How To Save a Life

Suicide is the 11th cause of death in the United States. Most people believe that a person who is having thoughts will show no signs and do not want help: these are myths. There are several signs of suicide and most people do want help, they just don’t know how to ask. These signs include:

• Feelings of hopelessness, helplessness or worthlessness
• Loss of interest in activities that they normally enjoy
• Withdrawal and isolation
• Making statements such as “I wish I had never been born” or “I with I could go to sleep and never wake up”
• Giving away possessions or getting affairs in order
• Sudden happiness after a period of depression

If you notice these signs in someone you care about, don’t be afraid to ask questions! Asking questions such as “Have you ever thought about hurting yourself?” will not give them the idea, but instead will help them open up about how they have been feeling. If someone confides in you, don’t act shocked. Get help immediately. Go to your local emergency room or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Whatever you do, do not leave the person alone.

During the 2007-2008 school year, I educated 1,962 middle and high school students about the warning signs of depression and suicide. Also, I trained local law enforcement, college students, and nurses and home health aides in Licking County. The more people who are educated on suicide prevention and how to help someone, the more lives are saved.

Kim Adams

Suicide Prevention Coordinator

State Farm Helps MHA

Thanks to a group of volunteers from State Farm, new baskets of flowers hang from the porch to welcome the YES members as they arrive at the Clubhouse each day. The volunteer group has adopted the YES Clubhouse as its special project and has taken the organization under its wing.

Starting in 1992, the YES program began as a service-learning project funded by a grant from the Ohio Department of Education in partnership with Mental Health America of Licking County. Due to the overwhelming number of participants and need for a safe haven for after-school hours, YES moved to its current location in downtown Newark in 1999. The clubhouse currently serves 35-40 youth, ages 11-18 years of age, on a daily basis.

Staff and adult volunteers provide mentoring, tutoring, life-skills and anger management classes, along with a daily meal. Membership is free, thus allowing youth from economically disadvantaged families to take advantage of all the services and opportunities that YES affords. Children who attend daily are required to participate in service projects in order to maintain membership. Students at Newark High School may earn credit towards graduation for service.

Construction on a new YES Clubhouse, directly across the street from the Post Office, began on May 15, 2008 and is proceeding at break-neck speed. The opening of the NEW YES Clubhouse will be in August, but until that time, the old YES Clubhouse will receive special attention from its State Farm Guardian Angels.
A second group of volunteers had a far less glamorous, but important morale-boosting, job of washing windows at the Mental Health America of Licking County offices. The volunteers were actually tasked to help the Moundbuilders Guidance Center, but they inadvertently helped MHALC, as well. State Farm volunteers Darinda Byers, Ellen Page, Alayna Morris, Lori Long, Carrie Wallis, Lynne Rotruck, Susie Hannahs, Connie McDaniel, Lyn Zangmeister, Kathy Cooper were happy to here that they could help MHALC with their cleaning.
The parking lot outside the windows is gravel and the traffic kicks up quite a bit of dirt. Being able to see out their windows, for a change, on a sunny day adds a boost to the mental well-being of the employees. It also takes a load off the shoulders of the hard working MGC maintenance staff.

State Farm has a program called the Good Neighbor Service Project, in which employees volunteer four hours of their time together in groups on projects for a charitable organization during the month of June. These projects are then eligible to apply for small grants from State Farm for additional monies to fulfill a need. It has been a very popular project for employees, according to Tonya Romine of the State Farm Public Affairs Office.

“We’ve been so fortunate to have the support of community leaders like State Farm,” said Paddy Kutz, Executive Director of Mental Health America of Licking County. “Together, we’ve been able to achieve remarkable things. State Farm volunteers do outstanding work and should be applauded for their commitment.”

The State Farm-YES Clubhouse Volunteers trimmed grass from the sidewalk, trimmed hedges and served as professional gardeners, giving the old house, new charm. “We love our group, we love working at Yes House,” said Jessy Clark, pictured here with State Farm staff Tammy Gentry, Cindy Burkhart, Annette Reber and Tom Ash. Lorenzo Spivey and Amy Grove, not pictured, were hard at work on the front lawn.

The group also proudly presented a gift of a new giant TV to YES House courtesy of State Farm.

Tom Ash, who also serves on the Board of Mental Health America of Licking County, was enthusiastic about the future of State Farm’s relationship with the YES Club House, “We can’t wait for the new building, it’s going to be beautiful. We’ll be back.”

Get to Know Compeer

“ASK ME ABOUT COMPEER!” That’s what my button says. I officially started my full-time job on June 16, 2008, so it may be a little early to ask me. But, I’ll try to give you an answer.

What is Compeer?COMPEER is a program of Mental Health America of Licking County. COMPEER serves people who are recovering from mental illness and was developed in Rochester, New York in 1973.

"It's as simple as being a friend."

We all know what it is like to need a friend. Spending time with positive loving people you care about can ease stress, help your mood and improve the way you feel overall. Friends give us the support we need for good mental health.

Individuals experiencing mental illness may also experience loneliness, isolation and low self-esteem.

The COMPEER program serves people who are recovering from a mental illness. Compeer recruits, screens, trains and matches volunteers in one-to-one friendship relationships with adults receiving mental illness treatment. Compeer volunteers become positive role models and mentors. They help raise self-esteem, increase social and communication skills and encourage independence of their compeer friend, aiding them in their recovery.

The rewards are many when you volunteer for COMPEER. There are opportunities for personal growth and satisfaction through helping others. You will also combat the stigma associated with mental illness. Being a COMPEER volunteer is fun and fits into your current lifestyle.

