HCPC's Mental Health Series to Focus on Women

HCPC is sponsoring a three-month women's mental health series which will present the gender-specific theory and consider treatment programs and issues for women. The series has gained the support of several local agencies and organizations.

According to the National Women's Resource Center, the top four mental health issues for women are:

1. The gender-specific theory - studies relating to women need to take into account the importance of relationships and parental roles because they will affect outcomes.
   
   
2. Treatment barriers for women with mental illness - women may sacrifice their own health care needs, i.e. cancel their own checkups and treatment appointments, to take care of family members' daily needs.
   
   
3. Life stresses - these can range from financial pressures of single moms to psychological stresses of older adults who outlive their spouses.
   
   
4. Women and violence - the impact of spousal abuse on children and the use of mental health services by physically abused women and children.

The series programs are scheduled for Dec. 12 and Jan. 23. Topics covered will include research specific to women's mental health issues, treatment barriers and attitudes toward women, lack of appropriate treatment resources and fragmented delivery systems, gender analysis of stress and violence against women and its effects on children.

The keynote speaker for the Dec. 12 program will be Margaret Heckler, a former congresswoman, secretary of Health and Human Services and ambassador to Ireland. Also scheduled to speak are Kim Dunn, M.D., director of the criminal justice medicine department at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, and Bruce Perry, M.D., of Texas Children's Hospital. The program will focus on "Women and the Family: Violence and Abuse." The Museum of Health and Medical Science, 1515 Hermann Drive, will be the site of the second program, scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

"Stress & Depression - Diagnosis and Treatment: A Legislative Response to Changes in Delivery of Care," is the title of the Jan. 23 program. Speakers featured in the program will include Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and state representatives Garnet Coleman, Debra Danburg and Diana Davila. The program will be held at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, 3015 N. MacGregor Way, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

For more information or to register for the conference, call 713-741-7811 or fax 713-741-7832.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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