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Staff

Keeping history alive in Augusta

Brian-MulherinHave you ever wondered why the Central Kitchen/Dining Room building on the East Central Regional Hospital (ECRH) in Augusta is located at the end of the campus instead of in the center where it would be more convenient for individuals and staff?

Brian Mulherin knows. He’s a retired human services director at ECRH who is now a volunteer in the public relations office, and he shares this knowledge, along with other bits of trivia and history, in a bi-monthly newsletter published at ECRH.

“The original plans called for a 1,000-bed hospital, but a 350-bed hospital was all that was built,” Mulherin wrote in an early 2015 issue of the hospital publication for staff. “The same thing happened with the building of new regional hospitals in Atlanta, Columbus, and Savannah.  If the hospitals were built for 1,000 beds, the Central Kitchen/Dining Room building would be in the center of the campus.

“The time period for construction of the hospitals was 1966-1971. At the same time, new drugs and therapies were making it possible to keep individuals out of the hospital while receiving outpatient care.”

Mulherin gathers his stories from personal experience, the experience of other long-serving staff, retirees, hospital annual reports, and searching through documents found in the Gracewood Archives Building.

His experience with state service began in 1968 as a personnel officer. He retired in 1999 as the Director of Human Resources. In between, he was a public information officer and wore many different hats for the various hospital activities.

Mulherin’s lifetime dedication to those who live with mental health illnesses was recognized earlier this year as a recipient, along with his wife Neita, of the Jimmie Dyess Symposium’s Distinguished American Award. The couple have spent much of their lives advocating for mental health and volunteering for various organizations around Augusta.

Historial tidbits shared by Brian Mulherin:

About 25 years ago, something wonderful happened on the Georgia Regional Hospital campus, John Feight, Director of the Foundation for Hospital Art, spent several days putting designs of flora and fauna on the walls of the Central Dining Room. Patients then completed the designs, painting them with bright and comfortable colors. Mr. Feight, his staff, and the hospital’s Activity staff guided the patients in the use of colors and artistic methods. The patients loved this project, feeling pride and a sense of ownership in the paintings. Paintings in other buildings followed. Mr. Feight brought with him two volunteer artists, all the paint and equipment needed to do the job, and the cost to the hospital was nothing! What a gift!

In the 1950s, mental health services were rendered by the Department of Welfare. In the 1960s, mental health services were rendered by the Department of Public Health. In the 1970s, and up to 2009, mental health services were rendered by the Department of Human Resources. Today, Commissioner Frank Berry heads the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.

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Department News Staff

Furniture to be upgraded at state hospitals

At the five DBHDD regional hospitals, most of the furniture is more than 20 years old and in various states. DBHDD’s Office of Facilities Management plans to refresh the furniture in all consumer living units, including bedrooms, day rooms, and reception lobbies.

The upgrade project began last month with a hospital furniture expo hosted by Office Interiors in downtown Atlanta. Nearly 50 DBHDD subject matter experts, including doctors, nurses, administrators, and maintenance workers, reviewed furniture from the leading four manufacturers in the health field. They spoke with potential vendors and provided feedback using a scorecard which will be used to begin the selection and specification of the new products.

“Our main goal is to assure that the new assets provide a quality level of functionality, comfort and safety for our consumers,” said Richard Aghajanian, DBHDD’s maintenance director.

The project timeline is currently in the build phase with a goal of completion by next summer.

 

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Staff News

A career in recovery celebrated

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Mark Baker, DBHDD’s director of recovery transformation, began with the department in 2010.  In five short years, he leaves a lasting imprint on the agency and many in the community who have benefited from his dedication to the people we serve. 

Tell us about your career before DBHDD.
I started my career in Boston as an opera singer after attending the New England Conservatory of Music.  Then I went to seminary at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1979.  From seminary, I went to work at an urban, city church called Grace Church in Lawrence, Massachusetts.  It was a poor, depressed mill town, and it was at the height of deinstitutionalization in Massachusetts (1980). 

That’s when I started really doing the kind of work that I wanted to do, which was working with people who are out on the street, people who were poor, people who were being deinstitutionalized and marginalized.  From there, I got involved with working with homeless people in Boston, and those with mental health challenges.

What brought you to Georgia?
In 1995, I came to Atlanta, where I worked at Church of the Holy Comforter in Ormewood Park.  The parishioners were primarily very poor, and many – about 70-80% – had mental health issues and lived in the group homes in the area.

