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More than 20 years ago, Anna María Nápoles, Ph.D., M.P.H., was working in the San Francisco area on a program to promote breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening in Hispanic/Latino communities. The program helped Hispanics/Latinos get cancer screenings, but Dr. Nápoles realized that there was little to support people after they were diagnosed with cancer, through treatment, and beyond. Through her work, she found that Latinas with breast cancer are less likely to survive than White women with breast cancer and suffer more depression, emotional distress, anxiety, and pain after surgery.¹

Dr. Nápoles partnered with a local organization, Círculo de Vida, that supports low-income Latinos living with cancer and their families. Programs to help women with breast cancer already existed but had not yet been adapted for and tested among Spanish-speaking women like those Círculo de Vida served. Working with the organization’s staff, Dr. Nápoles identified needs that were unique to Latinas with breast cancer and came up with effective ways to deliver support to these women.

The team created Nuevo Amanecer (“a new dawn”), a stress management program for low-income Spanish-speaking Latinas with breast cancer. The program was delivered in eight weekly sessions by compañeras, Spanish-speaking Latina breast cancer survivors trained to deliver cancer treatment support. The compañeras visited patients’ homes and taught patients skills to manage thoughts and mood, reduce stress, and communicate with healthcare professionals. The women who participated in the program saw significant improvements in physical health, emotional health, and overall quality of life. Now, as the scientific director of National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)’s Division of Intramural Research, Dr. Nápoles is working on ways to bring change and support for other people who, like those low-income Latinas, experience health disparities.

“Working with communities is where we can have the greatest impact,” Dr. Nápoles says, “at least initially, until we have proven models we can disseminate on a broader scale.”

Over the years, researchers have developed many programs to help people improve their health. But these programs often need tailoring to fit particular groups and settings. Dr. Nápoles’ experience with Nuevo Amanecer inspired her to help other people bring health programs to communities with fewer resources. She created an innovative method to do this, which she calls the transcreation framework.

Read more at National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities.

As Tucker Smallwood explains, when Vietnamveterans returned home, oftentimes they were met with the words “baby killer” and “cry baby.” Those unwelcoming sentiments only added to the severe psychological trauma that many of them were coming back with. 

Smallwood’s story shares elements of many American soldiers’ experiences in Vietnam. Drafted into the army in 1967, he was wounded in action on Sept. 14, 1969. He was left for dead on the operating table before a second doctor saved his life. He came home and threw himself into a new life as an actor, quickly finding acclaim.

For years, Smallwood had a high-functioning and successful life. Then, an incident in 1978, eight years after his wartime injury, triggered a decade-long cycle of severe depression that he suffered through until he was persuaded to seek help.

As Smallwood explains, “There’s lots of kinds of PTSD. Anyone can be traumatized […] You might break down right then. I might not break down for 10 years. It’s post-traumatic.”

The trigger for his PTSD came in the form of two young kids who pointed a gun at him one day in New York City and attempted to shoot him. Thankfully, the gun misfired and Smallwood was left standing there in confusion. Shortly afterward, while he was onstage performing in a musical, he broke down in tears in front of 600 people and had to be led offstage. At that point, Smallwood realized he had some issues he needed to resolve.

For more than 20 years, Smallwood experienced what is known as “anniversary syndrome.” Every year on Sept. 14, the day he was wounded in action, he would experience visceral flashbacks to the jungles of Vietnam. Smallwood lived with this annual trauma for two decades until he began talking about Vietnam in his regular therapy. It wasn’t until 1988 that he was formally diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Smallwood describes combat in Vietnam as “technicolor,” but civilian life as “black and white.” He existed in a heightened reality, spending nights guiding choppers with strobe lights, wading through thick swamps to avoid gunfire, and going hunting with packs of local mercenaries. He had already realized by this point that he had some things to prove to himself, working out issues from his own childhood by succeeding at being a soldier. In combat, emotions could be placed to the side as the immediacy of the mission took priority.

It was when Smallwood woke up after his near-death experience, alive against all odds, that he finally broke down in tears. All of the emotions that he had suppressed during his tour of duty came flooding back to the surface. Since 2001, he has been taking antidepressants and credits his medication as the difference between having a life that’s livable and one that’s not.

Read more on HuffPost.com.

When behavioral health organizations create environments that are diverse, inclusive, and equitable, staff are more likely to feel valued, experience a sense of belonging, and want to stay. Creating this kind of work environment often involves examining and breaking down structures, policies, and practices to address barriers and challenges that individuals experience. How can organizations welcome these changes and work through them?

This NNED virtual roundtable was convened to learn about the innovative strategies that community-based organizations are implementing to create inclusive and equitable workplace environments. Panelists highlighted the relationship between workplace environments and workforce staff retention. The discussion included strategies for increasing workforce diversity through pipeline opportunities and by supporting the growth and engagement of peer specialists. This virtual roundtable was held on April 24, 2019 at 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EDT.

Learning Objectives:

• Define and understand cultural humility in behavioral health workplace environments
• Increase awareness about approaches for creating inclusive and equitable behavioral health workplace environments
• Identify opportunities to expand diversity, inclusion, and equity in behavioral health workplace environments
• Share innovative strategies that help retain the existing behavioral health workforce

Panelists:

Belisa Urbina

Founder and Executive Director | Ser Familia

Jorge Wong, Ph.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer | Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc.

