Health Link Special
Depression and Suicide Prevention
Airs:  Thursday, September 7, 2006, 8-9pm

Depression is a serious medical illness that carries a high cost in terms of relationships, family suffering, and lost productivity.  It can strike anyone at any age.  Join host, Benita Zahn for a special 1 hour call-in edition of Health Link as we examine the causes, symptoms, and treatment of depression.  Learn about the warning signs and what you can do when someone you love suffers from depression. 

Guests:
Robert Alessi, MD
Chief Medical Officer, Four Winds Hospital

Joseph Benamati, LMSW
Joe Benamati is the Residential Treatment Facility Director at Parsons Child and Family Center.  Joe is responsible for operations, training, budget, and clinical services at a state licensed psychiatric hospital for adolescents. As a senior mental health administrator, he conducts trainings for direct care, education, and clinical staff on childhood traumatic stress, trauma-informed care, and the Sanctuary model of care.  He consults with external agencies on trauma-informed treatment and assessments and evidence-based practices.  From 2002-2005, Joe was Center Director for the Parsons Child Trauma Study Center.  During this period he coordinate a $1M SAMHSA research grant aimed at developing evidence based treatments and assessments for treating traumatized children.  He has also collaborated with other network sites around the United States in replication studies, research, and implementation plans.

Mary Jean Coleman, MSW
Mary Jean Coleman is the Upstate New York Area Director for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.  She has been active in the field of suicide since 1979 when she lost her 17-year-old brother to suicide.  Mary Jean holds a B.S.W. from Rochester Institute of Technology and an M.S.W. from the State University of New York at Albany.

For over 10 years Ms. Coleman worked as the Executive Director of a suicide prevention center.  Her work in community coalition building cultivated NYS advocacy efforts that lobbied for a federal agenda to declare suicide as a national public health problem.  As such she was a strong leader in the evolvement of the 1998 Surgeon Generals’ National Strategy: Goals and Objections for Action. 

Mary Jean is an active, founding member of both the NYS Council on Suicide Prevention and the Hudson Region Suicide Prevention Coalition, working in efforts to establish and implement the NYS Plan for Suicide Prevention.  As such, she authored the NYS Plan chapter, Suicide Survivors, in Volume 2/Approaches and Special Populations section of the Saving Lives in New York: Suicide Prevention and Public Health document.  Additionally she has recently authored the Suicide Prevention Outreach and Response Facilitator Manual for the NYS Office of Mental Health.

She is the New York State community coordinator for SPAN USA's (Suicide Prevention Action Network) survivors of suicide Lifekeepers Memory Quilts.  She is also a member of the NYS Timothy’s Law Coalition (mental health parity), the National Association of Social Workers, and is a member of SPAN USA’s Board Field Development Committee.          
 
Mary Jean is certified by the American Association of Suicidology as a Certified Crisis Worker.  She is also certified by the State University at Albany as a Field Instructor for the School of Social Welfare.  She has presented extensively on the topic of suicide and has appeared on numerous radio and television programs. 

Helena Davis, M.A., LMHC
Helena Davis is the Mental Health Association of New York State.  Helena has a Master's Degree in Counseling with a specialty in marriage, family and child counseling.  Prior to working at MHANYS, Helena was Clinical Director of Capital EAP and Family and Children's Service of Troy.  In addition, Helena has always maintained a part time private practice.  In her spare time, Helena enjoys hanging out in the Adirondacks, singing, bird watching, and spoiling her two-year-old grand daughter.

Estelle A. Giles-Monroe, LCSW
Estelle Giles-Monroe has been involved in social services since 1989, with a specialty in mental, trauma, and cultural competency in social work.  Estelle currently is working for Behavioral Health Specialists in Latham and Trauma and Addiction Recovery Associates:  A Center for Psychotherapy in Schenectady. 

As a member of the DAT, Disaster Action Team, for the American Red Cross, she provided mental health support at the WTC 9/11 disaster site in October-November 2001.  She has conducted seminars on mental health and diversity issues for local agencies in Plattsburgh, New York, where she has worked for Clinton County Mental Health since 1998.  Estelle has been the Crisis Team clinician for Champlain Valley Physician’s Hospital, the Clinton County Mental Health Adult clinical team supervisor, and the clinical coordinator for MSW interns from McGill University, Montreal and SUNY Albany, NYS.  She has lectured at the Third Annual NY MICA and Trauma Conference 2002 on “Cultural and Ethical Concerns for the African American client Living in Rural NYS”, and has co-facilitated diversity and sensitivity training seminars for enhancing the quality of mental health services for clients of diverse backgrounds and cultures.

