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Cheryl Holewinski’s office at Julian Thomas Elementary School has stuffed animals and shampoo.

Winnie the Pooh and other bears line Holewinski’s window sills and a 3-foot tall stuffed Shrek sits in a corner, right next to a stack of drawers filled with socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bar soap and pants.

Holewinski, a school social worker, uses the stuffed animals to make students more comfortable while they talk to her. She uses the clothing and toiletry items to help the school’s low-income and sometimes homeless students stay clean and healthy.

“It’s meeting children’s basic needs and there’s nothing more important in life than doing that,” Holewinski said.

Providing a listening ear and basic supplies are just some of the services school workers like Holewinski provide to homeless students who live without a safe, permanent residence; they may stay doubled up, in shelters, on the street or elsewhere. Federal law requires school districts provide certain academic services for homeless students and local schools often go above and beyond their legal obligations.

“We take great pride in that,” said Elizabeth Erven, coordinator for Racine Unified’s Families in Transition Program, which connects homeless students and families to supplies and resources.

They’ve seen it all

In eight years on the job, Erven said she’s seen things she wishes she hadn’t.

There was the first-grade boy who, with both parents incarcerated, lived in a basement with no bathroom. In the morning, school staff would see him running to school to use the facilities.

“He didn’t have any underwear and he had a safety pin holding his pants up,” Erven said. “Can you even imagine being six years old and running to school because you have to pee and not knowing if you can get that safety pin to work?”

One of Erven’s most memorable cases involved two teenage sisters who lived in a van for several months after mental health issues put their mother in the hospital. The older sister, 17, came to Racine Unified’s enrollment center, got referred to Erven and told her about the van where she and her younger sister lived.

“I go to the van and here’s this tiny, tiny little person, 16 years old, just wrapped in a blanket, a filthy white blanket just lying in the back of this van,” Erven remembered. “There were dirty things and rotten food. She was just part of the refuse basically.”

Despite such terrible circumstances, all is not lost for these children, Erven said. In many cases Unified staff helps the kids find better housing situations, get basic needs met and start learning.

via Schools meet children’s basic needs when caregivers can’t.

As the number of children believed to be autistic has skyrocketed in Texas and worldwide, much of the public debate has focused on the reasons for the rapid increase. But after a decade in which the state has seen a fourfold spike in diagnoses of the condition — to nearly 30,000 — the more pressing questions for policymakers are how to best educate afflicted students and how to pay for it.

During the last legislative session, State Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, introduced legislation to expand the availability of special education training to Texas teachers, influenced, in part, by the growing number of students with autism. The bill included a small stipend for participation to encourage additional training, but after passing unanimously in the Senate, it died in the House.

Now some lawmakers are exploring the idea of building charter schools for special ed students and integrating them into existing campuses. They’re looking, in particular, at a New York City charter school for autistic children that is located inside a public school. “I absolutely believe that a charter school system is viable for Texas,” says state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano. Another “ideal option,” Shapiro says, is putting autism charter schools on state university campuses, where they could draw on university money, staff and expertise.

via Texas lawmakers face challenges of autistic children’s education | kens5.com | San Antonio News, Weather, Sports, Traffic, Entertainment, Video and Photos.

A new study from Finland has determined that teens who “cyberbully” others via the Internet or cell phones are more likely to suffer from mental health issues. In addition, the victims also suffer from mental and physical issues.

Cyberbullying is defined by the researchers as an aggressive, intentional and repeated use of mobile phones, computers and other electronic equipment to harass victims who cannot easily defend themselves.

Dr. Andre Sourander of Turku University in Finland and colleagues had 2,438 Finnish adolescents in seventh- and ninth-grade complete questionnaires and found six months prior to the survey, 4.8 percent of the participants were only victims of cyberbullying, 7.4 percent were cyberbullies only and 5.4 percent were both victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying.

Other than being questioned about cyberbullying, they were also asked about substance use, traditional bullying behavior and psychosomatic symptoms, including headaches and abdominal pain.

The researchers discovered that victims of cyberbullying reported living in a house with less than two biological parents; perceived emotional, concentration and behavior difficulties; having trouble getting along with others; headaches and abdominal pain

.

