Training Teleconference - June 20, 2007
Improving Provider Attitudes, Behaviors and Practices toward People with Mental Illness
To access the archived recording via telephone:
1. Call the playback dial-in number: 1-888-844-1786
2. When prompted, enter the reference number: 231474#
Teleconference Presentation [PDF Format – 3Mb]
Teleconference Presentation [PowerPoint Format - 6Mb]
Mental health professionals and other health care providers are in a unique position to impact the lives of people with mental illnesses. Because of their scientific knowledge and special relationship with mental health consumers, providers have a singular opportunity through their attitudes and practices to promote self-esteem, self-efficacy, decision making about treatment, illness self-management practices, and recovery.
Sometimes providers are unwitting sources of prejudice and discrimination associated with mental illness. These attitudes toward people with mental illnesses threaten the effectiveness of psychiatric treatment, possibly hindering the recovery process. It is well documented that stigma towards people with mental illnesses is a major obstacle to seeking treatment, better care, and improvement in the quality of their lives.
This training will:
- Explore the sources of stigma generated by providers (e.g., diagnostic labels) and the importance of modifying these attitudes to improve treatment outcomes
- Provide an overview of successful activities that have been conducted to improve cooperation between providers and their patients
- Discuss tools for creating an environment that fosters the development of meaningful and effective consumer/provider relationships (e.g., Partners for Recovery
Lori Ashcraft, PhD, CPRP: Executive Director of the Recovery Opportunity Center at Recovery Innovations
Dr. Ashcraft is the Executive Director of the Recovery Opportunity Center at Recovery Innovations (formerly META Services), which provides training and consultation to people who are receiving services, families, and service providers on recovery principles and practices. Dr. Ashcraft has administered mental health services as the Program Chief for Sacramento County Mental Health, The Deputy Director for Community Programs at California State Dept of Mental Health, and relocated to Arizona in 1995 to accept the position of Director of Adult Services for the Regional Behavioral Health authority. She also taught bio-psycho-social classes at the University of Arizona and managed one of eight SAMHSA-funded employment demonstration grants. Since 2000, Dr. Ashcraft has been with Recovery Innovations, developing and training recovery classes and programs. As a national expert, Dr. Ashcraft lectures extensively on recovery.
Dr. Ashcraft has written several articles dealing with recovery and transformation, and has trained with Mary Ellen Copeland in recovery principles and has benefited from having her own WRAP.
Delphine Brody, Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Director of the California Network of Mental Health Clients (CNMHC)
Ms. Brody strives to amplify clients' voices on public policy issues regionally, statewide and nationally. In her current position, she staffs the MHSA Client Implementation Team and works to increase meaningful client involvement at all levels of mental health planning, delivery, oversight and evaluation, and to help create a transformed mental health system that upholds client values of freedom, choice, and self-determination. As CNMHC's Bay Area Regional Coordinator, she facilitated a series of focus groups with clients/survivors on discrimination and stigma, and has since presented the emerging themes from the study and draft recommendations. The report-in-progress on this research is available online at http://strategiesforchange.googlepages.com.
A young client/survivor who has experienced discrimination in many different forms, Delphine also trains service providers on client culture, harm reduction, crisis prevention and intervention.
Ken Thompson, MD, Associate Director of Medical Affairs, SAMHSA'S Center for Mental Health Services
Dr. Thompson, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, recently joined the staff of CMHS. He has worked for the past 15 years as a community psychiatrist in a wide variety of settings, including a primary care clinic, an HIV clinic, a state hospital, several disaster response teams, a homeless outreach team and a community mental health center. He has been a leader in the American Association of Community Psychiatrists and has been actively engaged in local, state and national efforts to support psychiatrists interested in public service, community mental health and transformation of mental health services to support recovery. A community-engaged scholar and practitioner, Dr. Thompson has served on the boards of numerous national and local professional and nonprofit organizations. Dr. Thompson received his AB degree (Phi Beta Kappa) from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.