Speaker(s)

Tami Radohl Sigley, PhD

Personal Medicine (PM) is a concept derived from the mental health recovery literature (Deegan, 2007). Based on a recent qualitative study (Radohl, 2015, pending), the definition of PM has been expanded to “activities and self-care behaviors outside of pill medication that help one handle their mental health symptoms and feel good about themselves.” This presentation explores how PM helps mental health consumers with maintaining a “meaningful life.” Findings, consumer narratives, and practice implications are discussed using lecture and group application activities.

Radohl MIMH_Powerpoint_PM_June2016 – Slides in PDF format

Speaker(s)

Terri Cooley-Bennett, LCSW, LSCSW, CCDP-D

Mental Health Professionals are increasingly becoming key members of interdisciplinary teams in healthcare settings. Studies on integrated care: integrating mental health and primary care systems (APA, 2012) are fairly new. According to the American Psychological Association (2012), “The U.S. health care system typically regards the Primary Care Physician (PCP) as the first point of contact for a client who is accessing medical services of any kind, whether the need is for basic health, mental health, or substance abuse treatment.” This article also found that 70-85 % of visits to the primary care clinic are due to psychosocial and behavioral causes (as cited by Gatchel & Oordt, 2003; Kroenke & Mangelsdorf, 1989). Clients are using their medical provider to not only meet needs for health, but for mental health and substance abuse as well. A Behavioral Health Consultant (BHC) is available in some healthcare settings/clinics and the trend is growing to have mental health professionals available in primary care. How do mental health professionals work alongside medical professionals? What types of interventions are needed from the mental heath professional in the primary care setting? How do client’s respond to a BHC who is introduced to them by their medical provider? This workshop will examine behavioral health interventions that are the most effective in primary care.

Speaker(s)

Bart Andrews, PhD

Many behavioral health professionals have lived experience with suicide, addiction and mental illness. The behavioral health and suicide prevention field has varying degrees of acceptance of open discussion of providers’ own experiences around suicide and behavioral health history. Some studies report lived experience is a motivating factor to enter the helping professions, that mental health professionals experience significantly higher rates of mood disorders, substance use disorders and suicide attempts BUT most providers do not feel safe discussing this, fearing prejudice, discrimination and rejection. In fact, the amount of research on prevalence of mental illness in providers is … well, surprisingly thin. Dr. Andrews will review some of the literature base on prevalence of lived experience- the results are surprising. One study showed up to 19% of doctors level graduate students reported past experience with suicide thoughts. The lack of research around the prevalence of mental illness and suicide experience is an indication of taboo strength. We expect the persons we are serving to freely disclose their own fight with mental illness, suicide and substance use and yet are reluctant to publicly share our own experience. There are leaders in our field, including Cheryl Sharp with the National Council and Dr. Marsha Linehan who have freely disclosed their lived experience. These courageous women had an impact on me and laid the ground work for me to tell my own story of lived experience. Dr. Andrews will tell his story of suicide and recovery and how he decided to share his experience with colleagues and other professionals. He will provide examples of challenges he experienced early in recovery, the impact of low acceptance among professionals and the process of re-telling his story after he had achieved professional success. He will review current challenges involved in our reliance on the word “stigma” and need to create a more specific and intentional language around prejudice against persons with lived experience and a renewed emphasis on positive and person centered language. He will also discuss the power of leaders stepping forward to share their lived experience. Yes, we need more research on how to prevent suicide. We also need to change the culture around how we provide suicide prevention services, and that has to start with us. There is an “us-them” dynamic at play in our current suicide prevention efforts, and it is holding us back. There are even leaders in our field who openly discount the role of lived experience in learning more and improving our suicide prevention efforts. It is time for this to change. Leaders with lived experience must be canaries, we must tell our story in the fresh air, so others, our peers, our team members and our clients can see that we walk the walk and just don’t talk the talk. Not only will this change our culture, it will save lives.

Slides in PDF Format