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HRDI Featured in the Chicago Citizen Newspaper for National Mental Health Awareness Month
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 May Puts Focus on Mental Health by Thelma Sardin Each year, millions of Americans are affected by mental illness. May is Mental Health Month and this time raises awareness of mental health conditions and mental wellness. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), one in four adults-approximately 57.7 million Americans- experience a mental health disorder in a given year. One in 17 lives with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder and one in 10 children live with a serious mental or emotional disorder. Closer to home, in Illinois, the numbers expose a stern reality. NAMI reports out of the state’s 12.9 million citizens, close to 421,000 adults live with serious mental illness and about 142,000 children live with serious mental health conditions. In the Black community, mental illness is a taboo issue. The subject harbors a stigma among Blacks because it is misunderstood. NAMI reports that cultural biases against mental health professionals and health care professionals in general prevent many Blacks from accessing care. This is due to prior experiences with historical misdiagnoses, inadequate treatment and a lack of cultural understanding. Numbers for Black professionals in the mental health field is disheartening; 2 percent are psychiatrists, 2 percent are psychologists and 4 percent are social workers in the United States. Despite the low numbers of Black mental health care professionals, Chicago is home to two African American males who are creating change in the field– Joel K. Johnson, M.Ed. and Dr. Carl C. Bell, M.D. . Johnson is president and CEO of Human Resources Development Inc. (HRDI) and Dr. Bell is president/CEO of the Community Mental Health Council (The Council). Johnson was recently named president of HRDI after two years as the organization’s chief administrative officer. Johnson is a nationally respected child welfare expert who has worked with a host of organizations including the Child Welfare League of America and Drug Intervention Service Center. Bell has practiced psychiatry for over 35 years. In addition to his work with The Council he is also the acting director of the Institute for Juvenile Research and a professor at the Department of Psychiatry and School of Public Health at the University of Illinois School of Medicine. HRDI’s is a 37 year old organization that was founded by Dr. C. Vincent Bakeman and Doris M. Lomax. The organization’s initiatives address a host of issues including alcohol and substance abuse; youth drug prevention, mental health and alternative youth education. “We’re a community based organization so what we try and do is offer our services to people in need in hopes that through assessment and intervention, not only are [we] able to help those persons but extend our services to their entire family,” Johnson said. He added that the organization’s services are not free but its mission is to help people regardless. “We service them despite their ability to pay in hopes that by the time we’ve helped them or integrated them in our service delivery system that we’ve found a mechanism in which we can the recoup funds to serve them…we don’t want to turn anyone away.” Johnson discussed how HRDI assists its clients through its programs. “We try to find some normalcy in a person’s behavior. It’s important because if it’s left untreated it gets worse and a person is not able to function in society,” he said. He added that people who are dealing with mental stresses and illness can pose a risk to themselves and others. “These are the people that could potentially commit suicide or commit crimes or abuse of others,” he said. Johnson concluded by saying, “it is important that these stresses are dealt with [and] that behavioral health issues are assessed and treated through therapy and other interventions to allow people to live a normal life.” There are several societal factors that lead to mental health disparities in communities of color. Bell says that Blacks tend to live in neighborhoods that have poorer community services which can lead to more criminal activity. “Black people tend to be the ones that get arrested for criminal [activities] such as drug use. There is also evidence that drug use can trigger serious mental illness,” he said. Bell also said that African Americans have fewer opportunities for mental illness treatment. He added that high incarceration rates are also another factor for such disparities. “We end up in corrections though we do probably do the same sort of stuff that other people do. We’re all concentrated in one place and it is easier for the police to hunt us and catch us. We’re the ones that end up being body slammed.” NAMI reported that nearly half of all prisoners in the United States are African American. Prisoners are at a higher risk of developing a mental illness. The stigma around seeking mental health care in the Black community stems from embarrassment. Bell says most Black do not seek psychiatric or psychological help because of preconceived notions. Blacks are already stereotyped as the drugs addicts, ex-convicts and criminals and they do not want to be labeled. Instead, Blacks will often seek help from clergy family members or a primary care physician but Bell says this is the wrong approach. “Ministers, family physicians and family members don’t have a lot of experience with psychiatric illness,” he said. NAMI reported that African Americans tend to rely on family, religious and social communities for emotional support rather than turning to health care professionals. When it comes to mental health, Blacks are less likely to receive accurate diagnoses than their white counterparts. Bell believes African Americans must not simply accept labels for mental health issues but begin to seek positivity within the community, “…we need to shift away from what’s wrong with us mentally, psychologically and psychiatrically and we need to focus equally if not more so on what’s ‘strong’ with us.” For more information about Mental Health Month please log on to: www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/may
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Vivian E. Summers School's Students and Staff Give Back to the Community of Roseland
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April 28th was truly a day of giving back for the students and staff of HRDI's Vivian E. Summers Preparatory School. Partnering with the City of Chicago, students and staff gave away free food baskets to residents of the historic south side community of Roseland. The baskets included canned goods, fresh vegetables and much more.
