For “A Second Chance After 27 Years in Prison: How Criminal Justice Helped an Ex-Inmate Graduate,” click here. For “Rikers Island Dilemma: Stop Taking Addiction Meds, or Stay Behind Bars,” click here. For “Philadelphia D.A. Larry Krasner Argues PA Death Penalty Is Unconstitutional,” click here. For “Prison does almost nothing to stop violent crime—study,” click here. For “States Passed Record 94 ‘Restoration’ Laws So Far This Year,” click here. For “Jail Deaths and the Elected Sheriff,” click here. For “The Badge: Spotlight on Sheriffs—Part 2: The Opioid Crisis,” click here. For “Humanities classes can rewrite life script of incarcerated Georgians,” click here. For “ ‘You don’t know what you did for me’: Released from prison by Obama, now on the Dean’s List,” click here. For “Does Reform Matter? The Hopelessness of a Life Sentence,” click here. For “Bryan Stevenson on His ‘Not Entirely Rational’ Quest for Justice,” click here. For “Digital Jail: How Electronic Monitoring Drives Defendants into Debt,” click here. For “Inmates Freed as Justice Department Tries to Clear Hurdles of New Law,” click here. For “Would You Let the Man Who Killed Your Sister Out of Prison? In Ohio, a project called ‘Beyond Guilt’ aims to press prosecutors, judges and victims of crime to more quickly embrace the possibility of early release for prisoners who admit their culpability but whose prison careers are marked by redemption and rehabilitation,” click here. For “The stink, the mice, the yelling. My time in solitary was the ‘most savage moment of my life,’ Rutgers grad recalls,” click here. For “ ‘Confirmation Bias’ Called a Key Reason for Wrongful Convictions,” click here.

FROM PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THE KEY UPDATE BUT STILL FRESH!

The Five Federally Funded National TA Centers Collaborate on a Free Webinar Series

The next two webinars hosted by the Peer-Run Organization Learning Collaborative will be on August 21 and September 26, at 2 p.m. ET. The Peer-Run Organization Learning Collaborative is a joint effort of the five federally funded National Consumer/Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Centers: the CAFÉ TA Center, Doors to Wellbeing, the NAMI STAR Center, the National Empowerment Center, and Peerlink. The centers take turns presenting the webinars. To register, click here. To respond to a brief survey “to learn about the needs and priorities of peer-run organizations,” click here.

If You Have Experienced Psychosis, “Psychosis Beyond the Box” Wants to Hear From You.

“Experiences with Hospitalization” Survey Seeks Participants

Thanks, Leah Harris

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin Seek Participants for Depression Study

Mental Health First Aid Australia Seeks Research Participants to Update MHFA Guidelines

International Survey on Antipsychotic Medication Withdrawal Seeks Respondents

What Is a Peer Support Specialist? Your Opinion Is Wanted

New Virtual Group Is Launched to Advance Peer Research Capacity, Leadership, and Involvement

Do You Supervise Peer Support Workers? Then Researchers Have Some Questions for You

Save the Date! NARMH Conference in Santa Fe, NM, August 26-29, 2019

The 2019 National Association for Rural Mental Health (NARMH) annual conference will be held in Santa Fe, N.M., August 26-29, 2019. The conference will focus on “Surviving to Thriving, Workforce Issues, Innovations in Service Delivery, Dilemmas in Addressing Trauma, Rural and Frontier Workforce Development Strategies, Embracing the Reality of Behavioral Health in Rural Communities—Struggles, Responses and Successes, Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorders and Other Topics.” For more information and/or to register, click here.

Save the Date! NARPA Annual Rights Conference September 18-21 in Hartford, Connecticut

What Happens to People after Discharge from First Episode Psychosis/Early Intervention Programs? New Study Seeks Answers—and Participants

Disclaimer: The Clearinghouse does not necessarily endorse the opinions and opportunities included in the Key Update.

About The Key Update

The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is now affiliated with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion!

The Key Update is the free monthly e-newsletter of the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse. Volume 16, No. 1, July 2019. For content, reproduction or publication information, please contact Susan Rogers at selfhelpclearinghouse@gmail.com. Follow Susan on Twitter at @SusanRogersMH

Key Update, June 2019, Volume 15, Number 12

June 23, 2019 Susan Rogers

The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is now affiliated with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion!

TO CONTACT THE CLEARINGHOUSE: SELFHELPCLEARINGHOUSE@GMAIL.COM

TO CONTACT SUSAN ROGERS: SUSAN.ROGERS.ADVOCACY@GMAIL.COM

TO CONTACT JOSEPH ROGERS: JROGERS08034@gmail.com

It’s Not Too Late to Register for Alternatives 2019!

The National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery (NCMHR) will host Alternatives 2019—“Standing Together, Celebrating Our Gifts, Raising Our Voices”—at The Catholic University in Washington, DC, July 7-11! The Alternatives Conference, now in its fourth decade, “is renowned for offering the latest and best information in the peer recovery movement, and a chance for peers to network with and learn from one another,” the NCMHR writes. “Now the People’s Alternatives once again, this conference is funded entirely through registration fees and donations.” Alternatives 2019 will include a two-day Public Policy and Education Academy, including advocacy training and a “Hill Day,” when peer advocates will meet, by appointment, with the staff of their U.S. senators and congressional representatives. To watch a short video about a past Alternatives conference, click here. For information about the keynote speakers, click here. For the workshop schedule, click here. For additional information, visit www.alternatives-conference.org. To register (for one day or the entire conference), click here.

Twitter Chat on “Challenging the Destructive Impact of Prejudice, Discrimination, Sanism, and Ableism” on July 15 at 2 p.m. ET

Join Nev Jones, Inside Our Minds (IOM), and the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse for a one-hour Twitter chat on “Challenging the Destructive Impact of Prejudice, Discrimination, Sanism, and Ableism” on July 15 at 2 p.m. ET. Nev Jones, Ph.D.—who has lived experience of psychosis and is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, and an internationally recognized advocate and expert in the mental health arena—will respond to questions and comments. In an 11,000+-word Pacific Standard article about her, she asks: “What would it look like if we focused on the social obstacles people face, instead of just their symptoms? How would it change things if we put people through school instead of telling them to settle for jobs shelving books? What if we listened to what it feels like to be mad, instead of telling people their experiences are just sound and fury meaning nothing?” For more about Inside Our Minds, click on www.insideourminds.org and follow @insidemindspgh on Twitter. For more about Alyssa Cypher, founder of Inside Our Minds, visit www.alyssaecypher.com and follow @lyss_cypher on Twitter. For more about Nev Jones, click here and click here and follow @viscidula on Twitter. The Twitter chat hashtag is #IOMchat.

Free Webinar Series on “Peer Workforce and Mental Health System Change”; First Webinar June 25!

Three free one-hour webinars on “Peer Workforce and Mental Health System Change: Promise and Practice” will be offered at 11 a.m. ET on June 25, July 16, and July 30 via The Central East Mental Health Technology Transfer Center. The webinars were developed by Jessica Wolf, PhD, Senior Advisor, Yale Group on Workforce Development. The topics are “Is the Past Prologue? From Insane Asylums to Peer Support Workforce” (June 25), “The Logic of Scientific Revolutions: Peer Support Workforce and Mental Health System Transformation” (July 16), and “Chop Wood and Carry Water: Key Elements in Progressive Peer Workforce Practice” (July 30). To register for the June 25 webinar, click here. Registration for, and access to, the two later webinars will be available on The Central East Mental Health Technology Transfer Center website (click here), which is recording and archiving all three webinars.

BRSS TACS to Offer a Free Virtual Event on Employment Support Strategies on June 27

A free, interactive, one-hour Recovery LIVE! virtual event—“Employment Support Strategies: Approaches to Assist People in Recovery from a Serious Mental Illness or Substance Use Disorder”—will be hosted by SAMHSA’s Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) on June 27 at 2 p.m. ET. You are invited “to join national experts in a conversation about employment support strategies for people living with serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or both. Presenters include Sean Johnson, Thresholds; Teesha Kirschbaum, Washington State Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery; and Len Statham, New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS).” To register, click here.

Courtesy of Judene Shelley

Tune In on June 27 at 3:30 p.m. for a Free Webinar on “Providing Mental Health Care to People Without Shelter”

On June 27, at 3:30 p.m., SAMHSA’s Homeless and Housing Resource Network will present the third webinar in the three-part Spotlight Series, Taking Mental Health Care to the Streets. This 90-minute webinar—“Outside the Box: Providing Mental Health Care to People Without Shelter”—“will focus on the provision of mental health services to people living in encampments,” the sponsors write. “Participants will learn strategies for providing care to individuals with serious mental illness, substance use disorders, or co-occurring disorders who are in unsheltered environments, both to address immediate needs and to provide foundational support for community-based permanent care that can continue through a person’s transition from living in an encampment to permanent housing.” For more information and to register, click here.

Courtesy of Jacek Haciak

NYAPRS Is Seeking Proposals for Its 37th Annual Conference—Deadline: July 1!

The New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS) is seeking presentations for its 37th annual conference—“Integrate, Innovate, Advocate, Celebrate: Keeping our Eyes on the Prize!”—to be held September 24-26, 2019 at the Villa Roma Resort & Conference Center, Callicoon, NY. “This year,” NYAPRS writes, “we’re especially interested in presentations that focus on new service designs and choices and pathways to wellness and healing that are available across the diversity of New Yorkers with mental health and substance use related needs.” For more about the conference—known for attracting nationally known presenters as well as participants from around the country—and for the criteria for the 75-minute presentations, including multiple potential topics, click here.

Psych Ward Greeting Cards Let People in Psych Wards Know Others Care

“Psych Ward Greeting Cards makes it easy for empathic and compassionate people to let patients in the psych ward know that people, even strangers, care about them and support them,” writes ForLikeMinds, which “created and manages this program to deliver greeting cards from strangers to psychiatric patients at participating hospitals. As insignificant as it may seem, sharing a card can have a wonderful impact when a patient is at their lows—offering help, encouragement, and hope.” For details, click here.

Courtesy of Ann Kasper

Older People Taking Antidepressants Could Triple Their Risk of Developing Dementia

“A new study suggests that people taking antidepressants in middle or old age could have triple the risk of developing dementia,” the Toronto Sun reports. “Researchers found that the rate of dementia was 3.4 times higher among people who took antidepressants after the age of 50.” The study, published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, evaluated more than 71,000 participants between 2002 and 2012. None had been diagnosed with dementia before the study. Eleven percent of the antidepressant-takers developed dementia, compared to 2.6% of the people who didn’t take such medications. For the article, click here. A related story, published in 2018, found that “people who used certain types of anticholinergics, such as those used to treat depression, Parkinson's and urinary incontinence, for a year or more had about a 30% increased risk of developing dementia down the road.” For that article, click here. And in 2015 (covered in the Key Update then), researchers also reported that common anticholinergic drugs—such as Benadryl, tricyclic antidepressants, and other medications—were linked to an increased risk of dementia. For that article, click here. For the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden Scale, click here.

HSRI Publishes “Making Self-Direction a Reality”

“Self-direction is a fast-growing platform for the delivery of community-based services and supports to people who need long-term care, and many states are choosing to use individual budgeting to make it a reality,” writes the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI). “Basing budget amounts on assessed need can help ensure that people have equal access to services across a service population. To better understand the methods that states use to create individual budgets, the benefits and risks of these approaches, and their level of alignment with principles of self-determination, we examined 260 1915(c) Home and Community-Based Service waivers from across the nation.” For a link to download the free, 12-page publication, click here.

