Author: pricilagran

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Thirteen months ago, the world was experiencing the onset of a shared trauma … a pandemic was sweeping over the globe. The actions that were taken to keep people safe included community shut downs, stay at home orders and mandated isolation. Lindner Center of HOPE, like mental health providers around the world, began to see spikes in mental illness and addiction. Individuals who were already struggling with mental illness or a pre-disposition, saw exacerbated symptoms and an increase in severity of illness. People who were managing, saw new onset at higher levels of acuity. As time has passed since the beginning of the pandemic, the trauma has been sustained with higher percentages of people still struggling with mental illnesses and addictions. Additionally, data shows people who have experienced COVID-19 infection are also suffering with co-occurring psychiatric symptoms.

Dr. Paul Crosby, Lindner Center of HOPE

Fortunately, vaccines have been released to protect the population from the physical health threats of COVID-19. However, Lindner Center of HOPE’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Paul R. Crosby, MD, states the vaccine also offers mental health benefits as well.

“The first mental health benefit of the vaccine is simple,” Dr. Crosby said, “since the risk of COVID-19 infection diminishes significantly with vaccination, receiving the vaccine would also protect individuals from co-occurring mental illness that has proven to manifest with COVID-19 infection.”

“The second mental health benefit of the vaccine is the reduction in overall anxiety and stress, as risk and fear of infection is reduced. Vaccinated individuals can lift their isolation from other vaccinated individuals, can begin to see a return to other activities that improve mental health, like more exercise, improved sleep, new experiences through travel and more. A return to these healthier activities can hopefully also lead to a reduction in substance use, overeating or lack of participation in other things that bring joy.”

“The COVID-19 vaccine has significant potential in improving your mental health.”

For individuals experiencing symptoms of mental illness, it is critical to access help. Mental illnesses are common and treatable and no one should struggle alone.

Lindner Center of HOPE in Mason is a comprehensive mental health center providing excellent, patient-centered, scientifically-advanced care for individuals suffering with mental illness. A state-of-the-science, mental health center and charter member of the National Network of Depression Centers, the Center provides psychiatric hospitalization and partial hospitalization for individuals age 12-years-old and older, outpatient services for all ages, diagnostic services for all ages and short-term residential services for adults, and research. The Center is enhanced by its partnership with UC Health as its clinicians are ranked among the best providers locally, nationally and internationally. Together Lindner Center of HOPE and UC Health offer a true system of mental health care in the Greater Cincinnati area and across the country. The Center is also affiliated with the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine.

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By Chris J. Tuell, EdD, LPCC-S, LICDC-CS
Lindner Center of HOPE, Clinical Director of Addiction Services; Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

At the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, 1 out of 5 soldiers (20%), returning to the United States from Southeast Asia, was addicted to heroin. It was estimated that approximately 100,000 American soldiers would be returning home, addicted to this destructive drug. Experts projected a drug epidemic, which would destroy countless lives and communities. It never happened.

Once soldiers returned home to families, friends and communities, the destructive nature of a hardcore drug, like heroin, failed to materialize. In fact, 95% of the soldiers who were once addicted to heroin, stopped using the drug almost immediately once they returned home.

For many years, our understanding of addiction was based on early research conducted in the first half of the 20th century. These studies involved rats and consisted of placing a rat in a solitary cage, providing the rat with a choice of water: plain water or water laced with cocaine or heroin. The study found that all the rats preferred the drug-laced water to the plain water. All the rats overdosed on the drug. The majority of the rats died in the study. This became our model of addiction for many years. The accepted belief became, if you are exposed to a drug, you will become addicted, and you may overdose and die.

Several years later, this original study was replicated, but with a significant difference. Researcher Bruce Alexander from the University of Vancouver, created, what was referred to as: a “rat park.” This park consisted of tunnels, multiple levels, toys, and other rat companions. Similar to the original study, all rats were given the same choice of water: plain water or water laced with heroin or cocaine. In Alexander’s study, rats preferred the plain water. Rates of overdose and death to the rats were significantly lower when compared to the initial study. How do we explain this difference in results? Perhaps, it is about the cage. Perhaps, it is about the environment.

