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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Gerard Gallucci, MD, MHS¹, Deborah Agus, JD², Tom Marshall, LCSW-C¹, and Laura Torres, LCSW-C¹. (1) Department of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins Bayview, 4940 Eastern Ave., Medical Center, Baltimore, MD 21226, 4105500088, ggallucc@jhmi.edu, (2) Mental Health Policy Institute for Leadership and Training, Inc., 2200 Arden Rd., Baltimore, MD 21209

“What if you could help end poverty by treating depression?

There is a direct correlation between depression and poverty but relatively few of those affected are in treatment. There are myriad reasons for this including the apathy resulting from the disease itself , the stigma in the community for those seeking mental health treatment and a failure to understand of the disease and its consequences,. These factors are exacerbated by a lack of access to mental health professionals and a corresponding dearth of culturally sensitive resources. While the causes are complex, the consequences are severe and clear: high rates of poverty, unemployment, crime, substance abuse, violence, victimization and abuse. Depression presents a public health crisis of major proportions. The challenge is to identify and treat those suffering and link them into appropriate services as they recover.

The Baltimore Depression and Poverty project aims to meet this challenge by placing mental health professionals within existing community-centered institutions including a community center, neighborhood health education sites and neighborhood primary health care clinics. In this workshop, the panel will explain the design of the project and the lessons learned from the preliminary implementation. Poverty, violence and depression create conditions that violate human rights and present a public health issue of epidemic proportions. The lessons learned from this project have the potential to ameliorate these problems with an innovative initiative which respects the culture of the neighborhood while bringing needed services.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session the participants will be able to

• Design a culturally integrated system of care that treats minority and special populations.
• Recognize the barriers to treating people within neighborhood settings.
• Understand policy and treatment implications of poverty and depression.

Keywords: Depression, Poverty

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered