| Office of Communications and Consumer Affiars |
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Anna Chinappi, Director
Steve Holochuck, Director of Consumer Affairs
Pamela Mason, Information and Referral Specialist
Sarah Spaeth, Communications Coordinator
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| Please contribute to the next edition of DMH Connections |
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Deadlines for upcoming issues:
October 17th for the November 3rd newsletter
November 17th for the December 1st newsletter
Please send all materials to
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DMH North East Area Joins National Depression Screening Day October 10th For 18 years, Screening for Mental Health's National Depression Screening Day (NDSD) has offered health care providers evidence-based, affordable and easy-to-use mental health education and screening resources. Reaching community members with undetected and untreated mental disorders has never been more important. Studies show that most Americans wait years before they seek treatment for a mental health disorder, and many never seek treatment at all.
DMH and Department of Public Health, Tewksbury Hospital will join thousands of other sites across the nation offering free and confidential depression screening on National Depression Screening Day, Oct. 10 at the Tewksbury Public Library.
The depression screening will take place on Friday, Oct. 10 in the Trustees' Board room of the Tewksbury Public Library at 300 Chandler Street in Tewksbury, MA from 1:00-4:00 p.m. A DVD entitled "Depression: True Stories," will be shown at 1 p.m. followed by a brief discussion and question and answer period with Dr. Robert Karr, DMH North East Area Medical Director.
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National Policy Academy Focuses on Needs of Young Adults with Mental Illness Massachusetts has been selected as one of six delegations for the 7th annual National Policy Academy on Developing Systems of Care for Youth and Young Adults with Mental Needs who are Transitioning to Adulthood. The Academy will be held Dec. 8 through 11 in Annapolis, MD.
This National Policy Academy provides an exciting opportunity for states to engage in planning for new policies to support youth and young adults with behavioral health needs who are transitioning into adulthood and their families. Successful policy academies have been held in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007 under the sponsorship of the federal Center for Mental Health Services. The other five states chosen to participate include Ohio, Oregon, Oklahoma, Maryland and Arizona.
The National Policy Academy will assist delegations from each selected state by: defining concrete goals and outcomes for its youth and young adult mental health policy initiative; determining the type of policy strategy(e.g., legislation, executive order or memorandum of understanding) that will accomplish its goals; strategizing the next steps for gaining the political will required to support and move the proposed policy initiative forward; planning the mental health policy initiative and to develop an ongoing implementation or action plan; forming strategic partnerships to facilitate the successful implementation of the policy initiative; and planning how to evaluate the impact of the policy on practice.
"The opportunity to participate with six other states around the country in this National Policy Academy is an honor and a privilege for the Commonwealth," said Ann Capoccia, DMH Child and Adolescent Services. "The systems of care movement began in the 1980s and has resulted in the development of a culturally competent, strength based, family and community driven mental health system for children and adolescents and their families. The hope and expectation for this Academy is that it will help create the roadmap we need to travel with young adults and their families with mental health needs as they transition to adulthood."
Massachusetts' application focused on the TAY Initiative which DMH intends to integrate into the Governor's goals regarding education, foster care, community-based mental health services and remedying disparities among minority groups. Massachusetts' proposal looks to expand the youth voice through DMH's Young Adult Councils and through interagency partnerships.
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Statewide Youth Advisory Council Posts a New Video on YouTube The Statewide Youth Advisory Council (SYAC) has distributed a new youth in recovery video on young adult experience with being diagnosed with a mental illness called "Diagnosis: The Way it Is."
The video is about the impact of diagnosis, individual experiences with mental illness and the process of recovery. Three Boston Local Area Youth Council members were interviewed by Statewide Youth Advisory Coordinator Matthew McWade.
The SYAC hopes this video will show other consumers that they are not alone in their struggle and that this video will help them in their process of recovery. SYAC also hopes that this video may assist the general public in reassessing their beliefs in relation to people who experience mental illness.
Click here to watch "Diagnosis: The Way it Is."