We’re off to a great start with our second half of the year. Compeer members will “take me out to the ball game” on June 29th to see the Licking County Settlers triumph in a double-header. Then, by popular demand, we’re off for an evening of bowling, as a group, on July 7th.

Upcoming events include popular movie nights, a Tiki party, and a Compeer Awards Night Dinner. Fall promises Halloween and Thanksgiving Parties, as well as some other surprises!

Don’t get the wrong impression! Compeer is about more than parties. The majority of our time is simply spending time with a friend. COMPEER staff supports volunteers with free training and on-going professional guidance to facilitate the development of productive friendships. Volunteers are asked to make a commitment of at least one hour per week. Some of our friendships have lasted for years.

Unfortunately, there is a list of COMPEER members waiting for a friend. If you are a compassionate person with room in your life for a new friend, consider volunteering with COMPEER. For more information, please contact Kristen Frame, COMPEER Coordinator at (740) 345-5658.

FundaMENTAL Health Makes Bottom Line Sense

“We have irritable employees. We miss too many deadlines. We have a lot of workers out sick. Workplace injuries are a huge problem. Productivity is down because of stress and anxiety. Negativity is a bummer and drags us down.”

I hear these concerns constantly. Every employer, big and small, experiences these kinds of problems, but did you know untreated depression takes a hefty toll on the American workplace, costing at least $30 billion each year in lost productivity? And that is a conservative estimate for depression alone. More workers are absent from work because of stress and anxiety than because of physical illness or injury according to the National Business Group on Health.

Mental illness short-term disability claims are growing by 10% annually and can account for 30% or more of the corporate disability experience for the typical employer.

Because mental illness affects 26.2% of our population in any given year, it should not be a surprise that both white collar and blue collar workers are greatly affected by mental illness.

While some employees with mental health conditions do not recognize symptoms, others ignore obvious signs while erroneously believing their symptoms will just go away. Both of these situations lead directly to problems for both the employee and employer.

Most employers know that a mentally healthy workforce is linked to lower medical costs, as well as less absenteeism and presenteeism (the person is present, but not productive). And most employers know that a mentally unhealthy workforce is associated with increased loss of productivity. What employers may not know is how to get from A to B: how does a company change a mentally unhealthy workplace – or a marginally healthy one – to a healthy workplace? Where does it start?

Phase 1: Evaluate Your Current Programs. Question your health plan or behavioral health vendor. Do you know what your health plan covers? Do you have an EAP (Employee Assistance Plan)? EAP interventions have been shown to produce rapid improvements in work performance. In Licking County, the Kraner Campus offers Work/Life Solutions employee assistance services. Call Pat Bringardner at 740-345-5074 extension #3 for their services.

Calculate the cost of depression and alcoholism in your workplace quickly by using free Web-based tools, such as the depression and alcohol calculators. See www.depressioncalculator.com and www.alcoholcostcalculator.org

Phase 2: Construct Your New Programs. Conduct an employee awareness program about depression, anxiety and substance abuse. Mental Health America of Licking County can provide this program, including educating managers about mental disorders and mental health screening. Early identification of mental disorders can save money, and screening for mental illness is one of the most effective tools available. It can be done anonymously and engages many individuals who wouldn’t otherwise seek help for mental illness because they are ashamed, afraid, or in denial. Call MHALC at 740-522-1341.

Phase 3: Strengthen Your Programs: Integrate all healthcare services (such as behavioral health, other medical illnesses, pharmacy, disability disease management, and EAPs) to improve patient outcomes, reduce time away from work, and minimize the cost and impact of mental health conditions on the workplace and healthcare costs. IBM did and saved $500,000 in outpatient costs in one year.

Treatment works, people recover, fundaMENTAL health makes bottom line sense. 80% of people with depression will recover fully with appropriate diagnosis, treatment and monitoring compared to just over 40% for heart disease.

Call me, Paddy Kutz at 522-1341 or email me at paddykutz@alink.com for more information and help to promote good mental health and wellness in the workplace.

Mental Health America of Licking County is a member agency of Mental Health America, United Way and Community Mental Health & Recovery Board.

Paddy Kutz,
Executive Director
Mental Health America of Licking County

Responding to Violence

Why is this man smiling? He's smiling because he was recently recognized with a 2008 Raise Your Voice Award by the Center for Child and Family Advocacy at Nationwide Children's Hospital. He's Danny Friend, a member of Mental Health America of Licking County's award-winning PAVE (Prevent Assault & Violence Education) program. PAVE uses high school and college students to teach middle school and high school students strategies for responding to violence and threats of violence. The "volunteens" present brief scenes that deal with situations that are, regrettably, all too familiar to their audiences. These situations can include verbal and physical intimidation, relationship violence and all manner of aggressive behaviors. These scenes form the starting place for a meaningful dialogue between the audience, the peer presenters and MHA's trained facilitators. PAVE is designed to provide the student audience with information and strategies for responding to a wide variety of threats. Ultimately, the goal is to keep our young people safe and change their attitudes toward violence. Participating in the PAVE program not only impacts the members of the target audience, but it also impacts the student presenters. As they prepare for these presentations, they are obliged to confront some very complicated issues and work through their responses. It's challenging work and not for everyone. Often, the students who become involved as peer presenters do so because they have a personal connection to the issues involved. Frequently, they themselves have experienced some of the situations that they are enacting for their audiences. Mr. Friend, a relatively new PAVE member, became aware of an incident of child abuse that affected his own family and he reported it. He's smiling because he was surprised by the unexpected recognition and also, we would like to think, because he knows he did the right thing. Graham Campbell Associate Director Mental Health America of Licking County