Mental Health Program – In the News

Jan. 9, 2012
Some Mentally Disabled Lose Services
This article was published on Jan. 9, 2012, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Evette King recently sat in her south Atlanta home fretting about how she could avoid eviction without someone to watch, feed and bathe her severely autistic son so she can work and pay the bills.

Dec. 16, 2011
Carter Center Pushes Mental Health Improvements
This story was published by the Associated Press on Dec. 16, 2011.
The director of the mental health program at The Carter Center said Friday that Georgia can build on its progress on addressing the treatment needs of drug addicts and the mentally ill.

Dec. 16, 2011
Report: Improvements in Behavioral Health Care Needed for Children and Older Adults
This story was broadcast by WABE-FM on Dec. 16, 2011.
A preliminary report released by the Carter Center says a mental health settlement reached last year between the state and the U.S. Department of Justice is a good start. However, the report says more is needed to improve behavioral health care in the state.

Dec. 13, 2011
Georgia Tech and the Carter Center's Innovative Collaboration for Mental Health in Liberia
This article was published on Dec. 13, 2011, on PsychCentral.com.
Africa is a place not known for its stellar healthcare, as many of the continent's nations struggle just to provide for the basic needs of food, water and shelter for their people. Mental illness continues to carry the heavy burden of prejudice and stigma.

Nov. 11, 2011
Advocates: State's Mental Health System Improving, But Gaps Exist
This article was published in the Nov. 11, 2011, edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Georgia has been rapidly rolling out community services for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled this year, but advocates say much work is left to do to help children with behavioral challenges and to foster better coordination of care among medical doctors and mental health specialists for all patients.

Nov. 1, 2011
Cartersville Town Hall Meeting to Discuss Georgia Mental Health Care Report
Published Nov. 2, 2011, by the Cartersville Daily Tribune News.
"The Cartersville town hall meeting on Nov. 3 is the first of three meetings The Carter Center, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and other stakeholders are holding across the state to foster local engagement in the transformation of Georgia's behavioral health system," said Dr. Thom Bornemann, director of Carter Center Mental Health Program.

Oct. 11, 2011
Report: Work Remains, But Georgia's Mental Health Overhaul Significant
Published Oct. 11, 2011, by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Georgia has made significant strides in moving the developmentally disabled and mentally ill out of state mental hospitals and into community settings -- despite notable gaps in care, a new report shows. No longer admitting the developmentally disabled into state institutions marks a "landmark accomplishment" for Georgia, according to the report by Elizabeth Jones, an independent reviewer appointed to track the progress of a five-year agreement between the state and U.S. Department of Justice.

Oct. 5, 2011
Treating the Psychological Scars of Liberia's Conflict
Published Oct. 5, 2011, by PBS News Hour.
NewsHour reporter Molly Raskin covers on the Carter Center's work on mental health capacity building in Liberia.

Oct. 5, 2011
War-Torn Liberia Struggles to Care for Mentally Ill
Published Oct. 5, 2011, by PBS News Hour.
After decades of civil war, Liberia struggles to provide mental health care for its citizens. In partnership with the Bureau for International Reporting, special correspondent Kira Kay reports.

Sept. 9, 2011
Liberia: Carter Center - Local Graduates 21 Mental Health Workers
Published Sept. 9, 2011, by AllAfrica.
The Carter Center-Liberia in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Warfare (MOHSW) has graduated the first batch 21 Metal Health workers in the country.

Aug. 17, 2011
Liberia Marks Milestone in Mental Illness Fight
This segment aired on National Public Radio's "Tell Me More" on Aug. 17, 2011.
In this African country, locals are still trying to heal from years of civil war, while the only psychiatric hospital has 36 beds and one practicing doctor. And yet, Liberia's first ever class of mental health clinicians graduated last week with help from the U.S.-based Carter Center. A Liberia mental health expert speaks with guest host Tony Cox.

Aug. 13, 2011
Carter Center Praises Liberian Graduates
This article was distributed by the Associated Press.
The Atlanta-based Carter Center is celebrating the graduation of Liberia's first class of locally trained mental health clinicians.

July 4, 2011
A Parent's Military Deployments Take a Major Toll on Children's Mental Health, Study Finds
Published in the July 4, 2011 edition of the National Journal.
More fallout from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: Children with an active-duty parent deployed there for long periods were more likely to be diagnosed with a mental health problem than children whose parents were not deployed, researchers reported on Monday.

June 3, 2011
ACP and Carter Center Collaborate to Reinvigorate Primary Care
Published in the June 3, 2011, edition of The ACP Advocate.
To fully implement health care reform in the United States, primary care physicians need more training in team-building and treating mental illness in their practices, a new joint report from the Carter Center and the American College of Physicians suggests.

