Lake Country Associates welcomes Cindy Johannessohn to it’s LCA Welcomes Kari Tomperi to the Park Rapids Office
LCA News and Information
Lake Country Associates is happy to announce that Kari Tomperi has joined the Park Rapids office staff. Kari assists with scheduling, office support 
and keeps the wheels turning at the Park Rapids office. Kari has worked in a variety of careers and brings a wide range of experience to the team. She has always enjoyed customer service and helping people. She looks forward to working with LCA’s mental health therapists and ARHMS practitioners to provide a professional and helpful experience to the clients of LCA. Kari can claim to be a true native to the area having been born at the Park Rapids hospital. She enjoys all the local outdoor activities available from camping to floating the Crow Wing River.
Please join us in welcoming Kari Tomperi to the LCA Family!
LCA Welcomes Tami Leigland and Stacy Luetgers!
LCA News and Information
Lake Country Associates is proud to announce the addition of two new staff to our Team!
Tami Leigland
Tami is a full-time Mental Health Practitioner in the ARMHS Program. For the last 14 years, Tami has been working for Nelson In-home Services, teaching parenting skills and supporting families in Hubbard County. Tami looks forward to helping people on an individual basis, both in their homes and in the community through the ARMHS program.
Stacy Luetgers
Stacy is our first Certified Peer Specialist on the ARMHS Team. She is a long-time resident of Park Rapids. Stacy recently completed an intensive training in Bemidji, qualifying her to be a Certified Peer Specialist. She will work with people in our community who need support in managing and overcoming the symptoms of their mental illness. Stacy has a passion for helping people and is willing and able to share her story of recovery in hopes to inspire and encourage others.
The Importance of Winter Socialization
LCA News and Information
A winter message from Hyacinth Mosse, LSW. Hyacinth is a Mental Health Practitioner in our Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services (ARMHS) program, a part-time student at St. Catherine’s University, and a Minnesota winter enthusiast.
Hyacinth writes:
Almost everyone in Minnesota enjoys the first snow fall. The sky is decorated with fluffy white snow. Chrystal flakes fall softly and cover the ground in a tranquil blanket of white. Dusted pine trees create a winter wonder land. As the season of winter unfolds days become shorter, the north land is now far from the sun. With fewer hours of day light and harsher weather conditions social isolation becomes an issue that impacts the wellbeing of many of our citizens.
Although solitude is immensely welcomed by some after the eventful summer, plenty of citizens are faced with the inability and lack of opportunity to socialize in the harshness of winter. Social isolation only intensifies a person’s mental health symptoms. According to The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) 1 in 5 Americans are living with a mental illness.
As we head into the cold winter months, it’s important to consider the effect this time inevitably can have on our life style. Social isolation can often be coupled with depression, but the cold weather and shorter days make it harder for people to leave the house, particularly those with mobility issues. In the winter people are more likely to stay indoors, day after day all alone.
This winter, I urge everyone to spend some time with the people in their lives, reach out to others in the community, support one another, volunteer, and be active members in the lovely community of Park Rapids.
Hyacinth Mosse, LSW
Lake Country Welcomes Two ARMHS Practitioners to the Team!
LCA News and Information
Lake Country Associates is proud to announce the addition of Laura Kempnich and Sarah Elstad to our team of Mental Health Practitioners. Laura and Sarah will be working in the Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services (ARMHS) program, helping people diagnosed with mental illness avoid hospitalization and manage their symptoms while living in the community.
Laura Kempnich
Laura’s experience as a business owner and social worker uniquely qualifies her in helping the people we serve organize, prioritize and take action in self-advocating and improving their lives. Laura earned her MSW from the University of Minnesota School of Social Work. Laura’s social work experience includes working at the Walk-in Counseling Center in Minneapolis, where she provided individual and couple’s counseling and co-lead workshops on suicide prevention. She also provided services at the Home Away Shelter and Home Away Group Home in Golden Valley, a facility for adolescent girls with emotional and behavioral disorders.
