Archive for category: Behavioral Health

What do you know about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD?

PTSD is often associated with battlefield experience in the military, but trauma can affect any one.

“No one is immune from trauma,” said Deborah Lidzy, Crisis Response Specialist in Adult Behavioral Health at Swope Health Services. “Trauma does not discriminate in any way.”

PTSD can occur after you have experienced a traumatic event. Traumatic events are anything shocking, scary or dangerous where you feel like your life is in danger or you have no control over what is happening.

Trauma can be caused by sexual abuse, physical assault, serious accidents, like a car wreck, natural disasters like fire, tornado, flood or earthquake, or combat exposure.

Not everyone who experiences a trauma will have symptoms of PTSD, Deborah said, but repeated traumas may increase the likelihood of having post-traumatic stress.

The main symptoms of PTSD include:

• Not sleeping or re-experiencing the event in bad dreams, frightening thoughts or flashbacks

• Avoiding situations that remind you of the event

• Negative changes in beliefs and feelings, like feeling negative about yourself, or feeling guilt, blame or lacking interest in enjoyable activities

• Hyper-vigilance — being jittery, tense, or constantly on the lookout for danger

“It’s normal to have a stress reaction after a trauma,” Deborah said, “but if these behaviors interfere with your life, it’s time to seek help.”

The most effective treatment is a combination of counseling and medication. Counseling involves meeting with a therapist to understand how your trauma changed your thoughts and feelings, and to learn new ways of coping.

“The more you talk about the situation, the emotion gets less and less,” Deborah said. “The only way around the fire is through the fire.”

SHS provides trauma-informed care that is customized and personal to each patient.

“The most important thing is to get started,” Deborah said. “It’s better to deal with it right away and don’t let it build up. We can help you deal with it, work through it, learn some coping skills.”

Resources:

National Center for PTSD

National Institute of Mental Health — PTSD

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder guide

National Child Traumatic Stress Network

RESPECT Institute

Have you struggled after a trauma? Or do you know someone who may be suffering after a trauma? We are here for you. Please call 816-923-5800 and visit our Behavioral Health services for support.

April is Alcohol Awareness Month, designated by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD).

Since 1987, April has been named as a month to raise awareness of the disease of alcoholism. At Swope Health Services, alcohol awareness and treatment are year-round activities, centered at the Imani House, our center for alcohol and drug treatment.

The NCADD reports that 17.6 million people — one in 12 adults — suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence. More than 7 million children live in a household where an adult is dependent on or has abused alcohol. Each year, 88,000 people die from excessive alcohol use, according to the organization.

“Alcohol is easy to get and it’s cheap and legal, to anyone over 21,” noted Adrienne Powell, MSW, LCSW, manager of Imani House. “It’s also very dangerous.”

Alcohol abuse can impact all aspects of life, damaging a user’s emotional stability, finances, career and family and social relationships. It also can cause health complications.

“Alcohol withdrawal can cause serious issues — heart palpitations, increased blood pressure, cardiac arrest, even death without proper treatment,” Adrienne notes.  “People who use alcohol heavily and daily can experience significant issues when they try to stop. They may need medical detoxification.”

Imani House, located at 3950 E. 51st St., Kansas City, offers medically assisted treatment for the disease of alcoholism, including a regimen of monthly injections to prevent the effects of alcohol and opiates. This prescription treatment takes about a year and works best in tandem with counseling and treatment activities to learn coping skills and overcome urges for alcohol.

Imani House also offers residential services and is developing plans to expand. The residential services are provided in a partnership with the Healing House Inc., a non-profit faith-based substance abuse recovery organization at 4420 Saint John Ave., Kansas City.

So far this year, Imani House has enrolled 250 people in its services, which include screening and assessments, case management, group and individual counseling, psychiatric services and year-round education and training in healthy lifestyles.

“We teach the truth about drugs — what they do to your health and to your brain, why they are addicting,” Adrienne said. “We educate about co-dependency, healthy relationships, nutrition, anger management, parenting, relapse prevention and more.”

Adrienne and the Imani House associates bring understanding and empathy, drawing from experience with a family member or loved one or a personal recovery journey.

“We provide support to people who are making a change,” Adrienne said. “We give a lot of encouragement and validation. We know they are not their addiction. Alcoholism is a medical condition that needs to be treated.”

Breaking the cycle of addiction can be a long journey, but Adrienne and her team know it can be done.

For example, Imani House hosts Alcoholics Anonymous meetings every Friday, with a Clean and Sober Celebration on the last Friday of each month. The counselors and sponsors provide motivation and encouragement, celebrating milestones small and large. The group also models how to have a good time, surrounding yourself with recovery-minded people.

“We see each of them as a human being, with worth and dignity,” Adrienne said. “We help them change the language that they use about themselves. We help them change their environment and behaviors.”

She continued: “It’s hard. It’s NOT easy. But it is possible. Everything you want in your life, you can get if you work for it.”

RESOURCES:

• Imani House brochure
• National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc.
• April 2016 Toolkit — Alcohol Awareness Month
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Have a question about alcohol or drug treatment programs? Please call Imani House at 816-599-5858 or leave a message in the comment box below.

Were you among the millions of people who used the new year as a reason to turn over a new leaf? Maybe you resolved to lose weight, stop smoking, or exercise more? Or maybe you adopted a theme or word that you want to represent?

You might also be among the millions who’ve stopped short of meeting your goal.

Take heart! Statistics show that it takes from two weeks to eight weeks to develop a new habit. Polls show that most people drop their resolutions within two weeks.

Instead of dropping your good intentions, vow to renew your resolutions. Some psychologists recommend that you renew your resolution every quarter — that keeps your goal top of mind and gives you a better chance of success.

