March 2024 

SAVE THE DATE!

 THE MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA OF DUBUQUE COUNTY MAY DINNER WILL BE MAY 16TH AT WESTMINSTER! MORE INFORMATION TO COME!

If you are interested in donating to the silent auction or sponsoring a meal for someone, contact MHA of DBQ County:

info@mhadbq.org or call/text 563-513-9236

Excerpt from MHA National: When we think about cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, we don’t wait years to treat them. We start way before Stage 4. We begin with prevention. When people are in the first stage of those diseases, and have a persistent cough, high blood pressure, or high blood sugar, we try immediately to reverse these symptoms. This is what we should be doing when people have serious mental illnesses, too. When they first begin to experience symptoms such as loss of sleep, feeling tired for no reason, feeling low, feeling anxious, or hearing voices, we should act.

These early symptoms might not ever become serious. Like a cough, they often go away on their own, and are nothing to fear. But when they do not go away, it typically takes ten years from the time they first appear until someone gets a correct diagnosis and proper treatment.

This means that by ignoring them, we lose ten years in which we could intervene in order to change people’s lives for the better. During most of these years most people still have supports that allow them to succeed - home, family, friends, school, and work. So people can often recover quickly, and live full and productive lives.

Even when we don’t intervene right away, and serious mental illnesses get worse and disrupt people’s lives, we can act effectively. We can offer people choices and supports to help them recover. These include clinical services, drugs, peer supports, counseling, family supports, and other therapies that also help them manage their thoughts and emotions. These all help keep people connected to their families and their community. Intervening as early as possible preserves education, employment, social supports, housing – and brain power! It also costs less than the all-too-common revolving door of incarceration, hospitalization, and homelessness.



Please note: Online screening tools are meant to be a quick snapshot of your mental health. If your results indicate you may be experiencing symptoms of a mental illness, consider sharing your results with someone. A mental health provider (such as a doctor or a therapist) can give you a full assessment and talk to you about options for how to feel better.

This is an informational resource. We are not a crisis support line. If you need immediate help, you can reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988 or using the chat box at 988lifeline.org/chat.

Posted February 29, 2024 by Aimee Resnick



Content warning: Eating disorders, anorexia. If you think you may be struggling with an eating disorder and want to check your symptoms, take the eating disorder screen.

National Eating Disorders Awareness (NEDA) Week plays a crucial role in raising awareness about disordered eating. This year from Feb. 27-March 5th, individuals across the country will gather together to C.A.R.E: Continue the conversation, act early, strengthen recovery, and end the cycle. While national initiatives like NEDA Week are essential, the impact of local organizing efforts must not be underestimated. READ FULL ARTICLE

Eating disorders are a broad, complex range of mental conditions that cause impairments in one’s physical health due to long-term disturbances in their eating behaviors. These health impairments can be chronic and sometimes even deadly. However, eating disorders are treatable, as 60% of individuals who decide to receive professional treatment make a full recovery. Some groups are more likely to experience eating disorders than others.

Due to the complexities of the types of eating disorders, the co-morbid mental conditions, and health conditions that all may be involved, there are multiple treatment options that have been developed over time. Not every treatment option will necessarily be right for every disorder, nor will they be right for every person. Therapy is one such option that has been proven to be an effective tool within an eating disorder treatment plan.



This article will review the types of therapy available to treat eating disorders as well as other treatment and care options.

A message from Mental Health & Disability Services - East Central Region

Maintaining a healthy diet can also help you maintain good brain health (mental health). Eating a diet rich in vitamins, minerals, healthy fats and fiber from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds can reduce inflammation and alter neurotransmitters to reduce symptoms of depression.

The second procedural hurdle of the 2024 Session of the Iowa Legislature arrives at the end of this upcoming week, March15. The "Second Funnel" is the date by which a bill has to be approved by a committee in the opposite chamber - meaning a House File must be approved by a Senate committee and a Senate File by a House committee to remain eligible for further consideration this year.

Appropriations, Ways and Means and Government Oversight committee bills are the exceptions to the 'funnel' rules, as they are exempt from procedural deadlines.

The 100th calendar day for the session, the unofficial end of the 2024 Legislative Session arrives on April 16. It is also the day on which daily lawmaker 'per diem' payment end.

Read the latest update from 3/8/2024 HERE

This conference is an amazing opportunity for a great price in Dubuque County. Sessions are designed to be informative and interactive including access to resource booths! Saturday Family activity is FREE! Please register at HERE Continuing education hours for Nursing, Physical Therapy, and Social Work will be provided by Clarke University Department of Nursing. Click HERE for more information and conference schedule.