My Turn
Here are my top wishes for mental health services in 2012: 1. No more budget cuts! If the unsettling number of people with mental illness who were shot by the police last year isn't enough, then the long (sometimes days) waits for beds at the state psychiatric hospital are a clear sign of a system under significant stress. More cuts in funding for community mental health centers…
January 9, 2012
My Turn
These are tough financial times for New Hampshire and tough times for people with mental illnesses. Just last week Riverbend Community Mental Health clinicians assessed a person who had shot himself in a suicide attempt and survived only by a miracle. The man was sent to New Hampshire Hospital once he was medically stable but was released less than 24 hours later with virtually…
June 14, 2011
My turn
We are writing to give readers factual information related to the comments made by Rep. Kenneth Weyler in the Monitor ("Advocates put faces to budget cuts," front page, March 29). Weyler claims that mental health centers encourage the people we serve to become "patients for life." Nothing could be further from the truth. We provide only medically necessary services…
April 2, 2011
My Turn
I have been reluctant to write anything about our mental health system since the Arizona shooting because I do not want to contribute to incorrect impressions that most people with serious mental illnesses are dangerous. In fact, people with serious mental illness are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of crimes. But many people have asked me about my reaction to the shooting…
January 28, 2011
From our readers
Please help celebrate Dr. Stephen Bartels as a Champion for Mental Health tomorrow during the fifth annual Riverbend Rainbow Awards event. Bartels is professor of psychiatry and of community and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. He is director of Dartmouth's Center for Aging Research. Among his research projects is pioneering work demonstrating the efficacy of telemedicine,…
October 5, 2010
Election Day is getting closer, and for people with mental illnesses and their families the future continues to hold the promise of more budget cuts. On May 4 hundreds of consumers, family members and supporters rallied on the State House steps to say 'No more cuts!" to mental health services in our state budget. Speaker after speaker urged the crowd to show their concern at the…
September 27, 2010
My Turn
When President Obama signed the health care bill into law, the legislation was rightly hailed in some parts of New Hampshire as a major step toward giving Americans and small businesses more control of their health care. The landmark legislation builds upon what works in our current health care system and lays a strong foundation for continued efforts to improve access and quality…
May 2, 2010
My Turn
The parents a young man referred to Riverbend Community Mental Health for help with his mental illness and drug use wrote to me recently to say that our mental-health system was a "cruel joke" because we could provide him only limited services.
June 27, 2009
Letter
I want to thank everyone who supported my election to Hopkinton School Board. I appreciate the letters that appeared in the Monitor as well as all your good wishes. I am committed to working hard to ensure an excellent education for our children while looking out for the needs of the whole community. Thank you for the opportunity to serve.
LOUIS JOSEPHSON
Contoocook
March 13, 2009
My Turn
Last month economists finally told us something most people already knew: The U.S. economy has been in a recession since December 2007.
Bad economic news is never welcome, but the financial crisis may be causing additional stress during the New Hampshire winter, when frigid temperatures, long periods of darkness and the after-effects of stress-inducing holidays can cause profound…
February 8, 2009
Letter
A group of Hopkinton parents came together last year to discuss the performance of our schools. The result is an informal group named SEEK or Striving for Educational Excellence for Kids.
June 2, 2008
my turn
Reports last week that the New Hampshire Cancer Plan will see 75 percent of its funding cut this year sounded the first alarm that preventative health care in our state is seriously threatened.
April 30, 2008
Letter
In the aftermath of the tragic Virginia Tech shootings, our federal lawmakers are trying to plug data loopholes that allow some people with severe mental illnesses to obtain guns. I agree that the country should do everything in its power to prevent another incident. But our approach should include an increase in treatment resources for people with mental illness, not just barriers…
April 29, 2007
my turn
I am not a politician, but if I were running for the state Senate, here is what my platform would be on serving people with mental illness:
• Provide adequate resources for a community-based system of care. People with mental illness want to work, go to school, and live in and contribute to their communities. But many need extra support to do so.
September 11, 2006
