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.

Call for Volunteer Psychologists

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has contacted the AAAS "On-call" Scientists project in search of mental health professionals who are available to document evidence of torture and other abuse for asylum seekers in the US. Volunteers may be asked to review one case, or multiple cases in one year, depending on the demand at any given time and location. Each case is estimated to take about 6 hours of the volunteer's time, including the evaluation of the individual and preparation of documentation in support of their asylum application. You are always free to decline a case. Further information about the PHR Asylum Network, including resources available to volunteers, is available below.

All volunteers must be board certified and/or hold a current state license. PHR will request copies of relevant documentation once you are in direct contact.

Anyone interested in volunteering for this work is invited to sign up to become a volunteer here:
http://oncallscientists.aaas.org/default.aspx. If they have any questions, they can contact me directly at oncall@aaas.org.

Thank you for your help and please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.
_____________________________

Jessica Wyndham
Associate Director, Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program American Association for the Advancement of Science
1200 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20005 USA
Ph  +1 202 326 6604
Fax +1 202 289 4950
http://srhrl.aaas.org/

Give An Hour: Service for Veterans

Give an Hour is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to develop a national network of volunteers capable of responding to both acute and chronic conditions that arise within our society. They are initially focusing on the U.S. troops and families affected by the current military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Large numbers of veterans are returning home to find that they must cope with a wide range of psychological difficulties. There is an opportunity to prevent a national tragedy and we have the obligation and the resources to do so.

A national network has been created of mental health professionals who are literally giving an hour of their time each week to provide free mental health services to military personnel and their families. By providing critical psychological support to these families, it supports the sacrifices they are making and ameliorate the difficulties they face.

Thus far, nearly 1000 professionals from the mental health community have registered to participate in this critical effort. Professionals are being asked to provide the type of services they currently provide in their offices. While no additional training is required, we offer a variety of training opportunities to those individuals who might be interested. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to interact with each other, to share information about their experience and to seek feedback and additional resources.

Providers to participate in the network for one year in order to provide continuity of care for these deserving families. Those individuals who receive services from the Give an Hour network will be given the opportunity to give back to their own communities.

Please visit www.giveanhour.org to sign up for our national network and to learn more about the organization.

Free Workshop on Disaster Preparedness

The Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authoritiesis sponsoring some free workshops on disaster preparedness throughout Ohio. They are holding these in 4 Ohio cities and have brochures for each presentation. While these programs do not lead to Red Cross or Disaster Response Network certification, they are likely to provide attendees with a good overview onhow behavioral health professionals might assist after a disaster.

Upcoming trainings of the Helping People Find Strength Following Disaster curriculum.
* Cincinnati - April 18, 2008
* Columbus - April 25, 2008
* Toledo - May 1, 2008
* Cleveland - May 2, 2008

For more information, please contact Liz Henrich, Administrator of Behavioral Health Initiatives, Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities. Ph: 614.224.1111

Information provided by Kurt Jensen, Psy.D.; Coordinator, OPA's Disaster Response Network