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Tag: destigmatizing mental health

Boutique Addiction Treatment Services: Alignment Addiction Recovery

We met the lovely Eamon and Nina at the Evolution of Addiction Treatment confernece in Los  Angeles, Ca. They were calm in a sea of noise on a busy exhibit hall floor. We simply had to interview them! Eamon O’Hara comes from a substance abuse treatment background. He was originally introduced to this industry through personal experience where he attended a facility early in his 20’s and began his journey of continued sobriety.  When achieving one  year of sobriety he began work at a drug and alcohol rehab facility and climbed through the ranks becoming the company’s director of operations in. Eamon has helped thousands of people get clean and sober and his involvement in the industry brings unprecedented insight to Alignment Addiction Recovery Group.

Christina (Nina) Warthen is from an upper class family with no addiction in sight. At twenty years old she began a successful fifteen-year career in modeling. While modeling she was very often struck by how many people in that industry were functioning addicts and alcoholics. Eventually she had become one of those functioning addicts and reached out for help right before it was too late. Traveling and living all through Europe, and South Africa while based in NYC, her sobriety began after going to a treatment facility and attending AA meetings in September 2005. Her passion for twelve step programs and seeing what a sober life had awarded her externally but even more internally, lead her to seeking out a more meaningful career in treatment. 

Enthusiastic Recovery: An Interview with Bill Prasad of Lifeway International

Bill Prasad, LPC-S, LCDC, Certified Trauma Counselor is the Vice President of Clinical Programs for Lifeway International where he drives clinical operations and builds high performance teams. As an L-P-C Supervisor and L-C-D-C he also works as a therapist for Contemporary Medicine Associates where he treats people who are challenged by trauma, addiction, depression and anxiety. He has worked as a Director of Intake, outpatient/Inpatient services for two Houston psychiatric hospitals. He is also a certified trainer of group C-I-S-M response and has run on calls including the Navy Yard shootings in Washington which resulted in 12 people being gunned down in the workplace. Before moving to Houston, Bill directed a behavior health program for Fairfax County Fire and Rescue in Virginia where he worked closely with law enforcement and firefighters. Also, he worked as an EAP counselor for Raytheon and the Office of Naval Intelligence in Maryland. Bill has post graduate certifications in leadership from the University of Houston-Downtown and in the treatment of psychological trauma from Johns Hopkins University. He has a Master’s Degrees in counseling psychology and in the study of religions and ethnic conflict. He lives with his wife in Houston. His hobbies including teaching spin, scuba diving and having his heart broken each football season by the Philadelphia Eagles.

www.lifewaycares.com

Deconstructing Stigma: OCD and Anxiety Disorder with Jessica Fahey

Another terrific contributor to McLean Hospital’s mental health inititative Deconstructing Stigma, Jessica Fahey joins our host Kristin Walker to talk about OCD and Anxiety Disorder. Jessica is the picture of success. She manages more than 25 employees that oversee lab space where scientists work on lifesaving discoveries. She recently married her love, an army veteran of the Afghanistan war turned police officer. They bought a house and rounded out their family with a new puggle puppy (a pug/beagle mix). Jessica accomplished all this with severe obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorder. Looking back, Jessica remembers the ritualistic behaviors she developed as a young child. She would recite prayers over and over again until they were perfect, otherwise she feared someone in her family would die. She also pulled her hair and eyebrows out and picked at her cuticles until they bled because of her nervousness. Her senior year in high school, she had her first panic attack—gasping for breath and white flashes in her vision—and called her mother, terrified. Curious about her illness, Jessica studied psychology in college. She started weekly therapy there, and while she feels much more in control of her anxiety and OCD today, she still sees a therapist every month to keep it in check. She wants others dealing with mental illness to know that even when you can’t see a way out, there is one. Don’t be afraid to step forward. Tell someone you need help.

www.deconstructingstigma.com

The Angry Therapist: John Kim on Mental Health News Radio

We have been reading The Angry Therapist’s posts for a while thinking, “Who is this awesome and cutting edge healer?”  It was a great pleasure to interview the founder John Kim and find out exactly what he and his message are all about.  John practices complete authenticity and transparency with his many clients, frowned upon in the clinical world, and continues to look for new and unconventional ways to help people. John lives in Los Angeles where he makes videos on his phone, Crossfits, and rides his motorcycle to coffee shops to do sessions. His work has been covered in TheAtlantic.com, Hyphen, Psychology Today, MindBodyGreen.com, NPR.com, and Mental Health News Radio (where we love things that are “frowned” upon). 

www.theangrytherapist.com

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/theangrytherapist/ 

Twitter:       www.twitter.com/angrytherapist

Facebook:   www.facebook.com/theangrytherapist

You Tube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/theangrytherapist 

 

Suicide Prevention Social Media with Dr. April Foreman: spsmchat.com

As she’s already heard, April is a breath of fresh air. We met by chance at The National Council for Behavioral Health and immediately set up a live interview.  Now MHNR Network is doing all we can to further her message with www.spsmchat.com.  Doc Foreman has her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology. She enjoys working in rural settings, and finds that the picture in her office of her grandmother holding up an enormous catfish can often mean more to her clients than the degrees hanging on the opposite wall. She believes that using information technology and social media resources can bring state of the art mental health care to her rural clients. She has experience using a system of phone texting to help clients chart their daily mood and share them with a treatment team and trusted circle of friends and family. She also uses social media platforms like Twitter to connect with innovators and thought leaders in healthcare across the world, and uses her website to curate compelling Twitter chats on issues about which she is passionate. Her work in this area has been featured in the ARHQ Innovations Exchange.

