The Mental Health Association in North Carolina

The Mental Health Association in North Carolina
E-Advocate

Working for North Carolina’s Mental Health through Advocacy, Education, Service, & Research
March 2008

MHA/NC Headline News…

The Coalition Forum for NC Governor and Lt. Governor Candidates

The Coalition, of which MHA/NC is an active member, hosted a Candidate Forum on Monday, February 25th, 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM in the Arena Club at the RBC Center in Raleigh. The following candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor participated: Dan Besse, Walter Dalton, Hampton Dellinger, Bill Graham, Richard Moore, Dennis Nielsen, Bob Orr, Beverly Perdue, Pat Smathers, and Fred Smith. Each candidate was given 40 minutes to share their views on various issues relating to mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse, as well as to address questions from the Coalition and the audience. Nearly 250 interested citizens from all over North Carolina attended to hear what the candidates had to say and to have their own voices heard during this important election year. The candidates were thoughtful, expressive, and open to answering any questions put before them. For more information on the individual positions of candidates as they pertain to mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse issues, visit www.VoteNCMentalHealth.org

Golfing For Kids Coming Up In May

Mark your calendars for MHA/NC’s 12th Annual Golfing for Kids Charity Golf Classic, Monday, May 19, 2008 at the Governor’s Club in Chapel Hill. In addition to golf, lunch will be provided and there will be many prizes along the way. Jeff Gravley, Sports Anchor for WRAL/FOX, will be the celebrity host and the News & Observer is our Premier Media Sponsor. For more information, visit www.mha-nc.org or contact Jeff Furst at 1-800-745-5067.

MHA/NC 2008 Annual Conference – Save the Date!

MHA/NC is pleased to feature Dorothy Hamill as keynote speaker at our 2008 Annual Conference, It’s Your Voice, Let it Be Heard. The conference will take place September 17-18 at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort at Wrightsville Beach, NC. Dorothy’s presentation will be part of an awards luncheon on Thursday, September 18th. For more information, or to register, visit www.mha-nc.org.

About Dorothy Hamill - Along with winning the Olympic Gold Medal and five consecutive World Professional titles, Dorothy has skated with the Ice Capades, had four ABC primetime specials, produced and starred in her own touring productions of Cinderella – Frozen In Time, Hansel, Gretel, the Witch and the Cat, and Nutcracker On Ice and won an Emmy for her starring role in Romeo and Juliet. Dorothy was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame and the Figure Skating Hall of Fame, and ran the torch into the Olympic Stadium in Salt Lake City.

Despite the dazzling smile and huge successes, Dorothy’s life was not the perfection it appeared to be. Dorothy faced a painful inner struggle from that of a young girl that followed her into adulthood—though she would not know about the depression that ran in her family until much later in life. Weeks and months away from home to train and compete took a difficult toll. Dorothy married, only to have the partnership end in heartache and a tragedy that almost pushed her to the breaking point. Just when a light at the end of the tunnel finally began to appear, a second failed marriage tried and tested Dorothy’s trust and strength yet again—a travesty that could have led her to give up. But she found remarkable strength in what she did have, her greatest love and daughter Alexandra, and her skating.

Today, Dorothy writes and speaks about her struggle with depression and other life battles. She also spends much of her time working with charitable organizations. Needless to say, MHA/NC is honored to have her join us at our 2008 Annual Conference.

MHA/NC Information & Referral Line Quarterly Report Available
MHA/NC offers a consumer run Information & Referral Line. The line is open 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM Monday - Friday. The toll free number is 1-800-897-7494 or email is callctr@mha-nc.org. Between October and December 2007, the line received 177 calls/emails. A full report divided by LME to give information about the contacts from each area can be viewed at www.mha-nc.org. Any questions about this report should be directed to the Information & Referral Line or Adrian Lovelace at 919-981-0740 x273 or alovelace@mha-nc.org.

Upcoming Events…

Save the Dates – 2008 Coalition Legislative Events & Important Dates

More information on the following events will be available soon, but mark your calendars now!

May 13 – First Day of Legislative Session

May 21 – Coalition Popcorn Rally

June 4 – Coalition Central Regional Breakfast

June 11 – Coalition Eastern Regional Breakfast

June 18 – Coalition Western Regional Breakfast





Save the Date – Children and Families of the NC National Guard Symposium

In honor of National Social Work Month, March 2008, the North Carolina State University Department of Social Work is hosting a symposium on Tuesday, March 18, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh to teach ways to support National Guard children and families before, during, and after combat deployments. Speakers include First Lady Mary P. Easley, Major General Bill Ingram, Mrs. Lil Ingram, and Major General Elder Granger. For more information, contact amduncan@chass.ncsu.edu or 919-513-0488.

NAMI Basics – The Fundamentals of Caring for You, Your Family, and Your Child with Mental Illness

This free educational course is offered by NAMI NC for parents and caregivers of children and adolescents with mental health issues. Classes include:

Introduction – It’s not your fault; mental illnesses are brain disorders
The biology of mental illness; getting an accurate diagnosis
Treatment works – an overview of treatment options
Tools for the toolbox – communication skills, problem solving, crisis preparation and response, handling challenging behavior, relapse planning, and the impact on family members
Record keeping and the systems your child is involved in (school, juvenile justice, mental health)
Survivor stories, review, wrap-up
Supplemental modules include advocacy and transition issues.


NAMI NC needs teachers and participants for this program. A teacher training will be held April 4th -6th in Hillsborough, NC. For more information, call NAMI NC at 919-788-0801 or 1-800-451-9682 or email jrothman@naminc.org.

