NAMI Conference 2018: Helping people make connections
I came to my first NAMI conference as a person in recovery from bipolar disorder and as a mental health journalist.
The NAMI 2018 conference in New Orleans last month proved wildly successful in connecting me with like-minded souls as well as to businesses and organizations that can help people like me live complete and meaningful lives
Drug diversion: The crime that affects everybody
Drug diversion is defined as any transfer of a prescription drug from a lawful to an unlawful channel of distribution or use.
Often thought of as occurring in the outpatient setting – with doctor-shopping, “pill mills,” and family or friends taking medications not prescribed to them – drug diversion can occur in hospitals and other inpatient facilities. It is a very real and costly problem, with far-reaching effects, often referred to as a “multiple-victim” crime.
The Many Faces of Stigma
The theme “Live. Learn. Share Hope” of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) National Convention to be held June 27-30 in New Orleans provides an excellent launching pad to start a conversation regarding stigma as we live, learn and share hope about the people affected by mental illness.
Stigma, like so many of life’s experiences, can be as individual as the person experiencing it.
Who cares for the caregiver?
When we imagine health care workers – the nurses, doctors, and support staff – we think of their role helping us. We engage with them as patients, sometimes routinely and sometimes at the darkest hours of our lives, as they help us heal. They care for us.
Mental Illness and Violence – Challenges and Solutions
Are people with serious mental illness more prone to violence than the general population? In the aftermath of almost weekly mass shootings and other acts of extreme violence, this question inevitably emerges.
Honoring Mental Health Awareness Month: What Does the Future Look Like?
In 1949, Mental Health America led the way in establishing May as Mental Health Awareness Month. Since that time, mental health care has come a long way through a better understanding of behavioral health conditions, the development of corresponding evidence-based practices, and improved health care delivery.
However, we still have a ways to go.
Bridging Access Challenges for Maternal Mental Health in California
There must be something in the water in Beacon Health Options’s San Francisco office. Over the past year, several of us who share the space have had baby girls (me included). As an expectant and now new mom, I have experienced the health care system as a patient – not just as a behind-the-scenes professional.
Telehealth for autism treatment: Improved efficacy, health and cost
The oft-cited statistic that one out of every 68 children in America has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) serves as the ongoing reminder that ASD affects many families, school systems and communities.
The challenge for the health care system at large is to determine the best treatment at a cost society can bear.
Benzodiazepines: The Other Epidemic
The opioid epidemic has become an all-too-familiar topic in hospital grand rounds, in political speeches, in daily news briefings, and in social media hashtags.
However, there is another epidemic, one that in many cases actually overlaps with, and exacerbates, the opioid crisis: benzodiazepine misuse.
Remembering Daniel: A story told is a story never forgotten
He was one of the most honest people I had ever met. His face was honest; it betrayed every emotion. His voice was honest. He always told you exactly what he was thinking. His heart was honest.
He felt things more strongly than anyone I know. I loved him. I met him on the first day of 9th grade and was instantly smitten. He was always kind and jovial with me, despite my relatively uncool standing, to his relatively popular one.