It was right around the run-up to the Olympics in ‘96 that I met Larry Fricks.  He was trying to set up some oases for people who, during the Olympics, might get shifted around from downtown.  So he was going around and trying to set up these Friendship Centers, so we signed up to do that, and once they Olympics were over, we just kept doing the friendship center at Holy Comforter, and that turned into a huge recovery program.  We played music; we played Uno; we did art, and we just kind of started building community.  That evolved into recovery through the arts, the first program of its kind in Atlanta.  Then we also got a nurses’ program and a GED program going – all of this at no cost to the state; this is just what the church did.

How long were you at Holy Comforter?
Eight years.  In 2003, I went to New York, then I came back to Georgia two years later and worked in AmericanWork’s peer support program in Toccoa.  I came to DBHDD as director of advocacy in 2010.

What has been most important to you in your work with DBHDD?
When I came here, there were two things I wanted to do.  I wanted to push as hard as I could at advancing recovery and developing recovery as a way to approach behavioral health for people everywhere.  And I wanted to make sure that there was an opportunity for people with lived experience to tell their story to the system.  And we’ve been able to do both of those things.  That was it—that was all I wanted to do.

What does recovery mean to you?
What recovery means to me is that there’s only one person who can take responsibility for my wellbeing, and that’s me.  Recovery is that there is no greater authority on how to live my life, and how to live it in a healthy wholesome way, than me.  Recovery is also the realization, the awareness, and the experience that it happens not in isolation, but in relationship to other people. 

Recovery is also about realizing that wellness is not just about the absence of disease or illness – that there is something about mental health and health itself which has everything to do with hope, with strength, with goodness, with what’s working for me, as opposed to what hurts, what’s wrong, what’s broken, what needs to be fixed.

I always think that recovery comes down to three questions:

  • What’s working for you?
  • What gives you hope?
  • And what do you need to be successful?

And those are all positively stated affirmations, even though they’re questions.  That is where recovery starts.

What are your thoughts in closing as you look back on your career – what we’ve accomplished at the state, and where we are headed in the future?
This is an amazing group of people here.  These are people who really have vision; they have incredible hearts; they have incredible minds; and they have incredible skills.  I cannot say enough about my colleagues here at 2 Peachtree and in the field and the hospitals.

I hear more and more that the most important thing in recovery is the person – the end user is really of tantamount importance to everybody.  That to me is the amazing shift.  I have yet to be in a meeting that is not focused on the end user.  I hear that continuously expressed, “how’s this going to work out there?”  That, to me, is the accomplishment.

When I came to DBHDD as the director of advocacy, the point was to make sure that advocacy had a seat at the leadership table, and it did.  And I think that that will continue to be a challenge for whoever is in this position – how to maintain the balance between being a full-fledged member of DBHDD, which I am proud of being, and also having another foot out there on the street.  To maintain the awareness – the intentionality – of being an advocate, and how to continue to bring advocacy to the table here at DBHDD because that’s the path of wisdom – to be able to hear what advocacy is calling for and figure out how to make it work.

Last question: What do you plan to do with all your new free time?
I’m going to fish.  I’m going to work in my woodshop, hoe my garden, and play the banjo – I’m in a string band.

 

Categories
Department News

DBHDD partners with American Red Cross to train disaster mental health volunteers

Even though Georgia has not experienced any major weather disasters since the ice storms of early 2014, DBHDD is always planning and preparing for the next time our employees, providers, and the people we serve will be affected by an incident.  As designated in Georgia’s Emergency Operations Plan, DBHDD is responsible for coordinating all disaster preparedness and response activities related to behavioral health and developmental disabilities.

To support preparedness, DBHDD partners with the American Red Cross (ARC) of Georgia to create a one-day training for ARC disaster mental health volunteers.  This program has increased the number of trained ARC volunteers to more than 200, resulting in increased capacity for response throughout Georgia.  Most recently, DBHDD expanded our collaboration by delivering training for the Georgia Psychological Association on August 14, 2015.  Another class is scheduled for Grady Behavioral Health on October 30, 2015.

ARC disaster mental health volunteers with DBHDD’s Tier One providers to meet the needs of Georgians after a disaster.  Tier One providers are responsible for delivering continuity of care to individuals who receive DBHDD services and for providing emotional support to disaster survivors and responder personnel.  In addition to ARC disaster mental health classes, DBHDD offers classes in disaster mental health field response training four times a year.

