Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walks

The COPA/OPA Team at a past walk

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is holding their annual suicide prevention walks across the nation! 50% of all the proceeds raised in each walk stay locally for suicide prevention programs, and the other 50% go to support suicide prevention research. Please consider starting a team or getting involved! Here is a list of the Ohio walks.

08/20/2011	3rd Annual Suicide Prevention Poker Run, Quaker Steak & Lube - Milford, Ohio
09/17/2011	Toledo OOTD Community Walk, Centennial Quarry & Terrace - Sylvania, Ohio
10/08/2011	Youngstown Walk, Mill Creek Park Wick Recreation Area - Youngstown, Ohio
10/16/2011	Cincinnati Walk, University of Cincinnati’s McMicken Com, - Cincinnati, Ohio
10/22/2011	Cleveland Walk, Wendy Park - Cleveland, Ohio
10/23/2011	Columbus Walk, Fred Beekman Park , 2200 Carmack Rd - Columbus, Ohio
10/29/2011	Fremont, OH Community Walk, Birchard Park - Fremont, Ohio

If you are in Central Ohio, please consider joining the COPA/OPA team or providing financial support for a good cause!

Drug Deaths Overlap Accidents in Ohio County

A recent NY Times article features Scioto County (county seat: Portsmouth) in Ohio. The article is entitled "Ohio County Losing Its Young to Painkillers' Grip" and gives a number of grim statistics, such as:

* Nearly 1 in 10 babies born in Scioto County are born addicted to drugs.
* In Ohio, the leading cause of accidental death is overdose, bypassing car accidents.
* Children as young as in junior high are being arrested for drug possession and intent to sell.

For more information on addiction and how to combat it, please visit the APA Addictions webpage, which has more information on changing behavior and dealing with addiction. To find a psychologist to help with addiction in Ohio, please visit the OPA "Referral" Page.

Cleveland Clinic Minority Men's Health Fair

Last night, several psychologists represented OPA and Mental Health at the 9^th Annual Cleveland Clinic Minority Men's Health Fair.  The fair serves over 2000 men and their families who come for screenings for everything from prostate cancer to depression.  There were over 50 booths and 20 free screenings offered.  Efforts such as this help to reduce healthcare disparities and  destigmatize psychology and healthcare for minorities. 
It was a pleasure to talk with over 75 of the participants.  Some shared their positive experiences with psychology and therapy, as well as positive coping strategies they use to manage stress such as spirituality, meditation, exercise, and humor.  Others were seeking to build coping strategies and seek treatment for financial stress, caregiver stress, and coping with medical problems.  We were able to provide materials from the APA Public Education Campaign about resilience, stress management, obesity, and heart disease.  We also provided information about referral sources such as the Cleveland Psychological Association's "Find a Psychologist" feature.  What an exciting event!

OPA Legislative Day Health Fair

OPA is hosting a health fair at the Statehouse in Columbus on May 25th in conjunction with their annual Legislative Day. Our hope is to educate legislators and state workers about the value of psychology. We will have six tables, including health psychology, childhood obesity, SMI, stress management, issues affecting veterans and the military, and addressing minority healthcare disparities.

We are looking for 12 psychologist volunteers. The time commitment is 8-1 PM or 4 PM if you choose to stay and meet with your individual state representatives. We will provide an orientation by phone conference and lots of materials to help you talk about the wonderful things psychology can do for the public. Please consider donating your time for this important event! Contact me at ashtonk@ccf.org if you are interested.

Help Us Help the Community: OPA's Operation Feed Goal

Times are tough. Unemployment rates are high. The economic crisis continues. And the need for food is greater than ever in the state of Ohio.

Demand for food in 2009 from the Mid-Ohio Foodbank was up seven percent over a record number of requests in 2008, and this year, the Foodbank’s Operation Feed goal is to provide six-million meals.

You can help.

OPA’s Committee for Social Responsibility is hosting a food drive until the end of June. Today, we donated 309 pounds of food, or 309 meals, to Operation Feed, thanks to the generous support of OPA members, workshop attendees, OPA Board of Directors and the Central Ohio Psychological Association.

Members have also contributed $125 in monetary donations. One dollar equals two meals, so an additional 250 meals have been provided.

We still have a month of our food drive left, and we want to donate one meal for every OPA member... so we need 1,600 meals total.

Here's how you can help:

• Bring food to OPA’s June workshops! The most-needed foods are:

• Pasta meals in a can
• Canned fruit
• Tuna
• Canned vegetables
• Canned meat
• Soup
• Peanut Butter

• Set-up a box in your office a food drive. Contact the OPA Central Office to have us come pick up the box.

• Donate to OPA’s Virtual Food Drive Team.

• Collect all spare change from employees in your office through the end of the month. Contact OPA to have us collect the donation for the Foodbank.

Thanks for your support!