Maria Sanchez, her husband, and their three children had lived in their apartmen
ID: 349248 • Letter: M
Question
Maria Sanchez, her husband, and their three children had lived in their apartment building for about 2 years when they noticed a new person moving in on the floor below them. New families moved in from time to time, but this person didn't have a family and kept to herself. After asking around, Maria learned from a neighbor downstairs that the new person's name was Lynn and that she was not currently employed but hoped to find work soon, perhaps as a cashier or a custodian. Maria is annoyed that Lynn keeps her television on late into the night. She has been meaning to say something about it, but so far Lynn keeps to herself and Maria hasn't found her very friendly--Lynn tends to look away without saying anything when Maria passes her in the hallway. Maria also learned that Lynn was recovering from a recent bout of mental illness and that she was anxious about the demands of living independently once again.
Maria noticed that every few days a regular visitor arrived at the building in a van from the mental health center to spend an hour or so with Lynn in her apartment. Maria worries that people who see the mental health center van might think those in the van were visiting Maria's family. She knew that people with mental illness needed to live somewhere, but why did it have to be in her building? Would other recovering mental patients rent the next vacant apartment in her building? Would people begin loitering in front of the building or behaving strangely? Would Maria's children be safe? Would the reputation of their neighborhood begin to decline? Another resident wants to have a town hall meeting about this "new resident."
Discuss the following questions within the group discussion. Use at least 3 website sources to support your answers. Reference your sources within the paper by author only in parentheses. Then list a full bibliography at the end of your post.
1. What do you feel a representative from NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) would say about the proposed meeting regarding the "new resident?" Would you plan to attend the meeting? Support your decision.
2. What federal laws could bear on this scenario? Choose at least three.
3. What practical ways can all of us stop the "stigma" surrounding mental illness?
4. Any personal experiences you would like to share that could impact the discussion of this scenario?
Explanation / Answer
What do you feel a representative from NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) would say about the proposed meeting regarding the "new resident?" Would you plan to attend the meeting? Support your decision
Representatives Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) have introduced HR 2646, the "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2015." This introduction begins a legislative process toward mental health reform, which is long overdue. NAMI has submitted a letter of support to Representatives Murphy and Johnson indicating our appreciation of their leadership and our commitment to work with them to pass comprehensive mental health legislation.
HR 2646 has many positive aspects, including provisions to improve integration of mental healthcare and physical healthcare in Medicaid, spur early intervention in the treatment of psychosis, improve the use of health information technology in mental health care and provide resources for suicide prevention. HR 2646 also contains provisions designed to improve data collection and outcomes measurement and expand the availability of evidence-based services. It contains provisions to remove discriminatory barriers to acute inpatient treatment in Medicaid and Medicare and it advances enforcement of the mental health insurance parity law as well.
HR 2646 also addresses issues that have generated much discussion within NAMI and other organizations, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and access to information for caregivers, the role of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Protection and Advocacy System and Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT)
The hallmark of NAMI is an inclusive community of individuals, families and friends whose lives have been changed by the experience of mental illness. These experiences make us very passionate about these issues. Passion will be important because we will not get mental health reform without it. But passion cannot get in the way of respectful dialogue, understanding and listening to the perspectives of others. Only by talking together and reviewing information with an open mind and in recognition of the ongoing process will we achieve reform that promotes recovery and wellness for all people with mental illness, including those with the most serious conditions.
What federal laws could bear on this scenario? Choose at least three.
1. Increase mental health awareness and availability of counselors in schools.
Students should be encouraged to seek help for themselves or a friend. School based mental health has also proven extremely effective in engaging students who would not otherwise seek help. Some states have made significant investments in school based mental health and more needs to be done.
2. Train school staff, administrators, parents and youth, and provide the tools necessary to have conversations about the signs and symptoms of mental health conditions and where they can turn to for help. Far too often, when families are most in need, there isn't a clear pathway to getting help.
3. Develop a comprehensive response program for youth who have demonstrated behavioral issues including involving family and mental health providers. Take steps to avoid expelling and suspending students as this only exacerbates the situation.
4. Increase the ability of the mental health system to be proactive in reaching out to youth, particularly those with the most serious conditions. Young people in distress will not seek help so there needs to be mobile outreach responses that are funded and easily available. This requires sustained and expanded funding for coverage for mental health, not cuts
What practical ways can all of us stop the "stigma" surrounding mental illness?
If you tune into any conversation about mental illness and addiction, it won’t be very long until the term “stigma” comes up. Stigma has various definitions, but they all refer to negative attitudes, beliefs, descriptions, language or behavior. In other words, stigma can translate into disrespectful, unfair, or discriminatory patterns in how we think, feel, talk and behave towards individuals experiencing a mental illness.
If you begin to wonder where stigma comes from, that’s a complicated question. It’s almost like asking where do differences in racial prejudice, political views, religious preference, or sports team allegiances come from? Turns out we are influenced (all too easily) by our family, friends, the media, our culture and environment, inaccurate stereotypes and a whole host of factors. It’s really difficult to tease all this apart.