Other preparedness activities carried out by DBHDD include:

  • Participation in disaster exercises
  • Assisting DBHDD providers with their disaster plans
  • Developing policy related to disaster preparedness and response
  • Collaboration with other emergency response agencies to ensure that they consider the needs of people served by DBHDD in their plans
  • Cooperation with federal partners regarding disaster planning
  • Implementation of DBHDD All-Hazards Disaster Response Plan during times of disaster
  • Administration of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program when warranted

DBHDD’s disaster preparedness and response program is housed under the Division of Behavioral Health’s Office of Adult Mental Health.  If you have questions or need assistance related to disaster planning and response, please contact Disaster Mental Health Services Coordinator Jeannette David at jeannette.david@dbhdd.ga.gov or (404) 657-2354.

Categories
Community Events

Creative Recovery Art Exhibit

(L-R) DBHDD Commissioner Frank Berry, Adult Mental Health Director Terri Timberlake, and NAMI Georgia Executive Director Kim Jones
(L-R) DBHDD Commissioner Frank Berry, DBHDD Adult Mental Health Director Terri Timberlake, and NAMI Georgia Executive Director Kim Jones

On September 9, 2015, DBHDD hosted the first annual Creative Recovery Art Exhibit showcasing the talents of people who live with mental health challenges, and the role that creative outlets like art can play in the recovery process.  Held at the Venetian Room at Hurt Plaza in downtown Atlanta, the event drew a crowd of about 75 people.  It was sponsored by DBHDD’s Office of Adult Mental Health and NAMI Georgia, and featured artwork submitted by people who receive or have received services from DBHDD’s adult community mental health providers.

Research has shown that many individuals in recovery from mental health challenges report the importance of art as an integral component of their recovery journey.  Writing, painting, drawing, jewelry-making, and other arts are enjoyable activities which can also be a portal for expression of emotions and experiences that individuals may not have been able to express in any other way.  Art is used in many community mental health programs in Georgia as a powerful healing tool to help individuals explore deep emotions—the sadness, the hopelessness, the fear, and eventually the relief, the joys, and the hope of a new day.

“Art has been a huge part of my recovery,” said Candy C., one of the exhibit’s featured artists.  “When I had been at my lowest point, picking up my pencils has helped me tremendously.  I oftentimes find myself in another world, a quite beautiful world where creativity takes place inside of me.  When life appears dark, pencil in hand, provides an outlet which is indescribable.  I am so grateful to have this talent from God.  I often find myself drawing when life seems unbearable.  This allows me to find peace and harmony.”

Stephanie T., another featured artist who is now earns a living with her art, shared her enthusiasm about the art and recovery connection: “Give art inspiration—art will give your recovery so much more.  Art is a process, the same as the recovery process.  Art has contributed to my recovery by giving me proper solitude. . . . Because art and recovery are deeply personal, art and recovery is a very unique way of changing people’s attitudes, values, feelings, and goals.  Earning a living as an artist is satisfying and contributes to life through meaning and purpose. . . .  Art is a life-long passion that gives me the perfect balance of a meaningful life despite my mental illness.”

The also exhibit featured several other artists.  Provider agencies represented included: Pineland CSB, View Point Health, Georgia Rehabilitation Outreach, Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network, Lookout Mountain, and McIntosh Trail.

Categories
Department News Staff

Representing DBHDD in the community

MLinkDBHDD’s Statewide Community Relations Office was established earlier this year to represent the department in the community. Director Michael Link travels across the state to inform organizations of department news and gather feedback on how DBHDD is fulfilling its vision of easy access to high-quality care for the people we serve.

We interviewed Mike to learn more about the Statewide Community Relations Office.

Why was there a need for this new office?
This is the first time we have had someone consistently in the community representing the department and all the disability groups. Commissioner Berry is the primary spokesperson, and he speaks on policy issues and has a relationship with stakeholders around the state to help formulate policy. Once that’s been developed, I go out and explain to people what that policy is and how it works.

So there’s an educational component to your role?
A lot what I’m doing is educational. I tell the story of the department, especially now with the reorganization. [In my presentations], I lead off with our vision and mission statements, how important that is, and how that sets the tone for the work that we do.

Can you describe your responsibilities?
I see my role as a vehicle to tell our story to the greater community and to raise the profile of the department, both as a storyteller and a brand manager. I promote the department as a key resource to community leaders, develop strong working relationship with community groups, and help coordinate communications with external groups.

