Bernards Voices

As the 2010 tax year concludes, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution in the memory of Jack to the Healthy Outcomes Partnership.

Click here for the pledge form.

Please take the time to read the details behind our request.  In 2011 we are looking for a budget of $14,000 to establish a Mental Health First Aid program.  The Somerset Hills YMCA themselves are making a substantial investment beyond this, not just in staff hours and facilities, but in dollars, reflecting their strong commitment to mental health.

I’ve posted recently that the Somerset Hills YMCA and HOP have been gaining traction, and are on the verge of creating something permanent and sustainable.

We have more ambitious plans and will be sharing them over the coming months.

Our HOP steering committee met yesterday. There is great work underway. A couple of times during the meeting I became overwhelmed with emotion, thinking about my son Jack and my daughter … the people in the room, their commitment, their enthusiasm … that all this was in part possible because of them.

We covered three topics.

Mary Cimini, Mental Health First Aid, “First Aiders not Crusaders”
The meeting began with a conference call with Mary Cimini of Gateway Healthcare, Inc., in Providence, RI, who is a Mental Health First Aid facilitator and trainer with a tremendous amount of experience with this innovative community mental health awareness and mobilization program. Mary provided an overview of her involvement in MHFA, her perspective on its benefits for all participants and the community at large, and a specific case history of MHFA’s application in a community setting, including the results achieved.

The first aid training is twelve hours. Its purpose is to increase literacy and decrease stigma. It is public education, emphasizing attentiveness to your friends, family, colleagues–”a ministry of presence.” Their goal is by 2020 to have as many people trained on mental health first aid as are trained on CPR. Mary walked through a couple of scenarios that might come up in our daily life, and that if we were trained “first aiders” we might react differently.

In the work place, someone you know, maybe a colleague you’ve worked with for years, maybe someone you supervise … if you notice a change … their work product isn’t as good, maybe they miss deadlines they’ve never missed before … these might be signs of depression. Instead of feeling let down, perhaps pushing the colleague aside and moving forward without him/her, a “first aider” might pose a few questions. I’ve noticed something different, what has changed? Start a discussion. Listen for sources of new stressors in their life (eg. empty nest, divorce, financial problems, an aging parent … ). Then, most importantly, the “first aider” acts, by asking if they’d consider getting help. Informing the colleague about available resources.

Another example was dropping your child off for a play-date at a friend’s house. If you notice the house is dirty, dishes stacked in the sink, maybe the children appear unsupervised, instead of withdrawing, or scheduling future play-dates at your own house instead, the “first aider” might start a discussion with that parent about what has changed.

Stephanie Mulfinger, Director, Mental Health Cares
Stephanie Mulfinger presented the Mental Health Association of New Jersey’s helpline, Mental Health Cares. Stephanie previously presented at HOP’s May Mental Health Awareness Week.

The sense of the room was to promote this helpline as our “first response” hotline to our community. At our next HOP meeting, in January, we’ll talk about how to publicize the number.

Community YMCA partnership from on-site Supervisor Pat Dore and the Community Y’s George Hunt. Bob Lomauro, Lauren, Carolyn Vasquez and my daughter first visited George down in Red Bank in June, 2007. Their program, underway for thirty years had 50 therapists on contract and was the third largest provider of mental health services in their county. The Y has always wanted to focus on mind & spirit, as much as it does on body/fitness, and this was an example of a Y that blazing new ground. Now in partnership with the Somerset Hills Y, the Community Y is delivering services to Somerset County.

Over the last two months, seven comprehensive assessments have been completed, and mental health services for these cases are now in place. Here is a description of the IIC and BA services that are provided for children 17 and under. For people with questions about the program, please contact Patricia Dore (908 766 7898, x 1340) or pdore@cymca.org.

Thanks, as always to Lauren Luik, not just for all the work that she’s been doing to drive the agenda, but also for the many of the words in this post, that I borrowed straight from her emails. And thanks to Connie for making us all comfortable and for that lunch.