HRDI -On the Move, Making a Difference
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HRDI Former Client Featured on A & E
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HRDI Former Client
Featured in A & E News Documentary
"Intervention In-Depth: Heroin Highway"
In February 2011, HRDI was selected to participate in a news documentary on the growing incidence of heroin use in the city of Chicago and surrounding suburbs. One of the ladies who resided in the HRDI Essence House Residential Program, Kesha, was selected to share both her road to using heroin and its destructive impact on her life and her challenges in recovery. Monday, April 18, 2011, Kesha's story was featured and depicted her life now as a woman who's newly sober, but dealing with the wreckage that years of addiction have caused. For more information about viewing this program please click here: Heroin Highway Inquiry.
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A Message from the Board of Directors
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A Message From Mark V. Tillman, JD
HRDI Chairman of the Board
On behalf of the Human Resources Development Institute, Inc. (HRDI), Board of Directors, I would like to inform you that as of April 15, 2011, the Board of Directors has appointed Mr. Joel K. Johnson, M.Ed., as the President and CEO of HRDI. As you know, Mr. Johnson previously held the key position of Chief Administrative Officer within our organization from April 2009 to April 2011, and we are pleased that we have chosen one of our own to work with us in this capacity and lead HRDI into its bright future. We chose Mr. Johnson not just because of the excellent work he has done in his role as Chief Administrative Officer, but because he is also a nationally respected leader in human services and child welfare.
I hope you will join me and the Board in welcoming Mr. Joel K. Johnson as our President and CEO.
Thank you for your continued loyalty as a supporter of the HRDI Family. We will continue to remain strong and provide services that best meet the needs of our clients and our communities.
Sincerely,
Mark V. Tillman, JD
Chairman
HRDI Board of Directors
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National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and National Condom Month
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HRDI has once again demonstrated the agency’s commitment to meeting the most urgent needs of the clients we serve, through activities marking National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (recognized this year on February 7) and National Condom Month.
On Thursday, February 10, HRDI’s Division for Community Health hosted an HIV/AIDS Condom Awareness program for clients at 33 E.114th Street. This event included individual testimonies, education materials, and free condoms. Meanwhile, HRDI’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention specialist visited the Harlan, Fenger, Julian and Corliss High Schools, to give out condoms and information on preventing STD transmission to Chicago students.
These activities represent only a small part of HRDI’s response to the urgent need for HIV/AIDS prevention in the African-American community and the City of Chicago. HRDI currently operates four programs in Chicago targeting clients either at risk of HIV infection or living with HIV/AIDS: an HIV Counseling and Testing program for substance abuse treatment clients; the Minority AIDS Initiative, serving HIV-positive clients with substance abuse disorders in a residential setting; the Ryan White Substance Abuse Program, serving HIV-positive clients undergoing methadone maintenance; and Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA), which provides housing advocacy and resources.
According to the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention’s 2008 Profile for Illinois, 49.5% of Reported AIDS Cases through 2007 were African-Americans. Illinois ranked 7th highest among the 50 states in cumulative reported AIDS cases. In 2006, in studies compiled by the American Social Health Association, both Black men and women had the highest HIV death rates per 100,000, ages 25-34 and 35-44, while HIV was the fourth leading cause of death for Black men and third leading cause of death for Black women, ages 25-44.
HRDI urges everyone to be informed, educated and involved to help prevent teen pregnancies, STDs, and HIV/AIDS.
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HRDI Programs Reaccredited by CARF & COA
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The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) has announced that the following HRDI programs have been accredited for a period of three years through October 2012: Opioid Treatment Programs • BRASS I • BRASS II • Southwest Central Mental Health Programs• Assertive Community Treatment: Mental Health (Adults) • Case Management / Services Coordination: Mental Health (Adults) • Community Housing Mental Health (Adults) • Community Integration: Psychosocial Rehabilitation (Adults) • Outpatient Treatment Integrated AOD/MH (Adult) • Outpatient Treatment Integrated: AOD/MH (Children and Adolescents) CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative assessment process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served. Founded in 1966, CARF establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs. This decision represents the highest level of accreditation that can be awarded to an organization and shows HRDI's substantial conformance to the CARF standards. An organization receiving a Three-Year Accreditation has put itself through a rigorous peer review process and has demonstrated to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit that its programs and services are of the highest quality, measurable, and accountable.
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HRDI Reaccredited by the Council on Accreditation
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HRDI is proud to announce our reaccreditation by the Council on Accreditation (COA)! COA is an independent, not-for-profit, international body that was founded in 1977 and accredits a wide range of community-based behavioral health care and human service organizations. Over 1800 public and private organizations, serving over seven million people, are either accredited by COA or in the process of seeking accreditation. COA undertook a detailed review and analysis of HRDI’s administrative operations and service delivery practices in 2009. COA rigorously measured HRDI's work against standards that are based on national best practices. These standards are designed to ensure that services are accessible, culturally responsive, evidence-based, respectful to the people served, and provided by a skilled workforce (among other requirements). The renewal of HRDI's COA accreditation represents a vote of confidence for the credibility, integrity, and achievement of the entire organization. You can read COA's own press release congratulating HRDI for our reaccreditation here.
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