Again, thank you for listening over the past six months. This site will be removed from libsyn within the next week or so. My audience never really grew beyond 60+ listeners per week; therefore, it's time for me to move on to other ventures. I'm not sure if there's another podcast out there like G News Central Podcast....hopefully, there is because I really felt this one filled a void for counselors--especially those working in a school setting. To everyone, I wish you good mental health!

The Final Show
I'd like to thank everyone for the support these past six months. I'm sad to say good-bye, but the podcast never really took off as I hope it would so, for now, it's time for me to bid adieu. Again, thanks to all of my long-term listeners for staying subscribed! I really do appreciate it. (It meant the world to me.) Until we meet again, I bid you good mental health.

United Press International: Long thought to fly above children's air space, psychiatric conditions such as depression have only in recent years started appearing on the pediatric radar. Anxiety disorders are now estimated to affect 13 in 100 children and adolescents ages 9 to 17, about half of whom also experience a second mental or behavioral ailment, such as social phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder or depression. Others may suffer a co-existing physical malady that commands -- and confounds -- treatment, according to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

WWAY Channel 3 (Wilmington, NC): A volunteer hospital chaplain says he thinks there is a need for counseling of pet owners when their dogs and cats are being treated at the N.C. State University vet school clinic. Robert Gierka is a publications manager at N.C. State and wants to be a full-time chaplain at the vet school. The chaplain says pet owners view their pets as family members and suffer the same grief as people do when members of their human family are sick or dying. Michael Davidson is director of veterinary medical services at the school and is working to help secure grant money to pay for the chaplain's post.

Lawrence Journal World (Lawrence, KS): When a Lawrence public school student is suicidal, depressed because parents are fighting, or burdened with other weighty problems, a counselor is on hand to help. "Lawrence isn’t Lake Wobegon," said Charlie Kuszmaul, a program coordinator for Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, referring to the fictional locale where all children are above average. "We like to think it is, but it isn’t." But the money that funded the counseling program, which many consider essential to Lawrence schools, is drying up. "We need to come up with an alternate source of funding. If we don’t, the program will end or be reduced to a fraction of what it is now," Kuszmaul said. "I don’t know what we’d do without WRAP," said Carol Souders, a seventh-grade English teacher at Central Junior High. "I send kids to our WRAP worker all the time because they have issues I can’t handle," she said. "I have my hands full being a teacher. I’m not a social worker." To continue, WRAP needs about $800,000 annually. "It’ll go up on the big board with a lot of other things," said Lawrence public schools Supt. Randy Weseman. "It’ll all come down to setting priorities."
[Personal commentary: My hope is that their priorities will be the children, and that the WRAP program will receiving the needed funding.

Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, OH): The jobs of 11 teachers, 30 instructional aides, 21 kindergarten aides and 6 K-6 school counselors could be eliminated if the Milford School District loses its 7.9-mill levy vote in May. Superintendent John Frye outlined $4.2 million in proposed budget cuts for the 2006-07 school year at Thursday's school board meeting. The district's total budget is $52.8 million. More than 60 percent of the cuts would come from personnel. The district doesn't plan to lay off teachers, but would not fill 11 positions vacated by retirements and resignations. The district already made $2.2 million in cuts this year. "We did an awful lot of the non-personnel items to preserve the classroom as we know it," Frye said of this year's cuts. "If the levy fails, we're really going to get into what has made us successful in Milford, and that is our instructional support staff." [Personal comment: GET THIS! They plan to reassign the counselors "...to teaching positions that became vacant because of resignations or retirements..." because, of course, the job of a counselor = the job of a teacher and besides...the kids don't really need the counselors! I'm kidding, of course. We counselors always find ourselves on the chopping block, not matter what state at which you look. Yet, when a crisis occurs they wonder what to do and what could have been done? Well....for starters, stop cutting counselors and allows us to do what we're meant to do: prevention education in the classroom.]

Show Notes:
In Robeson County, grade are in but they're not lookin' so good....stick around to hear what I mean. And overseas in England, mental health service cuts are a buzz. Back here in the U.S., Petaluma, CA, residents are celebrating mentoring in a BIG way!
Bookmark of the Week
Tonight's closing music: The Core, Mobius Triplet

Minnesota Public Radio (Saint Paul, MN): Long before the Burnsville, MN killing, people began talking about how to respond to the litany of complaints aimed at the mental health care system. The complaints from patients and their advocates include long waits for treatment, not being believed when they describe symptoms, and confusing bureaucracies that control access to services. Many inside the system agree--and add their own criticisms that government and health insurance company reimbursement payments don't cover treatment costs. They also say that housing and jobs programs for people with mental illness are underfunded, and too many people still view mental illness as a character flaw rather than a disease. The criticisms have risen to a crescendo that has caught the attention of elected officials. When Minnesota lawmakers return to the Capitol in March, they'll be asked to make reforms.

