Mentally Healthy Nation

Climate change poses a clear threat to public health, including mental health, and people with mental health disorders are disproportionately impacted. In this episode, psychiatrist Dr. Robin Cooper joins us to discuss how experiencing these types of events can cause significant stress and distress for many and what we can do to address our climate and mental health crisis.

Dr. Robin Cooper, Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, has been in private practice psychiatry in San Francisco, California for nearly 40 years and is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California San Francisco. She is the co-founder and President of Climate Psychiatry Alliance, a national group dedicated to understanding, advocating, and educating the profession and the public about the urgent risks of our climate crisis and its impacts on mental health.

• Climate Psychiatry Alliance
• Surviving Extreme Heat Toolkit
• Medical Societies Consortium on Climate and Health
• Climate Change and Mental Health Connections | APA
• How Climate Change Impacts Your Mental Health | APA
• APA Blog: Kids and Climate Change
• Children’s books:
  • Fur and Feathers Stand Together
  • Coco’s Fire: Changing Climate Anxiety into Climate Action

For a transcript of this episode, visit: https://apafdn.org/news-events/mentally-healthy-nation-podcast/climate-change-and-mental-health

Central State Hospital (CSH) opened in 1870 in Petersburg, Va., and was the first state hospital in the United States exclusively for African Americans. Rather than integrate its two existing asylums, Virginia’s governor signed legislation to house all “insane” Black people in a former Confederate hospital. The hospital remained segregated until 1968 when federal law required integration of health care facilities.

Throughout its history, the underfunded hospital's staff, patients, and their families often did not receive the care or respect they deserved. Dr. Olivia Garland was one of the first directors of the hospital to make significant improvements to change that. On this episode, she joins us to talk about that journey.

Olivia Garland, Ph.D., served as Director of CSH from 1985 to 1991. During her tenure, the facility regained its accreditation, secured funding to have all patient living areas air-conditioned, and established a residency program with Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia.

Learn more about CSH: https://legacy.psychiatry.org/Historic-Highlights/Exhibitions

For a transcript of this episode, visit: https://apafdn.org/news-events/mentally-healthy-nation-podcast/standardizing-care-for-the-forgotten

Check out the rest of our podcast family at psychiatry.org/podcasts

Inequities within school policies, practices, and procedures can have negative effects on students' mental health and overall life path. On today's episode, our experts talk about Zero Tolerance Policies, which disproportionately affect Black and Brown students and those with mental health conditions. So, is it time for us to come up with a better solution? Listen today as Michael K Fauntroy, Ph.D., Associate Professor & Founding Director of the Race, Politics, and Policy Center at George Mason University and Regina James, MD, Chief of the Division of Diversity & Health Equity and Deputy Medical Director of the American Psychiatric Association discuss this topic.

For a transcript of this episode, visit: https://apafdn.org/news-events/mentally-healthy-nation-podcast/is-it-time-to-rethink-zero-tolerance-policies-in-s

On this episode, we are joined by Dr. Michael Champion and Judge Steven Leifman to talk about how judges and psychiatrists can work together to combat the over-incarceration of community members with mental illness.

Resources:

• People with Mental Illness in the Criminal Justice System
• Judges and Psychiatrists Leadership Initiative
• Mental Health Professionals' Guide to Their Role in the Criminal Justice System
• Just and Well: Rethinking How States Approach Competency to Stand Trial

For a transcript of this episode, visit: https://apafdn.org/news-events/mentally-healthy-nation-podcast/judges-and-psychiatrists-decriminalizing-mental-il

While college is often reflected on as a great time in people's lives, that experience was never without stress and anxiety. However, over the past two years, issues that college students normally face have been exacerbated by the uncertainty and grief associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, societal reckonings, and racial and political tensions. So, how are college students doing these days?

Joining us today are two psychiatrists working on college campuses, Dr. Ludmila De Faria and Dr. Meera Menon. They give us insight into college mental health, how the pandemic and other issues have impacted students' experiences and access to services, and provide tips for families and loved ones to better support their students' mental health.

Ludmila De Faria, MD is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida where she also sees patients. Dr. De Faria has been a psychiatrist in Florida for over 15 years and is especially interested in increasing access and decreasing mental health disparities among minorities and providing a culturally sensitive environment for patients. She is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and an active member of the APA's Council on Children, Adolescents, and Their Families. Dr. De Faria was born in Brazil where she earned her medical degree from the Universidade de Brasilia and moved to the United States in 1991 to complete medical training at Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami.

Meera Menon, MD is a psychiatrist at Ohio State University’s Counseling and Consultation Service. At Ohio State, Dr. Menon is involved in the Eating Concerns Consultation Team, the Transgender Advocacy Team, and the Training Committee. In addition to also being an active member of the APA's Council on Children, Adolescents, and Their Families, she serves as Chair of the APA Caucus on College Mental Health and Secretary of the Association for College Psychiatry. Dr. Menon earned her medical degree from Wright State University where she also completed her psychiatry residency.

Resources for this episode:

• College Psychiatry: Strategies to Improve Access to Mental Health, featuring Dr. De Faria and edited by Dr. Menon and Michelle Riba MD.
• Guides to support policy decisions on college mental health
• The Campus Cure: A Parent's Guide to Mental Health and Wellness for College Students
• The Stressed Years of Their Lives: Helping Your Kid Survive and Thrive During Their College Years
• APA Foundation resources for parents and Notice. Talk. Act. at School

Check out the rest of our podcast family at psychiatry.org/podcasts

For a transcript of this episode, visit: https://apafdn.org/news-events/mentally-healthy-nation-podcast/how-are-college-students-doing