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Taunton State Hospital Hosts Poster Contest Taunton State Hospital will be hosting an award ceremony for a poster contest Oct. 17 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ricky Silvia Recreational Building on the grounds of Taunton State Hospital. Submissions are limited to consumers from Taunton State Hospital as well as the Taunton/Attleboro Site. The theme of the poster contest is "Celebrate Work" and awards will be given out in four categories, most artistic, most creative, most inspirational and best stigma stomper. The contest will be judged by a panel of consumers who have received training in the prize categories. The event is supported by providers, Friends of Taunton State Hospital, the Site Office and Taunton State Hospital.
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Multicultural Corner: Latino Voices on Seclusion and Restraint
Underscoring the theme of "A Vision for Culture Change," a Latino breakout group was convened at the recent Seclusion and Restraint Elimination Conference held on September 4 in Newton.
The small group was comprised of Latino staff, including a mental health worker from an inpatient unit, a Latino consumer and other DMH staff. The session, conducted in both English and Spanish, was an opportunity to hear directly about each person's experiences and perspectives on seclusion and restraint practices.
A bilingual staff person shared his story of being asked to go to the inpatient unit to help with a patient who only spoke Spanish. Not only was he able to facilitate communication, he was also able to bring a sense of calm and comfort to the patient, especially when they both discovered they were from the same town in Puerto Rico and could reminisce about what was familiar. His intervention had ripple effects among the other inpatient staff, especially one nurse who took a particular interest in the patient. She made a point to observe the interactions of the bilingual staff person and the patient, and asked about the details of their conversations. She went on to learn some basic Spanish phrases and vocabulary about music and food which she knew were of special interest to the patient and developed her own effective relationship with the patient.
The stigma of mental illness within the Hispanic community was also discussed among the group. An inpatient staff person recounted his experience of discovering that someone he knew outside of work had been admitted to his unit. The patient spent her initial time hiding from him and when he finally was able to talk with her, she explained that she was ashamed to be there and didn't want him to know about her admission.
Sharing of these types of experiences led the group to make recommendations for creating the lasting culture change that the initiative to eliminate seclusion and restraint seeks. Examples include the need to ensure that consumers and family members have the linguistic access necessary to participate in mental health services. Efforts to provide linguistic access include increasing the number of bilingual staff who can work with patients from a particular culture and, where no bilingual staff are available, ensuring that patients and staff have access to professional interpreters to facilitate communication.
Successes of the seclusion and restraint elimination initiative were also recognized. The creation of comfort rooms has proven to be of therapeutic benefit and the implementation of a formal debriefing process after any seclusion and restraint incidents has helped prevent occurrence in the future.
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Conferences and Events
October 5-11 Mental Illness Awareness Week
October 7 Annual Multicultural Conference sponsored by the Southeastern Area
at the Shaw Center in Brockton
October 9 Bipolar Awareness Day
October 10 National Depression Screening Day
March 1-4, 2009 22nd Annual Research Conference hosted by the Research and Training Center for Children's Mental Health, Tampa, FL
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We will be posting DMH Connections on DMH's intranet site | |
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Town Meeting on Depression Draws 500 to Cape Cod Event  The Department of Mental Health and the Department of Public Health co-sponsored "Depression: True Stories" - A Town Meeting on Cape Cod to raise public awareness of depression, its human toll, economic consequence, and the fact that it is a treatable illness. Cape Cod and Islands residents gathered at the Tilden Arts Center at Cape Cod Community College to participate in an open dialogue about depression. More than 500 people attended the forum making it a huge success.
"This town meeting dialogue is a great way to engage the community around knowing the symptoms of depression, that it is an illness just like any other, that it is treatable and treatment works," said Commissioner Barbara A. Leadholm "The true stories of peoples' struggles with and triumphs over depression is a powerful way to help young adults, parents, friends and loved ones more readily recognize the signs of the illness."