Belleville News-Democrat (Belleville, IL): School District 189 Superintendent Theresa Saunders, concerned about the deaths of three boys in less than two weeks, announced Wednesday the district is revamping its counseling program. While believing the deaths are "a very tragic blip" and not a trend, Saunders said the district will press ahead this month with previously planned staff training on counseling students about how to handle bullies and "making the right decisions." Two of the boys died by hanging and one was shot to death. In the latest case, Jeffrey Chairs, 14, was identified as the victim found hanging from a bunk bed Tuesday night. St. Clair County Coroner called Jeffrey's death an apparent suicide. "If a child is depressed, we have to know how to work with that child to help them understand what to do," Saunders said. "If they don't have the money or the toy that another child has, we have to teach them that it's OK. We have counselors, social workers and psychologists on staff to work with students, but, we have not had a very coordinated effort," she said. "We didn't have any real structure so everybody would know what they need to do, where to do it and how to do it with everybody knowing what the result would be."
[Personal commentary: How can you NOT have a system in place where everybody knows what's going on, what their role is, what to do, etc? It sounds like chaos to me. It sounds like an overhaul of the system IS in order.

Petaluma Argus-Courier (Petaluma, CA): Middle-school and high-school students are among the most active users of the Internet, as well as the most likely to put themselves in harm's way. "Teens see themselves as invincible, so safety concerns don't cross their radar," said Nancy Sieck, library media teacher at Petaluma High School. A recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project showed that 87 percent of young people aged 12 to 17 use the Internet, and that more than half of them create online content which often includes personal information. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention reported that between 2004 and 2005, its national Internet Crimes Against Children program saw an 84 percent rise in complaints that predators enticed minors on-line or traveled to meet them. Parents, teachers and librarians (and some school counselors) are among those attempting to teach children safe online practices, but many people feel that not nearly enough is being done to successfully address the escalating problem. Students should be given guidance in fourth or fifth grade, and by the time they reach middle school, they should have developed a sense of responsibility and the knowledge that what they put on the Internet goes out to people they're unaware of.
[Personal commentary: When I was at the elementary level, having a unit on internet safety was part of my classroom guidance, and it should be a part of your classroom guidance if you're at the elementary level because kids are way too technically savvy by the time they reach us at the middle school. Prepare them before they get to us, please.]

WHAS-TV (Louisville, KY): MySpace.com is wildly popular. It started up back in January of 2004 and now claims more than 47 million registered users. But some local schools are sending home notes telling parents beware. “Think about it -- there are predators out there. And we're putting children in harm's way. Why would we do that?� Tom Robbins is the director of counseling for Louisville’s Catholic schools and says M ySpace.com should be off limits to anyone under 18. “You give identifying information. And it's surprising how many do it. Pictures, addresses, school information, phone numbers,� he says. The web site clearly says if you're under 14, MySpace is no place for you. But as Tom Robbins points out, online, there's no way to tell if you are how old you say you are. He suggests keeping home computers in a family area where everyone has access, and if you allow your child to have a MySpace.com account, monitor it regularly.

AP Wire (Louisville, KY) Facing tight budgets and pressures to raise test scores, school districts are giving counselors more administrative duties and less time to meet students' social and emotional needs, some counselors say. In high school, for example, counselors often must work on class schedules, financial aid, college applications, testing, grading and education plans, and also must help with limited-English and special-education students. Some also monitor lunchrooms, help sick students and follow up on attendance problems. In between, they must find time to counsel students dealing with a myriad of problems such as divorce, eating disorders, family deaths, pregnancies and abuse. "Who suffers? Many times, it's the student," said Charles Patton, president of the Kentucky School Counselor Association. "We can't see them all." Jade Maddox, a Russell counselor and president-elect of the state counseling association, said Kentucky counselors are "doing bus duties, clerical work, calculating grade-point averages, doing discipline, following up on absences and completing registrations. It takes away from the children." According to Paula Wolf, a parent who heads the Jefferson County PTA, "They can't do everything ... you spread somebody too thin, they can't do anything well."

Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL): One-fifth of students got some type of school-supported mental health services during the year, according to a study billed as the first national look at school system responses to mental health issues. Researchers with the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) also found that 87 percent of the nation's public elementary, middle and high schools said they had made mental health services available to all students. Researchers say more schools are paying closer attention to children's mental health and early intervention services. Yet funding for such services is either static or dwindling even as the demand increases. The lack of insurance coverage for mental illness, along with a shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists--especially in rural communities and impoverished urban areas--is a big part of the problem, child advocates say.