April 20, 2011
Meeting Mental Health Needs in Liberia
Published April 20, 2011, by InternalMedicineNews.com.
Most of the way through a doctorate in medical anthropology, Dr. Brandon Kohrt felt a void: "I was doing research on cross-cultural mental health, and I realized that just doing research – especially in areas where there are no services – wasn't enough."

April 8, 2011
Pointers for Responsible Reporting on Mental Health
Published April 8, 2011, in the South African news outlet Media Update.
On Media@SAfm this past Sunday, Bob Meyers, President and COO of the National Press Foundation in the US, mentioned he was in South Africa for a journalistic conference on reporting on mental health.

March 8, 2011
Mental Illness Stigma: How Women Can Make a Big Impact Against It
Published March 8, 2011, by The Huffington Post.
With coffee in hand one morning in January, I opened an email and what tumbled out was a provocative and powerful piece that has stayed with me ever since. In the dark and uncertain days after the Tucson, Arizona, shootings, seasoned journalist Andrea Ball of the Austin-American Statesman gathered the courage to confront the inaccurate and sometimes sensationalized coverage of the tragic shootings. Demonstrating a great confidence in her readers she wrote, "Well, I have bipolar disorder, and I'm not coming to kill you. I promise."

Dec. 21, 2010
Perdue: Mental Health Pact a Big First Step
This article was published Dec. 21, 2010, in Georgia Health News.
Gov. Sonny Perdue said Tuesday that with its recent mental health agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, Georgia is "not crossing the finish line.'' Instead, "we are beginning a journey'' toward better services for people with mental illness, developmental disabilities and substance abuse problems, he said. 

Dec. 21, 2010
Perdue, Advocates Laud Mental Health Agreement
Distributed Dec. 21, 2010, by the Associated Press.
The very advocates who had for years been among outgoing Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue's fiercest critics were celebrating his role in a groundbreaking mental health settlement — and at President Jimmy Carter's Atlanta office, no less.

Dec. 7, 2010
How Doctors Try to Spot Depression
Published in the Wall Street Journal. Online signup is required to read the full article.
A growing number of primary-care providers are using screening tools to assess depression and other mental-health conditions during routine-care visits. They are also coordinating care of depressed patients with behavioral-health specialists. Such so-called mental-health-integration programs have been shown to reduce emergency-room visits and psychiatric-hospital admissions, and to increase employees' productivity at work.

Dec. 3, 2010
More Insured Patients to Worsen Critical Physician Shortage
Published Dec. 3, 2010, in Psychiatric News.
The health care reform law will greatly expand access to health care, but steps have not been taken to increase the number of physicians in the future. People with mental illness could have a particularly difficult time getting the care they need.

Nov. 8, 2010
Shattering Stigma
Published in the Autumn 2010 issue of Emory Magazine.
Underneath Emory's Briarcliff Campus, a system of concrete subterranean tunnels connects most of the seventeen buildings, forming an underground labyrinth worthy of an ancient castle in a dark fairy tale. Built in the mid-1960s as part of the foundation of Georgia Mental Health Institute—the site's previous incarnation—the network was meant to provide safe, efficient passage for patients from one part of the facility to another.

Oct. 29, 2010
Carter Center Event Highlights Veterans' Mental Health
Published Oct. 29, 2010, by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Darryl Wilson remembers feeling a surge of panic in 2006 while driving to the Golden Corral with his wife for dinner. He realized he did not have a weapon with him. Wilson had recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq with the Georgia Army National Guard's 48th Brigade Combat Team, and the Jonesboro veteran had to stop, refocus and realize he was no longer in a combat zone.

Oct. 21, 2010
Mental Health Advocates React to Justice Department Decision
This story was broadcast on WABE-FM on Oct. 21, 2010.
All developmentally disabled and some mentally ill patients will soon move out of state psychiatric hospitals. Instead those patients will receive services in their own communities. That's as a result of a settlement reached this week between the state and the U.S. Justice Department.

Oct. 21, 2010
WXIA Video: Carter Center Reacts to Mental Health Settlement
On Thursday, Oct. 21, Carter Center Mental Health Program Director Dr. Thom Bornemann was interviewed live in studio on WXIA-TV's "Evening News at 7 with Brenda Wood" as part of coverage of the Georgia mental health crisis settlement. The story was designated the number one news story of the day and Brenda Wood discussed the crisis as part of her "Final Word" segment.

Oct. 19, 2010
Feds Settle With Ga. Over Confinement of Disabled
Distributed Oct. 19, 2010, by the Associated Press.
The Justice Department reached a settlement Tuesday with the state of Georgia in a long-running case targeting what critics call the unlawful segregation of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities in state-run psychiatric hospitals.

