Cenpatico Blog

The Cenpatico Spring 2009 Quarterly report is now available which you can find in our Newsletters section or by clicking here. In this report we look at the 2008 Member/Provider Satisfaction survey, highlight our Quality Program and discuss enhancements to our website. There are also articles on Trauma-Informed Care and Better Treatment Care.

Past quarterly reports are also available on the Newsletters page.

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This past week, I was pleased to represent Cenpatico at the 2009 National Convention for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). This year’s convention was held in San Francisco, CA where over 2,000 NAMI members, consumers, family advocates, and mental health professionals gathered to explore strategies and ideas to improve the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness. The theme of this year’s convention was “Creating a Healthy Future for Us All”. Through workshops, symposia, and poster sessions, we were able to share and discuss technological advancements, behavioral health legislation, and provide support.

If you had a chance to visit our booth, you may have picked up one of our Cenpatico water bottles and information about our organization. We were pleased to see many familiar faces from the markets that we serve in addition to meeting new NAMI members and mental health professionals.

One of the particularly striking things I noticed at the NAMI national convention was the continued emphasis on Peer and Family Support. NAMI is committed to engaging those who have personally experienced or have a family member living with mental illness to educate and provide support for other people experiencing the same issues. It is clear that, because of these NAMI programs, many individuals who feel isolated or that no one understands what they are going through are empowered and given tangible resources for establishing and maintaining wellness and recovery.

I attended a workshop on NAMIpedia, an initiative developed by the Southwest Pennsylvania chapter of NAMI to provide interactive support and resources for living with a mental illness. When conducting an online search for “mental illness”, over 12 million sources will be returned through a search engine. It is overwhelming to dig through the myriad sources to find valuable information for a particular issue. NAMIpedia simulates real-time conversation through the internet, allowing users to ask questions about mental health issues anonymously and delivering personalized answers from consumers and professionals through video. I’m thrilled to see a platform developed where consumers and family members can ask questions and find answers on a multitude of topics regarding mental illness. I encourage you to check out this resource-rich site at www.namiswpa.org

Another emerging development that I am looking forward to exploring is the NAMI Hearts & Minds initiative. Given that research demonstrates that people living with severe psychiatric conditions have an increased risk of heart disease and related conditions, NAMI has developed an interactive wellness program that will debut this fall. This online initiative will include a variety of tools to help people take charge of their eating and exercise habits. Some of these tools include starting a weekly walking group, creating a Quit Smoking club, healthy recipes, and an interactive food diary.

The Heart and Minds site will go live this fall, but there are already many resources available on the site. Check it out at www.nami.org/heartsandminds.

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On Wednesday, July 1, 2009, Cenpatico begins partnering with CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts (CeltiCare) To visit their website please check out www.celticarehealthplan.com.

Massachusetts Providers, our Massachusetts Provider page is up with many resources you may find helpful. Click to follow the link over to the page.

Cenpatico is excited to be working with CeltiCare and Massachusetts as we all look to inspire hope to the people we serve.

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TEMPE, ARIZONA (June 30, 2009) — Academic Behavioral Alternatives (ABA Schools), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cenpatico Behavioral Health, LLC, announced today it was awarded contracts with the Chandler Unified, Coolidge Unified and Dysart Unified School Districts in Arizona. Effective July 2009, ABA Schools will provide cost-effective, quality Special Education Private Day Programming to students with special needs in these school districts.

For the past several years, ABA Schools has provided services to junior high and high school students with emotional disorders in the Chandler and Dysart Unified School Districts. The new contracts will allow ABA Schools to continue offering students the services they need to receive quality education in the least restrictive environment. In addition, the new contract with Dysart Unified will expand to encompass Kindergarten through 5th grade as well as an onsite classroom at Dysart High School to help students transition back into the district’s least restrictive environment.

“We are pleased to continue to serve and enhance our programs with the Chandler and Dysart Unified School Districts,” said Erik Ryan, Vice President of Educational Services for ABA Schools. “We remain committed to ensuring that every student, regardless of age or resources, has access to the supports they need to be successful in school.”