Show Notes:
There's a major shake-up of the counseling program in Portland, OR. And in Brunswick, GA, the State is being accused of neglect of the mentally ill. Plus, a list of ten issues affecting children is released....what are they? Stick around.
Bookmark of the week
Tonight's closing music: Hungry Lucy, Shine

CBS 4 News (Pompano Beach, FL): A Broward County 5th grader was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery after he walked into a meeting with his principal, asked if the meeting was about him, and then punched a child who was there with his mother. The meeting was about problems between the two children. Broward Sheriff’s Office confirmed the arrest, and said it was made by school police officers after the punch was thrown. The incident happened at Pompano Elementary School, after Jocelyn Bruning said she and her son attended a meeting with the principal about ongoing problems between the two children. BSO says the child who threw the punch has received in-school counseling, and was also involved in an incident where he allegedly hit another child, an act which caused the school to send the 11 year old boy home with his parents. Bruning is upset that the child, whose name is not being released, was allowed to remain in classes despite acts of violence and disobedience.

Bainbridge Island Review (Bainbridge, WA): Bainbridge High School becomes the first school in Kitsap County to offer TeenScreen, a program designed to help prevent suicides and identify other mental health concerns in teens. “Leigh Manheim’s insistence and the support of the school board, the high school, Kitsap health district and Kitsap Mental Health made this possible,� said Clayton Mork, assistant superintendent of Instructional Support Services for the Bainbridge Island School District. TeenScreen is a voluntary survey that indicates “the likelihood that a teen is at risk for suicide or may be suffering from another mental disorder,� said Kelly Chatwood, whose position as the Kitsap County Health District’s Suicide Prevention Coordinator was established by Dr. Scott Lindquist, Kitsap Health District director. The process was explained to all the students, who also were told their parents might be informed of the results. Parents had to consent to their students’ participation and the students had to agree as well.

Jackson Hole Star-Tribune (Casper, WY): Advocates for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled said Tuesday that a federal judge's order clarifying procedures for investigating alleged abuse is a landmark decision that will help patients nationwide. The order and an accompanying settlement agreement will allow Wyoming Protection and Advocacy System Inc. unaccompanied, reasonable access to the Wyoming State Hospital and Wyoming State Training School when the group believes abuse or neglect has occurred or may occur. The judge ruled that patient privacy laws such as HIPAA and the Medicaid Act do not bar the State Hospital in Evanston or the State Training School in Lander from disclosing health information to Protection and Advocacy, a federally funded nonprofit group authorized by Congress to monitor treatment of mental health patients in all 50 states. Under the agreement, Protection and Advocacy must be allowed unaccompanied access to the State Hospital and State Training School and need not provide advance notice when it has probable cause to believe that abuse or neglect has occurred or might occur.

Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA): Saying street violence is everyone's problem, the incoming board of supervisors chairman, John Gioia, is calling for a many-pronged attack on the poverty, abuse and despair that spawns it. Gioia says part of his mission is to convince residents of its leafy suburbs as well as urban flatlands that crime prevention is their responsibility. According to an advance copy of today's speech, Gioia plans to "aggressively leverage" state, federal, foundation and private grants to curb violent crime, partnering with cities, school districts and other agencies. Other elements of his proposal include: (1) Expanding Welcome Home Baby, a child-abuse prevention program, from 700 new mothers a year to more than 1,200, (2) Increasing early intervention mental health services in the Community Services Department Head Start preschool program and (3) Using Proposition 63 "early intervention and prevention" mental health funds to expand school-based mental health services to at-risk youths. Gioia says studies have shown such programs reduce drug use, violence, truancy, school dropout and teen pregnancy while improving school performance and emotional health among youth.

Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN): American Indians die at a rate nearly 50 percent higher than the national average for people their age, according to the U.S. Indian Health Service. There are many reasons for the deaths - accidents, suicides, chronic diseases, poverty and a lack of adequate and culturally sensitive medical care. American Indians make up 2.8 percent of the U.S. population, according to the 2000 census. But only 0.3 percent of students in the nation's medical schools in 2000 were American Indians. "Having well-trained Indian doctors go back to their communities can make a real difference," said Indian Health Service spokesman Leo Nolan. The University of Minnesota's Center of American Indian and Minority Health is working to make that difference. The center recruits American Indian students and helps them through the university's medical schools in Duluth and Minneapolis. The Minnesota center begins its recruiting efforts in middle school with programs designed to keep students interested in education and attract them to scientific fields.

