The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism
2001-2002

Tanya Ott
News Director, WBHM-FM
Former Producer and Host, The Village WUFT/WJUF-FM
Website: http://www.wbhm.org/News/Mental_Health/index.html

TOPIC: The state of mental health care in juvenile justice and foster care systems: radio documentaries

Mental Health and Productivity in the Workplace
Depression and anxiety tend to peak as the holidays approach - either because of the stress of the season or simply the weather, with seasonal affective disorder brought on by darker, gloomier days. A new review of previous studies finds that depression and anxiety exact an enormous toll on U.S. businesses.

Boarding Home Inspections
Hundreds of people with mental illness live in boarding homes scattered across the Birmingham metro area, and starting this week, there's effectively no inspection program to make sure those homes are clean and safe.

Hurricane Clean-up
Clean-up crews in New Orleans and across the storm ravaged Gulf are making progress, though it will be many months before things return to normal. Mental health advocates say the emotional impact of Hurricane Katrina could linger even longer for survivors and some of those who watched the events unfold on television.

Small Business and Mental Health
Mental illness is a biological brain disorder … a physical illness of the brain – a human organ, just like the heart or lungs or liver. But mental health advocates have been fighting an uphill battle to get mental health included in health insurance plans.

Mental Health and Housing
There's no denying a link between mental illness and homelessness. Approximately one in every four adults who's homeless also suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness.

Mental Health Counseling
This is mental health counseling awareness week in Alabama, and the state's 1,700 licensed counselors have their work cut out for them, according to Dr. Angela Stowe.

Mind's Eye: Art and Mental Illness
Scientists are increasingly focusing on whether there's a common gene that predisposes people to creativity and mental illness. Tanya Ott and Adam Allignton collaborate on a story looking at the connectedness.

Mental Health and Poverty
It's a long-standing debate… what causes mental illness? At a recent seminar sponsored by Birmingham-area mental health advocacy groups, the message was mixed. Tanya Ott reports on the link between mental illness and poverty.

Autism Rates
The rate of autism has skyrocketed ten-fold in the last two decades. Researchers now estimate that one in every 166 children has some sort of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Medical Bankruptcy
Each year 1.5 million American families file for bankruptcy. They're your neighbors, your friends -- perhaps youself.