Upon their return home, the soldiers from Vietnam who were struggling with a heroin addiction were able to re-connect with loved ones and community. A change in environment allowed for a change in connection, resulting in health, wellness and sobriety. Likewise, the environment of the rat in a solitary cage, as compared to the environment of the rat park, provided the rat with a “connection” with other rats, an environment which allowed the rat…to be a rat.

Individuals, who experience issues of mental illness and/or substance use disorders, have a natural tendency to withdraw and isolate from others. Depression, anxiety and addiction, greatly affect an individual’s ability to connect with others, let alone with one’s environment. This past year we have seen the devastating impact of COVID-19. We know that in order to maintain health and wellness, we need to maintain social distance and disconnect from one another. For now, this has and continues to be, what we need to do. It remains challenging for many of us to continue to avoid contact with loved ones and friends. We are separated from the very individuals who love us, support us, and are our sources of connection.

We have seen the rise of mental health issues during the past year. Nearly 20 percent of COVID-19 patients have developed a mental health issue (i.e., depression, anxiety) within three months of their diagnosis. During the past year, 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. have reported symptoms of anxiety or depression. Within the general population, rates of mental health issues and substance use have significantly increased across the board. In addition, the disconnection that we have witnessed has fragmented our society in general by harboring increased levels of fear, anger and animosity towards one another.

Hope on the horizon

Once “herd immunity” is achieved, the importance of re-connecting with one another becomes vital and essential to our health and mental wellness. We are social beings and need connection with one another. History has shown that the mental health impact of disasters outlasts the physical impact, suggesting today’s elevated mental health needs will continue well beyond the coronavirus outbreak.  Like the moth that needs to struggle out of the cocoon in order to develop the strength that it needs to survive in the world, we too are developing the strength that we need from the struggles we have endured.  Re-connecting with one another is an answer.  It gives us strength and it gives us hope.

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Mason, OH, April 22, 2021 – Lindner Center of HOPE president and chief operating officer, Paul R. Crosby, MD, was named a winner in the annual Business Courier Health Care Heroes awards in the Manager category on April 22, 2021.

As President and Chief Operating Officer(COO) of Lindner Center of HOPE (LCOH), Dr. Paul R. Crosby is responsible for oversight of compliance and quality activities; oversight of the medical staff office; oversight of EMR (Epic) modification and optimization, and liaison between Information Technology, Health and Information Management and clinical staff. Dr. Crosby is also responsible for the development and implementation of clinical and strategic initiatives as a member of the executive team and oversight of the Research Institute at LCOH. Dr. Crosby leads strategic innovation of clinical programs to keep pace with advancing medical science and to maintain viability of business aspects amid rapid changes in the market. He also works to establish and nurture symbiotic relationships with the other entities within LCOH’s academic health system, academic department, and externally with non-UC Health entities. Dr. Crosby also participates in marketing and fundraising activities to brand and sustain the organization.

In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Dr. Crosby provides outpatient psychiatric consultation to children and families referred from around the country.  He treats the entire range of psychiatric symptoms with particular expertise in the assessment and treatment of ADHD and the conditions that frequently accompany it such as anxiety disorders, mood disorders, learning disabilities, and substance use disorders.  In 2010, he founded the Center for Attention Disorders at LCOH to consolidate and coordinate LCOH’s efforts related to this illness.  Over the years, he has provided care in many of LCOH’s service lines, including residential services, inpatient adolescent services, and partial hospital programs. He also guided the creation of a unique 3.5-day outpatient comprehensive diagnostic assessment program for children and adolescents.

Dr. Crosby is a Health Care Hero because he rose up as a true leader in the face of a crisis, continuing to prioritize helping patients, while balancing the demands of implementing processes and procedures that would address a public health threat.

