David Susman

Don’t Give Up!

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Neesa Sunar This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked mental health peer specialist Neesa Sunar about her personal journey with mental health challenges and about some of her current work in peer support. Here’s our interview: DS: Tell us about when you first started becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health. How did these issues continue to affect you and those around you before you sought …

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Let’s Stop Bullying: 10 Things You Need to Know

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I had the opportunity to participate in an excellent online program called “Bullying Prevention and Response Training” sponsored by stopbullying.gov, a website of the US Department of Health and Human Services. I found it very educational and enlightening, so I thought you might be interested in hearing about a few of the highlights. I’ve summarized them here in a handy list of “10 things” you should know about bullying prevention and response strategies. 1) Definition   According to the US Centers for …

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You Are Not Alone

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Katrina Milburn This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked mental health advocate Katrina Milburn about her history of mental health challenges and about some of her current advocacy work. Here’s our interview: DS: How did your mental health concerns develop? KM: My parents noticed behavioral problems, such as it was hard for me to understand and communicate effectively, and my grades started dropping severely in high …

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Take the “What Do You Know About Mental Health Medications?” Quiz

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Perhaps you or someone you care about takes medication to help manage a mental health condition. There’s a whole alphabet soup of such medications, from Abilify to Zyprexa and everything in between. There’s also a lot of inaccurate information out there about these types of medications. How savvy are you about the basics of mental health medications? Take this quick quiz, saying “True” or “False” for each of the 10 questions. The answers and explanations can be found below each question. …

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The Power of Family

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Janet Singer This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked blogger, author and mental health advocate Janet Singer about her son’s mental health challenges and some of the lessons her family has learned over the past several years. Here’s our interview: DS: Tell us about when you first started noticing concerns related to your son’s mental health. How did these issues continue to affect him and your family …

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Benefits of University-Based Mental Health Training Clinics

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For over 26 years, a significant part of my job was to direct a university-based mental health center at the University of Kentucky (UK). The center’s mission is to provide effective and affordable mental health services to the community and to provide a site to train doctoral students in the Psychology Department’s clinical psychology Ph.D. program. These centers, also known as ‘training clinics,’ are found on many university campuses. They are typically affiliated with graduate programs in clinical or counseling …

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Living in the ‘Middle Ground’ of Recovery

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Joanna Kay This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked writer and mental health activist Joanna Kay about the personal challenges she has faced and some of the lessons she has learned through her ongoing journey. Here’s our interview: DS: How did your mental health concerns develop and how did they continue to affect you before you sought treatment? JK: The more I learn about myself …

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WHAM! Using Whole Health Action Management to Address Mental Health and Substance Use Concerns

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Over 60 years ago, Dr. Brock Chisholm, a psychiatrist and the first Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said “Without mental health there can be no true physical health.” It’s now universally accepted that mental health and physical health are related and both must be included in any comprehensive personal recovery plan for mental illness or substance misuse. This combined focus on physical and mental health has been referred to as integrated care, holistic health, and whole health, among …

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