What types of groups are you visiting?
I meet with community groups wherever they may be; often times to listen, and sometimes to present. I speak to all kinds of groups: community stakeholder groups that have been coordinated by NAMI, Kiwanis groups, community groups that have come together to deal with mobile crisis issues, provider meetings, local advisory council meetings, and other coalitions around the state. I attend standing meetings of the Georgia Behavioral Health Planning Advisory Council, Behavioral Health Services Coalition, and the Georgia Recovery Initiative. I also attend conferences.

How do you coordinate communications between providers and other stakeholders?
I want people to see me as a resource. Many providers are doing great, innovative work and we don’t often know about it. We want to highlight and showcase innovation. If other providers can see this work, we can connect with them and learn from them. I want providers to invite me out, to visit their programs, to see innovations that are producing good outcomes and to be able to share that with other folks.

Tell us about the community forums planned for next year.
The community education stakeholder forums will be held next year across the state. We will be educating the communities about the department and our services and programs. I think there’s a need to make sure we involve the communities in understanding and educating them about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, and to gauge the issue of access and quality of services.

If you would like Mike to attend or present at your next community meeting, please email him at Michael.Link@dbhdd.ga.gov or call him at 404-353-6342.

Categories
Community

Direct Support Professionals Recognition Week

SPADD-DSPweekIn appreciation of direct care providers who serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in their homes and communities, Governor Nathan Deal has proclaimed September 13 – 19 as Direct Support Professionals Recognition Week in Georgia.

Direct support professionals (DSPs) include direct care workers, personal assistants, in-home support staff, and paraprofessionals who are the primary providers of publicly funded, long-term support and services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. DSPs assist individuals in leading self-directed lives that are integrated in the community. DSPs typically work in homes, workplaces, schools, and churches.

“Georgia is fortunate to have some of the best DSPs in the country,” said Curt Harrison, assistant executive director of United Cerebral Palsy of Georgia and administrator for the Service Providers Association for Developmental Disabilities (SPADD). “Their commitment, hard work and dedication results in healthy, meaningful, vibrant lives for some of our most vulnerable citizens. The proclamation issued by Governor Deal serves to honor these individuals who give so much of themselves in service to others.”

The proclamation was secured by SPADD, which will be engaging in activities across the state to recognize and honor DSPs this week.

Categories
Department News Staff

DBHDD partners with Beck Center to provide cognitive therapy training

Graduates of the Beck Initiative from the Region 1 Field Office.

DBHDD providers in north Georgia recently welcomed 20 more graduates of the Beck Initiative, a clinical and educational program that focuses on cognitive therapy training and consultation for community mental health networks.

The training was conducted by faculty from the Aaron T. Beck Psychopathology Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania whose founder and namesake is widely recognized as the father of cognitive therapy and one of the world’s leading researchers in psychopathology. Participants engaged in workshops and hands-on training by working with people in recovery, including individuals with severe mental illness and substance use disorders, and people who experience chronic homelessness.

“The Beck Initiative has been transformative for our state,” said Monica Parker, director of DBHDD’s Division of Behavioral Health. “This evidence-based treatment model provides clinicians, case managers, and many others with tools they can use to not only effectively engage individuals in services, but also produce outcomes that lead to recovery.”

The department’s partnership with the Aaron Beck Center began three years ago with a pilot program in southwest Georgia. DBHDD provided funding to disseminate the Cognitive Training Recovery model across the state to community providers, as well as DBHDD hospital staff. Georgia State University’s Center of Excellence for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health, a DBHDD partner whose goal is to develop and implement a sustainable System of Care that is individualized and driven by child and family needs, will continue training efforts.

“The training implementation has been successful and we are pleased that hundreds of people have participated and demonstrate a commitment to continuing to use the skills gained through the trainings,” said Parker.

The Aaron T. Beck Psychopathology Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania develops and evaluates treatments for psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and suicide behavior.

Correction: The original story referred to the Aaron Beck Center incorrectly as the Aaron Beck Institute.

Categories
Staff

Joetta Prost leaves behind a legacy of policies and passion

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After 35 years as a psychologist, 13 of which were spent in state service, DBHDD Director of Policy Management Joetta Prost, Ph.D., retires today. We sat down with Joetta to discuss the changes that she’s seen in her long career and the legacy she leaves behind at DBHDD.