At the onset of the pandemic, mental health programs around the country were discharging patients, shuttering programs and decreasing access for people despite the level of need. Sadly, the pandemic was contributing to exacerbated existing mental health and addiction symptoms and new onset of significant mental illness. Dr. Crosby led the leadership team at LCOH to respond quickly and safely to the elevated health safety needs of all on campus, while recognizing the ongoing and increasing need for mental health treatment.

Under Dr. Crosby’s leadership, new protocols and procedures were evaluated and implemented based on current data and public health recommendations. He established an oversight team to share the various newly identified leadership needs. The team worked on the tasks of implementing and communicating ongoing and yet changing recommendations and practices, acquisition of cleaning and personal protective equipment and other necessary supplies, modifications to programs and services, adjustments to physical plant, and updates to policies impacting staff, patients and visitors. He also led the rapid launch of telepsychiatry services to outfit a newly remote outpatient practice with virtual visit options. He consistently communicated with all levels of the communication and encouraged open dialogue at all levels to ensure clarity and buy-in.

Dr. Crosby’s steadfast approach to overcoming all obstacles with a proactive and swift-moving team allowed LCOH to continue to save lives (even more than ever) and alleviate suffering caused by mental illness, even during the height of the pandemic. Remarkably few positive cases have set foot on the campus of LCOH, staff/provider layoffs and furloughs were avoided, as well as pay reductions and significant capacity reductions.

Amongst national peers in the mental health field, LCOH took a lead and became a model in its COVID response under Dr. Crosby’s leadership. LCOH also took a local leadership role in educating the public about mental health during a shared trauma such as a pandemic, through media interviews, presentations to local business leaders and community outreach.

Most recently, Dr. Crosby has led LCOH’s pandemic response including coordination of communications, establishment of safety best practices, rapid conversion to telehealth, and avoidance of staff or provider layoffs/furloughs, pay reductions, or capacity reductions.

Heath Care Heroes is the Business Courier’s recognition of those who have made an impact on health care in our community through their concern for patients, their research and inventions, their management skills, their innovative programs for employees and their services.

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As a community member, you are invited to complete a community-wide health survey for the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). The 2021 CHNA is sponsored by The Health Collaborative (THC) and Generation Health (Gen-H), who are working in partnership with the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association, as well as multiple health partners throughout the 39-hospital, 25-county Greater Cincinnati region, which includes southwest Ohio (including the Greater Dayton Area), southeast Indiana and northern Kentucky.

This online survey will ask basic questions about your health, what makes being healthy easy or hard, and how our community is supporting your health. The information we collect will inform how we will direct our energy and resources to meet the complex healthcare needs of the community and will inspire innovative healthcare delivery models designed to unite our region-wide efforts in providing high-quality care, increasing access to care, and achieving improved health outcomes for all.

The online survey will be open from April 1 to May 30, 2021, and is available in American Sign Language (ASL), Arabic, English, French, Nepali, and Spanish. All respondents will remain anonymous. At the end of this survey, you will be able to enter a drawing for one of two $100 Amazon gift cards.

If you live in the Greater Cincinnati or Dayton Area, please complete our online health survey. Here is the link to the survey: https://genh.healthcollab.org/

Paper surveys can be made available upon request. Please contact Elizabeth Pafford by sending an email to [email protected] to request paper copies of the survey, or for help with any technical issues you experience with the online survey.

For more general questions about the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), please contact Lauren Bartoszek by sending an email to [email protected], or calling 513-247-6860.

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Lindner Center of HOPE’s High Hopes Auxiliary will present HOPE on the Green, a women’s golf shamble on Monday, May 17, 2021. The event is intended to raise funds in support of Lindner Center of HOPE’s telehealth services. High Hopes is an organization of caring volunteers serving Lindner Center of HOPE.

Why Telehealth Services?