The researchers further found that cyberbullies reported emotional problems, concentration and behavior difficulties; trouble getting along with others, hyperactivity; conduct problems; infrequent helping behaviors, frequent smoking and drinking; headaches and not feeling safe in schools.

“The feeling of being unsafe is probably worse in cyberbullying compared with traditional bullying,” Dr. Andre Sourander of Turku University and co-authors wrote. “Traditional bullying typically occurs on school grounds, so victims are safe at least within their homes. With cyberbullying, victims are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

“There is a need to create cyberenvironments and supervision that provide clear and consistent norms for healthy cyberbehavior. Clinicians working in child and adolescent health services should be aware that cyberbullying is potentially traumatizing,” stated Sourander.

“Policy makers, educators, parents, and adolescents themselves should be aware of the potentially harmful effects of cyberbullying. Future research is needed on whether antibullying policies, materials, interventions, and mobile telephone and internet user guidelines are effective for reducing cyberbullying,” Sourander said.

via Cyberbullying Linked to Mental Health.

Children and teenagers who smoke marijuana may have an increased risk of developing depression, according to a new study.

Several studies have found a link between marijuana use and the risk for depression and other anxiety disorders, but others have also failed to confirm such an association. It is also unclear whether marijuana use itself accounts for the connection seen in some studies.

For the study, researchers used data collected from more than 50,000 adults in 17 countries that took part in a World Health Organization mental-health study.

Researchers found a moderate association between pot use before the age of 17 and the odds of suffering from depression later in life. Early marijuana use was linked to a 50 percent increase in the risk of developing some form of depression after the age of 17.

The link remained when the researchers accounted for other factors, such as self-reported marijuana use, smoking and drinking habits, and history of mental health problems like phobias.

The link did weaken, though, when the investigators factored in childhood conduct problems — like skipping school, fighting, or stealing.

Lead researcher Dr. Ron de Graaf, of the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction in Utrecht, said that conduct problems may “partially” explain the relationship between early pot smoking and later depression.

Unfortunately Graaf and his colleagues did not have adequate information on conduct problems from study participants in certain countries, especially in countries where the connection between marijuana use and depression was the strongest, such as South Africa and New Zealand, Graaf told Reuters Health in an email.

So the full extent to which childhood behavioral problems may explain the link is not clear.

Other key limitations affected the study as well. Participants were surveyed at a single point rather than over time, which is the best way to gauge which came first — drug use or depression.

Instead, the participants were screened for episodes of depression and then asked to recall when they had first started having them.

Those who said they were 17 or older when their depression first hit were considered “cases.” Across all countries, 9,647 participants met that definition and were compared to more than 41,000 men and women who had no current or past depression.

In the depression group, nine percent said they had smoked marijuana before the age of 17, while seven percent of the comparison group said they had smoked it before the age of 17. In general, men and women who said they used pot before age 17 had a greater chance of having a depression episode at age 17 or older.

This type of study design cannot prove that marijuana itself was the contributing cause to increased depression risk. It may be that young people who are vulnerable to developing depression or other mental health issues are also more likely to use marijuana.

Still, de Graff said, it is possible that children’s and teenagers’ still-developing brains may be more vulnerable to any direct toxic effects of marijuana use.

“Early cannabis (marijuana) use may have important consequences for later mental health,” de Graaf said. “We know now — also from other studies — that cannabis use is not without negative consequences.”

More studies are still needed — particularly ones that follow young people over time to see whether marijuana use does precede the development of depression and other mental health problems in some children, said de Graaf.

The study is published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

via Is Marijuana Use Linked To Depression In Kids? – Health News – redOrbit.

The Department of State Health Services has outlined nearly $246 million in possible cuts as Texas faces a potential $18 billion shortfall in the next budget period.

The 2011 Legislature will have the final say as agencies respond to budget-trimming orders from Texas leaders, including Gov. Rick Perry.

More than 20,000 Texans who receive state-funded mental health services would lose care under proposed DSHS budget cuts released this week, according to a story published Thursday in the Austin American-Statesman. Mental health programs took the hardest hit with $134 million in proposed cuts.

