News from the Center

Barbara "Bebe" Smith and Selden Holt Receive NAMI Awards

Barbara “Bebe” Smith, MSW, LCSW, clinical assistant professor, UNC Department of Psychiatry and clinical director, UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health and Selden Holt, MSW, LSW, training coordinator in the center received NAMI Wake 2010 Mental Health Professional of the Year awards for their work coordinating the Group Home Employee Skills Training Program (GHEST).  A collaborative project involving representatives from several state divisions, local management entities, advocacy groups, and residential providers, the GHEST program focuses on improving quality of life in adult mental health group homes for residents, providers, and families by providing specialized training, giving direct care service providers in these homes additional knowledge, techniques and ideas on how to work with people with severe mental illness. 

John Gilmore Elected President of NCPA

John H. Gilmore, MD, Thad & Alice Eure Distinguished Professor and vice chair for Research & Scientific Affairs in the UNC Department of Psychiatry and director of the Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health, was elected president of the North Carolina Psychiatric Association.  His one-year term began June 2011.

Robin Reed Receives Liptzin Award

Robin M. Reed, MD, community psychiatry fellow, received the UNC Department of Psychiatry’s Dr. Myron B. Liptzin, MD for Clinical Excellence Award. The $500 award from the Dr. Myron B. Liptzin Endowment Fund is presented annually to the graduating UNC psychiatry resident who has demonstrated the most outstanding potential as a clinician and compassionate dedication to patient care. 

Thomas Pillon Receives Scholarship for Research Course

Thomas J. Pillon, MD, III, community psychiatry fellow, Department of Psychiatry received a $1,100 scholarship, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, to attend an intensive one-week summer research course at the Duke Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health. The program focuses on how to conduct research on religion, spirituality, and health and how to develop an academic career in this area.

UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health Receives Duke Endowment Grant to integrate primary care into its programs for severe mental illness

An $850,000 three-year grant from The Duke Endowment will allow the UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health to create a health home, integrating primary care into its mental health care programs for persons in Orange, Person and Chatham County.  A health and wellness programming component will support health lifestyle change and prevent chronic disease.

Researchers will look for improvement in areas such as diabetes, weight management and improvement in cardiovascular disease indicators.

The Duke Endowment, a private foundation in Charlotte, N.C., seeks to fulfill the legacy of James B. Duke by enriching lives and communities in the Carolinas through higher education, health care, rural churches and children’s services.

The center, originally founded with funding from The Duke Endowment in 2008, is part of the Department of Psychiatry within the UNC School of Medicine and offers a continuum of care for people with severe and persistent mental illness.