• Impact of global and national crises on people with severe mental illness

      Abi Zeid Daou, Margarita; Halbreich, Uriel; Geller, Jeffrey L. (2020-12-16)
      As experts in disaster mental health push to reframe disaster response as a preventive medicine rather than its actual state of acute management, various factors should be considered. Although a whole population may be victim to the effects of disasters, particularly vulnerable are those with severe mental illness. Therefore, efforts geared to bolster trauma response should centre on these individuals, starting at a community level and reaching organisational and governmental endeavours and funding.
    • Incorporating Tobacco Cessation with Health Promotion Activities in a Psychosocial Rehabilitation Clubhouse

      McKay, Colleen E.; Seward, Gregory; Ziedonis, Douglas M. (2008-01-01)
      Many people with Severe Mental Illness (SMI) use smoking to manage symptoms, stress, or increase social contact, and consume nearly half of all tobacco sold in the US. Compared with the general population, individuals with SMI are at greater risk of co-morbid health problems and premature death. Often individuals with SMI are unaware that services like Quitlines, Nicotine Anonymous (NIC-A) meetings, and/or NRT exist. To compound matters, many states (e.g. Massachusetts) have cut tobacco cessation funding, and few programs provide integrated approaches to tobacco cessation in mental health settings that include peer supports. The lack of services and large disparities in smoking rates and health outcomes in people with SMI have resulted in a national crisis. There is a need to implement and evaluate cost-effective interventions that attempt to decrease morbidity and mortality associated with tobacco use among people with SMI. Our efforts engage this population in integrating a manualized tobacco control intervention, “Learning About Healthy Living” (LAHL) and training in use of Breath Carbon Monoxide (CO Meters) to track the progress of tobacco use among members and staff in the Clubhouse Model. Our project joins experts in tobacco dependence treatment for adults with SMI from UMass with leaders in the Clubhouse Model from Genesis Club in Worcester, MA.