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UNC Steps Up

NAMI Walk

Brushes With Life

18th Annual STEP Symposium

For Immediate Release

Walk With Us and "Rethink. Reframe. Recover."


April 13, 2010, Chapel Hill, N.C. — The UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health (CECMH) is proud to be a part of this year's National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Walk in Raleigh, Saturday, May 1, 2010. To join the Center's team or to create your own walker page, go to:
http://www.nami.org/namiwalks10/RAL/centerforexcellenceincommunitymentalhealth

For $10, team walkers will receive a CECMH t-shirts, a "fashion-forward, stylish Carolina blue shirt with the CECMH name, our groovy spiral, and walk slogan: Rethink. Reframe. Recover," says Mary Shannon Thomas, UNC School of Social Work intern with the Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health and coordinator of its Walk efforts this year. All t-shirt proceeds go towards the NAMI Walk. To order a t-shirt contact at maryshannonthomas@gmail.com

Those unable to participate on the day of the Walk can still assist the Center in reaching its $1000 fundraising goal by soliciting donations or giving to the cause themselves. Fifty percent of what is raised will come back to the Center, advancing the University's efforts to improve mental health services and policy in North Carolina.

"The Center enjoys a good working relationship with NAMI-NC and is looking forward to participating in this year's Walk," says, Dr. John Gilmore, MD, director, UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health. "I invite anyone who has an interest in improving North Carolina's mental health services and policies to join our team or create a team of their own and raise awareness and money for a great cause."

About NAMI Walks

In 2010, tens of thousands of concerned citizens in more than 83 communities across the nation will join NAMI and walk together to raise money and awareness about our country's need for a world-class treatment and recovery system for people with mental illness.

In North Carolina, NAMI North Carolina is sponsoring its sixth annual walk with a fundraising goal of $125,000. For more information about the NAMI-NC Walk, visit www.naminc.org.

NAMI-NC Walk Information

Location: Dorothea Dix State Hospital, Raleigh, NC
Date: Saturday, May 1, 2010
Distance: 2.3 MI
Check-in: 9:00 am
Start Time: 10:00 am
Team: UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health
NAMI Affiliate: NAMI Orange County


Founded in January 2009, the UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health is part of the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Addressing quality of care and workforce development issues in North Carolina's mental health system, the Center and its clinical programs are supported by a three-year grant from The Duke Endowment, as well as Cross Area Services Program (CASP) funds. The program operates in conjunction with multiple university, state, and community-based partners. For more information, visit unccmh.org.


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Walk Contact
Mary Shannon Thomas at maryshannonthomas@gmail.com
UNC School of Social Work intern with the UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health

UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health Contacts
Dr. John Gilmore, MD
Thad & Alice Eure Professor of Psychiatry
Vice Chair for Research and Scientific Affairs
Director, UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health
jgilmore@med.unc.edu
T 919.966.6971

Barbara Smith, MSW, LCSW
Clinical Assistant Professor
Co-Director, UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health
besmith@med.unc.edu
T 919.843.3794

Myths View all myths

Once a diagnosis is given, it will never change.

There are several reasons why diagnoses may change over time.

  1. Sometimes a diagnosis designates a very specific timeframe for duration of symptoms. For example, more than one day but less than one month is called a brief psychotic disorder. More than one month but less than six months is called schizophreniform. If the person is given one of those diagnoses but symptoms continue, the diagnosis will need to be updated.
  2. Sometimes the clinicians don't have the whole picture when they assign a diagnosis. For instance, they may meet a person with depression and diagnose major depressive disorder, but later the person experiences a manic episode, which would indicate bipolar disorder. A new diagnosis will need to be added.
  3. Periodically the guidelines for diagnosis, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, are revised to reflect new information on mental illness. When that happens, symptoms may be categorized differently for scientific accuracy. Diagnoses may have new criteria, get new names, or may disappear into another category altogether.

If you have questions about diagnoses, talk with the clinicians who assigned them, or those with whom you are working now, to get clarification. Sometimes a wacky diagnosis may be the result of a clerical error, and those should definitely be corrected.