Cenpatico Blog

The following article was published by The Sierra Vista (Arizona) Herald on Sunday, May 29. Click here to read the story online on The Herald’s website.

By Dana Cole, San Pedro Valley News-Sun

BENSON — Cenpatico Behavioral Health of Arizona is announcing a funding opportunity in support of community projects throughout its service areas.

Cenpatico’s Community Reinvestment Funding program awards organizations for programs that make a difference in the lives of people in a general community.

“The Community Reinvestment program is something we do every year,” said Terry Stevens, Cenpatico’s chief executive officer. “The community projects that we support assist the people we serve and benefit the community at large.”

Cenpatico is currently accepting proposals for the kinds of projects or programs that people would like to see in their communities. Examples of the types of projects that fit the criteria include — but are not limited to — youth centers, domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, literacy centers and recreational programs that support health and wellness.

“The only restriction we have in place is that the money cannot go toward treatment or prevention services that are already covered through behavioral health dollars,” Stevens said. “We’re awarding this money as part of Cenpatico’s commitment to provide a percentage of our profits for community reinvestment programs in the communities we serve.”

In Cochise County, those communities include Benson, Bisbee, Douglas, Willcox and Sierra Vista. Cenpatico currently holds three contracts with the Arizona Department of Health Services/Division of Behavioral Health. Identified as Geographic Service Areas, or GSAs, Cochise County falls within a service area that includes Graham, Greenlee and Santa Cruz counties, an area that includes nine communities.

While the total distribution amount to be awarded is calculated by GSA, funds could come in the form of one large award per geographic are, or be divided into several smaller ones. Awards are determined by the Community Reinvestment Committee based on recommendations made by members of three boards, the Stakeholder Advisory Board, the Peer and Family Advisory Board and the Provider Roundtable, Stevens said.

“At this point, we don’t know how much money is available, but we want to let communities know about this opportunity so they can submit proposals,” she said. “Because communities’ needs are so diverse, we want the people living in the communities to tell us what they want.”

To be considered for an award, proposals must be submitted by June 20. Cenpatico will send the submissions to the three boards for the list of recommendations and a decision regarding the different funds will be made by July 15.

Guidelines

Cenpatico included the following guidelines that board members consider when reviewing proposals and making award recommendations.

• The proposals, however, do not have to include all of the items listed below. It’s also suggested that proposals include funding levels for the projects.
• Proposals should make a difference to the lives of the general community.
• Proposals should support health and wellness.
• Proposals should support positive development for youth, such as offering structured activities that include community involvement, activism, mentoring and literacy.
• Include information on how the program will sustain itself after the Cenpatico funding has been used.
• The proposal can be for mini-grants or special projects, such as “start-up” money for a program.

All Community Reinvestment program proposals should be sent to the attention of Melinda Vasquez at Cenpatico, 1501 W. Fountainhead Parkway, Suite 360, Tempe, AZ 85282.

To get more information, call (866) 495-6738.

This entry is filed under News.

The internet has opened up a whole new world of opportunities that can affect the delivery of mental health information. The various social mediums have become popular because there are a variety of ways for people to communicate with one another. From chatting about mental health issues on Facebook or Twitter to keeping up with a provider’s monthly blog, there is some form of social media out there for everyone.

On one end, social media helps people that have been impacted by mental health to know that they aren’t alone. For example, people with specific issues can join a forum discussion or online chat to help one another cope. There are also celebrities, such as Joe Pantoliano of The Sopranos and The Matrix, and mental health organizations, like NAMI, that are using social media accounts to reduce stigma and raise awareness of mental health issues.

 Information can be also made available in many ways. Do you want your Health Provider to send you an email or text message reminding you of your next appointment?  Many providers already do.  Do you need information on a particular illness?  Several credible websites exist to answer your questions and provide you with a wealth of information. Interactive group experiences, such as lectures where you can ask questions, and providers who will personally answer your emails already exist in some places. Even health insurance companies offer a lot of useful information on their websites, including tips on how to lead a healthy lifestyle and feel better both mentally and physically.

There is a lot of good that can come from mental health and social media. However, nothing can take the place of a one-to-one talk with your provider.

There can also be downside to social media. A lot of misinformation is posted on the internet, and some of it is even malicious –some personal opinions that may not be accurate can be presented as fact.

Utilizing social media can also be a very isolating experience and sometimes leads to cyber-bullying. When we use applications like Facebook, Tumblr and YouTube, we have less actual contact with our friends and family. There is no warm touch of a human hand or direct eye-to-eye contact.  Social media can also be misused to harm people. People sometimes feel empowered using this type of communication and believe that they are protected from being discovered and will remain anonymous. For example, a number of suicides have been directly linked to cyber bullying. Often, the cyber-bully feels free to torment his or her victims with less fear of retaliation. Most of these people are eventually caught but not before committing serious harm to others. 

