New Book Provides Help For Those With Mental Illness by Raising Community Awareness

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May is Mental Health month, and what better way to observe it than to get people in your community involved by providing them with a better understanding of it.

"Mental Illness and Your Town" is the perfect solution to communicating the message of how to provide mental health services and how communities can work together to improve the situation for everyone involved. It is an idea book-37 ideas for helping communities understand people with mental disorders and provide better services for them. Some of the ideas may seem like common sense, but author Larry Hayes, long time advocate for those with mental health issues, points out the lack of coordination, understanding, and responsiveness within communities for those who suffer from such disorders. This book is for the family members, those who are mentally ill, the community, social workers, lawyers, police, doctors, nurses and anyone who may come in contact with or help someone who has a mental disorder. That means you! It means everyone. As Hayes explains, one in ten people during their lifetimes will suffer from some form of cognitive impairment. If it's not you, it will be a loved one. We can all benefit by learning as much about mental health as possible and being advocates for those who suffer.

Integral to educating people about mental illness is dispelling myths. Hayes points out that mothers do not cause mental problems in their children, although their depression may affect a child's development of it. However, it is just as likely a mother can prevent mental problems in her child. Hayes states, "Nurture mental wellness in a new mother and she then can nurture it in the child. Mom isn't the culprit. She can be a child's best therapist." Another myth to dispel is that the mentally ill cannot function in society. In fact, many can hold down jobs and those who work at least part-time feel better about themselves, appreciating the chance to feel self-reliant. If holding down a job is too difficult or frightening for someone with a disorder, the person can volunteer his services, thus still achieving self-esteem without as much pressure.

I cannot do justice in this space to all the ideas presented by Hayes-some may work for all communities, some for just certain communities, but they are a rich number of solutions to the absent or insufficient help for those with mental illness that many communities provide. Hayes describes the shortcomings of many current suicide prevention hotlines and how a community can create its own successfully. He provides advice for parents on estate planning so their adult child will be provided for after their death. Hayes advocates and explains how to recruit those with the power to recruit others, from journalists to lawyers, politicians, to judges, and the police. He provides details on creating conferences for the police, doctors and nurses about how to interact with those who suffer from mental illness. Awareness is key to understanding such disorders; Hayes provides numerous means to raise awareness from creating brochures and mental health directories to larger projects like setting up a Depression Center or a clubhouse for people who suffer to go to be themselves and gain self-esteem.

Author Larry Hayes knows what he speaks about. He is honest from the first page, speaking without shame about his own bouts with depression and his son's mental illness. Hayes was once hospitalized for six weeks for depression and he has undergone twelve shock treatments. His son has been suicidal, but with love, understanding and help from his family and community, he has functioned in society. Hayes is himself an award-winning columnist who wrote editorials in Fort Wayne's Journal Gazette for over a quarter century to provide education to people about the mentally ill. He has been involved in numerous groups, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). He was fundamental in forming the Carriage House, a highly acclaimed rehabilitation center, in creating the Suicide Prevention Council, and in starting a countywide Mental Health Coordinating Council. He also successfully lobbied Indiana University Purdue University, Fort Wayne to create the Institute for Behavior Studies.

The book concludes with a final chapter that offers guides to inventing a new system to provide treatment and resources for the mentally ill. An annotated list of resources, both books and websites, concludes the book.

Readers who know nothing about mental health issues and services will come away feeling not only more informed, but thoughtful about the people they have known with with various disorders, and they will want to learn more about this often misunderstood illness that affects everyone directly or indirectly. Those already involved in helping those with mental impairments will find fresh, well-thought out ideas to further their efforts, and finally, those who suffer will find reassurance that people do care and want to understand, and that the lines of communication have been opened wider because this book.

For more information about "Mental Illness and Your Town," Larry Hayes, and his work as an advocate for the mentally ill, visit www.communitymentalhealth.us/

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New Book Provides Women With Formula For Unstoppable Success

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Britt Santowski is the voice of the new Unstoppable Woman. Bridging the gap between women of the past and present, from women who were victims to women who are successful and empowered, Santowski uses her personal story and that of many other successful women, along with practical examples, inspirational stories, and a good dose of shrewd common sense to enlighten women about the requirements for success. "The Three Strategies of the Unstoppable Woman" is that book women have long awaited-a surefire guide to finding the required balance in life that leads both to goal-achievement and happiness.

Having experienced violence and abuse, and having seen it in the lives of the women around her, Santowski makes a strong point early in the book that while violence exists in our world, women cannot accept the role of "victim." Santowski has no problem taking on what does not work for women. While education is fine, she points out the educational system's limits, and she provides practical ways for women to determine what is the right goal, field of study, or career for them by exploring their passions and natural inclinations rather than doing what other people or society at large expects is best for them.

At the heart of "The Three Strategies of the Unstoppable Woman" is the invaluable point that women need to support one another. Santowski encourages women, once they know where they want to go in life, to collaborate with each other rather than simply envy one another. She teaches women to transform their envy into the fuel to ignite their dreams. "Envy is not a bad-news indicator that reflects something awful about you. Rather, it is a great-news indicator, telling you that you too can achieve this particular aspiration. All you have to do is to step out of your comfort zone and start moving toward it."

One of my favorite sections of "The Three Strategies of the Unstoppable Woman" was the discussion of forming mastermind groups with like-minded women. While I have heard of mastermind groups before, I appreciated Santowski's simple guidelines for creating such circles, based on her own experiences participating and forming mastermind groups. As a male reader, I felt this information and so much more in the book was directly relevant to my own desires and goals, so I did not let the book's title stop me from absorbing all the priceless information included.

Another favorite piece of advice I found was Santowski's statement that we need to change "if" to "when" in terms of what we desire. We need to assume something we want will happen and then imagine and plan for it. I especially appreciated her example in this case because she helped one of her male clients believe he would receive custody of his child, a situation that did become a "when" not an "if" and it illustrates that Santowski is understanding of men, rather than seeing them as the enemy. She makes a point of saying that she did truly believe in this particular situation that the child would be better off with the father. There is no man-bashing (or woman-bashing) in this book, but rather a sense that people can work together, regardless of sex or background, to make what they want into reality.

Throughout the book, Santowski provides "Call to Action" sections to challenge the reader toward becoming unstoppable. The end of the book is filled with several excellent appendices, not just the usual list of references, but also inspirational quotes from such women as Eleanor Roosevelt and Helen Keller. My favorite appendix is the "Famous Failures" section that illustrates how people (men included) like Walt Disney, Betty Grable, Joan of Arc, and Benjamin Franklin, might have experienced perceived failure but still succeeded. As Santowski points out, failure only really happens when you give up. Everything else is merely a setback.

So, what are the Three Strategies of the Unstoppable Woman? I'm not giving anything away by stating that they are Accountability, Collaboration, and Initiative. It's learning how to apply those strategies that makes this book worth reading. Let Britt Santowski teach you, male or female, how to become unstoppable.

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