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PHILADELPHIA –Results were released yesterday from the Pennsylvania Autism Needs Assessment, which includes feedback from 3,500 Pennsylvania caregivers and adults with autism, making it the largest study of its kind in the nation.  Among the findings, the study shows that training in social skills has been identified as the most common unmet need for both children and adults with autism.  The study also found that more than two-thirds of adults with autism are unemployed or underemployed. The survey was led by the Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “The results of the needs assessment provide the most comprehensive and specific information to date about where Pennsylvania has been successful and where we still need work in helping people with autism and their families,” said David Mandell, ScD, associate director, Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research. “My hope is that these results will be an important driver of new policy and innovative practices for years to come.”

Animated Minds is a series of short animated documentaries which use real testimony from people who have experienced different forms of mental distress. A single aim underpins all the films: to help dispel myths and misconceptions about ‘mental illness’ by giving a voice to those who experience these various difficulties first hand.

Schools across Montana that are trying to improve student success just got an extra boost in their efforts.Schools on the Fort Peck, Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations will receive $1.8 million over the next four years to support the well-being of children, not just academically, but socially and emotionally, by providing for continued “wraparound” services in their districts, the Montana Office of Public Instruction announced Thursday.

Four years ago the Helena School District received a $5.3 million grant for the Safe Schools Healthy Student Initiative. Since the grant is in its last year, Youth Connections in Helena wants to get the word out to the community about all the programs the grant has allowed them to establish.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the "Affordable Care Act," or "ACA") (P.L. 111-148) is expected to expand health care coverage to an additional 32 million individuals through a combination of new health insurance marketplaces (formerly referred to as exchanges) and a state's option to expand Medicaid. In addition, the ACA includes a number of critical protections for consumers or beneficiaries, as well as provisions to improve the quality of care while bending the curve of health care costs.

The long-term effects of being bullied by other kids are worse than being abused by an adult, new research shows.Among a large group of children in England, those who were bullied were 60% more likely to have mental health problems as adults than were those who suffered physical, emotional or sexual abuse. And among a large group of children in the United States, the risk of mental health problems was nearly four times greater for victims of bullying than for victims of child abuse.

Participants at the 4th Annual Beautiful Minds Walk look toward the sky Saturday after releasing balloons marked with the names of friends and family members who struggle with mental illness or have committed suicide as a result of mental illness.

The study also reports on the extent to which consultation efforts are occurring nationally and provides a series of recommendations generated by experts in the field to guide policymakers/funders, early childhood mental health consultation providers, early care and education program administrators, and researchers/evaluators.

I was recently asked why NAMI is important to me. I and myriad others with mental disorders are grateful to an organization which offers enlightenment about the structures and functions of brain physiology. NAMI (the national voice on mental illness) gives empowering strength by providing its members a bulwark of defense to combat the irrational slings and arrows of prejudicial stigma aimed toward persons with mental disorders.

Families with mentally ill children face many extra hurdles. Costs and access to care are just part of the challenges. Despite significant scientific progress in understanding and treating mental illnesses over the past 20 years, many people still blame parents for children’s illnesses. Stigma is a heavy burden for a family with a child who is ill with a brain disorder. Treatment systems still tend to leave parents out of the process.

Suppose the typical U.S. health insurance plan didn’t cover treatment for cancer. Or suppose most American insurance companies put annual and lifetime benefit limits on cardiac care, limits that didn’t apply to other ailments. Imagine that the health plans still covering heart care applied higher deductibles to that treatment than to other health care bills. These ideas are outrageous, yet they are reality for American families living with mental illnesses.

Montana's mental health community was given a $13 million boost Wednesday through a settlement agreement between the state and pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly over the marketing and sale of the anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa.

Four once-neglected horses will soon go to work helping people who also have survived on the fringe. The Egyptian Arabians will be the core staff at Hearts and Manes, a nonprofit organization that will teach life skills to adults with mental illnesses.

The American Bar Association's Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law established the national Mentor Program for: law students with disabilities prospective law students with disabilities, and recent law school graduates with disabilities The Program’s purpose is to give members of these groups the opportunity to learn from an experienced attorney. In a recent study conducted for the ABA, those immediately out of law school cited having a mentor as an important driving factor of satisfaction with their career. Career satisfaction, however, is just one benefit of having a mentor-mentee relationship. Practitioners, students, and academics have all praised the benefits of a mentor program for those with disabilities, namely the availability of advice, guidance, and support.  

The American Bar Association's Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law established the national Mentor Program for: law students with disabilities prospective law students with disabilities, and recent law school graduates with disabilities The Program’s purpose is to give members of these groups the opportunity to learn from an experienced attorney. In a recent study conducted for the ABA, those immediately out of law school cited having a mentor as an important driving factor of satisfaction with their career. Career satisfaction, however, is just one benefit of having a mentor-mentee relationship. Practitioners, students, and academics have all praised the benefits of a mentor program for those with disabilities, namely the availability of advice, guidance, and support.  

As of Jan. 1, because of cutbacks at the state Department of Public Health and Human Services, case management for 550 people in 11 counties served by the Mental Health Center in Billings has been drastically reduced. Case managers who used to spend eight hours a month with each client can now spend only 1½ hours a month.

Class teaches parents to cope with children's mental illness

NAMI Basics consists of six classes, each 2½ hours long and offered weekly. They are specially designed for parents and caregivers of children with mental illnesses.

1 in 6 adults and almost 1 in 10 children suffer from a diagnosable mental illness. Yet, for many, the stigma associated with the illness, can be as great a challenge as the disease itself. This is where the misconceptions stop. This is where bias comes to an end. This is where we change lives. Because this is where we Bring Change 2 Mind.