For Immediate Release

UNC Steps Up to Prepare
Mental Health Professionals for
Big Changes

(Chapel Hill, NC) – February 17, 2010 – Come July state mental health professionals will face shifting rules and regulations while striving to offer stable services for their clients, some who are quite ill with schizophrenia. It’s going to be a tough balancing act, and one the UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health will address at the 17th Annual STEP Symposium, Putting It Together: Integrating Evidence-Based Approaches to Treating Schizophrenia. The event will be held at the William and Ida Friday Center, 100 Friday Drive in Chapel Hill on Saturday, March 27, 8:00 a.m.–noon. Registration is $25; an optional lunch is $10. Continuing education credits for physicians and other mental health professionals are available. Pre-registration is encouraged. For additional information or to register, visit www.unccmh.org or contact Janice Linn at 919.966.8990 or jlinn@med.unc.edu.

For close to 20 years, STEP, a treatment program for adults with schizophrenia and other severe mental disorders, has offered mental health professionals, advocates, and people and families living with schizophrenia an annual learning opportunity focused on innovative treatment approaches. In light of the changes on the horizon, this year’s symposium will be particularly relevant.

“With its plan to replace our existing mental health system and establish Critical Access Behavioral Health Agencies, or CABHAs, the state will be resurrecting some effective approaches it pushed aside during its last attempt at reform,” explains Dr. John Gilmore, director of the UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health. Gilmore is also the Thad & Alice Eure Professor of Psychiatry and Vice Chair for Research and Scientific Affairs in the Department of Psychiatry.

Gilmore notes there is debate about how CABHAs should be staffed and administered, but points out that many mental health professionals and advocates are glad to welcome back services that emphasize individualized treatments for people with severe mental illness. “Clinical case management hasn’t been utilized much in the last decade or so, and that’s unfortunate because it’s a proven, effective and affordable approach in treating schizophrenia.”

“Now that case management will be back in our tool box, so to speak,” says Gilmore, “There are those in the field who need to learn, or in some cases, need a refresher on how to incorporate it into their existing practices. That’s where we come in.” Symposium participants will hear the latest information from experts about psychopharmacology, cognitive-behavioral therapy, family work and clinical case management — and how it can all work together to benefit the patient.

Not only do all Center staff provide clinical services to people with severe mental illness, they use the knowledge they gain to establish best practice in the field. “We use a team approach in our clinical programs at the Center,” says Gilmore. “Every day we learn with and from our clients about what works in the recovery process. We’re looking forward to sharing our successes and challenges with symposium participants.”

The UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health fosters partnerships among state, academic, and community programs to enhance quality of care and workforce development issues in North Carolina’s mental health system. Backed by outstanding psychiatrists, social workers, psychologists, researchers, and other mental health professionals, the Center offers specialized treatment programs for people with mental illness, conducts leading-edge academic research and trains the next generation of community mental health professionals. Founded in January 2009, the 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 and is supported by a three-year grant from The Duke Endowment, as well as Cross Area Services Program (CASP) funds. For more information about the Center, visit www.unccmh.org or email unccmh@med.unc.edu.

###

For additional information about the 17^th Annual STEP Symposium, contact:

Janice Linn
UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health
Department of Psychiatry, CB 7160
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7160
Phone: 919.966.8990
jlinn@med.unc.edu

For additional information about the UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health, contact:

John H. Gilmore, MD, Director
UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health
Department of Psychiatry, CB 7160
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7160
Phone: 919.966.6971
jgilmore@med.unc.edu

Or

Bebe Smith, MSW, LCSW Co-Director
UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health
Department of Psychiatry, CB 7160
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7160
Phone: 919.843.3794
besmith@med.unc.edu