Enjoy!

This week at Mental Health Notes, I praised Britney Spears and Kellie Pickler, pointed you in the direction of Ingrid Newkirk’s video about One Can Make a Difference, gushed on and on about why I love being a mental health blogger, and participated in Blog Action Day 2008.

Regarding mental health advocacy, the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance has posted DBSA e-Update October 2008 (lots of good stuff in there!) and the new Mrs. United States, Dr. Gariane Gunter, is dedicating her reign to raising public awareness of mental illness.

In the world of mental health news, the World Health Organization is warning that our global financial crisis may increase mental health problems (that’s a real no-brainer), Governor Timothy M. Kaine (of Virginia, and, is it just me or do I mention him a lot?) wants to cut $86.6 million from mental health, health, and human resources agencies, and WSJ’s Health Blog reports depression is one of the top reasons for missing work (and Gov. Kaine wants to cut funding?).

Here at b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel, October’s theme day was just one of the things we were busy with!

• Mary Emma Allen featured one of my comments about nursing homes in The Positive Side of Nursing Homes for Alzheimer’s Patients.
• Kristen King of Lively Women is holding a contest to win – you’re not gonna believe this – an Epson WorkForce 600 All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer! Actually, she has TWO, so your odds of winning just increased. The deadline is October 20, 2008 at 11:59:59 p.m. ET (that’s tonight, folks!). (Kristen also has an interview with Leslie Haywood up. Leslie is the creator of Grill Charms and has just released The Pink Collection which will help raise money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
• Mark made a good point about God and his non-puppeteerism (not a word, I know, forgive me) at A Dozen Steps.
• Kristina Chew started a discussion about legislation dealing with insurance coverage for autism treatment at Autism Vox.
• Angelique wants to know how much time you dedicate to self-loathing.
• At Eating Fabulous, Ruth Schaffer talked about using St. John’s Wort as an antidepressant.
• At Healthbolt, Liz Lewis has a round up of contests for your perusal.
• Grace Ibay has listed five tips for taking stock of your medicine cabinet.

Image: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Monday Sanity: Better Late Than Never

When I was in college, I was married. My university mailed every bit of information that pertained to my grades, my financial aid and bills, and my courses directly to me. Nothing passed “Go,” i.e. my parents, and no one collected $200.

Well, the school did. A lot more than $200, too. But that’s neither here nor there.

Once my younger sister – who didn’t run off and elope at 18 – started college she, too, received everything pertaining to her grades and courses; my parents, however, received the bills.

When traditional-aged college students apply for college, the schools and financial aid programs often use the parents’ financial information to determine how much financial aid the student receives.

My marriage didn’t last, but one of the few good things that did come of it was that, because I was married, my university and FAFSA looked at my and my husband’s income – not my parents’ income. The result? I got more financial help.

My sister’s financial aid, on the other hand, was based on my parents’ income. Ah, the joys of not giving in to youthful ignorance, or mania – whichever caused my decision to get married.

*cough*

Anyway, my father has often wondered aloud why colleges are so quick to use the parents’ income to determine how much money a student gets (”They’re your children!” they say), yet they refuse to share the student’s grades and other information with the parents (”They’re adults!” they say).

Such were the thoughts that surfaced in my mind when I heard about the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors recent and unanimously approved policy to “notify student’s parents if their child has mental illness and is deemed a danger to himself or others” (UVa to warn of mental illness signs). I don’t see how this comes as such newsworthy information, given that the article also reminds us “[a]ll public colleges and universities in Virginia are required to approve such a parental notification policy, as per legislation unanimously passed by the General Assembly earlier this year and signed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine in March.”

I have several opinions and thoughts about this policy. I commend the University’s effort to protect all students, especially in light of college- and mental health-related tragedies such as the Seung Hui Cho shooting. At the same time, I wonder how the students – who are 18 years old and older, i.e. adults – are going to feel about having their personal health information revealed – even if it is to their parents.

Sure, the policy states that the University won’t contact parents in the event that such contact could cause the student to harm himself or others, but that in itself poses a whole host of other problems.

When it comes to potential suicide and/or murder, I’m all for an intervention. To me, potential suicide and/or murder are the confidentiality deal breakers. Period. Still, I can’t help but to pause and wonder how the students are going to feel about such personal health information being revealed.

*sigh*

I do hope this works out for the best.

What are your thoughts on it?

The above image is owned by JoshBerglund19 and is being used according to these Creative Commons attributions.

Are you living with a mental illness and still kicking tail? Be sure to check out This Is Why I ROCK! and find out how you can tell the world about it!

Post from: Blisstree

University of Virginia: Higher Education Meets Lower Health Privacy