Best in Mental Health (6/28/15 – 7/12/15)

Below is a round-up of some of the latest news in mental health (and more)!

This week’s wrap-up has the following main themes:

• Cultural Sensitivity/Racism
• Advocacy/Healthcare
• Technology and Social Work
• Therapy/Treatment
• Self-Care
• Nonprofit/Private Practice Career Guidance

Cultural Sensitivity/Racism

• 3 Things to Know When Working With LGBT Clients – Paul C. Milford stresses the importance of our being aware of the employment discrimination, violence exposure and mental health conditions facing LGBT individuals.
• 3 Valuable Sensory Processing Tips You Need To Know – Stephen Borgman provides metaphors to illustrate how someone with a sensory processing disorder has difficulty interpreting, organizing, and responding to inputs/signals.
• Achieving Racial Equity Through Social Work: Sharing Culture – Bernabei, Pender Greene & Blitz explain the importance of sharing culture and suggest ways to assess the racial climate of your organization.
• Slavery to Mass Incarceration – Relando Thompkins-Jones shares a brief video by the Equal Justice Initiative that highlights the links between slavery and mass incarceration.
• Social Workers Respond to Jihadism – Part 1 – to become informed and know how to respond, Pat Shelly shares resources about the basics of Islam and the current conflicts in the Arab Peninsula.
• The Truth About Black Women & Our Mental Health – Vilissa Thompson calls for greater diversity and cultural competency amongst mental health professionals so as to improve the efficacy and relevancy of mental health services to Black women.

Advocacy/Healthcare

• FGM: it’s cutting season – there is increased likelihood/danger of girls being subjected to FGM at this time of year; article provides helpful guides such as FGM Guidance for professionals and FGM patient information leaflet.
• The Goldies: a community-based singing programme for successful aging – self-reported improvements in health and social relationships provide evidence of the preventative nature of the program.
• How Does Health Care Look through the Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Frameworks? – Nicole Clark provides an illustration of how reproductive health varies depending upon the framework you use to look at it.
• Human Rights and Torture (part 1 of 2) – Dr. William Wipfler discusses the issue of torture and how human rights abuses must always be confronted.
• Making cruel unusual – A large number of people with severe mental illness are still being treated scandalously badly in the U.S., but if treatment can be offered early and more widely, people with serious mental illness are likely to have a brighter future.
• Plastic Surgery to Cope with Bullying? – Robert T. Muller discusses how children are having surgery to address deformities, but questions arise as to where a line should be drawn; positive mental effects may be localized and short-lived.
• Psychotherapy Enters The Assisted Suicide Debate – shares the concerns that arise for patients with terminal illness, suggests therapists become experts in end-of-life care, and describes Final Exit Network that helps people through the process of deciding whether hastening their death is right for them.
• Screen Addiction Is Taking a Toll on Children – Jane Brody raises concerns about the 8-11 hrs/day children/teens spend w/different media including the marked decline in personal interactions.
• Speaking to Teens at Parochial Schools about Bullying – Sameer Hinduja shares an anti-bullying talk he gives to parochial high school students that he works with that may be adapted to fit other youth-group settings.
• White House Conference on Aging – this will be live streamed July 13 starting at 10AM; Susannah Fox will be recommending that websites be optimized for older users; tests show that these types of changes would also benefit young people.

Technology and Social Work

• 9 things social media adds to events and why we shouldn’t be without it – Sarah Chapman discusses the benefits of increased learning and networking we gain when conference attendees/speakers/hosts engage in social media.
• In Abundance: Networked Participatory Practices as Scholarship – Bonnie E Stewart shares her article in which you learn that despite networked scholarship’s ability to foster extensive cross-disciplinary collaboration, it often remains unrecognized.
• Comparing Classroom Response Systems: Kahoot, Pear Deck, and Quizizz – socialworkpad compares three programs that makes your powerpoint slides interactive.
• Personal Learning Networks for Social Workers – Laurel Hitchcock explains how to develop a digital PLN to enable you to build a network of trusted resources and easily stay-up-to-date on your professional interests.
• Political Activity at 501(C)3 Nonprofits – transcript of twitter chat in case you missed it
• The Sex-Offender Test – While there are questions about the validity of Abel’s computerized assessment, it is sometimes being used to determine the fate of men who’ve been accused of sexually abusing children.
• Untrained Bloggers Are Trying to Counsel Suicidal Teens on Tumblr – youngsters need to talk to someone and are able to obtain advice when they want it [for free] on Tumblr.