Since moving to the Park Rapids area in 1985, Laura and her husband have built a successful restaurant business, Companeros Mexican Restaurant in Dorset MN. With the sale of the restaurant this year, Laura now has the time to return to her career in Social Work.
Sarah Elstad
Sarah is experienced helping people diagnosed with mental illness in residential settings and in their homes. After earning her Bachelor of Science from Bemidji State University, Sarah worked for Sprucewoods, a residential program for people with mental illness. Sarah then moved to the metro area and worked in ARMHS programs at Boston Mental Health Services and Central Minnesota Mental Health Center for over five years.
Sarah is now settled into the Park Rapids community and is looking forward to using her experience to continue helping people with mental illness.
Please join us in welcoming Sarah and Laura to the Lake Country Associates Team!
EMDR Helps People with Traumatic Experiences
LCA News and InformationMental Health Services
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a form of therapy that helps people with traumatic experiences. Jean Greseth, MSW LICSW, has been providing EMDR treatment to clients since 1999. The EMDR Institute explains it in the following way:
EMDR is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences. Repeated studies show that by using EMDR therapy people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference. It is widely assumed that severe emotional pain requires a long time to heal. EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma. When you cut your hand, your body works to close the wound. If a foreign object or repeated injury irritates the wound, it festers and causes pain. Once the block is removed, healing resumes. EMDR therapy demonstrates that a similar sequence of events occurs with mental processes. The brain’s information processing system naturally moves toward mental health. If the system is blocked or imbalanced by the impact of a disturbing event, the emotional wound festers and can cause intense suffering. Once the block is removed, healing resumes. Using the detailed protocols and procedures learned in training sessions, clinicians help clients activate their natural healing processes.
Research about EMDR
More than 30 positive controlled outcome studies have been done on EMDR therapy. Some of the studies show that 84%-90% of single-trauma victims no longer have post-traumatic stress disorder after only three 90-minute sessions. Another study, funded by the HMO Kaiser Permanente, found that 100% of the single-trauma victims and 77% of multiple trauma victims no longer were diagnosed with PTSD after only six 50-minute sessions. In another study, 77% of combat veterans were free of PTSD in 12 sessions. There has been so much research on EMDR therapy that it is now recognized as an effective form of treatment for trauma and other disturbing experiences by organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization and the Department of Defense. Given the worldwide recognition as an effective treatment of trauma, you can easily see how EMDR therapy would be effective in treating the “everyday” memories that are the reason people have low self-esteem, feelings of powerlessness, and all the myriad problems that bring them in for therapy. Over 100,000 clinicians throughout the world use the therapy. Millions of people have been treated successfully over the past 25 years.
How does it work?
According to the Institute, EMDR therapy is an eight-phase treatment. Eye movements are used during one part of the session. After the clinician has determined which memory to target first, she asks the client to hold different aspects of that event or thought in mind and to use his eyes to track the therapist’s hand as it moves back and forth across the client’s field of vision. As this happens, for reasons believed by a Harvard researcher to be connected with the biological mechanisms involved in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, internal associations arise and the clients begin to process the memory and disturbing feelings. In successful EMDR therapy, the meaning of painful events is transformed on an emotional level. For instance, a rape victim shifts from feeling horror and self-disgust to holding the firm belief that, “I survived it and I am strong.” Unlike talk therapy, the insights clients gain in EMDR therapy result not so much from clinician interpretation, but from the client’s own accelerated intellectual and emotional processes. The net effect is that clients conclude EMDR therapy feeling empowered by the very experiences that once debased them. Their wounds have not just closed, they have transformed. As a natural outcome of the EMDR therapeutic process, the clients’ thoughts, feelings and behavior are all robust indicators of emotional health and resolution—all without speaking in detail or doing homework used in other therapies.
More Information
If you feel that you or a loved one could benefit from EMDR, for more information, or to schedule an appointment, call Lake Country Associates at 218-366-9229. For more a more detailed look at how it works and for additional resources, visit the website of the EMRD Institute.
