In this edition of News and Notes, we’d like to call attention a recent article on mental health from an unlikely source, professional basketball player Kevin Love. In a post on The Player’s Tribune earlier this month, which you can read in full at https://www.theplayerstribune.
While Love is hardly the first person to reckon with the realization that a mental health crisis isn’t just something that happens to other people, or to figure out that some kind of long past trauma lies at the root of their issues, his revelation stands out for other reasons. While mental health advocates often make the case that mental health is universal, and a part of every individual’s experience and well-being that warrants consideration, it’s rare for someone with a significant public platform to deliver that message. It’s rarer still for that voice to come from the ranks of professional athletes, whose public personas are so often built on boundless health, total confidence and invulnerability.
As people with lived experience and advocates continue to spread the message that mental health matters, and is something that must be discussed widely and openly, public admissions of mental health struggles coming from unexpected sources like professional athletes can be an important resource. They illustrate that mental health isn’t limited to a small number of easily dismissed misfits. Mental health is instead a universal part of human experience, impacting the athletic, famous, and successful among us to the same degree that it impacts anyone else.
Webinar Series: Recovery-Oriented Engagement Practices Spring 2018 Series
Social Media/Technology for Outreach and Engagement
Wednesday, May 23
1:00 pm to 2:00 pm ET
This SAMHSA Recovery to Practice series will explore three distinct elements of engagement: therapeutic alliance and its impact on engagement and outcomes, how Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) tools for crisis and pre-crisis planning can promote engagement and positive relationships between individuals and service providers, and social media and other technology as emerging tools for outreach and engagement in behavioral healthcare.
Oprah Winfrey Explores Revolutionary Approach to Childhood Trauma for “60 Minutes”
In a recent 60 Minutes piece, Oprah Winfrey used her celebrity to bring attention to the role of trauma in shaping the lives and behavior of the nation’s youth. An understanding of trauma’s role in altering behavior and planting the seeds for future mental health challenges is central to shaping new approaches to addressing behavioral health.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/
Bipartisan Trauma Resolution Passes the House Unanimously
Earlier this spring, the House of Representatives passed a resolution recognizing the importance and effectiveness of trauma-informed care and calling for a national trauma awareness month and trauma-informed awareness day.
http://www.acesconnection.com/
How iPads Changed a Police Force’s Response to Mental Illness
By leveraging technology, Houston police are connecting people in mental health crisis with appropriate support in real time via tele-psychiatry, and realizing better outcomes from interactions between law enforcement and the community.
Does Peer Support Pay?
This briefing from Open Minds offers some useful information and resources on how various states are using Medicaid and other funding sources to pay for peer support services.
https://www.openminds.com/
Stopping Exercise Can Increase Symptoms of Depression
According to new research, active people that cease exercising can experience symptoms of depression in a matter of days.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/
Is Screen Time a Serious Threat to Mental Health?
This US News article looks at the mental health impact of constant smartphone use, with a focus on the way social media is designed to promote an addictive relationship with its platforms.
Record Numbers of College Students Are Seeking Treatment for Depression and Anxiety — But Schools Can’t Keep Up
The demand for mental health services continues to place tremendous pressure on colleges and universities, as examined in this Time article.
http://time.com/5190291/
Graduate Students Need More Mental Health Support, New Study Highlights
According to new research, the mental health crisis in higher education extends into the ranks of graduate students, who report extremely high levels of anxiety and depression.
New Study on National Rates of Recovery
What percentage of people with a lifetime experience of a serious mental illness are in recovery? Does recovery vary by age? Answers to these questions were addressed with data from a national survey of 41,000 people and published by the Temple University Collaborative in Psychiatric Services.
You can access the publication here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/