Let’s talk policy!
It’s not like policy is very glamorous, so I counteract that with my enthusiasm! One of my favorite quotes is from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

How has the culture shifted since you began policy management for DBHDD?
The big change is that people get it. They understand that policies serve as the foundation for better practice, for better services, for better employee actions, and for better employee satisfaction. In the long run, most people want to do their jobs well, and they want to do what’s right. If they can easily find out via policies what they need to do, then services will improve and they’ll feel good about their work.

The whole concept of continuing to improve policies, and that it’s never done… I had to realize that to let myself retire. The work will keep going because there are good people involved: people in the hospitals who understand the importance of policies; people in leadership roles at 2 Peachtree who get it; and employees throughout the service system who appreciate being able to access useful policies.

What changes have you seen since you began your career as a psychologist
We used to refer to the “chronically mentally ill,” and that was an example of the language we used. We weren’t intending to be insensitive or negative; it was just the clinical language of the day. There’s a focus now on recovery as a necessary ingredient for helping individuals live full lives. I wasn’t taught that in graduate school 35 years ago. I was taught diagnosis and treatment and to focus on what you should do to treat the person, rather than what you could do to help them achieve recovery.

Another change was that I was taught nothing about trauma of any kind. Sexual abuse just wasn’t discussed in graduate school in the 70s. It wasn’t until the feminist therapists of the late 70s and early 80s [raised] awareness of that. I went to a feminist psychology conference in 1980 and bought a couple books that were collections of first-person accounts of sexual abuse.

In my first job, I’d go to these clinical staffings and I was 29 years old, a new psychologist. There would be a case presentation and staff who weren’t involved in the person’s care were supposed to offer treatment suggestions. I would say, ‘Has anyone ever asked this woman if she’s been sexually abused?’ And that was a radical thing to do. It’s an obvious question today, but it wasn’t then.

Mental health services have also changed in Georgia since you began with the state.
There was a total of about four mental health program staff when I started in DHR-MHDDAD. What we have now is so much better in terms of the range of community services and quality of hospital services. It’s so interesting to see things from that big system level, keeping in mind what it was when I was a provider.

Tell us about your experiences as a provider.
In Kansas, I was a clinical psychologist in a large behavioral health organization with inpatient and outpatient services. I worked with individuals with serious illnesses and supervised the community support program.

In northwest Ohio, I was the executive director of a mental health agency. We provided emergency mental health services 24/7. We operated a crisis stabilization unit and mobile crisis services, with eight community hospitals and four counties making referrals to us. We developed housing with community supports. It was innovative at the time to offer permanent housing with support staff available in the building. If a person was hospitalized, they didn’t lose their apartment. Obtaining housing is a real problem in a rural area.

My introduction to Georgia’s community behavioral health system was at Northside Hospital where I managed mental health services.

How are you planning to enjoy retirement?
I will be taking a volunteer position as a psychologist on the ministerial credentialing board evaluating candidates for my denomination. [Being a] psychologist is really one of my primary identities. It’s more than a license, more than a profession. This will enable me to use my psychology brain and my spiritual heart. I’ll also be traveling and spending time with family.

Have you enjoyed the time you’ve spent at DBHDD?
It’s a great place to work, and this is the best time with the current leaders. They really get it. They understand, they’re thoughtful, and they value employees. DBHDD is at its best place it’s ever been and the work has been fascinating and challenging. It makes it hard to retire because I like it so much.

Thanks, Joetta, for all your years of service and dedication! Enjoy your retirement!

 

Categories
Community

Family-oriented home opens for women with substance use disorders

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Photo courtesy of the Statesboro Herald

Pineland Behavioral Health, DBHDD’s community service board in southeastern Georgia, opened the Women’s Transition and Recovery Home in Statesboro last week for those in need of a safe, family-oriented home. This residential facility serves women who have substance use disorders who seek an alternative method of recovery and rehabilitation.

In-home services include group and individual counseling, parenting and job skills classes, and therapeutic sessions for children whose family members live with addiction.

“It is a real home, a refuge for women with children in need of help getting back to healthy lives,” said Pineland executive director June DiPolito.

DBHDD Commissioner Frank Berry spoke at the July 29 ribbon cutting and open house, which was attended by several women and children who will be residents at the new home. Community donations from Bulloch County have helped refurbish and furnish the house. Volunteers have landscaped the yard and decorated the interior.

To volunteer or donate to the home, email jdipolito@pinelandcsb.org.