We are going to continue to see more use of social media in mental health issues in both a good and bad light. Not everyone learns the same way or needs the same information, and different people will find different ways of using social media. Still, the use of social media also places upon us the burden of greater alertness to the potential abuses. 

Bernard Engelberg, M.D.

Medical Director

This entry is filed under Uncategorized.

Cenpatico takes pride in the variety of ways our employees work with those who are impacted by mental illness. For Mental Health Month, a few of our employees took time to reflect on their experiences in mental health:

Lilli Olive – Director, STRS

Lilli did not desire to work in mental health field. Growing up in the early part of her life with a mother who was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, Lilli was impacted by mental illness from an early age. She saw and was significantly impacted by a child psychologist beginning at the age of four when her parents began going through a divorce. And by age 8, Lilli was unknowingly self-practicing therapeutic techniques.

When the time came for Lilli to take her first career placement test in high school, she disregarded the results that pointed her to a profession in counseling. “Having grown up around mental illness, I was concerned I was going to be working out my on issues on my clients,” Lilli said.

Lilli went on to earn a college degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences but immediately began to have second thoughts about her career path.

“I knew pretty much right when I got my degree that [Speech and Hearing Sciences] wasn’t what I wanted to do. It was right around then I took another career test,” she said.

Again, the results and her school counselor said that Lilli should become a Marriage and Family Therapist.

“Just before the results were delivered, I had come to the conclusion that a career in counseling was what I would pursue,” said Lilli, now a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC).   “Once I started my graduate studies in this area I felt like I had come home.”

Lilli went on to work as a marriage and family counselor before coming to Cenpatico, where she worked as a Network Manager and is now Cenpatico’s Director of STRS. Still, Lilli maintains her passion for helping people with her private counseling practice.

“What really does it for me is to be able to encourage and equip people to overcome the difficulties in their lives,” Lilli said.

Nathan Hoover – Utilization Manager

In high school, Nathan was a numbers guy, the kind who excelled in math and science. As the time came for him and his family to begin looking at colleges, Nathan’s expertise in math and science played an obvious role in helping him pick the perfect school for him. At college, however, his mindset of what he wanted to do for the rest of his life began to change. Little did Nathan know he would follow in the footsteps of his parents.

“My mom worked at a Mental Health Mental Retardation Center [MHMR] when I was growing up, and my dad worked in social services,” Nathan said. “When I was in college I decided to go into one of those fields where I could go and help someone.”

After graduation, Nathan enrolled in graduate school, where he earned a master’s degree in counseling while also working full time as a probation officer. Now officially a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Nathan transitioned to work in mental health. Nathan now works out of Cenpatico’s Lubbock, Texas, office as a utilization manager and spends the majority of his time working with providers.

“I definitely see some real benefits to what we’re doing [with providers]. Much like everything in the mental health field, seldom do you see instant results,” he said. “Sometimes it takes a while, but when you have that moment where you realize your hard work is working out, it’s a great feeling.”

Nathan passionately believes that the efforts of him and his co-workers and those of mental health professionals throughout the nation are something in which all Americans should take pride.

“I’ve traveled a lot and been around different countries, and I think that societies are judged on how we treat people that might not have the same access to benefits that others do,” he said. “It says a lot about where we are as a society that we take the time to work with people and take an approach that we’re here to help.”

Ryan Wells – Utilization Manager

Ryan had a one-of-a-kind opportunity following his college graduation. Unsure of what he wanted for a career after earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Ryan spent a year exploring the world … and trying to figure out exactly what he wanted to do.

“I worked in salmon fisheries in Alaska, backpacked through Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, Indian, Nepal and finally Tibet,” Ryan said.

It was a trip that allowed Ryan to do exactly what he had hoped to do – find himself.

“During this trip, I came to the conclusion that helping others was the only path for me that was worth doing,” he said.

Back stateside, Ryan worked in a handful of different jobs before deciding to enroll in graduate school, where he went on to earn his degree in counseling and become a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC).

Still, the classrooms of graduate school were not the only place Ryan was getting an advanced education in a mental health field. While in school, he worked as a clinical assistant at a psychiatric hospital and learned a valuable lesson that has allowed him to best help others.

“One of the keys to sustainability in working in mental health is the importance of taking care of yourself and not letting your job be your only defining characteristic,” he said.

Ryan’s life experiences both in and out of the mental health field have played a large role in helping him become the professional he is today. He has worked as a mental health professional since 2003 and is now a utilization manager for Cenpatico. Here, Ryan has a job and responsibilities in which he takes great pride.

“I make sure that members are getting appropriate care and make certain providers are not simply ‘walking through the motions’ of treatment,” he said. “I am able to utilize all my experience and knowledge about mental health and advocate for our members in a way that not many others can.”

This entry is filed under Blog.

The following article was published by the Herald-Zeitung in New Braunfels, Texas, on Wednesday, May 18, 2011. Click here to see the article on the Herald-Zeitung website.

By Dalondo Monltrie, The Herald-Zeitnng

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – Therapists from across the state gathered in New Braunfels this week to learn new ways of treating foster children who have suffered traumatic events, a pair of foster-care professionals said.

The seminar was Monday and Tuesday at McKenna Events Center, where about 60 clinicians – from Austin, San Antonio, EI Paso and elsewhere– were reminded that medications can’t be thrown at every problem. Where once abused, neglected or traumatized children in the foster-care system were diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and medicated, therapists are finding other treatments work better, said D.J. Tessier, vice president of Comal County Child Welfare Board and president of Texas Child Welfare Board.

“What we try to do is get the best specialist in that area in to inform us of the best approaches on how to treat these children,” Tessier said. “The training helps us recognize how to evaluate these children and after evaluation to learn how to treat them.”

Dr. Susana Rivera’s PowerPoint presentation highlighted trauma-based cognitive behavioral therapy (TB-CBT), said Tracy Eilers, director of foster care at Cenpatico in New Braunfels. She said Rivera taught other professionals to understand what abused foster children have been through and the impact that abuse and neglect has on them.

TB-CBT helps teach the doctors who work with foster children and the foster parents who are raising traumatized youth, Eilers said.

“The focus is to educate all parts of the system on what these kids have been through,” she said. “It’s teaching them how to respectfully work with children.”

Once the diagnoses are made correctly, then the healing can begin, Eilers said. She said sometimes traumatized foster children have difficulty discussing the traumatic events. Sometimes, they are reluctant to talk to therapists or other adults, and TB-CBT training helps clinicians find other tools to move past such obstacles.

“This kind of draws the roadmap that services as a guide so certain pieces aren’t missed,” Eilers said. “And if they run into a roadblock its how to get around them. The core part is to help the children heal.”

And what’s really important is helping emotionally and physically wounded children heal, said Tessier, who reminds everyone that doing so is a daily job.

“Remember that child abuse happens year round,” Tessier said. “Although April is Child Abuse Awareness Month, we would like to make sure people don’t forget our children.”

This entry is filed under News.

Sports fans will remember that infamous day in 2004, when a hotly contested NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons turned into much more than a simple basketball game. It all started when a fan through a plastic cup at a player on the court. That player lost his cool, ran into the crowd and before anyone could react, there was a brawl in the stands. Fast forward almost seven years, and that same player, Ron Artest, is the NBA’s 2011 J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award winner.

So how does someone who was suspended for 75 games for fighting with players and fans become the NBA’s citizen of the year? The answer is simple – Ron Artest made a change. Making that change, however, wasn’t so simple. You see, Ron Artest, a forward for the World Champion Los Angeles Lakers, has admitted to having a mental illness. And ever since his suspension, he’s been working to promote good mental health, even auctioning his NBA championship ring to raise more than $500,000 for mental health.

Whether they simply announce they have been diagnosed with an illness, like actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, or they travel around the nation to promote awareness, like Artest, celebrities play a big role in helping to reduce the stigma of mental illness. In April, Zeta-Jones announced that she was diagnosed with Bipolar II Disorder – click here to read a USA Today article on the impact of Zeta-Jones’ announcement. In December 2010, Artest debuted his Public Service Announcement on Mental Health Awareness. Artest teamed up with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health for the PSA – click here to view Artest’s Mental Health PSA on YouTube.

In short, mental illness has impacted people from all social classes and industries throughout history. Here is a list of common mental illnesses and other prominent world figures that have these disorders:

ADHD:

Bill Cosby, Actor and Comedian

Pablo Picasso, Artist

Albert Einstein, Scientist

Abraham Lincoln, Former U.S. President

Anxiety:

Earl Campbell, NFL Player

Kim Basinger, Actress

Sigmund Freud, Psychiatrist

Nikola Tesla, Inventor

Bipolar Disorder:

Ned Beatty, Actor

Ludwig von Beethoven, German Composer

Winston Churchill, Former British Prime Minister

Peter Gabriel, Musician

Ernest Hemingway, Writer

Depression:

John Quincy Adams, Former U.S. President

Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

Jim Carrey, Actor and Comedian

Ray Charles, Musician

Eating Disorders:

Princess Diana, former Princess of Wales

Paula Abdul, Singer

Joan Rivers, TV Personality

Jane Fonda, Actress and Activist

Schizophrenia:

Lionel Aldridge, Professional Football Player

John Nash, Mathematician and Nobel Prize Winner

Peter Green, Fleetwood Mac Musician

Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd Musician

This entry is filed under Blog.