Please see flyer attached for further details.

The UMSL Office of Research Administration on the success of its Research and Innovation Week. The Missouri Institute of Mental Health, in partnership with the Office of Research Administration, presented the films Silver Linings Playbook and Lake Windfall on Thursday, April 25th.

Congratulations to Dr. Matthew Hile for being recognized as UMSL's “2013 Senior Investigator of the Year” at the Annual Office of Research Administration Awards Reception that culminated Research and Innovation Week at UMSL.

Dr. Nasser Arshadi, Vice Provost for Research presented the award to Matthew noting,

“This investigator leads a behavioral informatics program that over the years has: Helped consumers and their families find services for substance abuse, mental health, or mental retardation; Screened adolescents for problems in substance use, depression, and tobacco use, referring them to appropriate services; Taught women the self-change strategies needed to reduce the risk of having an alcohol exposed pregnancy; and Most recently, developed systems to screen for risky substance use in medical patients and to support brief evidence-based interventions to reduce those risks. This investigator has received $6.5 million in grants over the CY2011 – CY2012 from SAMSA, among others. Our 2013 Investigator of the Year is Matthew G. Hile, PhD, Associate Research Professor, Missouri Institute of Mental Health.”

Matthew's work has been a great contribution to MIMH and the field of Behavioral Informatics.

People with mental illness die on average 25 years earlier than the general population. Sometimes this is due to unhealthy behaviors by consumers, but often the drugs used to treat mental illness can lead to secondary problems, such as weight gain, heart disease, and diabetes. Traditionally, community mental illness centers treat mental health, not physical health, so secondary illnesses tend to go untreated.

On Wednesday, March 20, President Wolfe paid a visit to MIMH to meet faculty and staff and learn about the work done by different departments in the Institute. Wolfe shared his goals for the UM-System and discussed future opportunities for collaboration with MIMH.

MIMH’s Benton Goon, currently serving as the social media coordinator for the Missouri Department of Mental Health, speaks to the Moberly Missouri NAMI chapter about how expanding Medicaid eligibility to 138% of the federal poverty level would have a major impact on Missouri's mental health and psychiatric inpatient services. read more...

After decades in which smoking by people with mental illness was supported and even encouraged, a move in Louisiana reflects a broader effort to reverse course. read more...

A couple of years ago, Fulton State Hospital, in a joint effort with Farmington (SE MO PRC), began a search to find a curriculum they could use to implement new, safer procedures for dealing with client violence. Violence is common in state hospitals, and Fulton contacted other facilities across the country to see what systems they had in place. Many reported having the same problems, and none had the sort of established curriculum Fulton was looking for. Responding to this widespread need, Fulton created the SMART curriculum, or Situation Management and Response Techniques.

“Jermine D. Alberty, with the Missouri Institute of Mental Health and Beth Yoder- Stein, with Wyandotte Center discuss the importance of being trained in mental health first aid and how the 12-hour training session works. According to Yoder-Stein, being frank about suicide, getting treatment and other difficult subjects is key when talking with someone having a mental health episode.” read more...

Andrea Purnell, Communications and Artistic Director at UMSL’s Missouri Institute of Mental Health (MIMH), has won the prestigious Emerging Artist Award in the 2013 Grand Center Visionary Awards competition. read more...

On January 25, 2013, a kickoff event was held at Grace Hill Water Tower Health Center where Mayor Francis Slay and other elected officials were present to announce the beginning of the new “Project LAUNCH” initiative. Project LAUNCH is a five-year, $4.2 million federal grant awarded to the Missouri Department of Mental Health and a consortium of St. Louis child-serving agencies. The goal of the project is to improve the social and emotional well-being of children ages birth to eight by strengthening the child-serving systems of care. The pilot project will be implemented in the 63106 and 63107 zip codes in the City of St. Louis. MIMH will provide evaluation services for the project.

Photo Credit Chris McDaniel, St. Louis Public Radio

Mental Health First Aid, a project of MIMH, the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (link bold to the MH First Aid description on the projects page) is discussed by Betty Sims’ in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“In the aftermath of the massacre of 20 small children and 6 adults in Newtown, Conn., there is talk about changing current gun laws and placing armed guards in schools. Those steps may have an impact, but I suggest that we examine the profiles of the perpetrators of these shootings, for that is where we will likely find our answers.” read more...

Dr. Jean Campbell’s work has revolved around one central revolutionary idea: allow persons with mental illness to speak for themselves. Her 1987 Well-Being Project Survey of mental-health consumers in California marked the first time persons with serious mental illness gathered and shared their perceptions of the mental-health system through research. Not only did this study provide data concerning ways mental-health services were failing to listen to mental-health consumers and meet their needs, but it helped empower participants by letting them know they were not alone.

A new web site, Missouri Ask Listen Refer, trains users “how to ASK at-risk individuals if they are contemplating suicide, LISTEN to their thoughts and feelings, and REFER them to professional counselors.” This free online program was funded through a joint project of the Missouri Institute of Mental Health at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the Missouri Department of Mental Health. read more...

MIMH’s Center for Prevention, Outreach, and Professional Education (POPE) has recently completed the Surviving Compassion Fatigue Kit, the first in what will hopefully become a line of training kits for individuals in the helping professions.

Missouri Department of Mental Health’s 2013 Spring Training
May 29-30, 2013
Tan-Tar-A Resort, Osage Beach, Missouri
Call for presentations, exhibitors/sponsors and registration open.  Thirteen learning tracks will be available over the course of the two-day program.  
For more information or to register go to :  www.mimhtraining.com