The town hall meeting was moderated by former WBZ health reporter Jeanne Blake, President and CEO of Blake Works, and included the screening of the Blake Works documentary "Depression: True Stories." The audience was welcomed by Kathleen Schatzberg, President, Cape Cod Community College and Rep. Matthew Patrick (D - Falmouth).
 Commissioner Barbara Leadholm spoke regarding the need to treat individuals at the early signs of depression in order to prevent suicide. Deborah DiMasi (pictured right), House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi's wife, spoke about her brother Jeff Kinlin, a returning combat veteran, who took his life due to depression and her niece who also died by suicide this year. Despite the tragedy in her family's life, Mrs. DiMasi's message was powerful and hopeful, telling attendees that what happened to her family members could be prevented. Matthew McWade, Department of Mental Health Statewide Youth Coordinator, spoke about his struggles with depression and the stigma he encountered because of it.
Massachusetts First Lady Diane Patrick, who was unable to attend, created a special a video message, addressing the audience and discussing her episode of depression more than a year ago. Mrs. Patrick talked about the need to educate the public about mental illness, that it is treatable and that we all must work to eliminate stigma which keeps many people from seeking treatment.
 Following the screening of the documentary, the town meeting discussion was moderated by Jeanne Blake with attendees and a panel of experts (pictured above) who fielded many questions and comments. Panel members included Robert Macy, Ph.D.; Ben Molbert, M.D., Medical Director, McLean Southeast Adolescent Acute Residential Treatment, Brockton; Raymond V. Tamasi, M. Ed., President and CEO, Gosnold on Cape Cod; and Shannon Scarry, M.D., chief of behavioral health at Cape Cod Hospital. In attendance were students from Nantucket who experienced the suicide of five of their classmates over the past two years. One student asked members of the panel what they were going to do to help students who are feeling symptoms of depression. They were all applauded for their courage to stand up and speak about their experiences, frustrations and will to take action.
For this event, DMH and DPH funded the distribution of 300 complimentary copies of "Depression: True Stories" and the booklet "Words Can Work: When Talking About Depression and Other Mental Health Disorders." Attendees also received a step-by-step guide to hold their own forums about depression in various community settings such as schools, hospitals, community centers, and churches. The Cape Cod town meeting event is a model for grassroots, community-based anti-stigma and public education work around depression and mental illnesses, one that DMH hopes to replicate in other regions of the state.
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Announcing the DMH Information Management Governance Commitee
By: Janine Paquette During the Information Technology (IT) boom of the 1980s, it was common practice for private and public sector executives to defer key IT-related decisions to IT professionals. This model failed on several levels. IT professionals were expected to make decisions independently without the input and feedback necessary to make informed judgments-it was a model with a significant gap: the lack of stakeholder participation.
The trend has shifted, and now, organizations form IT governance committees in which all stakeholders, including agency executives, internal customers and supporting departments such as finance, security and legal, act as a clearinghouse to identify, review, analyze and prioritize projects that require substantial information management resources. An effective IT governance framework addresses strategic alignment between IT and business, performance measurement, risk management, value delivery and resource management.
DMH has followed this trend and under Commissioner Leadholm has established the DMH Business Information Management Governance Committee (BIMGC). Chaired by Chief of Staff Regina Marshall, the BIMGC established a charter, defined membership roles and responsibilities, identified the type of projects that would be submitted to the committee and developed a two-tiered project application process.
With the BIMGC framework in place we are now able to share the two-part project request process required for new project proposals. BIMGC will review proposals (received electronically) prior to the monthly meeting and will ask authors to make a presentation on their project during this meeting. The type of project proposals submitted to BIMGC will be valued at more than $5,000, have an easily defined start and finish timeframe, are not maintenance related and require one or more resources and more than a month to implement.
Coming soon is an e-mail message to all staff that will announce the availability of the Project Request Proposal forms on the DMH Intranet site with instructions on the completion and submission processes. The following brief summary will give you an idea of what the process entails:
· "Part One - Conceptual Project Proposal": This form requires signatures from executive sponsors, your project description, approximate timeline, its benefits and goals, potential risks and estimated costs - if known. If the BIMGC decision is made to support your "Conceptual Project Proposal" the committee will then ask you to complete the "Part Two" form.
