Best in Mental Health (7/11/16 – 7/24/16)

Mental Health Roundup

This contains some of the latest news in social work, healthcare, private practice and more!

This week’s wrap-up has 5 main themes:

• Advocacy/Cultural Sensitivity
• Self-Care
• Therapy
• Technology/Healthcare
• Career/Non-Profit/Private Practice

Advocacy/Cultural Sensitivity

• Achieving Racial Equity Through Social Work – Greene, Bernabei and Blitz – “We guard the gate—overtly or unconsciously influencing the workplace climate… Ask: How have I (and this program, this policy, this practice) excluded the leadership, contribution, and participation of people of color on this issue? …”
  • Black America is Hurting & Tired. White America, Do You Even Care?  – Vilissa Thompson – “We are at our boiling point in this country… There is nowhere for us as Black Americans, disabled and non-disabled, to hide or feel safe…”
  • Black Lives Matter Is Not A Hate Group – Relando Thompkins-Jones – “statement is one of inclusion rather than exclusion… movement demands that the country affirm the value of black life in practical and pragmatic ways…”
• Breaking Down Advocacy Silos to Strengthen Macro-Level Change – Rachel L. West and #MacroSW hosted a twitter chat on how community psychology and macro social work have resources that they can share… summary of resources and chat”
  • The Community Cure for Health Care – Taz Hussein & Mariah Collins – “limits to traditional health care in addressing patients’ needs… rest of the solution must include going outside our four walls…”
• Community Voice – Lakeya Cherry – “people from around the world are hurting and are in need of us… they look to us… hope that we will be impartial and care about their dignity and worth despite our own race, religion, and political views…”
  • Emotional Terrorism – Peter Choate – “There is a growing intolerance that is becoming evident in the public discourse… When we allow intolerance to grow…  increases the vulnerability of vulnerable families and, in particular, children…”
  • In the uproar over police shootings, gun violence and race are children forgotten? – Mel Wilson – “almost 33,000 Americans die from gun violence each year… many children are either victims… or suffer psychological trauma from being a witness…”
• The Fear of Bisexuality – Adam Blum – “bisexual women perceive even more even stigma from the lesbian and gay community than they do from the heterosexual community… There’s freedom in being open to connection in all forms…”
• Film Review: A Young Man’s Future – Karen Zgoda – “Jeremy and Scott, trying to succeed in college while navigating the challenges in forming a romantic relationship with each other and learning how to cope when Scott develops schizophrenia…”
• Social workers in schools: Relationship, location and process – Liz Beddoe & Irene de Haan – “Traditionally, school social workers have been primary facilitators of communication and linkage between school, home, and community. Yet… remain marginalized and discounted as school leaders…’
• Study: The Digital Divide Between Latinos And Whites Is Shrinking – Ericka Cruz Guevarra – “smartphone dependence”… Latinos are more likely to live in homes where their only means of getting online is through a mobile phone with Internet access…”
• Violence is just one part of childhood trauma– Aces Too High/SJS – “Kids experiencing trauma act out… Fight, flight or freeze… Only by communities creating sanctuary for parents can parents create sanctuary for their children… by organizations creating sanctuary for their employees… serve the people they’re supposed to be helping…”
  • Emotional Terrorism – Peter Choate – “There is a growing intolerance that is becoming evident in the public discourse… When we allow intolerance to grow…  increases the vulnerability of vulnerable families and, in particular, children…”
  • In the uproar over police shootings, gun violence and race are children forgotten? – Mel Wilson – “almost 33,000 Americans die from gun violence each year… many children are either victims… or suffer psychological trauma from being a witness…”
• When Your Wife is Mistaken for Your Caregiver – Brian Brutlag – “Everywhere a person with a disability turns, these are some of the constant reminders that we live in an “able-bodied” world…”

Self-Care

• Balance is a verb – Dawn Friedman – “When we can accept balance as a practice then it’s much easier to accept that there will be times when we have to shift our attention…”
• Creating: Stagnation vs Generativity in Life’s Second Half – Brian Collinson – “Erikson clearly tells us of a real danger… of increasingly succumbing to boredom, stagnation… “Making a contribution” or “making your mark” are the hallmarks of generativity…”
• Finding the Joy in Self-Care – Nina Tomkiewicz – “We must engage in self-care to prevent the loss of inspiration which ignited our ambitions to enter the social work profession in the first place…”
• How Men Can Use Their Strengths to Improve Their Lives and the World – Sharon Martin – “When you choose to emphasize your best self, you open the door to happiness – success at work, deep connections… healthy habits…”

