(Submitted by the National Association on Mental Illness Wood County)
Trauma is at the root of many emotional, psychiatric, and social problems. According to a recent study, survivors of trauma are fifteen times more likely than the general population to attempt suicide, four times more likely to become alcoholic, four times more likely to inject drugs, and three times more likely to experience depression.
“Trauma survivors represent nearly eighty percent of clients at mental health clinics,” according to the same study (Breslau and Kessler, Biological Psychiatry, Issue 50, 2001.) Trauma is defined as “an occurrence wherein an individual sees or experiences a risk to their life or physical safety, or that of other people, and feels terror, fear, or helplessness” (Psychology Dictionary.org.) Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is common among military veterans (The U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports that around eleven to twenty of every 100 Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans suffer with PTSD, for example.)
With these facts in mind, NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Wood County is focusing on trauma at its spring mental health conference mini-series. Series sessions will take place at three locations in Wood County. There will be a nominal fee for each session, and CEUs for counselors, social workers, and marriage and family therapists are pending.
On May 31 from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Wood County Public Library, Candice Schmitt, LISW, will address trauma-informed care and dementia. Candice is a family therapist in the University of Toledo Medical Center’s Senior Behavioral Health Program, and has been an instructor at Defiance College.
Pam Hayes, founder and president of Arms Forces, a veterans’ services organization in Maumee, will talk about Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and military service at the Rossford Public Library on June 7 from 6 to 8 p.m. Herself a severe traumatic brain injury survivor, Pam has trained and presented to the Department of Defense, Veteran Service Officers, AMVETS, and Vietnam Veterans of America, and other organizations. She is also a print and online journalist.
On June 14 from 6 to 8 p.m., at a southern Wood County location still to be determined, Laura Fullenkamp, PC-CR, will present on trauma and the criminal justice system. Currently an instructor in BGSU’s College of Health and Human Services, Laura has also been Criminal Justice Liaison at Family Service of Northwest Ohio.
NAMI Wood County presents a mental health conference each spring, in addition to many other free courses and support groups. One of over 1,200 affiliates nationwide, NAMI Wood County has provided support, education, and advocacy for families affected by mental illness since 1987.