· "Part Two - Project Proposal": This form will specify how your project will improve operations, aligns with DMH business goals and increases productivity and/or efficiency. AIT and financial staff will be assigned to assist you on completing the technical and financial sections of this form.
BIMGC will make the final determination after the two-part process has been completed satisfactorily.
Members of the BIMGC are: · Regina Marshall, Chief of Staff and Chair
· Jane Trott, DMH Security Officer
· Rita Barrette, Director of Community Services, Central Office
· Patty Kenny, Metro Boston Director of Community Services
· Ann Scott, Central Mass. Area Director
· Dr. Ken Mitchell, Metro Suburban Area Medical Director
· Janet Ross, Metro Suburban Area Director of Nursing
· Richard Cooley, Director of Accounting/Operations, DMH A&F
· Claritza Abreu, Assistant Commissioner, AIT
· Bob Peterson, Application Development Director. AIT
· Donna Perchase, Operations Director, AIT
· Janine Paquette, MHIS Director of Clinical Applications
· Other areas, such as Legal, when needed
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Employee Profiles: Bob Peterson  Bob Peterson has been a DMH employee for 14 years and serves as the Director of IT Systems for the Department's Applied Information Technology Division in Central Office. In his position, Bob manages 30 staff who work on the software side of information technology. Bob, however, is not your stereotypical IT guy. He has a diverse background that includes music and teaching.
Bob has played the trumpet in a classical brass quintet called Brassworks (pictured above) since 1976. The quintet consists of two trumpets, a French horn, a tuba and a trombone. Many of the original members are still with Brassworks, playing classical music at a variety of venues such as graduation and wedding ceremonies.
Bob has an extensive background in music and received his bachelor's and master's degree from the New England Conservatory. He was a music teacher at Braintree High for eight years, but left teaching for good when many schools faced deep funding cuts in the early 1980s. The Petersons are a family of educators: Bob's wife, Janice, recently retired as a teacher and his two children, David and Joanna, are also teachers.
Bob's latest adventure is biking. Bob started biking 10 miles into work every morning, from Newton to downtown Boston along the scenic Charles River.
Bob's dedication and passion is also evident in the work he does at DMH. Bob decided to work in IT at DMH, as opposed to a bank or insurance company because, like many people, he personally knows someone who suffered from a mental illness. Bob said his work at DMH really helps people with mental illnesses, and he feels rewarded knowing that his work can make a difference in the lives of consumers.
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Plenty is Cookin at Fall River Flex Program  The Fall River flexible support program is sponsoring a "What's Cookin'" group which emphasizes healthy cooking for parents of youth with mental illness. The "What's Cookin'" parent group was formed by children's flexible Support Coordinator, Janet Shartle at May Institute Children's Services. The program is part of the "Books, Bikes and Apples" campaign to provide holistic health to children who have experienced significant trauma. A six-week pilot that began in November 2007 has been continued because of its popularity and has involved more than 15 families.
The group serves as a place where parent can talk about another commonality, feeding their family, instead of focusing on their children's emotional needs.
The group contracted with an organic farm, Kettle Pond in Berkeley to by shares of produce as well as UMass Amherst Extension. The young people from Kettle Pond are very committed to the environment and healthy eating and their influence has had a serious impact on group members.
Each week Kettle Pond puts together about a dozen bags of that week's produce and two chefs/nutritionists from UMASS Amherst Extension attend the weekly group and share recipes, talk about nutrition and make a lunch for the group from that week's produce. At the end of the meeting, parents are each given a bag of produce as well as the opportunity to choose from many extras the farm might bring along that week.