DSHS has proposed an $80 million cut to the state’s 39 publicly supported community mental health centers, which provide low-cost psychiatric care for poor or uninsured people.

The agency said $44 million in cuts to five psychiatric hospitals in Austin, Terrell, San Antonio, Rusk and Wichita Falls would eliminate 183 beds, or 12 percent of their total capacity. Austin State Hospital would lose 24 of its 299 beds.

Other health department programs facing cuts include Children with Special Health Care Needs, which provides money for treatment and medication for children with a variety of health problems and for people of any age who have cystic fibrosis. The program’s budget would be cut by more than $24 million.

Texas officials anticipate a $15 billion to $18 billion state budget shortfall in 2012-13. Earlier this year, Gov. Rick Perry ordered state agencies to cut 5 percent from their 2010-11 budgets and cut an additional 10 percent over the next two years.

via Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Texas/Southwest.

Two months after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion caused the oil spill now globally acknowledged as the worst environmental disaster in our nation’s history, the residents of the Gulf region immediately impacted are exhibiting dramatically high levels of anxiety, both among adults and children, about the future health and well-being of the region. Many children – and parents – still recovering from Katrina are now reeling from a second major trauma as a result of the oil catastrophe.

At a public town hall meeting today in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, Irwin Redlener, MD, the President of the Children’s Health Fund and the Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, spoke with families and children about their perceived beliefs and concerns about the impact the oil spill is having and will have on their lives and livelihoods in the region.

“We are seeing a palpable frustration among these families due to the lack of information about health risks in this region by trusted and important authorities,” said David Abramson, PhD, director of research at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Dr. Redlener added, “There is a disconnect among elected Federal and State officials and local Parish officials who don’t seem to be able to provide the answers to both long and short-term risks or issues that families need to hear right now.”

The team of public health experts and physicians that accompanied Dr. Redlener learned a number of points on the fact-finding mission, including a statement from a participant that the oil spill is far worse than the impact of Hurricane Katrina.

“Since Katrina, the Children’s Health Fund and the National Center for Disaster Preparedness have been in the Gulf providing comprehensive medical and mental health care and, importantly, surveying the long-term health and mental health issues among children as a result of the disaster,” Dr. Redlener continued. “It was revealing to learn that residents here feel that while Katrina may have destroyed their houses, they could rebuild. This disaster is creating a greater sense of permanence and finality to the community. The irrevocable damage to their communities, and health, feels very real and lasting. And that is terrifying.”

via High Levels of Anxiety Are Found Among Children and Families in The Gulf… — NEW ORLEANS, June 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –.

It’s appropriate for BP to dedicate $20 billion to an escrow fund for oil-spill claims, and I hope the fund’s independent administration will allow for quick payment of claims. Nicholas Beaudrot points out that the fund’s structure means BP has an incentive to resolve claims quickly – in contrast to the 20 years that it took ExxonMobil to pay claims related to the Valdez oil spill.

Though the process of compensating financial losses will be complicated, it’s far easier to quantify lost income than to tally the costs to Gulf residents’ mental health. The New York Times’ Mireya Navarro focuses on the feelings of hopelessness, anxiety, and depression many Gulf workers from the fishing industry experience as they’re unable to do their jobs.

Navarro notes that local estimates suggest as many as one-third of Louisiana’s 12,400 fishermen are Vietnamese; in addition to the difficulty of moving to a new country and, in some cases, losing their homes to Hurricane Katrina, they now don’t know how long it will be before they can start fishing again. Hong Le, 58, can no longer send money to his wife and children in Vietnam, and he told Navarro that he’s now “surviving on handouts after a lifetime of self-sufficiency.”

Community groups are trying to address Gulf residents’ psychological difficulties along with their financial ones.

via “From a happy guy to a zombie consumed by the oil spill” : The Pump Handle.

Since January, Michele Condorino has seen a dramatic increase in the number of young adults attending a breakfast program for Danbury’s homeless.

“Some have graduated out of the foster care system; some have graduated with a high school diploma and can’t find a job that pays enough to sustain rent in Danbury,” said Condorino, homeless services director for Catholic Charities of Fairfield County.

