A Psychiatric Advance Directive (PAD) is a legal document that allows a person with a mental health disability to make decisions about possible future mental health treatment. As many know, mental health can be a lot like a roller coaster; sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down, and sometimes you’re riding along just fine. A PAD allows a person with a disability to state what treatments and action steps they want taken for when (and if) they are unable to make those decisions. For example, when hospitalization becomes necessary, a person with a disability can make sure the hospital follows the identified treatment and medication plan in the PAD.

My parents didn’t get along. My mom went to bars with her friends, leaving me with my dad. My dad waited until we were alone to be emotionally abusive to me. I have an older sister, who spent as much time away from home as possible. I was always home being put in the middle of my parents problems. When I begged my mom not to leave, she went anyway. I had been too afraid to tell any one how I was being treated at home. My dad was abusive for years and no one knew. I felt scared and alone. I would go to my room crying telling God I couldn’t take any more, that I wanted to die. I started having headaches and back pain when I was 12 years old.

The difference between Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is that SSDI payments are based on prior work under Social Security, meaning you’ve worked at a job that has paid a portion of your earnings into Social Security. SSI payments are made based on financial need.

Of course, the differences between SSI and SSDI are more detailed than just that. The following pages will explain who is eligible for what program, why, and how you go about applying.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE SSI?
To be eligible for SSI benefits, you must be:
• Aged (age 65 or older),
• Blind, or
• Disabled,
And
• Have a limited income,
• Have limited resources,

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). To qualify for SSDI you must first have worked in one or more jobs that have been covered by Social Security. Following that, you must have a medical condition that meets Social Security’s definition of a disability. Benefits will usually continue until you are able to work again on a regular basis.

The SSA defines “disability” for SSDI as an inability to do the work you were doing before, and you cannot adjust to other work because of your medical condition. Your disability must also last, or be expected to last, for at least one year or result in death. SSDI only pays for total disability; it will not pay for partial or short-term disability.

As many of us are fully aware, proper nutrition is essential for our well-being. It affects how we feel physically, emotionally and mentally, by reintroducing the vitamins and nutrients our bodies have depleted during a day. Without proper nutrition, we often feel tired and “run down”, we have difficulty concentrating, recalling information, and we begin to take on an unhealthy weight gain. Too much unhealthy weight brought on by poor diet and lack of exercise affects our bones, organs, joints, blood flow to our brain and heart, and can limit quality of life.

I have been raising my granddaughter for eleven years; Child Protective Services placed her with me just before her fourth birthday. There was no real help for children with disabilities when her mom, my daughter, was growing up. She lives on disability, has mental health issues, and has lost all three of her children. Today there is so much help out there that we can make a difference. There wasn’t that much available for my daughter.

Often each system within a community (child welfare, juvenile justice, education, mental health, public health) work independently to serve families and youth. The reality is that many families use services from more than one of these systems/agencies and would benefit from these systems working collaboratively to holistically serve their child and family. In a “system of care,” a community works to build a coordinated network of services and supports to meet the needs of children and youth with serious emotional and mental health disabilities and their families. The guiding principles for building a System of Care should include:
 Services that serve the child’s physical, emotional, social, and educational needs.

To those reading this newsletter, it’s probably a “no-brainer” as to why anyone should care about mental health issues. Mental health affects everyone, whether it’s in the form of a loved one, or if we’re questioning our own. However, stigma related to mental issues still exists, especially in children.
Mental health diagnoses are more prevalent than most people realize. Based on the 2005 American Community Survey (ACS) of civilians who were not currently in an institution, seven percent of the U.S. population between the ages of 5 to 20 described themselves as having a diagnosis. In Kentucky the percentage was much higher at almost 10 percent.

MENTAL HEALTH IN THE U.S.