So far, the group has been very well received, with lots of supportive relationships developed and new ideas for healthy eating! |
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Educational Trainings in Suicide Prevention Massachusetts Department of Public Health is sponsoring a series of educational trainings on suicide prevention. The registration fees are nominal and these trainings and workshops will be held several times at various locations throughout the state. CEUs are available through AdCare Educational Institute. This calendar of trainings is not a complete list-DPH will keep us up to date as more educational trainings become available. Click here to register for a class.
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"Meatloaf on Wheels" Hits the Road
by Tracy Rose  We're not sure how the "Meatloaf" got their basketball name, but we're fairly sure that clients and staff who participate in this group find much meaning on and off the court. Team "Meatloaf" has been meeting at the Eric Lindemann Mental Health Center (ELMHC) gym to play basketball twice a week since December of 2006.
And now, the group has a new spin-off activity-"Meatloaf on Wheels." The new project is the idea of Howie Schnairsohn and Elene Baxter, who both work for DMH provider North Suffolk Mental Health Community Rehabilitation and Support program. The two North Suffolk employees are committed to helping clients achieve overall health and wellness, and integration into their communities, and both bring kindness and passion to their work.
Last summer, Schnairsohn and Baxter coordinated two rides with rented bicycles for consumers and toured the city. Recognizing the great appeal this endeavor had for clients of mixed ages, abilities and levels of recovery, they elicited the support of the ELMHC in acquiring a small fleet of bicycles, including space for storage and maintenance. Currently the group is gaining competence in operating their bikes in supervised "bike hikes" on safe city bike paths. After completing "cycling-in-the-city" safety instruction, the group will ride weekly on combined roads and paths, weather permitting.
Thanks to this collaboration with ELMHC Safety & Compliance Officer, Ken Hallowood, "Back Bay Bicycle" General Manager Timothy Libby, and the ELMHC leadership, the "Meatloaf on Wheels" hit the road for their first official ride in September. The CRS team hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony last month at the ELMHC gym. ELMHC Site Director Michele Anzaldi, Case Manager Supervisor Tracy Rose, ELMHC Fitness Director Bob Filmore, Ken Hallowood and CRS Program Director Steve Switzer attended the send off. |
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Same Time, Different Place: Forty-Seven Forums Across the Nation Put Reasearch Front and Center Thousands of people turned out across the United States and in Canada on Sept, 14, for an unprecedented series of free public forums on how neuropsychiatric research has helped turn the tide on the devastating effects of mental health disorders and plays a crucial role in fostering a better understanding of the biological mechanisms behind these illnesses.
Sponsored by the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD), the world's leading philanthropic organization for research on mental illnesses, the historic day of events served to launch an international public awareness campaign called "Healthy Minds Across America." Forty-seven unique forums took place at prominent universities and medical centers across the nation, including here in Worcester, where scientists who are conducting leading-edge research provided some of the latest findings on such conditions as schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, including as post-traumatic stress disorder and childhood mental disorders.
 Nationwide, the simultaneous events drew nearly 4,000 attendees. Researchers and stakeholders in the Massachusetts mental health community attended an event at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester at which Commissioner Leadholm spoke. "I must stress that research is our best hope for a better service system in the future and is the promise of how our mental health service system can be informed and ultimately improved," said Commissioner Leadholm, "Our goal is to translate research into practice, and reduce the dire consequences and costs of serious, long-term mental illness and serious emotional disturbances for individuals, families and government."
Many in attendance were consumers seeking to learn about potential new treatments for their disorders, parents concerned about their children's chances of recovery, mental health professionals interested in understanding the causes and mechanisms of mental illnesses and how to better help their clients, special education teachers who wanted to find out how to work more effectively with their students with brain and behavior disorders and students of psychiatry and neuroscience.
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Great Ideas Come to the Lindemann  The Boston Chapter of the Emerging Green Builders (EGB) hosted the Natural Talent Design Competition where this year's competition centers on a hypothetical renovation of the Paul Rudolph designed Erich Lindemann Community Mental Health Center building into a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rated building. The competition aims to encourage students and young professionals to become leaders in the green building movement.