NAMI Offers “Hope For Recovery” in Park Rapids
LCA News and Information
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is offering a Hope for Recovery presentation for the Park Rapids community on November 19th from 9AM until 3PM. The event will be held at Calvary Lutheran Church (112 Park Avenue North, across from McDonalds) and will feature a trained instructor who will offer information, hope, and practical strategies for dealing with the complexities of mental illnesses.
Participants will gain knowledge about various illnesses, coping and communication strategies, navigating the mental health system, local resources, and recovery.
Register for the training: HERE.
Download and print a brochure: Hope for Recovery Brochure
NAMI State Conference
Also, don’t forget to join NAMI Minnesota’s 2016 State Conference “Stories of Hope – Voices for Change” on November 5th.
NAMI Minnesota’s 2016 State Conference “Stories of Hope – Voices for Change” in honor of NAMI Minnesota’s 40th Anniversary will be held Nov. 5, at the St. Paul RiverCentre. Jennifer Ayers-Moore, sister of Nathaniel Anthony Ayers the subject of the movie “The Soloist” will be the keynote speaker. The closing keynote will be on the Importance of Sleep by Imran S. Khawaja, MD, FAASM, a well-known psychiatrist and expert on sleep.
There will be 15 breakout sessions for teens/young adults, parents of children, adults with mental illnesses, and family members and professionals on a variety of topics including truancy and school refusal, housing and supports, keys to college success, understanding guardianship, understanding dysregulation, new issues in criminal justice, healing, trauma transformed through art, helping your child through trauma, mental health policy, and behavioral health homes.
NAMI’s annual awards luncheon and a celebration of NAMI’s history and future will take place at 11:30AM.
The cost is $60 for members, $100 for non-members or $35 for students. Lunch is included. Limited partial scholarships for youth and adults are available – call Samuel at 651-645-2948 ext. 115 to apply. NAMI’s state conference is approved by the MN Board of Social work for 4.5 CEUs. A certificate of attendance will also be available.
Register here!
What is NAMI?
NAMI Minnesota (National Alliance on Mental Illness) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults with mental illnesses and their families. NAMI Minnesota offers education, support and advocacy.
LCA Offers Beginning Meditation Class
LCA News and InformationMental Health Services
Beginning in October, 2016, Lake Country Associates will be offering a Beginning Meditation Class, taught by Diane Cerven, MA, LPCC.
Where? Lake Country Associates office – 515 Bridge Street in Park Rapids
When? The next group will start in December and will be scheduled to meet the needs of the participants. For more information, call LCA at 218-366-9229.
What? Diane writes: I’m really looking forward to the start of another Beginning Meditation Class! Meditation is about being in the “here and now”. So many times our brain is wondering around to whatever it’s triggered to or wants to go to. I remember recently walking in a covered ramp from a parking garage to the St. Cloud convention center. All of sudden the smell of my surroundings reminded me of the Tucson Downtown Library, it was a bit startling! Since I am paying attention to my thoughts, I actually stopped walking to ponder how the smell took me hundreds of miles away. Smell is a great reminder of things in the past, like cinnamon and Christmas. This was a great example of how easily our minds wonder. Instead of thinking about the “here and now”, I was thinking about studying and about the people I’ve met in a downtown library hundreds of miles away. Meditation helps us to be aware of our thoughts and helps us control our thoughts and bring focus to our lives.
I know when I mention meditation to my clients the first image typically conjured is a person sitting cross legged, finger to thumb, hands resting on their knees, and saying “Ohmmmmmmm.” This is one type of meditation we will not learn in this class. We will, however, be practicing other kinds of meditation including:
- sitting
- eating
- focusing
- kindness
- walking
All of these types of meditation will be done in a manner that allows you to learn the skill and take it with you. Other people, when they think of meditation think of Buddha, since meditation was started as part of Eastern practices. Meditation learned in this class is non-religious meditation – we want to teach the skills for everyone’s life! We focus on meditation practice that can be done at anytime, anywhere, and can be modified to specifically help you with the life circumstances you face.