Therapy/Treatment

• Are There Symptoms of PTSD Missing from the DSM-5? – Harry Croft, M.D. describes additional/revised symptoms of PTSD to the four listed in the DSM-5 which would enable capturing the full experience of PTSD.
• Attachment parenting, resilience but sometimes things go very wrong – Peter Choate talks about free range parenting, resiliency role models and supports and more.
• Behind the book: Integrating Spirituality into Counseling – Counseling Today stresses the importance of including spirituality in counseling process; reviewed book includes examples of how to incorporate spirituality into therapy.
• Helping Clients with Personality Disorders Focus on Problem Solving – Judith S. Beck shares two case scenarios to illustrate a client having difficulty in focusing on his/her main issue and a therapist’s response to regain focus.
• Marsha Linehan and The Role of The Therapist in DBT – Sean Erreger provides food for thought from #NamiCon15; “suicide is seen as a solution by client” but seen as a problem by the therapist.
•  Obsessions and compulsions – an All in the Mind podcast about the nature of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder through one man’s personal account of his obsessive and irrational fear of contracting HIV.
• PTSD Healing Techniques –  Michele Rosenthal interviews Courtney Armstrong about how to develop a more effective way to turn PTSD healing techniques into a successful PTSD recovery program.
• The Science of ‘Inside Out’ – Keltner and Ekman share with us some of background behind Pixar’s “Inside Out,” a movie about a girl having to wrestle with a move (and the feelings of loss along with her other emotions all personified).
• Specialized therapy can aid traumatized children in developing nations – an evidence-based talk therapy treatment can be provided by workers with little education with good outcomes.
• What Does the Semi-colon Tattoo Mean? – Shye Louis, the 2-1-1/Life Line manager, shares how the semi-colon is a symbol of hope for suicide survivors and a reminder of challenge(s) overcome.

Self-Care

• 5 Steps to Make Neglect Productive – To reduce stress, Samara Stone suggests choosing to either make something a priority or plan to neglect it until you have time to really give it the appropriate focus.
• Stone Mandalas – Amy Johnson Maricle interviews Maria Trujillo about how to create stone mandalas and shares tips and a cheat sheet for you to create your own.
• Using Data to Bring Mindfulness to Your Work – Beth Kanter shares the benefits of meditation and her experience with a wearable device that measures your breath and helps you be more mindful about being calm.

NonProfit/Private Practice Career

• 10 Media Interview Mistakes Therapists Make – Dr. Julie Hanks, LCSW shares what are ten common mistakes/assumptions therapists make vis a vis media interviews and how to address them.
• Integrating You into Private Practice : Interview  – Renee Beck talks about about how to integrate spirituality into your practice and be true to who you are while remaining ethical and impactful in your work.
• PoP Culture meet Mercedes Samudio, LCSW, Parent Coach – in this interview, Mercedes tells us how she used her online presence to grow her private practice.
• Opportunities for Social Workers Expand Under Obamacare – Charles E. Lewis Jr., Ph.D shares how healthcare is shifting to a more integrated approach of behavioral and primary health, factoring in the social determinants of health; contributions of social workers are more appreciated.
• Social Workers on Transdisciplinary Teams – Harkey and Demoratz describe the important role social workers have to play within transdisciplinary teams, as well as the need for them to educate their teammates to have their expertise recognized.
• The Two Absolute Requirements for #GivingTuesday Success – To create fundraising magic, Caryn Stein advises tapping into your network and empowering your people.
• What’s The Best Way To Break Into The Nonprofit Sector? – To enter the nonprofit field, Victoria Crispo recommends drafting your resume using nonprofit terminology that they use.