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Quick Links
To learn more about CRG, please visit the
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October is ADHD Awareness Month!
CRG will have ADHD Awareness materials displayed on the bulletin board in the front office during the month of October. Please be sure to stop in!
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Save the Date!
Join us on Saturday, September 14, 2013 as the
Primary Care Psychiatry Foundation
presents
Neurodevelopmental Disorders Across the Lifespan
For more information, please visit the
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Upcoming Holidays
CRG will be closed on
Thursday, November 28th and Friday, November 29th
in observance of
Thanksgiving.
Normal hours will resume on Monday, December 2nd.
Visit the CRG Website for additional holiday closings in December and January 2014. |
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Interested in Group Services?
CRG offers group services for children, adolescents and parents. Please visit the
CRG Website for a listing of all group services during Fall 2013.
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IN THIS ISSUE...
By Julie T. Steck, Ph.D., HSPP
In each issue of the CRG/Children's Resource Group newsletter, we try to address a topic that we think will be meaningful to our readers - those who have an interest in behavioral health and related issues. As we sought input for this issue, Dr. Joshua Lowinsky, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist at CRG, quickly proposed that we address the issue of stigma - the stigma that surrounds mental illness and disabilities. This topic gave us pause as it was not as concrete as topics addressed in our previous newsletters (i.e., anxiety, ADHD, transition back to school, dealing with stress). The issue of stigma requires us all to look at our value system and beliefs.
Yet, the topic is timely for CRG. In October of this year, Children's Resource Group will celebrate its 20th anniversary. Our doors opened in October 1993 with the goal of "bridging the medical, educational and psychological needs of children." Since 1993 our services have expanded and we now strive to meet the needs of adolescents and adults, as well as children. In that time, we feel that we have helped educate our clients and the public at large about mental health issues, as well as neurodevelopmental disorders. Yet, we have much work to do in the future. This issue is just a start of renewed efforts on behalf of CRG to continue that important work.
In this issue:
- Dr. Julie Steck, one of the founders of CRG, reflects on the role of stigma in the past and what needs to be addressed to minimize stigma in the future.
- Dr. Joshua Lowinsky addresses the issue of managing the stigma of mental illness in a mental health or primary care setting.
- Dr. David Parker provides guidance for college-bound high school students and those in college regarding self-disclosure of their disabilities.
- Dr. Christine Kerr reviews "An Unquiet Mind," a book by Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison regarding her own experience with the stigma of having mental illness.
As always, we want you to "Meet the Provider" and "Meet the Staff." This month we are welcoming Marla Moses, FNP, PMHNP, our newest medical specialist and we are introducing and saying good-bye at the same time to our summer intern, Caroline Henderzahs.
We hope that you enjoy this edition of the CRG Newsletter. We invite you to share it with others and respond to our articles by contacting us at info@childrensresourcegroup.com.
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Stigma: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?
By Julie T. Steck, Ph.D., HSPP
In October 1993, two young and idealistic psychologists and an equally committed school psychologist opened Children's Resource Group (CRG). Our mission was to "bridge the medical, educational and psychological needs of children." At that time, we envisioned a practice that focused primarily on the evaluation of  children and adolescents. We had anticipated that we would do the evaluations and design treatment plans. The evaluations would then be shared with parents, physicians, other mental health providers and schools and we would move on to the next evaluation. It quickly became evident, however, that those working with the children and adolescents we evaluated needed education about the child's diagnoses, better understanding of how to intervene, and support in going forward. Thus, our services expanded to include psychotherapy, parent education seminars, medication management by psychiatrists and nurse practitioners, and educational support services.
Click here to continue reading Stigma: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?
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Managing the Stigma of Mental Illness in the Office
By Joshua Lowinsky, M.D.
Stigma is an attribute, behaviour or reputation that is socially discrediting in a particular way. It is a potent, insidious, and negative force which grows like a weed. It strangles the forward movement of psychiatric treatment unless identified, "outted," extracted by the roots on a daily basis. Those of us working in primary care and psychiatry need to become the "weed-eaters" of stigma.
The power of stigma surrounds us. The 50-year-old businessman with depression who admits to taking 20 years to come for treatment... The ADHD child whose parents simultaneously point the finger at one another when asked about family psychiatric history... The psychiatrist who recalls a "compliment" by an esteemed professor in training: "Why are you wasting your talents in the halls of Freud...?" The psychiatrist whose internist friend states, "We know you guys that go into psychiatry are a little crazy yourselves."
To continue reading the article by Dr. Joshua Lowinsky, M.D., click here.
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College Students with "Hidden" Disabilities: Dealing with Stigma
By David R. Parker, Ph.D.
I'll never forget one of the  most enjoyable moments of my freshman year at IU-Bloomington. I lived in a small dormitory so there were only 10 rooms on my floor. As the fall semester began, evenings often entailed having pizzas delivered while hanging out in one room or another as we all broke the ice with our new "neighbors." Music has always been a popular way for college students to get to get to know one another. Today we post preferences online about the digital music we've been downloading. Back then, we played records on stereos. The person with the best set of speakers had bragging rights - and, yes, I know I'm dating myself.
As I got to know the other guys who lived on my floor, what struck me was that each person liked a different type of music. Mike really liked jazz and introduced several of us to Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald. Eric loved California singer/songwriters and had every album of artists like Jackson Brown, the Eagles, and Linda Ronstadt. I was surprised to eventually learn, after hanging out in Andy's room a few times, that classical composers like Bach and Beethoven could actually be enjoyable, too. What finally struck me about these music/pizza nights was the realization that our differences - rather than our similarities - enriched the enjoyment of making new friends.
Read more about College Students with Hidden Disabilities: Dealing with Stigma.
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An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
By Kay Redfield Jamison
Reviewed by Christine Kerr, Ph.D., LMHC
Despite the genetic predisposition that exists for many mental health disorders such as Bipolar Disorder, there is often an associated shame and stigma that does not exist for physically based diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and breast cancer. Bipolar Disorder, marked by swings from mania to depression, presents one of the bigger challenges in mental health.
Dr. Kay Jamison is a professor of psychiatry at John Hopkins School of Medicine. She is one of the foremost authorities on bipolar disorders and brings an almost unmatched scientific and clinical background to this topic. Dr. Jamison is trained in Clinical Psychology at UCLA, earning her Ph.D. in 1975. Along with Dr. Frederick Goodwin of the George Washington University Medical Center, Dr. Jamison co-authored what has become a standard textbook on bipolar disorder, now in its second edition, titled Manic-Depressive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression (2007).
For information about An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness, click here.
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Meet the Provider
Marla Moses, FNP, PMHNP
Interviewed by David R. Parker, Ph.D.
CRG would like to welcome the newest member of our professional team, Marla Moses. Marla is psychiatric nurse practitioner with many years of service to children, adolescents, and their families. She works with the entire staff but most closely with CRG's other med providers, Dr. Joshua Lowinsky and Dr. Jason Rowland. Read on to learn more about this remarkable person.
Read on to learn more about CRG's newest provider, Marla Moses!
For more information about Marla's academic and professional background, please visit her page on the CRG Website.
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Meet CRG's Summer Intern,
Caroline Henderzahs!
Written by Angela Beard, Business Office Manager
If you have visited CRG over the past few months, you may have noticed a couple of new faces in the front office. CRG was fortunate to have Caroline Henderzahs temporarily join our team back in June. As a student at Hanover College, one of her degree requirements includes a summer internship where she is to work in her field of study for a minimum of 300 hours. At just over the 200 hour mark, we recently took some time to sit down and talk.
Click here to learn more about our intern, Caroline!
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