May 14, 2010
The Long Reach and High Toll of Mental Health Problems
This article was published May 14, 2010, by Market Watch.
The weak economy and its accompanying tensions can test anyone's resilience. But for people who are prone to depression and related ills, it sometimes doesn't take much to upset a delicate balance. Two studies out this week reveal what are often the sobering effects of psychological problems on the people who suffer from them. Meanwhile, a new book from former First Lady Rosalynn Carter challenges the U.S. to improve how treats its emotionally troubled citizens.

April 30, 2010
Media Coverage:  "Within Our Reach:  Ending The Mental Health Crisis"
Includes links to major coverage of the media and book signing tour by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

April 1, 2010
Pushing For Reform
The article was published in the April 2010 edition of Georgia Trend magazine.
Georgia's public mental health system has consistently failed to protect those entrusted to its care. The Department of Justice is suing to take over, even as state officials ask for more time to fix what's broken.

Oct. 20, 2009
Journalist and Carter Center Fellow Kelly Kennedy Offers an Inside Look at the Effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on Military Families
This interview with Kelly Kennedy, reporter and recipient of a Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism, was published by Behavioral Health Central on Oct. 20, 2009. During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, embedded journalists offered readers and viewers an inside look at the military's day-to-day operations. Kelly Kennedy, a reporter with Gannett's Army Times, was one of them.

Oct. 19, 2009
Understanding Depression in Black Men – A Talk with Carter Center Award Winning Journalist John Head
This interview with John Head, journalist and recipient of a Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism, was published by Behavioral Health Central on Oct. 19, 2009.
One Sunday afternoon in 1999, Atlanta Constitution journalist John Head was doing some renovating at his Atlanta home and was listening to a radio program as he tinkered. A familiar voice caught his attention. It was Rosalynn Carter talking about how she got involved with mental health as an issue, both when she was first Lady of Georgia and First Lady of the United States.

July 17, 2009
Medical-home Model Aims to Put Patients First
The article was published July 17, 2009, on www.marketwatch.com.
If you could reorganize your doctor's office to deliver more personalized and continuous care, how would you do it? In what's known as a medical home, patients and primary-care doctors form the foundation. But it's far from a bricks-and-mortar concept.

July 13, 2009
The Carter Center Awards the 2009-2010 Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism
The article was published onwww.bhcjournal.com.
Seeking to end the stigma and discrimination related to mental illness across the globe is a key mission for the Carter Center in Atlanta, the foundation established by former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, after they left the White House. One of the ways the Carter Center has worked to achieve this goal is by awarding fellowship programs to more than 100 journalists since 1996 — the only fellowships for journalists exclusively on the issue of mental health.

July 13, 2009
Mental Health Experts Convene at the Carter Center to Discuss Effective Ways to Reduce Stigma
The article was published July 13, 2009, on www.bhcjournal.com.
"Mental disorders are among the most prevalent of all health conditions. We have effective treatments available, but the vast majority of people who need treatments do not get them," says Dr. Thom Bornemann, Ed.D., Director of the Mental Health Program at the Carter Center in Atlanta, which was founded in 1982 by former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn after they returned to Georgia. The program was originally patterned on resolving conflicts around the world, and it later expanded to vibrant health programs, including mental health.

Dec. 18, 2008
Watch Jerome Lawrence's interview on  WXIA-TV (NBC-Atlanta), on the Carter Center's "Christmas Card of Hope," Dec. 18, 2008
Jerome Lawrence, who has struggled with mental illness, donated a painting to the Carter Center's annual Winter Weekend celebration, Feb. 7, 2009. His painting "Tulips are People Too" was chosen for the Center's official Christmas card.

Dec. 9, 2008
Little Progress, Many Holes in Kids' Mental Health System
The article was published on CNN.com, Dec. 9, 2008.
As mental health advocates, policy makers, practitioners, educators and researchers gathered at the Carter Center to discuss the progress in addressing American children's mental health needs, a drama of sorts was reaching its conclusion halfway across the country.

May 20, 2001
A Life's Mission in Mental Health; Cynthia Wainscott; Her Can-Do Spirit and Ability to Mobilize People Have Garnered Results
This article was published in the May 20, 2001, issue of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is reprinted with permission.
About a hundred of Cynthia Wainscott's closest friends gathered in a Buckhead restaurant recently to send her off into sort-of retirement. There were numerous jokes about the executive director of the National Mental Health Association of Georgia and her affinity for cellphones, including some about the intimate article of clothing in which Wainscott likes to carry hers.