Lindner Center of HOPE quickly learned last March that telehealth upgrades were essential to continue serving patients when the shelter in place/stay at home order was mandated. This service continues today and is here to stay.  Clinicians are communicating in this fashion with patients, their family members and loved ones. In fact, it has created greater access than ever.

Upgrades to telehealth services at the Center are necessary. New software platforms will be added, additional technology will be purchased and increasing the Center’s Internet broadband width is essential for continued telehealth service.

The event will be held at Hyde Park Country Club, 3740 Erie Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45208. The schedule is as follows:

Breakfast: 8 am
Shotgun Start: 9 am
19th Hole & Art Auction: 1 pm
Luncheon & Awards:  2 pm
All registrations include breakfast and lunch.

 19th Hole Happy Hour and Awards Ceremony immediately following play.

Blake Gustafson and Amy Russert are Co-Chairs of HOPE on the Green

Sponsorship and registration information can be found at www.lindnercenterofhope.org/donate. We encourage you to visit the event site and find out more details!

Questions?  Contact 513-477-8349 OR 513-910-9612

Lindner Center of HOPE in Mason is a comprehensive mental health center providing excellent, patient-centered, scientifically-advanced care for individuals suffering with mental illness. A state-of-the-science, mental health center and charter member of the National Network of Depression Centers, the Center provides psychiatric hospitalization and partial hospitalization for individuals age 12-years-old and older, outpatient services for all ages, diagnostic services for all ages and short-term residential services for adults, and research. The Center is enhanced by its partnership with UC Health as its clinicians are ranked among the best providers locally, nationally and internationally. Together Lindner Center of HOPE and UC Health offer a true system of mental health care in the Greater Cincinnati area and across the country. The Center is also affiliated with the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine.

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By Elizabeth Mariutto, PsyD, CEDS, Clinical Director of Eating Disorder Services

“How do I encourage mindful eating for my kids?” I often have patients come in with histories of well-intended parents who promoted diets or restrictive eating in the attempts to help their kids become “healthy.” When they come to me to rewire their brains against the diet culture so prevalent in our society, they feel like they don’t know where to start in promoting more beneficial attitudes towards food in their own kids. Here are ten tips for promoting positive food habits in kids.

  1. Set up your home to promote balanced nutrition. Buy a variety of produce, serve meals with a balance of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, and while you can definitely have some sweets and packaged snack foods, having too many of these options can lead to turning to these items often. Serve unfamiliar foods with familiar foods, and introduce new foods multiple times. Encourage family mealtimes at the table without electronics.
  2. Allow them to trust their bodies. Think about how we feed babies and small children. Every 3 to 4 hours, they cry and tell us they are hungry. We feed them until they stop eating. If children tell you they are full after a meal, don’t force them to finish their plate. This only teaches them that it’s pointless to follow hunger and fullness cues.
  3. Avoid labeling foods as “good” or “bad” or “healthy” or “unhealthy.” Avoid overtly controlling food messages, such as putting pressure on kids to eat fruits and vegetables or telling them they can’t have sweets, as these practices lead to unhealthy eating habits for kids (Scaglioni, Arrizza, Vecchni, & Tedeschmi, 2011).
  4. Serve items for meals that you would like kids to eat at regular times, making sure there is something you know they like on the table. Don’t worry about what they end up choosing to eat.
  5. Avoid rewarding, bribing, or soothing kids with food. Yes, that includes bribing kids for eating their veggies with dessert! Research has found kids consume less of a food and rate them as less tasty if they were presented as instrumental to a goal (Maimaran & Fishback, 2014), and rewarding with food is associated with emotional eating later in childhood (Farrow, Haycraft, & Blisset, 2015). Additionally, teach kids to learn to cope with their emotions in other ways.
  6. Promote body acceptance. Some kids are naturally smaller, some kids are naturally bigger. And that is ok! Weight-related comments are really not necessary at all, and often harmful. Additionally, avoid holding different standards for children of different sizes. Encourage a balanced, “everything in moderation” approach to eating for all children.
  7. Practice what we preach! Be a good role model for body acceptance and positive attitudes towards food. Those little ears are listening! Sure, go out for ice cream sometimes. And avoid criticizing your body or telling yourself you have to work out to get rid of the calories from eating that ice cream. Prioritize sitting down to eat and having regular, balanced meals and snacks.
  8. Encourage healthy activity without tying this to food or weight. Help kids find activities that they truly enjoy, and focus on the value of exercise to help our bodies become stronger, improve our mood, and nourish.
  9. Teach kids to savor food. Help them be selective in choosing which dessert sounds the best, and demonstrate taking slow bites to truly relish them.
  10. If they, or you, mess up, treat this with compassion. No one is perfect, and we don’t need to beat ourselves, or others, up about our mistakes.

