While at the Voice Awards, I had the opportunity to sit down and chat for a few minutes with the head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Administrator Pamela Hyde, JD.
Ms. Hyde is an attorney and comes to SAMHSA with more than 30 years experience in management and consulting for public healthcare and human services agencies. She has served as a state mental health director, state human services director, city housing and human services director, as well as CEO of a private non-profit managed behavioral healthcare firm. You can learn more about Ms. Hyde here.
Dr. John Grohol: So I wanted to understand a little bit better how the Voice Awards originated. What was the motivation behind coming up with this novel sort of way of recognizing both consumers and Hollywood contributions to mental health and substance abuse issues?
Pamela Hyde: Well, let me start by just saying SAMHSA’s role in the federal government is to be the voice for people with mental health and substance abuse service needs and for people who might be at risk of those needs. So that means that part of our job is to try to educate the public and to try to provide information, provide materials, and just get the right information out.
So, as a part of that effort over the last many years, I think there’s been a variety of ways of trying to do that, and there’s no question that the entertainment industry has a profound impact on people’s understanding and perceptions of lots of things.
Before posting, please read our blog moderation guidelines. The comments below begin with the oldest comments first. Click on the last comments page to jump to the most recent comments.
Before posting, please read our blog moderation guidelines.
Post a Comment:
Copyright © 1995-2013 Psych Central. All rights reserved.
Site last updated: 19 Jun 2013
|
Ms Hyde acknowledges change, but promotes the term “stigma.” (Not in this interview, but on their site.) She is not willing to discard that term. She is of course “against” it, but insists it appear there.
In acknowledging the “consumer” movement, she narrows the realities: People who accept the label “consumer” are already compromised to label. The rest of us, self-representing and proud are simply people, like she.
When label disappears from SAMHSA, progress will have begun, as progress began when label disappeared from the Women’s Movement and from the African American Movement and people were simply people.
Harold A. Maio, retired Mental Health Editor
khmaio@earthlink.net
“”Pamela Hyde: Well, let me start by just saying SAMHSA’s role in the federal government is to be the voice for people with mental health and substance abuse service needs and for people who might be at risk of those needs”"
Hmm, then my question for Ms. Hyde would be why was Robert Whitaker censored as the keynote speaker at the Alternatives Mental Health Conference that recently concluded? Since posting a link will hold up approval of my post, I will recap the story.
Mr. Whitaker, author of Anatomy of an Epidemic was initially disinvited as keynote speaker. Numerous protests led to his reinstatement but sadly, it was with conditions.
The National Empowerment Center was forced to pick from a list of psychiatrists to balance what Mr. Whitaker was going to say. That is unheard of.
Mr. Whitaker’s seminar on a program in Finland that is treating 1st time schizophrenia episode folks by trying to avoid medication was canceled.
Mr. Whitaker wanted to have a panel discussion with the psychiatrist but that was not allowed.
So my question to Ms. Hyde is if her agency is truly the voice of people with mental health issues, why was someone who had concerns about meds censored? Does it not concern you that people with mental illness are dying 25 years too young and one of the causes mentioned has been meds?
Even the psychiatrist who spoke Dr. Ragins, said he wanted to see research that long term use of these meds may be worsening the conditions they are being treated for.
Anyway, I would love to hear her response.
AA
Amen, AA. Amen. I don’t for one second believe that SAMHSA speaks for people with mental illness.