Do You Supervise Peer Support Workers? Then Researchers Have Some Questions for You

MindFreedom International Creates “Voices for Choices” Videos About Force and Coercion

On the Voices for Choices YouTube channel, MindFreedom International has posted videos where “courageous individuals speak out about their experience with the mental health system’s use of force and coercion. They share about alternative approaches and healing modalities they have explored and their effective approaches to organizing and activism. Depression and anxiety are gaining media acceptance, but for people attempting suicide or experiencing intense emotional distress, resulting in a diagnosis of psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, or other DSM labels, the stigma is stronger than ever…It is our goal to break the silence, connect with one another, heal, and organize to drive a nonviolent revolution in the mental health system. This is the journey of the healer and the activist.” For the Voices for Choices videos, click here.

Free Webinar on Disaster Preparedness Training for Community Organizations to Be Held July 9

A free, 90-minute “training webinar to assist community organizations in building long-term capacity to meet the needs of the people they support before, during, and after a disaster” will be sponsored by SAMHSA’s BRSS TACS (Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy) on July 9, at 2 p.m. ET. “Participants will receive organizational disaster preparedness resources and templates and learn how to utilize these resources in their own work. A second session, on July 16, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET, will provide support for using the resources.” To register, click here. (Editor’s Note: In September 2018, the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion published The Roles of Peer Specialists Before Disasters Strike: Helping People with Mental Health Conditions Prepare for Disasters—Trainer’s Guide. The manual was a collaboration between the Temple University Collaborative and the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse. To download the free 33-page trainer’s manual, click here.)

What Happens to People After Discharge from First Episode Psychosis/Early Intervention Programs? New Study Seeks Answers—and Participants

The Five Federally Funded National TA Centers Collaborate on a Free Webinar Series

The Peer-Run Organization Learning Collaborative will host a free 90-minute webinar on July 24th at 2 p.m. ET on “Fundraising and Sustainability: Building Your Organization by Telling the Right Story to the Right Audience.” The presenter will be Jeremy Countryman of The Cafe TA Center. The webinar is part of a “series to assist leaders of peer-run organizations, emerging leaders, board members, staff, and advocates to gain essential skills to develop, strengthen, and sustain their organizations,” the Café TA Center writes. The next two webinars will be on August 21 and September 26, also at 2 p.m. ET. The Peer-Run Organization Learning Collaborative is a joint effort of the five federally funded National Consumer/Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Centers: the CAFÉ TA Center, Doors to Wellbeing, the NAMI STAR Center, the National Empowerment Center, and Peerlink. The centers take turns presenting the webinars. To register, click here. To respond to a brief survey “to learn about the needs and priorities of peer-run organizations,” click here.

“Are We Over-Medicalizing Poverty?” Researchers Say Yes.

“Researchers behind a study called ‘Poverty, Pathology and Pills’ say we are over-medicalizing poverty,” the BBC News reports. “They have been looking at how depression is treated in impoverished communities in the south west of England. [The study] found that the stresses of life on a low income are too often treated as a purely medical problem, and that social problems like unemployment or cuts to services added to mental stress. The report is a product of the Destress project, a collaboration between Exeter and Plymouth Universities.” For an article about the study, click here. For the Destress website, including a link to the final report of the study, click here.

Climate Resistance Handbook Has Lessons to Teach All Grassroots Movements

The Climate Resistance Handbook, created to help climate-crisis activists, has lessons for any grassroots movement organizer. “It starts with breaking social myths about how social movements win,” says the website of 350.org, an anti-fossil-fuel organization founded by environmentalist Bill McKibben. The handbook includes “campaign tools and frameworks you can use. It closes with how to grow your group and use creative, impactful actions and tactics…It’s filled with practical wisdom and inspiration to make you more effective, more active, and ready for what’s next.” McKibben writes, “If you’re wondering, ‘How can I help change the world?’ this book will give you some powerful answers.” To download the free 67-page handbook, click here.

Music Can Replace Psych Meds for People Locked Up in Psychiatric Hospitals, Study Finds

“Listening to music appears to reduce the need for medication to treat agitation” in people locked up on an acute inpatient psychiatric unit, according to a new study by SUNY (State University of New York) Upstate Medical University. Not only did music reduce the “need” for antipsychotics, “it also cut the length of hospital stay,” the researchers reported. “We’re trying to reduce the number of anti-agitation medications that patients on an acute inpatient psychiatric unit are exposed to. There are a lot of side effects associated with these medications,” the study’s lead author told Medscape Medical News. Study participants could choose from many musical genres, including classical, hip hop, and top 40 hits. The most common diagnoses among the subjects, who ranged in age from 18 to 82, were substance abuse (61%), depression (50.6%), psychosis (28.5%), and trauma (26.2%). For the article, click here.

The June 2019 Digest of Articles about the Criminal Justice System, in Which Many Individuals with Mental Health Conditions Are Incarcerated (and the Key Update continues after this Digest)

Here is the June wrap-up of stories about the criminal justice system. (Note: Some of the titles and other language are not politically correct but are reproduced as written.) For “AP Investigation: Many US jails fail to stop inmate suicides,” click here. For “‘Somebody owes me lunch!’: Prison guards bet on an inmate’s suicide. Then, choking sounds came from her unit,” click here. For “‘Books and Brotherhood’: Her club aims to help prisoners start new chapters in their lives,” click here. For “Evaluation of North Carolina’s Pathways from Prison to Postsecondary Education Program,” click here. For “Work Forced: A century later, unpaid prison labor continues to power Florida,” click here. For “Fields of Blood: My life as a prison laborer,” click here. For “Jury Duty Is the Next Big Step for Felons’ Rights,” click here. For “Special Feature: The Fight for Life in Massachusetts,” click here. For “New Hampshire abolishes death penalty after lawmakers override governor,” click here. For “The Pathological Politics of Criminal Justice,” click here. For “Force Feeding Is Cruel, Painful, and Degrading—and American Prisons Won’t Stop,” click here. For “The latest YouTube craze? Videos that show you what it’s like to live in prison,” click here. For “What Do Abolitionists Really Want?” click here. For “Bridging the Communication Gap for Incarcerated Families,” click here. For “What does ‘reentry’ into society after prison mean? Here’s what people living it have to say,” click here. For “Is ‘Abolish Prisons’ the Next Frontier in Criminal Justice? Closing jails is a radical idea now gaining momentum as a way to replace broken institutions,” click here. For “Pleading Guilty to Get Out of Jail,” click here. For “How jails stay full even as crime falls,” click here. For “Cruel confinement: Judge halts use of solitary cell for mentally ill teen; says 17-year-old suffered ‘irreparable harm,’” click here. For “Liberating criminal justice data: How a Florida law provides a blueprint for the nation,” click here. For “After prison, I changed my life. But these discriminatory laws still punish me,” click here. For “Justice Wears a Different Style at the Cambridge Homeless Court,” click here. For “The ‘Death Penalty’s Dred Scott’ Lives On,” click here. For “We need to fix forensics. But how?” click here.

FROM PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THE KEY UPDATE BUT STILL FRESH!

Free Webinar on “Using Social Media to Build Rapport with Peers” on June 25

On the last Tuesday of almost every month at 2 p.m. ET, Doors to Wellbeing hosts a free, one-hour webinar. On June 25, 2019, the topic will be “Using Social Media to Build Rapport with Peers.” “This webinar will discuss ways in which youth leaders and advocates can use social media to their advance peer mental health work with peers,” Doors to Wellbeing writes. “Social Media helps build rapport, increase engagement, and spread awareness for different campaigns and events. We will also discuss things to keep in mind such as boundaries, cyberbullying and developing social media agreements with your peers.” To register, click here.