According to Sandy Cole, vice president of Catholic Charities of Fairfield County, the majority of the young adults have an early diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar social disorder, and many also have a substance abuse-related illness. About half of them are transitioning out of the state Department of Children and Families care system, she added.

Those who seek services beyond a daily meal “come to us needing an education, job training, housing and assistance with communicating effectively with others,” Cole said. “They have difficulties with anger management or are very depressed and suicidal.”

In early adulthood, people are more prone to developing substance abuse disorders, which can trigger depression or psychoses like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, said Dr. Charles Herrick, chairman of the psychology department at Danbury Hospital.

via Homeless young adults lack proper support in Danbury, mental health officials say – NewsTimes.

State budget planners have a daunting task. How do they save tax dollars without throwing to the wolves society’s most vulnerable?

One strategy is to invest in more programs like community mental health, which not only pays for itself and returns to the taxpayer $1 billion each year in savings, but also each year improves the quality of life for 500,000 New Jersey residents.

Thirty years ago, the state began investing in community mental health’s statewide network of community prevention and treatment programs. These programs replaced high-cost inpatient care as the treatment of choice for those with disabling mental health conditions.

By investing in community mental health programs, the state has reduced the number of public psychiatric beds from 15,000 in 1970 to roughly 2,000 in 2010. Thanks to this 87 percent reduction, the taxpayer avoided a $2 billion price tag in FY 2010 for public psychiatric beds. Instead, investing in community mental health has allowed the state to finance the entire community treatment system and remaining public psychiatric beds at a combined cost of $1 billion.

In FY 2010 alone, this provided the taxpayer a net savings of $1 billion. Now, multiply that by 20 or 30 years and we get a sense of how much has been saved over the past few decades. So, what will be the impact of the proposed cutbacks in the FY 2011 budget?

Whenever there are community mental health cutbacks, there is always the risk of increased high-cost emergency care, hospitalizations, community incidents, incarcerations, etc. Any cutback to these services is always a high-cost gamble for short-term budget savings.

Instead of cutbacks, the state should focus on applying community mental health’s cost-saving strategy to other problems. For example, we should focus on reducing the high cost of homelessness by implementing community mental health’s Housing First model throughout New Jersey, as numerous other cities and states have done.

Housing First is a triumph of common sense. It looks first to correct the homeless person’s housing problem and then address the other problems that have contributed to homelessness. Housing First programs provide housing, treatment and 24/7 support to ensure that the formerly chronically homeless stay healthy enough to be good tenants and good neighbors.

Housing First studies have shown that by providing an apartment and community treatment to the chronically homeless with mental illness, we can reduce their use of high-cost services (e.g., emergency room visits, hospitalizations, incarcerations, etc), and thereby reduce the taxpayer’s burden.

Greater Trenton Behavioral HealthCare operates the state’s first Housing First program. A consortium of government agencies, the Greater Mercer United Way and the Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness jointly funds this pilot project. Researchers from Tufts University provide program evaluation.

via Community mental health saves lives and tax dollars – NJ.com.

Tuesday, June 08th, 2010, by Emily Tseng

In the coming months, state mental health officials expect an increase in victims seeking services related to last month’s flooding.

Up to this point, they say flood victims have been too busy meeting basic needs in the immediate aftermath to pay attention to their mental health.

Debra Dillon with the Southeast Mental Health Center says that as the months go on, people will begin to feel the effects of what they’ve been through.

“They’re still having anxiety, depression, flashbacks to some of the things they’ve been through, children having nightmares about the situations, and that’s the time that they’ll start calling and wanting to come in and get into counseling and get some help in dealing with some of that.”

The state recently received a short-term grant for $380,000 to provide sixty days of educational programs; however, officials plan to apply for a long-term grant from the federal government to continue crisis counseling services throughout the year.

FEMA’s $380,000 grant was awarded to the Tennessee Recovery Project, a service whose workers provide counseling to survivors and referrals to mental health professionals, but do not diagnose or keep case files themselves. The project has established a referral hotline: 1-800-809-9957.

via Flood Victims Likely to Have Long-term Mental Health Needs – Nashville Public Radio.