All Headline News (Baltimore, MD): [Recent development from a story originally appearing on August 14, 2005 posting and featured in Podcast #2]: A federal judge says Baltimore city school officials could face penalties for contempt if they continue failing to provide special education services. According to the court order given by U. S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis, about 9,000 students were supposed to receive such services as speech therapy and counseling last school year, but an effort to make up the work during the summer helped only 300. Judge Garbis is presiding over a 1984 lawsuit that alleges the city and state have failed to adequately educate students with disabilities as mandated by federal law. Baltimore Governor Robert Ehrlich said he is outraged at the mounting legal fees over the lawsuit. However, school board chairman Brian Morris said politicians were "grandstanding" over the issue saying, "We're not going to run this school system based on some politicians' polling data."

Show Notes:
In Vermont, what do impending cuts mean for the Meadows Education Center? And in Fort Lauderdale, it's all about innovation and thinking outside the box when it comes to helping children. Finally, what are the long-term effects on children of physically-abused mothers? Stay tuned for those stories PLUS this week's bookmark of the week!
Tonight's closing music: Blue Arc Quartet, The Thang

I'd like to thank everyone for taking a few minutes and heading over to Podcast Alley and voting for G News Central Podcast. Currently, the show is listed at #31 out of 460 shows in the category of Education! Thank you! This show is nothing without your continued support, and just to be at #31 means a lot to me. Thank you.

Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL): Harvard Medical School plans to ask a large group of Hurricane Katrina survivors to provide ongoing feedback to policymakers directing the Gulf Coast recovery effort. The ambitious effort, known as the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group Initiative, is to begin next week. "What we're asking survivors is `You tell us what's important. You tell us what would make the most difference in your lives, and what policymakers' priorities should be,'" said Dr. Ronald Kessler, a professor of health care policy at Harvard who is directing the initiative. Some 2,000 hurricane survivors are being recruited for the study, which will last at least two years and involve regular updates every three months. Half will come from the New Orleans area; the rest will represent other regions affected by the storm. The mental and physical health of hurricane survivors will be a major focus. Recent reports indicate that suicides, anxiety and substance abuse may be on the rise as survivors find themselves unable to adapt to the extent of their losses and ongoing uncertainties about how to reconstruct their lives. If anything, "the level of anxiety is increasing, not decreasing," said Anthony Speier, director of disaster mental health operations for Louisiana's Office of Mental Health. In a reverse of typical academic procedures, results will be posted on the Internet as soon as they become available. Publication in academic journals will follow later. The first set of findings is expected by the end of February.

King County Press Release (Seattle, WA): Hundreds of men and women across King County will be unable to get needed mental health services because of funding allocation decisions made by the state last year that seriously reduces King County's allotment. Those decisions dramatically reduce funding for King County's already strained mental health system, while redirecting those funds in some cases to counties where they are not needed. The impact of the cuts is expected to be severe. As of January 1, 2006, King County has been forced to close the door to mental health services for low-income individuals who are not covered by Medicaid. Those cutbacks in service could be reversed if the state approves an emergency budget supplemental appropriation of $7.4 million in the opening days of the upcoming 2006 session.

NorthJersey.com (Hackensack, NJ): FLIP, Future Lives Initiative Program, opened its doors in January 2002. Now under new management, FLIP includes Tony Montanez as director. Montanez, who has a background in psychology, leads a team of counselors, mentors, social workers and volunteers who have a passion for working with youth. FLIP is one of only two programs in the county that provide alternatives to incarceration for youth, according to Montanez. About 10 of 40 youths have graduated from FLIP in the past four years. Six youths are currently entering the aftercare part of the program. Archie Burrell is the senior youth mentor at FLIP. This past Tuesday, he led a life skills workshop on cultural sensitivity, part of a highly structured daily schedule for FLIP participants. "The biggest challenge for these kids is not to get locked up again," Burrell said. He said FLIP provides an extended family for the youth. "This program is run 8 to 7 o'clock physically." But their work doesn't end when the day is over. He said mentors routinely get calls from the kids. Besides life skills, FLIP participants' weeks consist of high school, group therapy, individual counseling, supervised recreation, substance abuse awareness and anger management classes.

Munster Times (Munster, IN): In an effort to increase the number of students receiving CORE 40 and Indiana Academic Honors diplomas, the Boone Township School Corp. is pursuing the state's Gold Star Counseling model. Superintendent George Letz said more students need to work toward higher-level diplomas. The idea of Gold Star counseling is to pool the goals of the school district and the community to equip graduates with the most valuable set of skills possible, by making choices that support high achievement and then reaching those high achievement standards. There are three main things schools need to do to qualify for the Gold Star Counseling Award. A representative from each school must attend four training sessions to learn how to properly implement the changes. A portfolio also is required, documenting the progress of the changes, as well as the efforts of the School Counseling Advisory Counsel, a group of students, teachers, parents and community members, to weigh in on proposed programs. "This program also tries to demonstrate that it's more than just one person -- the counselor -- that needs to be involved in guiding students through middle school and high school so that they have the knowledge and skills to make decisions," Letz said.

Statesman Journal (Salem, OR): "What do you think it means to be a good sport or a bad sport?" Gubser Elementary School counselor Michelle Mills looked around the classroom as second-graders' hands shot up. "Being a good sport is about taking turns," Cookie Boyd said. "A poor sport is if you start playing soccer, and you don't ever really finish a game," Andru Flores said. "A bad sport is if you're playing a game, and you say, 'You're breaking the rules,' when you're the one who's actually not following the rules," Hope Ferns said. Mills read the book "The Real Winner," by Charise Neugebauer. The book is one of about 40 that Mills purchased this school year after receiving a Salem-Keizer Education Foundation grant. Mills wanted a way, beyond giving lectures, to teach Gubser students about good character traits. "It's easier for them to talk sometimes about how they feel by projecting it through a character. They feel safer talking about things," Mills said. "It helps them open up, and gives them ideas about how to solve problems." She has books about bullying, anger, teasing, lying, dealing with divorce and a wide array of other issues.

EurekaAlert (Press Release): The risk of serious suicide attempts or death by suicide generally decreases in the weeks after patients start taking antidepressant medication, according to a new study led by Group Health Cooperative researchers and published in the January issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry. The study also found that the risk of suicidal behavior after starting 10 newer antidepressant medications is less than the risk posed by older medications. These findings challenge a 2004 advisory by the FDA, which warned that suicidal behavior may emerge after treatment with the newer antidepressant drugs has begun. "Our findings show that, fortunately, suicide attempts and death by suicide are rare following the initiation of antidepressants," says Greg Simon, MD, MPH, a Group Health psychiatrist and the lead researcher on the study. "The period right after people start taking antidepressant medication is not a period of increased risk. In fact, risk after starting medication is lower than before." This study is the first published analysis to compare the risk of suicide attempts before treatment to the risks following treatment. It is based on computerized medical and pharmacy records for more than 65,000 patients who filled prescriptions for antidepressants from 1992 to 2003. Deaths by suicide were determined from death certificates and suicide attempts were identified from hospital discharge data.

Show Notes: Are schools becoming surrogate parents? And in Oregon, the faith communities and mental health professionals gather for a meeting....what about? Stay tuned. Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, is bipolar disorder being diagnosed at a greater percentage in our youth? Plus, this week's website of the week.
Tonight's promo: Heart-and-Music Radio.
Tonight's closing music: KCentric, Lazy Tuesday

American Psychological Services (USA): A clear and surprising picture of alcoholism is emerging from a mammoth new nationwide survey sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Its findings show that alcoholism is primarily an affliction of youth and heighten suspicion that an underlying trait predisposes people to an unfortunate trifecta of alcoholism, substance abuse and mental disorders. National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcoholism and Related Condition (NESARC) is surveying not only alcohol-related behaviors but a host of mental disorders, many of which are tied to alcoholism, says survey director Bridget Grant, PhD, PhD, a double-doctorate psychologist and epidemiologist. The NESARC questionnaire measures symptoms of disorders such as major depression, antisocial personality and generalized anxiety disorder along a continuum, allowing for factor analyses. That, says Grant, makes the NESARC data "perfect for psychologists because that's the way they conceptualize the world, as along a continuum of mental health from normal to abnormal." For the full report, please visit NIAAA's website.

Due to the Year End Blow-Out Show this past Thursday, and the New Year's holiday, there will be no show on January 1st. Stay tuned for an all new show coming shortly.

Can you believe it? 2006 already. It was nearly five months ago that G News Central Podcast started (Show #1: August 4, 2005). I had been searching Podcast Alley for a podcast geared toward school counselors and individuals in the mental health profession; however, I didn’t find one I really liked. Yes, there were the usual ones by psychologists and psychiatrists talking theory and such, but nothing that gave listeners the latest mental health news. That’s when I decided to create my own. I figured, “If it’s not out there, create it!� And I haven’t looked back since that day. I’d like to thank all of my listeners, long-term and new, for choosing G News Central Podcast in 2005. I hope you stay tuned in 2006. HAPPY NEW YEAR!