At Ease USA Celebrates Successes, Looks Toward Future

At Ease USA, a program created in partnership with Lutheran Family Services to assist active military, veterans, and their loved ones in receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress (PTSD) and related disorders, has a lot to be proud of. Since 2009, the program, which offers counseling services, group support programs, and community support, has helped more than 200 clients across the state with amazing results. According to program evaluation results, 100 percent of clients have reported a reduction in risk behaviors.

Not Alone Radio Program, Dec. 6: Peer Advocates & Consumers

This December, Not Alone launched our fifth year of programming. What a joy it has been! Our guests today were special friends who have been encouragers to Not Alone since we began our broadcasts. Ken and Theresa both began experiencing mental illness as preschoolers, both tried self-medicating with alcohol beginning at age 9, both floundered terribly and struggled to have any kind of life during their teens, 20s and 30s. The lesson we learned from Theresa and Ken is that children don’t have the words or the knowledge to tell family what they experience, so parents need to become educated about brain disorders so that their children can have hope.

Consumer-Led Change and Research Programs Help Advance Mental Health Issues

Through our work at The Kim Foundation, we have had the privilege of visiting several service providers and consumer run programs these past two months. We are encouraged and pleased to see consumers continue to play an expanding role in determining the course of treatment for mental illnesses and we applaud those efforts. When the people directly affected by mental illness feel respected and confident, when they know their voices matter, they become more willing to share their stories, needs, and goals. Community service providers and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services then have the opportunity to respond by helping to implement appropriate community resources that meet those needs.

Understanding EPSDT and How it Affects Health Care Services

Many Nebraska mental health care providers are asking “What is EPSDT, and how can it serve my clients?” It is not a new program; rather it is something that was established by Medicaid in about 1967. It is the child health component, known as the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment program. Quoting from the Health Resources and Services Administration, “Federal law – including statutes, regulations and guidelines – requires that Medicaid cover a very comprehensive set of benefits and services for children, different from adult benefits. Since one in three U.S. children under age six is eligible for Medicaid, EPSDT offers a very important way to ensure that young children receive appropriate health, mental health, and developmental services.”

Ted E. Bear Hollow Adds New Youth Program

Since 2001, Ted E. Bear Hollow has provided a safe place to express emotions, to remember loved ones openly, and to learn ways to care for themselves in the sad times. Through support groups, day camps, retreats and a variety of programs, Ted E. Bear Holllow has helped thousands of children and their loved ones move beyond their grief of the loss of a loved one to death toward healing. Today, Ted E. Bear Hollow is the premier resource for grieving children, teens, and their families in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area.

Highlighting Organizations Working to Provide Help, Hope and Healing

It doesn’t seem so very long ago that words referring to mental illnesses were spoken in whispers and locating resources for individuals and families needing help, hope, and healing became a complex struggle. We still have room to grow, improve, change attitudes, and enhance resources, but we are proud of all the programs and opportunities offered today, as well as the resources available that are fairly recent concepts for Nebraska. We take pride in the opportunities to reduce stigmas and support some of the local organizations, like the following, doing wonderful things.

From Rights to Reality: A Plan for Parent Advocacy and Family-Centered Child Welfare Reform

From Rights to Reality is designed to unite parents and parent advocacy around a common set of goals. It identifies 15 rights for parents affected by the child welfare system. Most parents do not yet have these rights in child welfare proceedings. From Rights to Reality represents a commitment to working in our communities and nationwide to make these rights a reality.

‘Mental Illness’ is a Very Narrow Focus

Kathy Seacrest has been a friend to those needing mental health care for many years. She is recognized in Nebraska for her leadership in Region 2 and respected for addressing one of our country’s greatest health care flaws: allowing stigma to prejudice the course of treatment for those with mental illnesses. The Kim Foundation would like to share an article written by Ms. Seacrest and Teresa Ward, LIMPH, Director of Day Rehab and Outpatient Services for Region II Human Services and add our thanks and appreciation for her letter.

Opportunity to Change the Mental Health Care System

Diseases of the brain cover a wide spectrum, affecting infants born with effects of depression, to the elderly touched by dementias. We at The Kim Foundation are grateful when consumers and family members allow us to share their personal story, as it does bring hope and encouragement to others.

We’d like to introduce a special mom, the mother of a young adult on the autism spectrum, who also experiences other mental health disorders. As a nurse, the mother attended Nurse’s Day at the Nebraska Legislature in Lincoln on February 3, 2011. Her story motivates readers to become involved in our legislative process, and to truly address the opportunity to change the mental health care system.

Not Along Radio Program, Jan. 25: Peer Support Recovery Specialists

What do you call people who use their individual experience overcoming crisis, depression, and addictions to help others find the road to wellness? Lutheran Family Services Southeast Nebraska office calls them Peer Support Recovery Specialists; The Kim Foundation calls them awesome! During our recent broadcast our guests spoke of being lost, homeless, hopeless, manipulators of family and friends, irresponsible, and often in jail. Although not a good beginning, from these challenges came the will to help others.