ECU Social Work Professional Development Lecture Series

East Carolina University’s School of Social Work is hosting the 2008 Social Work Professional Development Lecture Series designed to serve the continuing education needs of ECU’s graduates, practicing social workers and other professionals in the human service field. The registration fee is $15 per lecture. For more information or to register, visit http://www.eastcarolinacpe.net/subcat.aspx?mcat=19 or call 1-800-767-9111. The remaining schedule of events is as follows:

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Use of Self – A Relational Perspective

2 contact hours (0.2 CEU’s)



Wednesday, April 12, 2008

Suicide and Suicide Prevention

2 contact hours (0.2 CEU’s)



Saturday, May 3, 2008

Updating Client Information Management System by Using Microsoft Access

3 contact hours (0.3 CEU’s)

UNC 15th Annual Schizophrenia Treatment and Evaluation Program (STEP) Symposium

To help raise awareness among allied medical personnel, individuals with schizophrenia and their families, and the public, the Department of Psychiatry of the UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine is sponsoring a symposium on schizophrenia, the 15th Annual Schizophrenia Treatment and Evaluation Program (STEP) Symposium on Saturday, April 19, 2008 at the William and Ida Friday Center at UNC, 8:00 am – 1:00 pm. Breakfast buffet and lunch will be served.

The title of this year's symposium is “What’s New in Schizophrenia: Reports from the Front Lines of Research at UNC.” Featured speakers will present overviews of recent research at UNC with relevant topics including early brain development in children at high risk for schizophrenia, genes of risk for schizophrenia, and new treatment approaches especially for the first episode of schizophrenia. Guest speakers are UNC faculty including John Gilmore, MD, Professor and Vice Chairman for Research and Scientific Affairs in the Department of Psychiatry and the Director of STEP; Patrick Sullivan, MD, FRANZCP, Professor of Genetics, Psychiatry and Epidemiology; Eva Anton, PhD, Associate Professor with the Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology; Diana Perkins, MD, MPH, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Director of OASIS (Outreach and Support Intervention Service); Aysenil Belger, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry; David Penn, PhD, Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology and Scott Stroup, MD, MPH, Associate Professor with the Department of Psychiatry.



CME and CEU credit offered. Registration is $15. Scholarships will be available. For more information or to register, contact Janice Linn at 919-966-8990 or jlinn@med.unc.edu.

Other Topics in Mental Health…
New Gym Caters to Clients with Disabilities
by Karen Brown
All Things Considered, August 1, 2007. At Fit Together, people who say they don't fit in at a traditional gym can work out in comfort. The new gym in western Massachusetts caters to mentally disabled clients, who get the extra help they need in following directions and managing the equipment. For full story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12430139

Group Therapy Program Offers Meaningful Gains for People with Borderline Personality Disorder
Science Update
February 26, 2008

A 20-week group therapy program focusing on cognitive behavioral and skills training, when used in conjunction with usual care, helped reduce symptoms of borderline personality disorder and improve overall functioning, reported NIMH-funded researchers. Their findings were published online February 15, 2008 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Borderline personality disorder is a serious mental illness noted by unstable moods, behavior and relationships. Each year, 1.4 percent of adults in the United States have this disorder, which is widely viewed as being difficult to treat. However, recent advances in treatment research for specific symptoms of borderline personality disorder, such as dialectical behavioral therapy to reduce suicidal thinking or behavior, have shown reasons to continue exploring options for therapy.

In this study, led by Donald W. Black, M.D., of the University of Iowa, researchers tested the effectiveness of the Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS) program for treating people with borderline personality disorder. STEPPS, developed by lead author Nancee Blum, MSW, and colleagues, is a structured treatment program involving 20 weekly meetings that each last for two hours. Over the course of the program, participants learn about the disorder as well as skills for controlling problematic emotions and behaviors. Family members also receive a two-hour session to learn about the illness and best ways to interact with their loved one. STEPPS is meant to be used along with other forms of treatment, such as medication or individual therapy.

The researchers randomly assigned 165 men and women ages 18 and older to receive either STEPPS plus any other care they had previously been receiving (“treatment as usual”), or treatment as usual alone. During the 20-week treatment period, people who received STEPPS plus treatment as usual had greater and more rapid improvement in borderline-related and depressive symptoms (which affected 78 percent of study participants) than people who received treatment as usual alone.

Also, participants in the STEPPS group continued to improve over the entire 20 weeks of the program, whereas improvements in the group that received only treatment as usual leveled off after 10 weeks.

Furthermore, people who received STEPPS plus treatment as usual were more likely to rate themselves, and to be rated by their study therapist, as “very much” or “much” improved, compared to the other group. At follow up visits during the year after the end of treatment, improvements of the STEPPS plus treatment as usual group were maintained.

Fewer participants who received STEPPS had emergency department visits, compared to the group that received treatment as usual alone. There were no significant differences between the two treatment groups in the number or frequency of suicide attempts, self-harming acts, or hospitalization. Also, similar to other studies of borderline personality disorder, there was a relatively high rate of dropout from the study from both treatment groups, roughly 25 percent of the 165 randomly assigned participants.

The researchers suggest that a relatively brief therapy program offers “real world” benefits because their study mirrored common treatment situations in which people are already receiving other types of mental health care.

Following similar results in earlier studies, STEPPS has been widely adopted in The Netherlands as the primary group treatment for borderline personality disorder. Other countries, including the United States, have been evaluating more widespread use of this program as well.

Reference:
Blum N, St. John D, Pfohl B, Stuart S, McCormick B, Allen J, Arndt S, Black DW. Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS) for Outpatients with Borderline Personality Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial and 1-Year Follow-Up. Am J Psychiatry. 15 Feb 2008 [online ahead of print].