Wellness Today
Fair To Promote Mental Wellness
The Mental Health Association of Santa Barbara will host the 17th annual Mental Health Arts Festival this weekend to encourage discourse about mental illness in the community and provide those affected with a platform for expression.
The festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 2 at De la Guerra Plaza downtown. The event will feature artwork, crafts, paintings, sculptures, jewelry and music created by local people affected by mental illnesses.
According to Annmarie Cameron, executive director of the Mental Health Association in Santa Barbara County, the festival is intended to eradicate social stigmas surrounding mental illness.
“Stigma is a major barrier to people seeking help with their mental illness when they need it, and that is why education is so important,” Cameron said. “The Mental Health Arts Festival not only helps raise awareness, but it also gives our participants a time to creatively express themselves in unique and beautiful ways and to share that directly with our community.”
The Mental Health Association is a nonprofit, private organization that provides housing and support for persons with severe mental illnesses. The group receives approximately 1,000 calls every year from individuals seeking mental health resources.
The festival attracts hundreds of people each year and advertises the Mental Health Association’s resources, such as the Family Advocate Program, Recovery Learning Center and housing opportunities.
The Recovery Learning Center at the Fellowship Club is the only rehabilitation and social center for people with mental illnesses in Santa Barbara, providing a space for peer-to-peer support, resources and craft spaces. Many of the people that frequent the club will have their art featured at this weekend’s festival.
“We are proud to host an event filled with self-expression and creation that provides people in our community living with mental illness with a feeling of accomplishment and a means for healing,” Cameron said.
N.C. Health Plan Selects ActiveHealth for Wellness Initiative
North Carolina’s State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employees, headquartered in Durham, N.C., has selected New York-based ActiveHealth Management to provide disease management, case management and wellness services for its members beginning January 1.
ActiveHealth’s CareEngine system will power the disease management and wellness programs for the plan’s NC HealthSmart initiative. ActiveHealth will work with provider groups and networks across the state to integrate a patient-centered medical home model of care for members. Providers and groups that engage in the PCMH model will have access to a set of online tools through Active CareTeam — they will be able to access patient information, including data from electronic medical records, lab tests, clinical alerts and pharmacy data, and communicate with other clinicians on a member’s care team.
“Improving the quality of health for our members requires change on an individual level and throughout the health care delivery system,” Jack W. Walker, PhD, executive administrator for the plan, says in a statement. “ActiveHealth will help drive our transformation, supporting and empowering physicians who are offering or are interested in implementing a community-based PCMH model. This includes the delivery of case management and disease management services through the practices.”