The More You Know, the More You Grow

By: Cynthia Benbow, MSW, Manager Case Management

“Weak minded,” “troubled spirit,” “crazy talk” are common words used in the African American community to describe someone living with a mental illness.   Despite progress made in the last decade with regard to understanding mental illness, the African American Community continues to lag behind in seeking services for mental health treatment.

According to Dr.  Sarah Vinson, Department of Psychiatry at Emory University, 

“Misinformation, an absence of trust in the system, racism and financial circumstances are some of the forces that can create barriers in making appropriate decisions about seeking treatment,”

Kids Do Well If They Can!

By: Doug Hall, RN, BSN, Nurse Director Adolescent Unit

Often we look at troubled children thinking there is nothing we can do to help them succeed in life. Most blame centers on poor parenting or the environment in which they grew up. In some cases that is true, but what about the child that grew up in a nurturing, loving household that demonstrates these same behavioral issues? All children learn life skills at different intervals in their lives, but what happens to the child that falls behind on these skills. Ineffective life skills lead to frustration, acting out behaviors and a negative mindset, which often causes the child to do poorly in their daily routine of life.

New Generics Now Available!

By: Lisa Conrad, R.Ph, Pharmacy Director

Psychiatric illness can be expensive to treat.  Without insurance, patients can spend thousands of dollars per month on prescriptions alone.  Both the psychiatric health care industry and patients alike have been awaiting the arrival of generic medications with the excitement of a 6 year old at Christmas.  In recent months, Lexapro®, Zyprexa®, Geodon®, Seroquel® and Ritalin LA® have become manufactured as generic.  This is very exciting as these medications treat depression, psychosis and ADHD and have had retail sales of BILLIONS per year.