Therapy

• Three Touchstones for Healthy Hugging – Paula Sellars – “Choice. I’d love to give you a hug! Is that ok?… Teaching choice about touch is protective from child sexual abuse… Intent… When we notice and evaluate our intent, we are tacitly teaching children to notice and, yes to evaluate intent…”
• Three Steps To Change A Behavior –  Parenting Skill/Joseph R. Sanok – “Identify What is Motivating the Child… Discover what you are doing to perpetuate… Reinforce positive behaviors…”
• Ten Things I Have Learnt as a Sex and Relationship Therapist – Juliet Grayson – “Men and women really do have different attitudes to sex… many of the problems we experience as adults will have their root in our experiences as children… make the distinction between identity and behaviour…”
• Address – Martha Crawford – “Clients whose identities are marginalized or oppressed don’t assume I am safe to talk to unless I actively invite the content in…”
• Changing Troublesome Memories – Steve Andreas – “process is completely content-free… typically effective in one session… process that can be used for any troubling memory… statement that, “I can guarantee that you lived through it, because I am from your future” is hard to argue with…”
• Holding Space for the Shadow – Therapy Chat podcast interview with Keri Nola – “shadow… parts of ourselves, blindspots that could be running the show because we haven’t been unaware… energy of disconnection within ourselves that may present as depression, anxiety…”
• How Does Trauma Affect the Brain? – Jami DeLoe – “some of us who suffer trauma and develop PTSD do so because our brains process trauma differently than others…”
• Issues to consider when changing jobs and terminating client relationships – Brian Carnahan & Bill Hegarty – “No matter the reason for termination… professionals must ensure that their clients have notice of the pending end of a therapeutic relationship and… options for continuing treatment…”
• Mindreading, ethics, and the law – All in the Mind podcast interview with Jack Gallant – “stuff inside your head that you are thinking about right now… is potentially decodable… main factor that limits our ability to decode is just how good our brain scanner is…”
• Procrastination: An Emotion-Focused Coping Strategy – Ann L. Whitman – “to combat chronic procrastination… learn to better connect with your “future self.”… exercise self-compassion…”
• Taking Notes – therapydoc – “Each patient has a flash drive, their very own, that lives in the paper chart with a full name and account number, housed in a locked file drawer…a sample patient visit. Pt Code and Date of Visit : Current Primary DX: Process recording…”
• Use Your Money Story to Improve Your Financial Well-Being – [own] – “Your money story includes your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes about money, many of which are unconscious and were developed while you were growing up…”
• Working with LGBT Teens in the Coming Out Process  – Juliet Austin interview with John Sovec – “a key issue for the teens he works with is feeling like they don’t fit in… There are many levels of discovery that teens and parents will experience…”

Technology/Healthcare

• Behavioral Health Integration – Robin J. Landwehr – “use our expertise in helping clients change behaviors to address… chronic health conditions… medical and mental health issues… greatly influence each other…”
• Diagnostic Comorbidity in DSM-5 – David A. Frenz – “Comorbidity… individuals can have more than one distinct disease… DSM-5… remains narrowly categorical… Get creative… better describe the nuances of each patient…”
• Exploring the mental health charity sector evidence system – Caroline Fiennes – “non-profits delivering mental health services… not great at producing or using scientific evidence… difficulty of accessing, interpreting and applying…research…”
• False hope in big brands: why you shouldn’t rely too much on a journal’s name – Tran Quang Hung – “Impact factor rankings can be misleading… IF is an indicator of influence, NOT trustworthiness…”
• Help and Hope to People with Alzheimer’s Disease and Their Caregivers – SWH – The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA)… national toll-free helpline and free, telephone-based support groups… one that is tailored to adults whose parents are living with Alzheimer’s disease…”
• Pokemon Go: A Look into the Future of Health and Wellness Apps – Jonathan Halvorson – “most downloaded mobile game in U.S. history… a health and wellness app… making people move, a lot… a healthified game. The game comes first…”
• Ransomware and HIPAA – Jim Hook – “two resource documents… protecting your network from ransomware... a Ransomware and HIPAA fact sheet…”
• safeTALK for youth suicide prevention – Olivia Kirtley and Alys Cole-King – “training… increase people’s confidence in asking others if they have been thinking of suicide… connect the person in distress with supportive others… no evidence of safety or efficacy…”
  • Targeting the Intersection of Substance Use and Suicide – Jess Williams – “Substance use is the second-most frequent risk factor for suicide… alcohol misuse or dependence… 10 times greater…  inject drugs… 14 times greater risk…”
• Using Ghost Apps to Hide Online – June Scharf – “Ghost apps will appear to be one thing—like a calculator—but hide a secret functionality… it’s normal for teenagers to hide some stuff from their parents…”

Career/Non-Profit/Private Practice

• Any Advice for Social Workers Moving to New York City? – Nicole Clark – “What is your ideal social work role?… What setting do you want to work in?… If licensure will be important to your role, what are your next steps in obtaining it?…”
• Everything You Need To Know About Crowdfunding – Private Practice from the Inside Out/Rob Reinhardt – “People backing crowdfunding projects don’t want to just “buy a thing.”.. They want the story that goes along with it…”
• Get Home Safe – Ignacio – “Every month, the licensing board in my state puts out a list of disciplinary actions that it has doled out to MFTs, Clinical Social Workers, and other practitioners… most common mistake… a social worker drives drunk…”
• To License or Not: 11 Insightful Social Workers Weigh In – Nate Cromwell – “Licensure for a social worker with an MSW, has almost become a requirement… especially in management… issue… tricky… for the more macro-oriented…”
• Multiple Streams of Income – Kelly & Miranda – “Watch the video… look at your current fee and marketing plan to make changes…”
• Office Space for Your Private Practice – Samara Stone – “When… just starting out in private practice… it makes good  sense to consider creating a subletting arrangement… 8 Tips for Negotiating“
• Telehealth-What You Need to Know – Cathy Hanville – “If you are doing Telehealth you need a HIPAA compliant platform that will give you a Business Associate Agreement…”
• True or False? A Quick Guide to Understanding Journalism Ethics – Peter Panepento – “review the Society of Professional Journalists‘ Code of Ethics… True or false: I should expect to review a story about my organization before it is published…”
• What Your Nonprofit Needs to Know About Facebook’s New Fundraising Tools – Heather Mansfield – “digital payment system that allows 2-tap giving… new tools are only available to 501(c)(3) nonprofits… three-step application process”
• Work When You Want – Allison Puryear – “Our clients are often more flexible than we give them credit for…  sit down in a quiet place. If you knew your caseload would be full no matter what… What hours would you work?…”