After completing this six week meditation class, you will learn the principles and foundation important to meditation. My goal is to have each attendee incorporate something from this class into their everyday life.
How to Sign up for Beginning Meditation Class
If you’re interested in trying out the Beginning Meditation Class, please call Lake Country Associates. We accept all types of insurance if you have a current diagnostic assessment (DA). If you don’t have a up-to-date DA and you are experiencing mental health symptoms, Lake Country Associates can help you with that too. Call us at 218-366-9229. This Beginning Meditation Class is geared toward adults and teens. If there is enough interest in stress reduction group for children then we can consider offering a group for them.
Beginning Meditation Classes are facilitated by Diane Cerven, MA, LPCC. Diane is a licensed professional clinical counselor with 11 years of experience providing therapy to children, adolescents, and adults.
What is a Certified Peer Specialist?
LCA News and Information
A Certified Peer Specialist works within the ARMHS Program to compliment the mental health services provided by Practitioners.
Requirements for Certified Peer Specialists
To be employed as a Certified Peer Specialist (CPS), an individual must meet all of the following criteria:
- Must be at least 21 years old.
- Have a high school diploma or equivalent.
- A CPS must have or have had a primary diagnosis of mental illness.
- Have received or is currently receiving mental health services.
- Be willing to share their experience of recovery.
- Successfully complete the Department approved Certified Peer Specialist training and certification exam.
What does a Certified Peer Specialist Do?A Certified Peer Specialist performs education and skill-building, including but not limited to the following:
- Wellness planning
- Crisis planning
- Advanced Psychiatric Directives
- Self-advocacy skills including connecting to professional services when appropriate
Services that help recipients to do the following:
- Identify their strengths and to use their strengths to reach their treatment goals.
- Identify and overcome barriers to participation in community resources.
Connect with resources, including:
- Visiting community resources to assist them in becoming familiar with potential opportunities
- Teaching and modeling the skills needed to successfully utilize community resources
Building relationships and encouraging community-based activities, such as:
- Work
- Relationships
- Physical activity
- Self-directed hobbies
- Transition to Community Living (TCL) services when working for a certified Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Service (ARMHS) provider.
More Information about becoming a Certified Peer Specialist
For more information about becoming a Certified Peer Specialist or to learn more about the upcoming training, call Shawn at 218-366-9229.
Stress Reduction Class
LCA News and InformationMental Health Services
Coming Soon – Stress Reduction Class
Lake Country Associates is proud to announce an upcoming Stress Reduction Class, taught by Diane Cerven, MA, LPCC.
Diane writes: We all know that stress is becoming a chronic problem in most of our lives. We have too much to do, too short of time to complete it in, and too many worries. Our fast-paced and jam-packed lives are taking a toll on our mental and physical health. Many of us are not prepared to deal with this stress, which can impact relationships with friends, significant others, and children. Sometimes we just don’t have the ability or energy to appropriate deal with everything and everyone.
This is where the stress reduction class comes in. During this 12 week class (1.5 hours per session), we explore the different causes of stress and we practice different coping skills to deal with and reduce stress. Coping skills are ways that we can, either in our quiet times (yes those are important) or on the spot, address our stress, anger, and even sadness.
During the sessions you will learn about many different kinds of stress and the effects of that stress on your physical and mental health. We’ll then rehearse skills to reduce that stress. My goal for this group is that you will find several things that you like and can use in your day to day life to decrease your overall stress response. Many stresses in life are a constant, like bills, taxes, and filling out paperwork, taking care of family and yourself, so with knowledge on how you can cope with these stresses you can come to a more peaceful place in your life.
How to Sign up for Stress Reduction Class
If you’re interested in participating in the stress reduction class, please call Lake Country Associates at 218-366-9229. When we have enough interested parties, we will schedule a time that works for people and begin reducing the stress in our lives!
Stress Reduction Classes are facilitated by Diane Cerven, MA, LPCC. Diane is a licensed professional clinical counselor with 11 years of experience providing therapy to children, adolescents, and adults.
