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This is NAMI's Multicultural Action Center News Update News Update. Click here for more information, to access the archives and find out how to subscribe.

May 2013

National Children's Mental Health Awareness Week/ Day  

Children's Mental Health Awareness Week (May 5-11) was created by the National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health and is held every year during the first full week of May. This year's theme: Out of the Shadows: Exposing Stigma.

Children's Mental Health Awareness Day (May 9) was created by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in 1994 to increase awareness around children's mental health. Held in honor of this annual recognition, an annual legislative briefing, featuring singer/songwriter Demi Lovato, will be held on Tuesday, May 7 in Washington D.C. 

Watch the Awareness Day press briefing live on May 7 at 10 a.m. EDT and tune in for the premiere of the Awareness Day virtual event on May 7 at 3 p.m. EDT at  www.samhsa.gov/children. Follow #HeroesofHope to join the conversation about Awareness Day on Twitter.

SAMHSA's Awareness Day icon is available for posting on websites and promotional materials.

Children's Mental Health Awareness Day 2013 Executive Planning Committee includes American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Pediatrics, Mental Health America, National Alliance on Mental Illness, National Association for the Education of Young Children, National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health and ZERO TO THREE.

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Features for Children's Mental Health Awareness

• In honor of this special time of year, NAMI has released a new fact sheet, Investing in Effective Mental Health Initiatives for Youth and Young Adults. Check it out and share it with your networks to help increase awareness of these key issues.
• Recently released policy fact sheets on mental health screening, school-based mental health and school resource officers from NAMI's Where We Stand series
• Strengthofus.org: An Online Community for Young Adults by Darcy Gruttadaro, director, NAMI Child & Adolescent Action Center (from Avanzamos issue 18)
• Find more information on NAMI's efforts and provided resources for working with youth and young adults from NAMI's Child and Adolescent Action Center.
• NAMI Guilford Technical Community College (GTCC) campus club's student perspectives video on African American mental health (pictured right).
• See the Children's Mental Health Awareness Day proclamation of North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory 

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News

• SAMHSA Blog: Working with Boston to Recover featuring resources to help people get the support they need to cope with a tragedy and foster resilience (by Anne Mathews Younes, Director, Division of Prevention, Traumatic Stress and Special Programs, April 26, 2013)
• [ENOUGH] Mental Health Disparities Endanger Chicago’s Youth: Mental health advocate Dr. Carl C. Bell speaks out as the city closes half of its mental health care facilities. (by Rod McCullum, Ebony Wellness & Empowerment, April 1, 2013)
• China’s New Mental Health Law: Reframing Involuntary Treatment (Commentary, American Journal of Psychiatry, April 29, 2013)
• Wearing Red and Green: An HIV-positive advocate reminds us about the need for mental health services. (by Stephen Puibello, POZ, May 3, 2013)

Resources 

• NAMI's National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month 2013 Activity Planning, Information and Resource Guide is now available (pictured right).
  
  
  • Join us on May 15 at 1:00 p.m. ET for our webinar, Are You Ready? Planning and Preparing for National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, co-hosted with the National Network to Eliminate Disparities.
  • NAMI state organizations and affiliates are encouraged to enter our National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month Activity Planning Contest by May 31. Three selected winners will receive cash prizes up to $500 to support their plans.
• The recently relaunched National CLAS Standards and The Blueprint, their accompanying guidance document, are now available at www.ThinkCulturalHealth.hhs.gov. The National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Health Care (known as the National CLAS Standards) are intended to advance health equity, improve quality, and help eliminate health care disparities by establishing a blueprint for organizations to deliver effective, understandable, and respectful services at every point of patient contact.
• Mental Health America's May is Mental Health Month Calendar provides a daily wellness tip throughout the month of May.

Research

• CDC analysis: Suicide Among Adults Aged 35–64 Years — United States, 1999–2010 (CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 3, 2013)
  By racial/ethnic population, the greatest increases from 1999 to 2010 among men and women overall were observed among American Indians/ Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) (65.2%, from 11.2 to 18.5) and whites (40.4%, from 15.9 to 22.3). Among AI/ANs, the suicide rate for women increased 81.4%, from 5.7 to 10.3; the rate for men increased 59.5%, from 17.0 to 27.2. Among whites, the rate for women increased 41.9%, from 7.4 to 10.5; the rate for men increased 39.6%, from 24.5 to 34.2.

Events

• May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month as well as National Mental Health Awareness Month. Among a growing number of supporters around the country, the Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc (RAMS) recognizes May 10 as Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day and is hosting a public event for the San Francisco area. Click here for more information.
  
  
  • The White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and the White House Office of Public Engagement is hosting an AAPI Briefing on Suicide Prevention and Mental Health on May 10th
• NAMI's 2013 Convention is around the corner! Join us in San Antonio June 27-30. See a listing of diverse-community interest sessions and programming, supportive of our theme, "Together We Can Make a Difference". To support this programming, enter code MAC0413 when registering. Non-members can receive a member registration rate with this code.

 

"Today, tens of millions of Americans are living with the burden of a mental health problem. They shoulder conditions like depression and anxiety, post-traumatic stress and bipolar disorder -- debilitating illnesses that can strain every part of a person's life. And even though help is out there, less than half of children and adults with diagnosable mental health problems receive treatment. During National Mental Health Awareness Month, we shine a light on these issues, stand with men and women in need, and redouble our efforts to address mental health problems in America." 
(Presidential Proclamation of National Mental Health Awareness Month 2013).

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