Rather than figure out where stigma begins, it’s definitely easier to become more aware of what it is and when it occurs. Then we can do our best to educate others about how to reduce stigma and to work towards ultimately eliminating it.
So, how do we become more aware of stigma? It’s usually easier to take a look at ourselves first before we try to change the rest of the world. To that end, here’s a brief self-assessment quiz on stigma and mental illness
Now that you’ve done a quick self-check and agree there’s room for improvement in how we treat people with mental illness, what’s next? Well, how about becoming an advocate to reduce stigma right there in your own backyard?
Now you may be saying, “Wait a minute, don’t know if I signed on for that.” Let’s put this into perspective. Have you already signed on to make sure your kids and other passengers in your car wear their seat belts? Did you ever sign on to collect your neighbor’s mail while they were on vacation? Have you ever signed on to give a donation to your favorite cause or charity? If so, then you can do this. Yes, you can definitely do this.
But it takes just a little effort. Not too much, just a little. And the rules of the road are quite simple. Here are 5 simple steps you can do as a new stigma fighter:
Don’t label people who have a mental illness.
Don’t say, “He’s bipolar” or “she’s schizophrenic.” People are people, not diagnoses. Instead, say “He has a bipolar disorder” or “She has schizophrenia.” And say “has a mental illness” instead of “is mentally ill.” All of this is known as “person-first” language, and it’s far more respectful, for it recognizes that the illness doesn’t define the person.
2) Don’t be afraid of people with mental illness.
Sure, they may sometimes display unusual behaviors when their illness is more severe, but people with mental illness aren’t more likely to be violent than the general population. In fact, they are more likely to be victims of violence. Don’t fall prey to other inaccurate stereotypes, such as the disturbed killer or the weird co-worker depicted in the movies.
3) Don’t use disrespectful terms for people with mental illness.
In a research study with British 14-year-olds, the teens came up with over 250 terms to describe mental illness, and the majority were negative. These terms are far too common in our everyday conversations. Also, be careful about using “diagnostic” terms to describe behavior, like “that’s my OCD” or “she’s so borderline.” Given that 1 in 4 adults experience a mental illness, you quite likely may be offending someone and not be aware of it.
4) Don’t be insensitive or blame people with mental illness.
It would be silly to tell someone to just “buckle down” and “get over” cancer, and the same applies to mental illness. Also, don’t assume that someone is okay just because they look or act okay or sometimes smile or laugh. Depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses can often be hidden, but the person can still be in considerable internal distress. Provide support and reassurance when you know someone is having difficulty managing their illness.
5) Be a role model.
Stigma is often fueled by lack of awareness and inaccurate information. Model these stigma-reducing strategies through your own comments and behavior and politely teach them to your friends, family, co-workers and others in your sphere of influence. Spread the word that treatment works and recovery is possible. Changing attitudes takes time, but repetition is the key, so keep getting the word out to bring about a positive shift in how we treat others.
Any personal experiences you would like to share that could impact the discussion of this scenario?
Barry decided to prepare the following scenarios:
· "All's going well": The economy grows steadily over the five-year period with only minor slowdowns, and he's "backed the right horse." The software vendor consolidates itself in the market and moves into a position of market leadership.
· "Economic slowdown": Toward the end of the period, a commodity price shock pushes the economy into mild recession. While some new software implementations do go ahead, many clients decide to defer implementation until things pick up.
"Intensifying competition": The global giant enters the market. While it takes time to get its products established, toward the end of the period, it is starting to squeeze the current supplier.
Scenarios in Your Planning
You can now use the scenarios you came up with in your planning.
Example:
Having looked at the scenarios, Barry's aware that there's some risk to the business in the medium term.
In his business planning, he decides to gear the business to use a mix of full-time staff and short-term contractors so he can scale his business quickly, depending on the circumstances.
And he notes that he's going to have to monitor the activities of software companies entering the market so he can cross-train personnel if a new entrant starts to threaten the existing supplier.
Separate Certainties from Uncertainties
You may be confident in some of your assumptions, and you may be sure that certain trends will work through in a particular way. After challenging them appropriately, adopt these trends as your "certainties." Separate these from the "uncertainties" – trends that may or may not be important, and underlying factors that may or may not change. List these uncertainties in priority order, with the largest, most significant uncertainties at the top of the list.
Example:
Based on analysis of recent vacancy rates, Barry was confident that, provided he paid attention to recruitment, he could find a sufficient number of new employees. And seeing the new technologies shortly to be deployed by the software vendor, he was confident that clients would reap considerable efficiency gains by implementing the next versions of the software.
He was anxious, however, that a global software giant might enter the market and displace the current vendor. Furthermore, he'd seen plenty of implementation companies go bust in the previous recession.
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