Rosemary Griffith, Clinical Manager in Behavioral Health, understands the need for patience and persistence in developing new habits. Some changes, such as those brought about through prescription medications, for example, can take a full 21 to 30 days to be incorporated into the body.

“It takes just an instant to think about a goal, but it will take at least two weeks to develop a new habit,” she says. “We have a culture that expects immediate results and if we don’t see change, we tend to drop it.”

Griffith has more than 43 years of experience counseling and helping people overcome challenges. She has seen the power of motivation and positive visualization in bringing about changes — including in situations of substance abuse and conditions like schizophrenia and diabetes. She enjoys her role in providing positive encouragement and helping patients keep focused on their goals.

Here are some of Griffith’s tips for success with a resolution:

• Be realistic in your goals. Set specific goals that you can actually stick with and control. When one woman set a goal of losing 80 pounds in four months, Griffith calculated what that would require — and showed that it was likely unattainable and certainly unhealthy. Instead, she counseled the woman to set a goal for 30 days, for example, to eat a vegetable every day or walk three times a week. Then re-set the goal for the next month.

• Find a motivation. It might be visualizing yourself in a particular outfit and working toward that. It might be imagining yourself with new capabilities — being stronger, enjoying a sport, spending more time with children. Find something positive that will help you keep a focus on the outcome of your new habit.

• Be patient with yourself. Even though our culture sets expectations for immediate results, not everything works like that. Recognize that you might hit a bump in the road. If you fall off your plan, get back on it and try again.

• Remove temptation. If your commitment to change involves substance abuse, alcoholism or excess indulgences (like overeating), it’s a good idea to remove yourself from an environment that offers those temptations. This is where having a support group, or a sponsor, can make a big difference. They both offer you a sense of camaraderie and can help you stick to your goals if they know what you’re trying to achieve. When tempted, reach out to them for encouragement instead of reaching for the thing you’re trying to avoid.

The most important thing, Griffith says, is to believe in yourself.

“You have to believe that you are valuable, that you have a purpose,” she says. “You are not a statistic. You are worth fighting for.”

Have you kept your resolutions for better health? If not, take a positive step by calling us for an appointment — even a same-day walk in — at 816-923-5800. We’re here to help. Your comments are welcome below.

By Debbie Mizer, MA, LPC, Access Crisis Intervention Supervisor, Behavioral Health-Community Support

Imagine for a minute — what if we lived in a world where…

• Mental health gets the same attention and respect as physical health;
• No one is afraid to seek or receive support for mental health disorders; and
• Everyone has access to high quality treatment?

That’s what we’re working on here at Swope Health Services.

Substance abuse, anxiety, depression and other mental health-related issues affect people of all ages, races and income levels. With nearly 43 million Americans facing mental health-related issues every year, it’s time we change the way mental health is viewed in the United States.

No matter what people say or how society portrays it, mental illness is just as real as physical illness. It can cause the same amount of pain as a physical illness and can interfere with our daily lives. It can also be treated.

What can you do?

Start by participating — come visit us at SHS where every patient is assessed for depression. Patients who need support are referred to the resources they need — whether it’s a therapist, psychiatrist, substance abuse counselor, case worker or crisis intervention specialist.

You can also call the ACI Mental Health Crisis Line at 1-888-279-8188. The line is answered 24 hours a day to help you quickly get appointments with behavioral health providers in the Kansas City Metro area.

Another option is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Please know we are here to help you but we can only help when we know you’re hurting. There’s no shame in saying you are hurting. If you need help, please contact us at 816-922-1070.

For more information

(Note: The following links are provided as a convenience and do not constitute an endorsement by SHS.)

Learn more about depression and related mental health issues at the following websites:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Mental Health Basics
• National Institute of Mental Health: Mental Health Information
• National Institute of Mental Health: Depression Information
• National Institute of Mental Health: Free depression brochures & publications, in English and Spanish
• Suicide Prevention Lifeline website and tip sheet provided by SAMHSA

Do you have a question or comment? Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

I began working at Swope Health Services in January 2015 as a consultant to the Primary Care Clinics. You can find me in the Blue Clinic in the Outreach Program, where everyone knows me as Terri.

I have worked in the Kansas City area for more than 30 years. In 1989, I felt called to work with the homeless and poor and my work has focused on this population ever since.

I have worked specifically with populations who have experienced homelessness, trauma, abuse, sexual exploitation, drug and alcohol use disorders, and mental illness. I work with all age groups — men, women and children.

I love what I do and I love the people I work with.

My background prepared me for this work: I have a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree in Social Work. I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (Missouri) and Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker (Kansas). I also have certification from the Missouri Credentialing Board and am a Co-Occurring Disorders Professional-Diplomate (CCDP-D).

I have supervised students from different universities, as well as staff in different organizations, and other professionals working under me in private practice. My private practice focused on working with the population experiencing homelessness, mostly Medicaid and Medicare clientele.

Working for social change: I enjoy functioning in leadership positions as well as having a role in social and agency change that benefits clients and staff.

I have been on the Board of Directors for the Missouri Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers for several years. I was the Chairperson for the Homeless Services Coalition before it officially became a not-for-profit agency and served on the board when the coalition applied for not-for-profit status.

I enjoy educating and helping others. I have been a regular speaker for area and national professional organizations including the Missouri Department of Mental Health, New Directions Behavioral Health, the National Association of Social Workers, and others.

I am an Adjunct Professor/Lecturer for the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas. I am currently teaching Human Behavior in the Social Environment. In the spring, I’ll teach Community and Organizational Dynamics and Human Behavior.

In our next post, Terri talks about her role as a Behavioral Health Consultant. Have questions for Terri? You can leave a comment below, visit the Blue Clinic at SHS Central, or call 816-922-1070 to make an appointment.