ABA Schools has also entered into a new partnership with the Coolidge Unified School District to serve junior high and high school students in Pinal County with autism or multiple disabilities. ABA Schools’ sister company, Cenpatico of Arizona, currently facilitates the delivery of mental health and substance abuse services for members in Pinal County.

“We are pleased to expand our reach into Pinal County, which is one of Cenpatico of Arizona’s key regions,” said Ryan. “This is an excellent opportunity to collaborate with regional behavioral health providers that we already have a relationship with to increase the value of services received by the Coolidge Unified School District, its students, and families.”

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Welcome to our new column “Take Two.”

“Take Two” will remind you to “Take a two minute break” from whatever you are doing to read and learn about emerging issues, new research, and personal stories from experts and leaders in the recovery and resilience movement. The weekly column will be written by written by Recovery and Resiliency Advisor Tom Kelly.

This week’s topic – Empowerment

Greetings Fellow Friends, Advocates and Colleagues,

In this week’s “TAKE TWO” I would like continue exploring the ten fundamental components or principles of recovery as described in the National Consensus Statement on Mental Health. In past TAKE TWO messages we have explored “Hope”, “Peer Support”, “Responsibility”, “Strengths-Based” and “Self-Direction”. Last week we looked at the component focusing on “Respect”. This week I would like to take a look at the component of “Empowerment”.

Empowerment: Consumers have the authority to choose from a range of options and to participate in all decisions—including the allocation of resources—that will affect their lives, and are educated and supported in so doing. They have the ability to join with other consumers to collectively and effectively speak for themselves about their needs, wants, desires, and aspirations. Through empowerment, an individual gains control of his or her own destiny and influences the organizational and societal structures in his or her life.(1)

“When you face your fear, most of the time you will discover that it was not really such a big threat after all. We all need some form of deeply rooted, powerful motivation — it empowers us to overcome obstacles so we can live our dreams.” – Les Brown

“The principles of empowerment and recovery require a clear and concise understanding and commitment to those principles if we are to be effective helpers. We also need to be aware of our attitudes and beliefs about mental illness and the people affected by these disorders. Our attitudes and beliefs will define how we respond to persons with mental health difficulties.

“Providing services in mental health, as in any helping field, means we have chosen to serve people with mental and emotional health challenges. Serving others effectively demands that we put our personal agendas, attitudes, biases and fears aside and let ourselves be directed by the people we have chosen to serve.

“For those of us that have landed in the mental health system by circumstance rather than by choice, it is essential that we also perform a thorough examination of our beliefs and values.

“While nominally applying a “strengths approach” to their service provision, some mental health services seem to focus on illness management, on controlling the person’s deficits and disabilities, rather than building a real life of pursuing hopes, dreams, goals, challenges, achievements and overcoming setbacks.” (2)

“The rehabilitation view of recovery is that people can regain some social functioning, despite having symptoms, limitations, medication, and remaining mentally ill … To say that the person’s mental illness is a permanent condition is to forever ostracize the person from society and say that they will never be able to regain a major social role.” (3)

“Many of us who have been psychiatrically labeled have received powerful messages from professionals who in effect tell us by virtue of our diagnosis our futures are already sealed.” (4)

“Power is not something that we can bestow on another person. It is something he or she already has within and will struggle to retain. Empowerment means that we acknowledge the personal power each person has to make positive decisions and to take responsibility for them, a simple exercise in treating others with dignity and respect.” – Gail Pursell Elliott

Empowerment is an important principle that we must focus upon. It is through empowerment that individuals gain control of their destiny!

REFERENCES:
(1). National Consensus Statement on Mental Health Recovery. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. www.samhsa.gov

(2). Peters, H., Empowerment and Recovery in Mental Health. Partnership for Consumer Empowerment. 2003. Retrieved from: http://www.manitoba.cmha.ca/data/1/rec_docs/753_pce_workbook.pdf June 5, 2009.

(3). Fisher, D. (1999). A new vision of recovery: The empowerment vision. National Empowerment Center. Retrieved June 9, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.power2u.org/vision.html

(4). Deegan, P.E. (1995). Recovery as a journey of the heart. In L. Spaniol, C. Gagne, M. Koehler, (Ed.), Psychological and Social Aspects of Psychiatric Disability. (pp. 74-83). Boston University: Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation. Boston. Massachusetts.

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