Child Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE)
LCA News and Information
Want to learn effective ways to improve relationships with children in your life?
We are wired to learn within relationships! In this three-hour interactive session, participants who have contact with young children will explore CARE: Child Adult Relationship Enhancement. CARE uses the three P principles (Praise, Paraphrase, and Point-Out Behavior) to connect children with adults in their lives. CARE teaches effective positive commands and strategies to redirect problematic behaviors. CARE includes an evidenced-based education component to increase understanding of behaviors associated with trauma .
Please join us for this valuable training!
10/28/2016 9:00 a.m.-Noon, Northwest MN Foundation- Bemidji
Thrive Professional Education Series #1 – Child Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE)
Presenter: Jessica Croatt Niemi, MSW, LICSW IMH-E(IV)
Only $25, CEUs are being applied for.
Register on Eventbrite!
Watch this video:
LCA welcomes Ellie Anderson, MSW, LICSW
LCA News and Information
Lake Country Associates
welcomes Ellie Anderson, MSW, LISCW to it’s team of caring professionals. Ellie has been providing school-based, in-home and outpatient therapeutic services through Stellher Human Services for the past 14 years. She looks forward to continuing her work with children, adolescents, adults and families. Ellie’s specialties include working with trauma survivors, supporting parents, and providing therapy to people with anxiety, depression, disruptive behaviors, and adjustment issues. Ellie starts with LCA on September 1st and is looking forward to continuing to serve the community out of our Park Rapids office.
Please join us in welcoming Ellie Anderson to the LCA team!
Read more about Ellie Anderson.
TXT4Life – Free, confidential crisis counseling.
LCA News and Information
What is TXT4Life?
TXT4Life confidentially connects texters with counselors who are trained to respond to problems and crisis situations free of charge, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Counselors help texters get to an emotionally and physically safe place then direct them to community resources that can provide longer-term support.
A person’s response to emotional and mental health difficulties is as unique as the person him or herself. When a person is moving toward, or has reached the point of crisis, it is time to reach out for help from crisis resource such as TXT4Life.
TXT4Life is a suicide prevention resource available in many counties in Minnesota. The TXT4Life program uses texting as a way for those in crisis or contemplating suicide to anonymously reach out and ask for free and confidential help.
How does it work?
When individuals text the word “LIFE” to 61222, they are connected with a trained counselor who can help them by listening, providing tools and resources, and helping them get to a safe place, both emotionally and physically.
For more information, visit www.TXT4Life.org.
LCA is looking for a Part-Time Mental Health Practitioner
LCA News and Information
LCA’s Park Rapids office is seeking a qualified Mental Health Practitioner to provide services to adults with mental illness. The Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services (ARMHS) program serves adults in their home and community with the goal of helping them manage their mental illness, improve their lives, and avoid hospitalization. Lake Country Associates is certified to provide ARMHS services in Hubbard, Becker, Cass and Wadena Counties. The part-time Practitioner position is flexible and ideal for an experienced quasi-retired individual, as well as someone interested in working their way into a more full-time position helping others.
More Information
For more information about becoming a Mental Health Practitioner or about other jobs at LCA, click the following link:
LCA Welcomes Jennifer Miller!
LCA News and Information
You may encounter a new, yet familiar face the next time you visit LCA offices. Jennifer Miller has joined the LCA Team! Jennifer has been the primary support staff at Mental Health Services of Bemidji, Inc. for the past seven years, supporting Kristi Lind-Wheatley in providing medication management services to Park Rapids and the surrounding communities. With Kristi taking a position at Essentia in Bagley and closing her office in Park Rapids, Jennifer is joining LCA and will be providing office support to the Park Rapids and Bemidji offices. Prior to working at Mental Health Services, Jennifer worked at Upper Mississippi Mental Health Center in Park Rapids, where several LCA staff members had the opportunity to get to know Jennifer and appreciate her kindness and competence.
In addition to being a part of our support staff “Dream Team”, Jennifer will have the role of Care Coordinator and will be the primary contact for medical professionals from other agencies. Our hope is that improving coordination with other professionals in the community will improve outcomes for the people we serve.