Rachel Greco
Rachel is a consumer of mental health services who suffers from depression.  She serves as the Program and Outreach Manager at the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Nathan Naparstek, PhD
Dr. Naparstek is a Licensed Psychologist specializing in the treatment of children and adolescents at Northeast Psychological Associates.   He received his Doctorate in Educational Psychology from the State University of New York at Albany in 1988. He also received a Certificate of Specialist in School Psychology from the same University in May 1981. He is a member of both the American Psychological Association and the National School Psychological Association. He specializes in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, anxiety, learning disabilities, gifted education, family conflicts, and behavior problems. He will also see adults for issues related to attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and learning disabilities. He is the author of: “Is your child depressed: Answers to your toughest questions” published by Mcgraw Hill.

Tom O'Clair
Tom O'Clair is the Co-Chair of the Timothy’s Law Campaign.  Timothy's Law is named after Tom’s son, Timothy O'Clair, who completed suicide in 2001, seven weeks prior to his 13th birthday.  His suicide was attributed to the discrimination that he faced at the hands of his parent's insurance company, discrimination that exists throughout every private insurance plan in New York State. In order to help prevent other families from having to live through this scenario, the O'Clair family has taken on a personal crusade to change the laws as they relate to the provision of mental health and substance abuse services in private insurance plans throughout New York.  Timothy's Law is legislation that would prevent discrimination by prohibiting insurance companies from limiting coverage for mental illness and substance abuse disorders.
For more information click on this link:  http://timothyslaw.org/index.htm

Joseph M. Patterson, MS
Joe Patterson has served as the Director of Community Services for the County of Schoharie since 2002.  This title is statutory language used in NYS counties for the role of “county mental hygiene commissioner”.  In each county, the commissioner is responsible for local planning, oversight and assurance of the provision of public services.  Mr. Patterson has served as Director or as Deputy Director of Community Services in four counties in the Capital Region over his fifteen years of administrative experience. Prior to that, starting in the 1970's, he contributed over ten years to directly working with people within the public mental health system in settings ranging from hospitals, to residential settings and outpatient clinics.  He holds a Master's degree from the State University of New York in Mental Health Counseling.

Mr. Patterson has been instrumental in the collaborative development and implementation of numerous local programs and support services serving individuals with serious behavioral health needs.  He has consistently encouraged and directed the services and systems to make incremental improvements to better assist people with mental illness in their own communities.  Over the years he has worked closely with New York State partners to improve the coordination of services for people with mental illness, addictions and developmental disabilities, since these areas are overseen by different NYS agencies.  He has significant experience with the challenges of providing services in rural counties and in improving the operations of failing agencies.  Finally, he is a strong advocate of providing the highest quality public services to children, families and individuals while carefully balancing the need for financial accountability to local and state taxpayers.

Tom Qualtere, MD
Dr. Qualtere is the Director of the Psychiatric Group of Albany.  He also has a private practice in Schenectady.  Dr. Qualtere also served as past president of the New York State Psychiatric Association Capital District Branch.

J. David Seay, Esq., is Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of New York State, a 24 year old statewide grassroots mental health support, education and advocacy organization. 

Prior to joining NAMI-NYS in 2001, Mr. Seay had been Vice President, Corporate Secretary and General Counsel of the United Hospital Fund of New York; a senior executive with a major national health insurer and domestic policy staff for the Executive Office of the President of the United States in Washington, D.C. He has taught health law at various law and graduate schools, served on the boards of directors of numerous local, state and national nonprofit organizations and has published over thirty books and articles, including Mission Matters and In Sickness and in Health: The Mission of Voluntary Health Care Organizations. Mr. Seay currently co-chairs the Committee on Mental Health Issues in the Health Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and the Advisory Board of Mental Health News. He is a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and The University Club in New York City.

Mr. Seay received his BA degree from Oklahoma City University and his law degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He and his wife Anita, an artist, reside in North Chatham, Columbia County, New York.

Indra Singh, MD
Dr. Singh is an attending psychiatrist at Samaritan Hospital.  Samaritan Hospital has a dedicated geriatric psychiatry inpatient unit.  He also consults for nursing homes.  Dr. Singh has nearly 20 years of experience in the medical field. Currently, he is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in both Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry.  He has completed fellowships, including one in geriatric psychiatry at the Columbia University in NY.  He earned his degrees from Government Medical College in Jammu, India.

Gary L. Spielmann, MA, MS
Gary Spielmann is the Director of Suicide Prevention and Director of Project Management at the New York State Department of Mental Health.  From 1997-2000, Mr. Spielmann served as the Director for Planning.  He was chair of the organizing committee for the 2005 New York State Summit on Suicide Prevention.   Mr. Spielmann was the principal author of, New York State Suicide Prevention Strategy & Plan and Editor in Chief of, Saving Lives in New York:  Suicide Prevention and Public Health for the NYS Office of Mental Health & NYS Suicide Prevention Council.  

Ali Zimmerman
Ali has, herself, suffered from depression and she is now a very strong volunteer and advocate in the mental health and suicide prevention arena.  Ali is also a Board Member with the AFSP Capital Region Chapter.