Posted on November 18, 2021
AXIOS
A federal move to promote texting the national suicide hotline for help could strain crisis center capacity. Texting can make reaching help more accessible for vulnerable communities, including young people and members of the LGBTQ community, but many insist the system will need more resources. "We don't want somebody to text and not get a response," said Hannah Wesolowski, interim national director of government relations, policy and advocacy for NAMI. "That is something that will really need to be scaled up." "[W]e know people are going to start texting as soon as they learn about 988. So it's important that we start offering it, and work simultaneously to make sure that that capacity need is addressed." A recent NAMI/Ipsos poll found that 4 in 5 Americans believe mental health professionals should be the primary first responders in a mental health crisis, rather than law enforcement. "Unfortunately, very few communities have robust crisis services in place and that leads to law enforcement often being the only in-person response available," Wesolowski told Axios. "And this causes a lot of avoidable trauma and tragedy."
READ MOREPosted on November 18, 2021
The Verge
The FCC voted unanimously to expand access to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by letting people text 988 starting next year. Text message providers have to support the three-digit code by July 16th, 2022, which is when the code will go into effect. “With today’s decision to require providers to support text messaging to 988, the FCC has created a new vehicle for people to access help,” Daniel H. Gillison, Jr., CEO of NAMI said in a statement. “The ability to text 988 will support at-risk communities, including youth and young adults, marginalized and underserved populations, and individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing.”
READ MOREPosted on November 17, 2021
The Hill
A wide majority of Americans say mental health professionals, rather than law enforcement, should be the primary first responders to mental health crises, a poll released Monday found. Nearly 80% of respondents said mental health professionals, not police, should respond to mental health and suicide situations. NAMI CEO Daniel Gillison Jr. said “lives will be saved” if the country shifts to prioritize professional response to these crises. “This survey shows that we have an opportunity, and broad desire, to provide better mental health crisis care and reduce our dependence on law enforcement to respond to mental health crises,” he said in a statement. Hannah Wesolowski, NAMI’s interim director of government relations, policy and advocacy, said the development of the 988 crisis line presents an “unprecedented opportunity” to improve access to mental health services in emergencies. “It's really on all of us, the public policy makers, to act to make sure that when somebody calls for help, there's actually care available on the other end of the line, and we're not just providing an easier number to access a law enforcement response," she said.
READ MOREPosted on November 12, 2021
Yahoo Life
Dana Bierley, whose children have anxiety, depression, and sensory issues, just being in the classroom was difficult with the constant noise and frequent disruptions. Bierley supports school mental health days and recognizes the value to kids for a day off to mentally decompress. Experts agree that normalizing the conversation around mental health, including mental health days, is vital. “It leads to more understanding, more empathy, and more willingness to seek help, which is so important,” Barb Solish, director of youth and young adult initiatives at NAMI, said. “While not everybody has a mental health condition, everyone does have mental health, and they deserve to take care of themselves.”
READ MOREPosted on November 9, 2021
Capital News Service
The Biden Administration directed federal agencies to take new steps aimed at reducing suicide deaths among veterans, who make up 7.9% of the U.S. population, but account for about 13.5% of suicides. The transition out of military life can present unique challenges for veterans. “That first year post-transition is a high-risk time,” said Sherman Gillums, Jr., NAMI CSO, “and many (veterans) don't make it into the VA, especially if they've got bad paper — a punitive discharge or things that were related to their mental illness.” “And I know a lot of (veterans) that were discharged because of a mental illness, and never got the connection to the VA that they needed,” he said.
READ MOREPosted on November 8, 2021
Everyday Health
One woman says she received several misdiagnoses over 15 years before being correctly diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Primary care providers may only be able to spend 15 minutes talking with patients, not enough time to diagnosis a mental health condition. Another common reason misdiagnoses happen is “not because an evaluator did something wrong; it’s because symptoms tend to evolve over time,” explains Christine Crawford, MD, MPH, associate medical director of NAMI. Dr. Crawford adds, “A lot of providers are getting only a cross-sectional snapshot of what is going on in the person in front of them.” A lengthy evaluation with a mental health professional is often needed to make a psychiatric diagnosis like bipolar disorder.
READ MOREPosted on November 4, 2021
Scripps National News
"Embracing mental health days by schools helps normalize the conversation around mental health, which leads to understanding to empathy and more willingness to seek help when you need it," said Barb Solish, the Director of Youth and Young Adult Initiatives for NAMI. Solish says parents can start conversations with their children about mental health days by comparing it to taking a break when a person isn't physically feeling well. They can do the same for their emotional well-being.
READ MOREPosted on November 2, 2021
Katie Couric Media
The CDC just added mood disorders like depression to a long list of mostly physical conditions that put people at high risk for severe coronavirus cases, and advocates believe it’s long overdue. “NAMI values the recognition by the CDC for the data that has emerged over the course of the pandemic showing people with depression and schizophrenia are at increased risk for severe COVID-19 symptoms,” says Christine Crawford, associate medical director at NAMI. “This update to the guidelines takes a holistic approach toward the impact of both mental and physical illness.” Dr. Crawford tells us that people with serious mental illness can experience constant stress that can reduce the body’s natural immune system defenses and this, in turn, can “increase their susceptibility to infection and make them more vulnerable to severe Covid-19 symptoms.” “It’s important for us as a society to kind of shift our thinking around that and to think about a condition such as depression, bipolar, and anxiety disorders as general medical conditions, because they are, and they’re also chronic medical conditions,” says Dr. Crawford.
READ MOREPosted on October 28, 2021
The New York Times
The CDC amended its website to add mental health illnesses, including depression and schizophrenia, to its list of health conditions that make people of any age more likely to become severely ill from Covid-19. The C.D.C. recommends boosters for people 18 or over with certain underlying health issues. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, about one in five American adults experience some form of mental illness each year. Preliminary research has shown an association between mental health disorders and hospitalization and severe sickness from Covid. Chronic mental health conditions can exact a physical toll and “wreak havoc on the body’s immune system,” making people who suffer them more vulnerable to diseases like Covid, said Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director at NAMI. “They’re at increased risk, just because of the impact the stress response has on the body,” Dr. Crawford said.
READ MOREPosted on October 27, 2021
WFMY2 CBS: NC
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently declared a mental health emergency for children and teens. They say the COVID-19 pandemic worsened a problem that already existed. The AAP said suicide rates among teens steadily rose between 2010 and 2020. Doctors say social interaction is vital to youth development. "If you think about the teen years, the young years, getting out, socializing, getting an identity — these are the core developmental tasks of these stages of life," Dr. Ken Duckworth, NAMI CMO told CBS Mornings. "Isolation, not feeling safe in the world has made it all much harder." The National Alliance on Mental Illness lists warning signs which can include a drop in school performance, and altered sleep schedule and feeling withdrawn.
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NAMI HelpLine is available M-F, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET. Call 800-950-6264,
text “helpline” to 62640, or chat online. In a crisis, call or text 988 (24/7).