Please join us in offering a warm welcome to Jennifer Miller!
What is Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)?
LCA News and Information
Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an innovative, evidence-based program provided out of our Bemidji office. The program is designed to help families with children 2 to 7 years old who exhibit behavior problems that are beyond what is considered normal for their developmental age. PCIT can help children with behavior problems, attention problems, and attachment problems. These children are often described as defiant, un-controllable, overactive, attention-seeking, and/or extremely impulsive. PCIT teaches parents how to improve discipline techniques and at the same time enhance the quality of the parent-child relationship.
Jessica Croatt Niemi, MSSW LICSW, IMH-E(IV) provides Parent Child Interaction Therapy out of our Bemidji office. Families who want to enhance their relationship and learn how to set clear and consistent limits have found PCIT helpful.
More Information
To learn more about PCIT, watch this 90 second video.
Referrals for PCIT
To make a referral for PCIT, call our Bemidji office at 218-444-2233.
Also, see our Brochures and Referral Forms
LCA welcomes Katherine Meyers!
LCA News and Information
LCA is proud to announce the addition of Katherine Meyers, MSSW, LGSW to our team of counseling professionals. Katherine will be working out of the Bemidji office beginning on June 20th, coming to our Park Rapids office one day a week through this summer. For the past year, Katherine has been providing mental health counseling to children Kindergarten and under in the Bemidji School District. Prior to her
work in Bemidji, Katherine was in Wisconsin, working as a social worker and advocate for children, teens, women, and families.
In her position at Lake Country Associates, she will be providing the following services:
- Developmental Diagnostic Assessments for children birth – 3 years
- Diagnostic Assessments for children, teens and adults
- Psychotherapy for children, teens, women and families with a range of needs including, but not limited to: school performance, social skills, anxiety (general and specific), depression, family conflict, and various traumas
For more information or to schedule an appointment with Katherine, call Lake Country Associates at 218-444-2233 (Bemidji) or 218-366-9229 (Park Rapids).
Know the Warning Signs of Mental Illness
LCA News and Information
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has identified warning signs for someone with a mental illness.
Here’s what NAMI had to say about it:
Trying to tell the difference between what expected behaviors are and what might be the signs of a mental illness isn’t always easy. There’s no easy test that can let someone know if there is mental illness or if actions and thoughts might be typical behaviors of a person or the result of a physical illness.
Warning Signs for Mental Illness in Adults
Each illness has its own symptoms, but common signs of mental illness in adults and adolescents can include the following:
- Excessive worrying or fear
- Feeling excessively sad or low
- Confused thinking or problems concentrating and learning
- Extreme mood changes, including uncontrollable “highs” or feelings of euphoria
- Prolonged or strong feelings of irritability or anger
- Avoiding friends and social activities
- Difficulties understanding or relating to other people
- Changes in sleeping habits or feeling tired and low energy
- Changes in eating habits such as increased hunger or lack of appetite
- Changes in sex drive
- Difficulty perceiving reality (delusions or hallucinations, in which a person experiences and senses things that don’t exist in objective reality)
- Inability to perceive changes in one’s own feelings, behavior or personality (”lack of insight” or anosognosia)
- Abuse of substances like alcohol or drugs
- Multiple physical ailments without obvious causes (such as headaches, stomach aches, vague and ongoing “aches and pains”)
- Thinking about suicide
- Inability to carry out daily activities or handle daily problems and stress
- An intense fear of weight gain or concern with appearance (mostly in adolescents)
Warning Signs for Mental Illness in Children
Mental health conditions can also begin to develop in young children. Because they’re still learning how to identify and talk about thoughts and emotions, their most obvious symptoms are behavioral. Symptoms in children may include the following:
- Changes in school performance
- Excessive worry or anxiety, for instance fighting to avoid bed or school
- Hyperactive behavior
- Frequent nightmares
- Frequent disobedience or aggression
- Frequent temper tantrums
Where to Get Help
Don’t be afraid to reach out if you or someone you know needs help. Learning all you can about mental health is an important first step.
