Search results for 'suicide'

In Tuesday’s Expert Perspective, the National Council’s Chuck Ingoglia described the Mental Health First Aid Act, the proposed legislation which seeks $20 million in grant funding for training that prepares individuals to recognize and respond to emerging mental health conditions and crisis situations.

CFYM sat down with Lisa Goodale, Vice President of Peer Support Services at the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance and a certified trainer for Mental Health First Aid to learn more about the program and discuss the potential impact of this legislation. Goodale has been training individuals in Mental Health First Aid since 2010.

Lisa Goodale, M.S.W., on Mental Health First Aid

CFYM: Why is Mental Health First Aid important?

LG: You’re much more likely to encounter somebody in a mental health crisis than you are to encounter someone having a heart attack or a stroke. Even though they may never encounter someone [experiencing physical trauma], people take first aid to be prepared. So when you look at the prevalence of mental health conditions, it’s a no-brainer.

People think they have to have specialized knowledge to help with mental health problems. But there’s a lot that people can do for themselves in those situations in terms of self-help, and one of the pieces of Mental Health First Aid that we highlight is how the Mental Health First Aider can help encourage someone to use self-care and support strategies.

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How are you affected?

Estimating Impact
Mental Health America projected more than 1.13 million Americans could lose access to any kind of public mental health support.

The White House warned that “up to 373,000 seriously mentally ill adults and seriously emotionally disturbed children could go untreated. This would likely lead to increased hospitalizations, involvement in the criminal justice system, and homelessness for these individuals.”

One article termed the sequester to be a “mental health crisis,” noting that some sequestration-related spending cuts had potential to be more devastating than others, both for individuals and society. For example, “a furlough for a Reston, Virginia, Defense Department worker doesn’t have the same consequences as it does for a young man with severe bipolar disorder waiting an extra month to see a psychiatrist.”

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Care for Your Mind

Due to Congress’ stalemate in reducing the federal deficit, automatic, across-the-board spending cuts, known as sequestration, are taking effect on federal government programs. Medicaid and Social Security are practically the only programs unaffected, and the Congress has begun scrambling to address the high-profile, high-impact cuts as they arise, such as providing relief for air traffic control. With spending being cut on a broad scale, what will sequestration mean in practical terms for people dealing with mental health conditions? Will the cuts affect you?

(For background information, read What is Sequestration? at USA.gov.)

The overriding concern about sequestration is that it has absolutely no precision: sequestration was designed to cut wide swaths through government, sparing no agency or program. This means that spending in every federal agency—from the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the FBI—and on every federal program—like the national parks, disaster relief, food safety inspection, and airport security—will be cut by 5 percent this year, and even more each year for the next nine years. And because of the delay in implementing sequestration, the cuts are more severe as reductions that would have been spread over 12 months are now crammed into 7 months instead.

(This interactive chart from the Washington Post provides estimates of the state-by-state impact of sequestration by category, based on White House estimates. Click on “Public Health” for the most relevant information.)

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Ron Manderscheid, Ph.D.
Executive Director, NACBHDD

If you or a family member needed care today for a mental health or substance use condition, would you be able to get it? Mental health and substance use conditions, like depression or inappropriate use of alcohol, are real, treatable health problems. As with other health problems (like diabetes, high blood pressure, or heart disease), people with mental or substance use conditions can lead healthy, productive lives when the health problem is diagnosed and treated. When identified and treated early, the severity and impact of these health issues, including damaging consequences to both the person being treated and her or his family, can be reduced. That’s why the process of getting care—what we refer to as gaining access—is critically important.

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For the purposes of this website and all ancillary or affiliated materials and activities, use of the term “Care for Your Mind” in referring to an entity includes Care for Your Mind (CFYM) as well as Families for Depression Awareness (FFDA), which also when appropriate in context encompasses their employees, officers, directors, advisors, consultants, contractors, volunteers, successors, assigns, and monitors.

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Share Your Story
Have you had trouble getting mental health services for yourself or your family? Have you had successes? Tell us! Whether you’re an individual living with a mood disorder or a friend or family member, we’d like to help you share your story with the Care for Your Mind community.

Sophia’s Story

I have insurance through my husband. We have a 35% share of costs that we cannot meet for me to get a psychiatrist’s care, which is not covered...

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Care for Your Mind is brought to you by Families for Depression Awareness, the leading national nonprofit organization providing training, advocacy, and programs for family caregivers of people living with depression or bipolar disorder.

Families for Depression Awareness helps families recognize and cope with depression and bipolar disorder to get people well and prevent suicides, including

• giving families tools and solutions to recognize and manage depression and bipolar disorder
• advocating to eliminate the stigma associated with mood disorders
• working to unite families and help them heal in...

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When left untreated, mood disorders can result in serious injury or death due to suicide or dangerous behaviors that can occur during extreme depressive or manic states. Despite the seriousness of these conditions, the vast majority of individuals with mood disorders who seek help are able to find treatments that work, enabling them to lead full, happy, and productive lives.

Key Components of Treatment
Effective treatments for mood disorders can help individuals reach personal goals, build on their existing strengths, develop a person-centered wellness plan, and live life without the interfere...

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