Farrow, C. V., Haycraft, E., & Blissett, J. M. (2015). Teaching our children when to eat: How parental feeding practices inform the development of emotional eating—a longitudinal experiential design.  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 101, 908-13.

Jacobsen, M. (2016). How to Raise a Mindful Eater. Middletown, DE: First Printing.

Maimaran, M., & Fishbach, A. (2014).  If it’s useful and you know it, do you eat? Preschoolers refrain from instrumental food.  Journal of Consumer Research, 41, doi:10.1086/677224

Scaglioni, S., Arrizza, C., Vecchni, F., & Tedeschmi, S. (2011). Determinants of children’s eating behaviors. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 94, 6. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.110.001685

Tribole, E. & Resch, E. (2012). Intuitive eating: A revolutionary program that works. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.

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By Tracy Suzanne Cummings, MD 

Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 

If you have ever been a passenger on an airplane, you have heard the directive to don your own oxygen mask first before attempting to help someone else with theirs. Perhaps as February’s decorative hearts and cupids fill our visual fields, we can consider how this is true for our actual hearts and self-worth, particularly for the younger members of our population. After all, adolescence is a time of self-discovery and identification. Let us encourage teens to build and strengthen a relationship with themselves, thereby preparing them for the challenges of the complex tapestry that we call love. Building up the self-esteem and self-worth in our youth will bring about numerous long-lasting, positive changes that Cupid’s arrow could only dream of creating.

Self-esteem can be defined as the confidence in one’s own worth or  abilities. It often includes self-respect  and compassion. Once we are able to believe in our worth (which is vast and unique, and exists for everyone), we can better accept and give respect and compassion to those with whom  we have relationships, from friendships to romance. Without it, a person might sacrifice themselves to gain the approval of others, only to find later the disappointment in that superficial, unhealthy pattern. Unfortunately, most health classes will not cover relationships in their curriculum, and, naturally, teens will get their information from observing others and asking peers. They might seek social media likes and attention, rather than true connection, keeping face instead of keeping true to one’s essence. While they may long for roses, candy hearts, and chocolates, we need instead to attempt to instill the desire for an arrow pointing them to their own passions and skills. Recent data suggests that over 90% of thirteen to seventeen year-olds go online daily, with over 70% using more than one social media site (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry). If only we could have confidence that those sites and online interactions would lead to affirmation!

So, here is where trusted adults can step in and make an impact, by modeling caring relationships and self-compassion. By doing so, we highlight their strengths and capabilities without social comparisons, teaching them to value their personal gifts now so they may be able to share them with a partner later. Helping a teen find their path to success might involve trial and error (it’s ok to not know right away what you want in life), adjusting expectations (self-imposed or otherwise), and creating the context in which wins can happen. While self-esteem and worth begin to be formed in childhood, improvements can be attained at all stages of life by working on the following:

* Insisting on equality and mutual respect in a relationships

* Setting appropriate boundaries

* Verbalizing needs

* Accepting feedback (perhaps even in the form of conflict)

* Acknowledging the possibility of failure, while trying to seek success

* Maintaining assertiveness

* Releasing the pressure of achieving the unattainable goal of perfection (in yourself and others)

If Cupid was really in the business of creating fulfilling and lasting relationships, we would see his arrows pointing towards boosting self-esteem. Besides, who needs a special day to have chocolate anyway?