Members of the Boston EGB felt it was important to choose a design issue that captured the architectural character of Boston. The program they developed for "greening" the Lindemann building exemplifies the issues that confront designers across the country as they reach the intersection of historic preservation and sustainable design. EGB's Lindemann building design project aims to provide the city of Boston with a model linking existing, historically significant buildings to sustainable design applications.
Designs were on display at the Lindemann from Aug. 18 through 22 and the winning design team, "Redo Rudolph," was announced on Aug. 22, named after Paul Rudolph, the renowned architect who designed the Lindemann and Hurley building complex in the early 1970s.
The winning design team looked at many of the challenges facing the Lindemann building including unused outdoor space, complicated layout and high energy costs. To alleviate some of these issues, the Redo Rudolph design team proposed adding an atrium to block harsh west-northwest winds in the winter, protecting the major public zones. In addition, their proposal redesigns the existing sunshades to pivoting blinds that allows the building's occupants to decide how much winter sun they want.
The Redo Rudolph design will now compete for the national level competition, taking place in Boston next month from Nov. 19-21, which will be judged at Green Build 2008
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Burial Grounds Receive Historical Marker The Town of Foxborough and the Foxborough Historical Society recently marked the restoration of the former Foxborough State Hospital burial grounds. Interred there are more than 250 individuals who passed away while under state care who had no family ties or could not afford the cost of burial. The burial ground dates back to 1933 amidst the Great Depression. DMH contributed to the historical marker that was dedicated in ceremonies on Aug. 16 when the community gathered at the former hospital burial grounds to unveil the marker which serves as a reaffirmation that the burial grounds will remain sacred for all time. Foxborough elected officials and members of the historical commission participated in the ceremonies. Representing DMH was Chief of Staff Regina Marshall.
The marker reads: "Not all patients of the Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates or its successor, the Foxborough State Hospital, had known family contacts or families able to provide for their burial. To insure a proper final resting place, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts purchased a large number of lots at Rock Hill Cemetery for that purpose. As needs increased in the Great Depression, this cemetery was created in 1933 and subsequently expanded that those who remained in state care even in death would have the dignity of a proper burial."
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Progress: See Photos of Work on the New DMH Hospital These photos show progress on demolition at the site of the new DMH state hospital on the Worcester State Hospital grounds. Demolition work, which began in the spring of this year, is the first phase of the multi-year project. When complete, the state-of-the-art DMH hospital will have a bed capacity of 320 including 30 adolescent beds and 30 adolescent IRTP beds. In the aerial photos, the Clock Tower and Hooper turret are easy to spot. Completion date for the new hospital is scheduled for the early part of 2012.
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Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Bill Headed for President's Desk  On September 29, 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act, S. 2304. The legislation passed the Senate by unanimous consent recently and will now proceed to the President's desk for signature.
S. 2304 reauthorizes the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA) for an additional five years at $50 million per year. The bill also expands training for law enforcement to identify and respond appropriately to individuals with mental illnesses and supports the development of law enforcement receiving centers to assess individuals in custody for mental health and substance abuse treatment needs.
This bill addresses the fact that far too often individuals are arrested and subjected to the criminal justice system, when what they really need is treatment and support to overcome mental illness or substance abuse disorders. This bipartisan bill provides strong federal support for helping local communities address this crisis and improve treatment outcomes for mentally ill offenders.
People with mental illnesses are overrepresented in all parts of the criminal justice system including their contact with law enforcement, in the courts, in jails and prisons, and in parole and probation caseloads across the country. Prevalence estimates of serious mental illnesses in correctional facilities range from 7 to 16 percent, or rates four times higher for men and eight times higher for women than found in the general population. The U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that the prevalence of youth with mental disorders in juvenile justice facilities is even higher. In many cases, these individuals are not violent criminals, but rather low-level offenders. In addition, it typically costs far more to treat individuals with serious mental illnesses in jail or prison than it does in community-based settings.
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