Mental Health Program – In the News

Nov. 30, 2012
Town Hall Addresses Mental Health
This article was published in the Nov. 30, 2012, issue of the Albany Herald.
The Carter Center, the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD), and other state agencies and partners recently invited the public to participate in a town hall meeting in Albany to discuss the Carter Center's recommendations for improving community behavioral health services for children, adolescents and adults in the state.

Nov. 8, 2012
Carter Center: CDC report Shows Georgians' Attitudes about Mental Health Improving
This story was broadcast on WABE-FM on Nov. 8, 2012.
Mental health advocates at the Carter Center say a new report shows attitudes about mental health appear to be getting better in the state. But they say there's still room for improvement. The report was produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other partners.

Oct. 15, 2012
Edward Nahim: Sierra Leone's Only Psychiatrist
Published by Newsweek and by TheDailyBeast.com.
On a continent with high rates of infant and maternal mortality, and prevalence of infectious diseases, mental health is often overlooked. Most developing countries dedicate less than 2 percent of health budgets to mental-health care, according to WHO, and many have no specific money allocated for mental health at all.

Sept. 12, 2012
Step Inside My Head: Teens Speak Out on Mental Illness
Published by WABE Public Radio.
A critical step in the treatment of mental illness is being able to talk about it — to admit that you're suffering. Billy Howard is a 2011-2012 Rosalyn Carter Fellow in Mental Health Journalism who has created a project that gives a face and a voice to young people who have battled some form of mental illness. Listen as Billy talks with WABE's Steve Goss.

Aug. 28, 2012
Liberia's Mental Health Services: Building from the Ground Up
Published on Aug. 28, 2012, by ThinkAfricaPress.com.
By establishing centres in each county, training health workers and earmarking funds, post-war Liberia is trying to tackle its widespread mental health problems.

Aug. 24, 2012
Liberia Takes Steps to Increase Mental Health Care Access
Published by Voice of America.
The psychological impact of nearly 14 years of civil war contributed to a mental health crisis in Liberia.

Aug. 22, 2012
Rebuilding Liberia's Health System (PDF)
This report was published on Aug. 22, 2012, by the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
The process of rebuilding Liberia's health system, shattered by 14 years of devastating conflict, is entering a crucial and potentially destabilizing phase. The Liberian government and local NGOs are assuming a larger responsibility, but Liberia's health system is beset with serious problems. This report focuses on specific things the United States can do to sustain the momentum on public health in Liberia.

Aug. 22, 2012
Carter Center Praises Liberia's Expansion of Mental Health Care
Published by Emory News.
The Carter Center's Mental Health Liberia Program, in partnership with the Liberia Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, announces that efforts to build a sustainable mental health care system have reached an important milestone with 14 out of 15 counties in Liberia now having access to at least one locally trained and credentialed mental health clinician. Only three years prior, Liberia had one psychiatrist in the entire country.

Aug. 9, 2012
Integrating Mental Health With Primary Care
Published on YNN.com.
Mental and behavioral health issues are becoming an increasing concern for both patients and society as a whole. But the bigger problem is that many people aren't getting treatment, and those who do, aren't necessarily getting better. As our Katie Gibas reports, that's why mental and behavioral health experts say the system needs to change.

Aug. 1, 2012
Atlanta Magazine Groundbreakers Finalists: Rosalynn Carter (PDF)
This article was published in the August issue of Atlanta Magazine and is reprinted with permission.
When the 2007 AJC series met a resounding local silence, Georgians were fortunate that the world's most prominent mental health advocate lives right here. Once again, as she has done for more than forty years, Rosalynn Carter fought for people with mental illnesses.

Aug. 1, 2012
Video: Atlanta Magazine Names Rosalynn Carter as a 2012 Groundbreaker
Atlanta Magazine names Rosalynn Carter as a Groundbreaker for protecting the rights of the mentally ill. The Groundbreakers represent works in progress: smart ideas that are under way but still have years — in at least one case, a couple of decades — to go before their potentials are fully realized.

July 19, 2012
Experts Want Mental Health Stigma Minimized — As Gov't Seeks Appropriate Approach
Published by In Profile Daily.
Experts who are working in collaboration with the Liberian Government in the health sector are striving to ensure that the stigma associated with mental health/ illness is minimized. The Carter Center Health Program in Liberia, in collaboration with the Press Union of Liberia; as well as the Liberian Government, sees responsible reporting on mental illness through the media as a core of changing mindset about people living with different types of mental illness in the country.

July 18, 2012
Mental Health/ Illness Not Prioritized — Journalists Urged To Educate Public
Published by In Profile Daily.
It seems that mental health and mental illness are less prioritized in Liberia unlike rape, visually impaired and other issues which politicians, opinion leaders and policy makers address through the media and other related- channels of communication to the public.

June 4, 2012
Medicaid More Than Medical Aid
Published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
People like Francel Kendrick once spent most of their lives locked inside state hospitals. Today, because of Georgia's Medicaid program, Kendrick and thousands of disabled people like him can hold down a job and ride a city bus to their own homes after work.

May 31, 2012
No Margin No Mission: Sustainability in Behavioral Health — Primary Care Integration
Published by the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association.
Most posts on the CFHA Blog describe integration into primary care settings. Many of these services are provided through collaboration with the community behavioral health center. Or, in some communities the integration happens in reverse, by integrating primary care services into the existing community behavioral health center. This blog examines integrated care from the perspective of the community behavioral health center.

May 23, 2012
Carter Hopeful About Medicaid Restructuring, but Concerned About Consultant's Report
This story aired on WABE-FM.
Former first lady Rosalynn Carter is hopeful about the restructuring of the state's Medicaid program. But Carter expressed concern about a consultant's report that gives recommendations for the revamp, because of its possible impact on a mental health settlement reached with the U.S. Justice Department in 2010.

May 18, 2012
Carter Center Holds Mental Health Summit
This article was published nationally by the Associated Press.
The forum on Friday focused on the progress Georgia has made since the state reached an October 2010 settlement with the Justice Department over what critics saw as the unlawful segregation of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities in state-run hospitals.

Feb. 8, 2012
Capacity Building in Global Mental Health: Professional Training
This article was published in the January-February 2012 issue of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry. Full access may require login.
We suggest that the optimal approach to building capacity in global mental health care will require partnerships between professional resources in high-income countries and promising health-related institutions in low- and middle-income countries.

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 (Full text no longer available.)
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 (Full text no longer available.)
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 (Full text no longer available.)
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 (Full text no longer available.)
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 (Full text no longer available.)
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 (Full text no longer available.)
The article was published on www.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 (Full text no longer available.)
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.