American Psychiatric Foundation Announces Recipients of 2008 Helping Ha...( Awards Honoring Medical Students ...),Health

Awards Honoring Medical Students for Community Mental Health Service Projects Supported by a Grant From Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.

ROCKVILLE, Md., April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Psychiatric Foundation (APF) has named five universities as the recipients of Helping Hands Grants. Each school will receive a $5,000 grant for a community mental health service project initiated and managed by medical students under the supervision of medical faculty. The awards are made possible through an unrestricted educational grant from Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.

The American Psychiatric Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing public understanding that mental illnesses are real and can be effectively treated, approved the following grants:

-- Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, is being awarded the grant for

the HEALTHY MINDS FOR HEALTHY LIVES student-driven initiative that, in

collaboration with local homeless shelters and community mental health

agencies, will raise awareness about the impact of socioeconomic

status, homelessness, and trauma on mental well being.

-- Louisiana State University Medical School, New Orleans, LA, is being

awarded the grant to establish a program to assess the mental health

status of patients at the LSU Health Sciences Center Student Run

Homeless Clinics. The program will include mental health screening

tools; links to mental health services in the community and the

education of patients on the importance of maintaining mental health

will be included in this program.

-- Michigan State University College of Human Medicine - Upper Peninsula

(UP) Campus, Marquette, MI, is being awarded the grant for the "Upper

Peninsula Maternal Emotional Support Program" to implement a network of

Postpartum Depression (PPD) risk assessment screening opportunities,

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