Currently, Doc Foreman is serving Veterans as a Suicide Prevention Coordinator in Baton Rouge. She enjoys using her clinical skill, and talent for practical problem-solving to prevent suicide in US Veterans, who have *twice* the risk of dying by suicide as the general public.

www.docforeman.com

www.spsmchat.com

www.thenationalcouncil.org

The Samaritan Institute: President and CEO Robert Johnson at NatCon17

We had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Robert (Bob) Johnson, LCSW and CEO/President of The Samaritan Institute. I haven’t received a hand written thank you card in a very long time. Bob wrote one to me after we met at The National Council for Behavioral Health conference in Seattle of 2017. A gentleman and forward thinker ready to take the institute to new heights and sheppard in technology, compliancy, and growth for the 60+ organizations under the Samaritan umbrella. 

Robert (Bob) P. Johnson, MS, LCSW joined the Institute in July 2016. Prior to this, he served on the Institute Board of Directors, the Clergy and Congregation Care (CCC) Leadership Team, and has been a member of Leadership Consultation Group (LCG) II since its inception in 1998. Bob was the Executive Director of the American Foundation of Counseling Services, a Samaritan Center, located in Green Bay, Wisconsin from 1996 – 2016. During this time the Center grew from providing 5,000 hours of service annually to over 20,000 hours across three program areas:  Outpatient Behavioral Health; Treatment Foster Care; and Clergy and Congregation Care. The Center has also become known as a leader in the development of collaborative working groups to address the mental health needs throughout the community. Bob holds a B.S. in Psychology from St. Norbert College and a MS in Clinical Psychology from University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh.

www.samaritaninstitute.org

www.thenationalcouncil.org

 

Empowering Mental Health With Data: CEO Glen Coppersmith, PhD of Qntfy

Glen Coppersmith, PhD is the founder and CEO of Qntfy (pronounced “quantify”), a software company that combines capabilities rarely found under one roof: data science to construct research hypotheses, automated data collection from non-traditional and traditional sources, and the ability to build complex data-driven systems. We translate data science and machine learning into practical, patient centered solutions. He is also an independent consultant on a range of data science related work, including various DARPA data science programs and some engagements with my friends at The Data Guild. 

We met Glen at the 2017 National Council for Behavioral Health conference held in Seattle. 

www.qntfy.com

 

The Fix Film: A Story of Drug Addiction Gets For Real with Becca Braren

Becca Braren’s brother died of a drug overdose in 2012. In the aftermath of his death she decided she had to do something to better understand and help prevent this senseless loss of life. The result is a feature documentary focusing on alternative modalities in addiction prevention and recovery. She introduces global experts and an award-winning team of filmmakers, who are all donating their time. Her production partner, Kristen Murtha, just debuted her most recent film BANDAID at Sundance three weeks ago. It is featured here at the top of Rolling Stone’s most anticipated movies of Sundance. (Rolling Stone Article)

Their goal is to unite the nation in a battle against the suffering that causes addiction and end the battle against individuals who suffer. In our film, we share how other nations have done this. Together we can turn this crisis around. 

www.thefixfilm.com 

www.vandiverproductions.com 

Mental Health America CEO Paul Gionfriddo on Mental Health News Radio

Paul Gionfriddo was named President and CEO of Mental Health America on May 1, 2014. He has worked in a variety of health and mental-health related positions during a career spanning over thirty years. In 2013, he was appointed by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to a four-year term on the 12-member National Advisory Council to the SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services.

Prior to joining MHA, he was a consultant, speaker, and writer, and author of a popular weekly health policy blog entitled Our Health Policy Matters. His essay entitled How I Helped Create a Flawed Mental Health System That’s Failed Millions – And My Son, was published as the Narrative Matters essay (and was the most-read article) in the September 2012 issue of Health Affairs and was also published in the Washington Post in October 2012. The full-length version of the story was published as a book, entitled Losing Tim: How Our Health and Education Systems Failed My Son with Schizophrenia.

He is a graduate of Wesleyan University. He lives with his wife, Pam, who is CEO of the Mental Health Association of Palm Beach County, in Lake Worth, Florida.  They have five adult children and two grandchildren. 

www.mentalhealthamerica.net

Deconstructing Stigma: No Shame On U Founder Miriam Ament

No Shame On U Founder and President, Miriam Ament, has a B.A. in American History from Barnard College, Columbia University and an M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University.  She was also a recipient of the JCC PresenTense Chicago 2014 Fellowship and, in 2016, earned her Certificate in Leadership from Northwestern University and Spertus. In addition, Miriam is certified in Mental Health First Aid. Miriam is also a member of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Faith Communities Task Force. Over thirteen years ago, Miriam was hospitalized three times for depression and encountered stigma and isolation from many friends and family members who didn’t have the emotional tools and practical knowledge base to deal with the illness. Miriam is dedicated to utilizing her life experiences in order to normalize the mental health conversation and end the stigma. She lives in Chicago with her husband, musician David Forman.

Miriam was a part of McLean Hospital’s initiative www.deconstructingstigma.com.

www.noshameonu.com

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