Ruth Shim, M.D., M.P.H.

Professor in Cultural Psychiatry | University of California at Davis

Jameil White started drinking alcohol when she was 13 years old. By 17, her substance use – a way to cope with her mental health issues and childhood trauma – had transitioned to methamphetamine and other drugs.

“Once you become addicted to (meth), that’s all you think about,” White recalls. “When you’re coming down from something like that and you’re starting to crash, it’s either, ‘I want to get some sleep and get high again,’ or, ‘I want to get high again.’ You quit thinking properly, you quit bathing, you quit eating, you quit doing your normal daily things that we as humans need to function.”

About three years ago, after using drugs for so long and knowing “so much pain,” White decided to get serious about her recovery. Now 40, she lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her husband and two stepchildren, and says she’s remained in recovery in large part due to her family and a handful of online support groups that she helps moderate and manage, where topics range from drug addiction and mental health to suicide prevention.

“My online support network is huge. I know many people from all over the U.S. and also in other countries,” White says. “Some of them are members of (Alcoholics Anonymous), (Narcotics Anonymous). You also have members like myself who no longer go to meetings, but they still need that community and that network, and they reach out through online groups.”

Forums on Reddit and Facebook, like those used and managed by White, provide safe spaces for current and former users, as well as their family members. They offer opportunities to seek help, share stories and celebrate each other’s successes in recovery while facing a socially stigmatized drug addiction for which there is no counteracting medication that can aid in treatment.

White runs multiple support groups connected to her “Warrior Queens and Warrior Kings” public Facebook page, which has more than 4,400 followers, and helps edit and manage other groups related to recovery from substance misuse, addiction, mental health and suicide prevention. Nearly 8,700 Facebook users are members of the closed “Sobriety 101” group that she helps administer.

Julie Richards, 46, founded the Mothers Against Meth Alliance about six years ago after seeking help for her daughter’s meth addiction and realizing there wasn’t a system for support, intervention, prevention and education for the Lakota people on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Today, Richards says her daughter is behind bars in connection with her meth use. Richards continues to run what she calls a “one-woman rescue team” to help community members – especially teens – who are under the influence of the “meth spirit” realize there is a future once they overcome their addiction. She offers herself as an emergency resource through her Facebook group and website for families and teens struggling with addiction.

“I tell these kids, ‘There’s only two roads that this meth is going to take you to: one is prison, and the other one is death. It’s up to you. If you’re lucky, you’ll end up in prison,'” Richards says.

Read more on USNews.com.

In order to highlight pockets of excellence across the country, the NNED selects an organization to highlight once a month. Springboard To Opportunities has been selected as the Partner of the Month for April in honor of Minority Health Month and in celebration of their participation in NNEDLearn 2019.

At Springboard To Opportunities, they believe all have a chance at a better future.

Springboard To Opportunities is a nonprofit organization working with residents of affordable housing to help them reach their goals in school, work and life. They do this by working directly with families, as well as by establishing strategic partnerships with other organizations that help residents achieve their goals. Their programs are fundamentally resident-driven; they listen to the needs of the community and create resources that support and empower them as they take steps toward success.

To build pathways for adults, children, and families to realize their dreams, they work with:

• Affordable housing residents
• Real estate developers
• Property management companies
• Neighborhood leaders
• Community stakeholders

The overall goal of the organization’s “radically-resident driven” service delivery model is to increase the self-efficacy of vulnerable families; thereby positioning them to be their best selves in life, school, and work.

Springboard’s approach to empowering vulnerable families to be engaged in the planning, implementation, delivery and evaluation of community program is innovatively different than what is currently being applied in the field. The organization provides direct strategic dual-generation programming.

Springboard To Opportunities has three strategies:

• Springboard To Learning – stress the importance of a good education and the value of life skills
• Springboard To Success – empowers residents to take steps to achieve their short and long term goals
• Springboard To Community – creates a safety net for residents of affordable housing with immediate assistance

Although the strategies are the same across all Springboard communities the programs are customized to each community and informed by resident identified needs, strengths and opportunities.

Learn more about Springboard to Opportunities and how their resident-engaged services can provide a platform for low-income people to advance themselves in life, school and work.

View a list of previous NNED Partners of the Month here.

The state Health Department announced Monday that the “Prevent Suicide Hawaii Statewide Conference: Hope, Help, Healing” will be held on April 11 and 12 at the Ala Moana Hotel.

The state Health Department, in partnership with Emergency Medical Services and the Prevent Suicide Hawaii Task Force, is bringing the community of survivors, service providers, policymakers and health professionals together to address the issue.

Suicide is the most common cause of fatal injuries among residents in Hawaii, according to state officials, and it is estimated that one person dies by suicide every two days.

Over a five-year period from 2013 to 2017, 926 Hawaii residents died from suicide — which is 25 percent of a total of 3,695 fatal injuries — outpacing car crashes, homicide, unintentional poisoning and drowning as a cause of death.

In line with national trends, Hawaii has seen a rising rate of suicide death over the last 10 years, as well as an increase in the annual number of non-fatal suicide attempts. For every completed suicide, there are twice as many hospitalizations and three times as many emergency department visits.

Local and national experts in suicide prevention will offer presentations on a wide range of topics — from increasing awareness of suicide prevention to enhancing skills to respond to those at risk, including those who have survived the loss of a loved one.

Read more on the StarAdvertiser.com.