Rene Anderson - Surgeon General’s Workshop on Women’s Mental Health

Rene Anderson was a participant in the invitation-only Surgeon General’s Workshop on Women’s Mental Health, held November 30 - December 1, 2005, in Denver, CO. Those invited shared ideas and experiences that will be used to set a national agenda on girls and women's mental health. Rene shares her story below. (Click here to view presentation by A. Kathryn Power, M.Ed., Director, Center for Mental Health Services at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.)

An Honor to Serve
by René Anderson

I received an invitation to attend the Surgeon General’s Workshop on Women’s Mental Health to help develop recommendations for the production of the Surgeon General communiqués and toolkits addressing issues affecting the mental health of women and girls.

The invitation was extended to national leaders, experts, advocates and skilled professionals in the field of women and girls’ mental health. The meeting was held in Denver, Colorado on November 30 – December 1, 2005 and was co-hosted by the Office of the Surgeon General and the Office on Women’s Health in the Department of Health and Human Services, Health Systems Research, Inc.

The Surgeon General’s Women’s Mental Health Project is an initiative designed to identify critical issues, assess the state of science, and develop Surgeon General’s communiqués on mental health issues of relevance to women and girls in the United States. It is a collaborative project of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Surgeon General, Office on Women’s Health, National Institute of Mental Health, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The project is designed to explore the sex and gender differences affecting mental health, and to gain a better understanding of the role mental health plays in the overall health of our nation’s women and girls.

Each of the attendees was pre-assigned to one of eight breakout groups:

I was pleased to be assigned to the Protective and Resilience Factors group. My group told of personal experiences when identifying solutions and high priority issues. I was extremely happy about the consensus regarding the importance of resiliency, particularly as it relates to my daughter Troi and all that we have been through since she was identified with an attention deficit disorder and developmental disability at the early age of four. We worked together to identify areas of interest that may be developed into booklets, flyers, toolkits or interactive media that can help young women like Troi.

Since attending the workshop, I have gone back over the suitcase loaded with paperwork from evaluations of my daughter dating back to 1990. I can see diagnoses that were not linked to effective treatment and services for the entire family. As a parent I did not understand any of the processes, reports or information that was shared with me about her condition. I had lots of questions but I did not get any answers that helped or could lead me to a place where any form of treatment could begin for my daughter. Looking back over the scores and evaluations and treatment plans written on her IEP (Individualized Education Plan), I just wanted to cry. If only someone would have helped me to better understand what I was really dealing with instead of talking to me from a professional stand-point, maybe - just maybe - I would have been able to advocate and target areas where some improvement in her life at an early age could have made a difference today. The past is filled with so many unanswered questions and opportunities that were never explored.

Today, it isn't a struggle anymore, it is a fight. It is a fight with the government and authorities at the highest levels, to first of all make mental health a top priority with adequate funding in the nation, and second, to eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness. And for parity, because God knows no one can afford what it really takes to have quality mental health care that is needed for children and adults in this nation. It is a fight with policies and procedures and criteria for programs that once served a small population of the mentally ill. As the population of individuals with mental illnesses has increased, appropriate policies and procedures should support and reflect the needs of the consumers. It is a fight to stay sane and try to deal with everyday crises and problems one minute at a time, as caregivers struggle with jobs, schools, family and other obligations associated with their life. It is a fight for those parents who have become knowledgeable about the fragmented system and have learned how to at least keep their heads above water, when we engage with professionals and agencies that do not respect the parent's role in advocacy or their voice. It is a fight to get child-serving agencies to collaborate with each other and build partnerships with families to provide linguistic and culturally competent services that are child centered, family focused and flexible to meet the needs of the family.

Reform is a slow process, advocacy and promoting awareness is a slow process. Deterioration of one's mental health is also a very slow process - I witness the spirit and life of a young lady die slowly everyday because her mental health and developmental needs are not being met through the services that are provided within the system.

The Surgeon General's Workshop was designed to make recommendations for creations of materials that may help someone like my daughter, someone who has fallen through the gaps, someone who has experienced trauma, violence and abuse. She is someone who has been very resilient as she faces each day with uncertainty about her tomorrow.


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