See more information on mental illness at: https://www.nami.org or call Lake Country Associates. To make a referral for services, please call us at 218-366-9229 or complete a referral form.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month!
LCA News and Information
Data from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill about the prevalence and impact of Mental illness suggests it’s more common than people think. May is mental health awareness month (for more information, see their website at NAMI.org):
Prevalence of Mental Illness
- Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million, or 18.5%—experiences mental illness in a given year.
- Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S.—10 million, or 4.2%—experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.
- Approximately 1 in 5 youth aged 13–18 (21.4%) experiences a severe mental disorder at some point during their life. For children aged 8–15, the estimate is 13%.
- 1.1% of adults in the U.S. live with schizophrenia.
- 2.6% of adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder.
- 6.9% of adults in the U.S.—16 million—had at least one major depressive episode in the past year.
- 18.1% of adults in the U.S. experienced an anxiety disorder such as posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and specific phobias.
- Among the 20.2 million adults in the U.S. who experienced a substance use disorder, 50.5%—10.2 million adults—had a co-occurring mental illness.
Social Stats
- An estimated 26% of homeless adults staying in shelters live with serious mental illness and an estimated 46% live with severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders.
- Approximately 20% of state prisoners and 21% of local jail prisoners have “a recent history” of a mental health condition.
- 70% of youth in juvenile justice systems have at least one mental health condition and at least 20% live with a serious mental illness.
- Only 41% of adults in the U.S. with a mental health condition received mental health services in the past year. Among adults with a serious mental illness, 62.9% received mental health services in the past year.
- Just over half (50.6%) of children aged 8-15 received mental health services in the previous year.
- African Americans and Hispanic Americans used mental health services at about one-half the rate of Caucasian Americans in the past year and Asian Americans at about one-third the rate.
- Half of all chronic mental illness begins by age 14; three-quarters by age 24. Despite effective treatment, there are long delays—sometimes decades—between the first appearance of symptoms and when people get help.
Consequences of Lack of Treatment
- Serious mental illness costs America $193.2 billion in lost earnings per year.
- Mood disorders, including major depression, dysthymic disorder and bipolar disorder, are the third most common cause of hospitalization in the U.S. for both youth and adults aged 18–44.
- Individuals living with serious mental illness face an increased risk of having chronic medical conditions. Adults in the U.S. living with serious mental illness die on average 25 years earlier than others, largely due to treatable medical conditions.
- Over one-third (37%) of students with a mental health condition age 14–21 and older who are served by special education drop out—the highest dropout rate of any disability group.
- Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., the 3rd leading cause of death for people aged 10–24 and the 2nd leading cause of death for people aged 15–24.
- More than 90% of children who die by suicide have a mental health condition.
- Each day an estimated 18-22 veterans die by suicide.
See citations and more information at: https://www.nami.org
Reducing Stigma
LCA News and Information
NAMI suggests three easy steps to reducing stigma and becoming “Stigma Free”.
Step 1
Educate Yourself and Others
Everyone knows a little about mental health issues but knowing the facts about mental illness can help you educate others and reject stigmatizing stereotypes. They are not the result of personal weakness, lack of character or poor upbringing. Understanding mental health isn’t only about being able to identify symptoms and having a name for these conditions but dispelling many false ideas about mental health conditions as well.
Step 2
See the Person and Not the Illness
1 in 5 Americans live with a mental health condition and each of them has their own story, path and journey that says more about them than their diagnosis. Whether you live with mental illness or are a friend, family member, caregiver or medical professional getting to know a person and treating them with kindness and empathy means far more than just knowing what they are going through.
Step 3
Take Action on Mental Health Issues
Our mental health care systems have been in crisis for far too long and often keep treatment and recovery out of the hands of many who need it. We can take action now as we push for better legislation and policies to improve lives for everyone. By lending your support you can show that this cause important to you and desperately needed for millions of Americans.
See more at: https://www.nami.org