October 11th: National Coming Out Day

October 11th marks the Human Rights Campaign's National Coming Out Day. 

From the HRC's website: On Oct. 11, 1987, half a million people participated in the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. It was the second such demonstration in our nation’s capital and resulted in the founding of a number of LGBT organizations, including the National Latino/a Gay & Lesbian Organization (LLEGÓ) and AT&T’s LGBT employee group, LEAGUE.  Recognizing that the LGBT community often reacted defensively to anti-gay actions, they came up with the idea of a national day to celebrate coming out and chose the anniversary of that second march on Washington to mark it. To this day National Coming Out Day continues to promote a safe world for LGBT individuals to live truthfully and openly.

Please visit the HRC website for resources about National Coming Out Day. 

Supporting Mental Health - Beyond Your Practice

Psychologists often support mental health through education, practice and research efforts within their job settings. However, there are numerous other ways to support positive mental health for individuals beyond the practice, research or education setting.


Here are some tips for supporting mental health beyond your practice:

1. Provide pro-bono work. 
This can include participating in prevention walks, doing volunteer work in the community, or being a resource for the media regarding psychological issues. For example, the Ohio Psychological Association and Central Ohio Psychological Association has co-sponsored a walking team for the Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walks in Central Ohio for the last 7 years. This year the walking team raised over  $1800 to support direct suicide prevention efforts in the Central Ohio area and prevention research nationally. 

2. Organize community programs.
Psychologists are often excellent resources for health awareness, and can provide community programming within schools, libraries, YMCA's, etc. that target specific psychology topics. One good example is the VA Mental Health Fair, which is held in May during Mental Health Month. Each year the CoSR assist with the organization of speakers and booths so that veterans can increase their awareness of community resources and mental health support networks.

3. Educate colleagues.
Psychologists are often aware of resources and social advocacy efforts that their colleagues are not. Sharing this information, whether through a blog (e.g., OPA Member Kevin Arnold, Ph.D.'s "The Older Dad" for Psychology Today), twitter posts (e.g., @DrFinnerty, @ohpsychassn, @marylewisphd, @stress_doc), or listservs, can educate and assist colleagues in better serving their clients. 

4. Be an advocate.
Advocacy in psychology is often seen in the legislative realm, and effectively communicating with legislators on positive mental health legislation is a crucial part of supporting mental health. However, advocacy does not just mean testifying at legislative hearings or signing petitions. Advocacy could include emailing legislators, making phone calls, attending OPA's Legislative Day, or sharing information about relevant legislation with others. 

In today's world, time is precious and limited; however, many of these activities do not require a significant commitment of time and may positively benefit someone's mental health in ways we do not realize.

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This mission of the Ohio Psychological Association Committee on Social Responsibility (CoSR) is to promote and coordinate the involvement of psychologists in programs and projects in the community, including advancing a social justice agenda by applying the science and practice of psychology to human welfare, as well as advocating for the fair treatment of Ohio residents through education, training and public policy.

October 7-13: Mental Illness Awareness Week

Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW) takes place October 7-13 and is an opportunity to learn more about serious mental illnesses such as major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Mental illnesses are medical illnesses. 

One in four adults experiences a mental health problem in any given year. One in 17 lives with serious, chronic illness.  

On average, people living with serious mental illness live 25 years less than the rest of the population. One reason is that less than one-third of adults and less than one-half of children with a diagnosed illness receive treatment. 

When mental health care isn’t available in a community, the results often are lost jobs and careers, broken families, more homelessness, more welfare and much more expensive costs for hospital emergency rooms, nursing homes, schools, police and even courts, jails and prisons.

Learn more about mental illness support, education and advocacy at www.nami.org or the Ohio Psychological Association's website at www.ohpsych.org.

 

APA Launches Psychotherapy Awareness Initiative

This morning APA launched the Psychotherapy Awareness Initiative to the public and media. A multimedia press release with the embedded video series, Psychotherapy: More Than a Quick Fix, was sent over the news wires across the U.S. Additionally, new resources are available on the Psychology Help Center including Understanding Psychotherapy and How It Works and an updated Talk to a Psychologist brochure. See Quick Links below.

QUICK LINKS
Press release on APA website "Has Psychotherapy Taken a Back Seat to Medication," http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2012/09/psychotherapy.aspx
Psychology Help Center landing page: http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/. This is sort of a portal to all the psychotherapy materials including the videos.
Psychotherapy Works! page: http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/psychotherapy-works.aspx
Understanding psychotherapy and how it works: http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/understanding-psychotherapy.aspx       
Blog post from Dr. Katherine Nordal, http://www.yourmindyourbody.org/5-reasons-you-should-choose-psychotherapy/
Talk to a Psychologist brochure (online version): http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/talk.aspx
Order FREE print copys of Talk to a Psychologist brochure: http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/brochure-request.aspx
(APA members can order Talk brochures packets of 50 for FREE. Bulk supply of Talk brochures were mailed to SPTA executive directors last week with template labels so SPTAs can add their information to the back of the brochure.)

Advocates for Ohio's Future

OPA is working with a coalition called Advocates for Ohio's Future to promote mental health, alcohol/drug addiction services, human services and early childhood and aging interventions within the next state budget for Ohio. If you are a psychologist who has patients who would like to tell their stories about problems with access--please let Dr. Celeste know, so we can get them connected with the effort to educate lawmakers about the needs of our patients or potential patients.

Bobbie L.Celeste, Ph.D.
Director of Professional Affairs
Ohio Psychological Association
395 E. Broad St. Suite 310
Columbus, OH 43215
614-224-0034

More Details:

Advocates for Ohio's Future is working with the Health Policy Institute of Ohio to gather stories for a statewide research publication on Health Care access. This is a great opportunity to include your story or a story of a someone in your community in a report that will be shared with state lawmakers, the Administration, and health policy leaders across the state.

The purpose of the brief is to provide a snapshot of access issues in Ohio, including why access to health care matters, who has access to health care and who does not. It will inform upcoming decisions that will impact health care access, such as the 2014 Medicaid expansion and workforce planning.

The brief will include 1-3 family and provider stories to illustrate the impact of access challenges on everyday Ohioans, which is where we need your help. We're looking for stories of Ohioans that show the impact of lack of access to health care as well as the positive difference access makes.

Out of the Darkness Walks

Please join us for the Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walks on Sunday, October 7th from 12-2pm. This will be OPA/COPA's joint team.