 

 

 

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Lindner Center of HOPE to Host an Evening of Radical Self-Love

The Harold C. Schott Foundation Eating Disorders Program at Lindner Center of HOPE is hosting a Free virtual movie night in honor of Eating Disorders Awareness Week Thursday, March 4, 2021 from 6 pm-7:15 pm EST. This is the fifth annual movie night in celebration of raising awareness of eating disorders. The focus of the evening will be radical self-love.

Participants will watch an engaging recording of Sonya Renee Taylor, the founder and Radical Executive Officer of Your Body is Not an Apology.

A professionally-led reflection and discussion by Lindner Center of HOPE clinical staff (and members of the Lindner Center of HOPE Diversity and Inclusion Council) will follow this 20-minute video. Participants will share thoughts and ideas to help transform their own lives to one consistent with radical self-love. The discussion will also explore ways to expand the concepts to our broader society.

“Radical self-love demands that we see ourselves and others in the fullness of our complexities.” –Sonya Renee Taylor

This event will be run virtually through Zoom (details sent with RSVP email confirmation).

RSVP online at https://lindnercenterofhope.org/referrers/education-events/free-movie-night/

Any questions, contact Pricila Gran at 513-536-0318 or [email protected]. RSVP online by Monday, March 1, 2021.

Lindner Center of HOPE in Mason is a comprehensive mental health center providing excellent, patient-centered, scientifically-advanced care for individuals suffering with mental illness. A state-of-the-science, mental health center and charter member of the National Network of Depression Centers, the Center provides psychiatric hospitalization and partial hospitalization for individuals age 12-years-old and older, outpatient services for all ages, diagnostic services for all ages and short-term residential services for adults, and research. The Center is enhanced by its partnership with UC Health as its clinicians are ranked among the best providers locally, nationally and internationally. Together Lindner Center of HOPE and UC Health offer a true system of mental health care in the Greater Cincinnati area and across the country. The Center is also affiliated with the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine.

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In 2020, Cincy Magazine asked its readers to nominate and vote for their favorite doctors in 83 specialties. This year’s winners included Lindner Center of HOPE’s:

Chris J. Tuell, EdD, LPCC-LICDC in the category of Addiction Psychiatry.
Tracy Suzanne Cummings, MD in the category of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Danielle Johnson, MD, FAPA and Paul R. Crosby, MD were finalists in the categories of Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry respectively.

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February 1, 2021– Mason, Ohio

Lindner Center of HOPE is honored to have been named Readers’ Choice 2020 winners in two local lifestyle publications.

Lindner Center of HOPE won “Best Mental Health Care Provider” in the 2020 West Chester + Liberty Lifestyle Magazine and “Best Medical Specialist” in the Mason& Deerfield Readers’ Choice 2020.

Lindner Center of HOPE is grateful for all who voted, for our dedicated staff and our patients for trusting us to be alongside of them for their journey.

Lindner Center of HOPE in Mason is a comprehensive mental health center providing excellent, patient-centered, scientifically-advanced care for individuals suffering with mental illness. A state-of-the-science, mental health center and charter member of the National Network of Depression Centers, the Center provides psychiatric hospitalization and partial hospitalization for individuals age 12-years-old and older, outpatient services for all ages, diagnostic services for all ages and short-term residential services for adults, and research. The Center is enhanced by its partnership with UC Health as its clinicians are ranked among the best providers locally, nationally and internationally. Together Lindner Center of HOPE and UC Health offer a true system of mental health care in the Greater Cincinnati area and across the country. The Center is also affiliated with the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine.