Mental Health Association in New York State

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ONLINE RESOURCES RELATING TO PWPD

This page lists links useful for anyone interested in exploring more about issues faced by parents who are coping with mental illness as they are raising their children. See MAHNYS main Links page for more comprehensive list of links spanning a wide range of mental health and mental illness related sites.

National Mental Health Association - This site provides information on legislature, news, advocacy, outreach, and prevention. There are also links to state MHA affiliates and other online resources. Their Information Center provides free fact sheets on many mental health issues. They recently have added a whole series of fact sheets specifically for parents living with mental illness. The National Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Center provides assistance to mental health consumer supporter organizations across the country. http://www.nmha.org/

NYS Commission on Quality of Care - The Commission on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled serves people with mental disabilities and their families by providing legal and non-legal advocacy services to persons with disabilities to assist them in obtaining the services and protections of federal and state laws. http://www.cqc.state.ny.us/

Beacon of Hope - Directed towards men and women who are partners of someone diagnosed with a severe mental illness. Provides general information about mental illness as well as specific links to supportive sites for both partners and children. Links to other resources and supports are also offered. http://www.lightship.org/

Healthy Families New York -Healthy Families New York systematically identifies overburdened families in need of support; promotes positive parent-child interaction; works to ensure optimal pre-natal care and promote healthy childhood growth and development; enhances family functioning by building trusting relationships, problem-solving skills and support systems. Healthy Families New York works closely with Prevent Child Abuse New York... the only not-for-profit agency in New York State whose singular mission is to prevent child abuse in all its forms. HFNY is dedicated to providing public information, advocacy, and education toward the goal of healthy and nurturing family environments for all New York State children. HFNY is a collaboration of Healthy Families America, Prevent Child Abuse New York, Inc., the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, The New York State Home Visiting Council, and the Center for Human Services Research of the State University of New York at Albany. The Healthy Families New York Home Visiting Program is a project of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services and the New York State Department of Health. As of 2004, the Home Visiting Program provides primary funding and grant oversight for programs in 28 of New York's most highly stressed communities.http://www.healthyfamiliesnewyork.org/

Institute for Family-Centered Care - The Institute serves as a central resource for policy makers, administrators, program planners, direct service providers, educators, design professionals, and family members. Institute staff promote change and enhance the quality of health and other human services through the development of print and audiovisual resources, information dissemination, policy and research initiatives, training, and technical assistance. http://www.familycenteredcare.org/

National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advance Directives - Psychiatric advance directives (PADs) are relatively new legal instruments that may be used to document a competent person’s specific instructions or preferences regarding future mental health treatment, in preparation for the possibility that the person may lose capacity to give or withhold informed consent to treatment during acute episodes of psychiatric illness. Almost all states permit some form of legal advance directive (AD) for healthcare, which can be used to direct at least some forms of psychiatric treatment. In the past decade, twenty-five states have adopted specific PAD statutes. This site offers an introduction to PADs, state-by-state information about advance directive laws, instructions and forms, discussion forums, educational webcasts, current research, links to other websites, and more! http://www.nrc-pad.org/

National Women’s Health Information Center (NWHIC) - Serves as a gateway for information about women’s health issues. Parenting, reproductive health, abuse, access to healthcare, financial assistance and services and supports are discussed as they relate to women with disabilities. http://4women.gov/

ParentsPlace - Discusses a variety of parenting issues including fertility, pregnancy, breastfeeding, adoption, childrearing, and families with special needs. Parents can talk to other parents through message boards about the special concerns of parenting with a mental illness. http://www.parentsplace.com/

Promoting Healthy Families in Your Community: 2007 Resource Packet is a free resource designed to support services providers working with parents, other caretakers, and children. The packet highlights strategies used to strengthen families by promoting five protective factors known to prevent child abuse and neglect including: