Mental Health - Information

Facts / Resources

NAMI is developing a social networking website and online resource center, similar to FaceBook and MySpace, for transition-age youth and young adults (18 to 24 years old). The website will be designed for individuals living with a mental illness, friends and family members, and others interested in learning more about mental health.

NAMI Releases Guide to Crisis Intervention Programs for Youth
NAMI has published a guide titled, Supporting Schools and Communities in Breaking the Prison Pipeline: A Guide to Emerging and Promising Crisis Intervention Programs for Youth, to help inform advocates about existing crisis intervention programs for youth and what they can do to promote and implement such programs in their states and communities. The guide responds to concerns about the alarming number of youth with mental health treatment needs who continue to enter the juvenile justice system. Schools in particular have been a pipeline into the juvenile justice for far too many youth in America. Crisis intervention programs for youth promise to support schools and communities in breaking this prison pipeline.
To download a copy of the guide, please visit NAMI’s CIT Resource Center at www.nami.org/cit or NAMI’s Child and Adolescent Action Center (CAAC) at www.nami.org/caac.
For more information about NAMI’s work on crisis intervention programs for youth, please contact Dana Markey, Program Coordinator, CAAC, at danac@nami.org, or Laura Usher, CIT Coordinator, at laurau@nami.org.

Resources: Click here for a complete list

May is Mental Health Month <Read More>
It may surprise you to learn more than a quarter of a million people in Cuyahoga County have a mental illness. It’s likely someone you know – a friend, family member, co-worker, or your child’s classmate – has a mental illness. Mental illness does not discriminate based on race, gender, age, income or residence. It touches everyone from children to college students to older adults and impacts their families, friends and neighbors. It might also surprise you that half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14.

Collection of articles from Stan Popovich, author of A Layman's Guide to Managing Fear <Click here>
Stan is a published author of a managing fear book and many of our readers deal with these issues. My 15 years of personal experience might help our readers and give them many ideas on how to deal with anxiety, depression, fear and stress. He has been on various TV and Radio Programs and has been published in various magazines.

PRESIDENT FOR SIGNS HISTORIC ADDICTION & MENTAL HEALTH PARITY LEGISLATION INTO LAW Oct. 3, 2008
Washington, D.C. – Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) commends the President for signing the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, which will improve access to lifesaving addiction and mental health treatment by eliminating the discriminatory barriers that have kept thousands of Americans with substance use and mental health disorders from receiving the care they need, into law. <Read More>

30-minute mental health / depression awareness / substance abuse DVD that has won 25 awards and featured on the Voice America Health Channel, MetroBeat Television and a feature honoring cognitive psychologist Dr. Aaron Beck. <Read More>

Local/Online
Mental Health Services for Cleveland's West Side

Crisis Intervention Team: NAMI CIT Technical Assistance Resource Center. Our mission is to supply mental health care, law enforcement, advocacy workers and consumers with the latest information about Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training.

Families Anonymous - A Beacon of Hope: Are you at your wits’ end?  Does someone you love have drug, alcohol or behavioral problems?  We can help. Read their open letter to the P2PN.
Local Meeting Schedule Description of Services

Far West Center: a community mental health center providing behavioral health services for residents of western Cuyahoga and Lorain counties. <website currently under construction> <more info p1, p2>

Far West Center Triple P: Program designed to reach out to adults with mental health problems who are also functioning as parents.<More Info>

Help for New Moms - a program for new mom's who are at risk for depression. <page 1> <page 2>

Lorain County Youth pages

Listing of Lorain County Resources/those accepting new patients.

See Me, Hear my Feelings: A link for teens, "A place where you can come to find answers to your questions, hear the voices of your peers, and realize there are so many out there JUST LIKE YOU."

Bart's Place: Bringing All Relatives Together, Dr. Patricia Masterson shares how siblings and offspring can cope with and understand mental illness in their family. Call for times and locations 216-875-776 or tmiller@nami.org Read Article
More info: 216-787-0500 ext. 2697 Mission Statement Services

Cornerstone of Hope: A non-profit bereavement center designed to offer grief support for children, adolescents, and adults.

Ohio Mental Health Network for School Success

National
Mental Health America

Substance Abuse and Mental health Services Administration (samhsa) Link to their list of National Resources.

ADHD Information and Support

American Academy of child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)

American Psychological Association (APA)

Child Welfare League of America Inc. (CWLA)

Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD)

Elimination of Barriers Initiative: The objectives of the EBI are to counter stigma and discrimination, reduce barriers to treatment, build public support around the idea of recovery, and emphasize the importance of having quality, community-based services accessible to people with mental illnesses. Ohio Info / Mental Health: It's part of all our lives (download pdf)

Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health

Hardwired to Connect: In this pioneering report, the Commission on Children at Risk, a panel of 33 leading children's doctors, neuroscientists, research scholars and youth service professionals, draw upon a large body of recent research showing that children are biologically primed ("hardwired") for enduring connections to others and for moral and spiritual meaning.

National Association of Psychiatric Treatment Centers for Children (NAPTCC)
National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)

NetworkOfCare.org: an online information place for individuals, families and agencies concerned with mental and emotional wellness.

Articles
08-09 Archive

Helping a depressed person is a strain on lthe caregiver that can imperil health (Plain Dealer, 1/12/10)
One night, the North Olmsted resident sat on her couch, trying to comfort her suicidal daughter, the crying teenager's head in her lap. The phone rang: it was her sister, also voicing suicidal thoughts. Two wrenching cries for help. One strained, emotionally stressed and ready-to-collapse person shouldering their pain. Like many caregivers of people with depression, Miller suffered a high degree of unrelenting stress. "You end up living and breathing the illness," Miller says. <Read More>

Silencing the Voice that Says You're a Fraud (WSJ /1/09)
An Inner Critic can indeed roust you out of bed in the morning, get you on the treadmill (literally and figuratively) and spur you to finish that book or symphony or invention. View Full Image Stephen Webster But the desire to achieve can get hijacked by harsh judgment and unrelenting fear. "There's a healthy version and an unhealthy version," says Daniel F. Seidman, a clinical psychologist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. In some cases, he says, "people may achieve a lot, but they are totally miserable about it." <Read More>

Suprising number of teens think they'll die young, (AP 6/29/09)
A surprising number of teenagers — nearly 15 percent — think they're going to die young, leading many to drug use, suicide attempts and other unsafe behavior, new research suggests. The study, based on a survey of more than 20,000 kids, challenges conventional wisdom that says teens engage in risky behavior because they think they're invulnerable to harm. Instead, a sizable number of teens may take chances "because they feel hopeless and figure that not much is at stake," said study author Dr. Iris Borowsky, a researcher at the University of Minnesota. <Read More>

Teen Mental Health Problems: What are the Warning Signs (Parenting Teens, April 2009)
Mental health problems are real, painful and can be severe. They can lead to school failure, loss of friends, or family conflict. Some of the signs that may point to a possible problem are listed below. Pay attention if your teen: <Read More>