I know all of you have huge amounts of time on your hands, right? Of course, that is not true. We are all terribly pressed for time. One way that many busy professionals have learned to increase their exposure to recent information in their fields of expertise is through listening to podcasts on an iPod [...]
I have been struggling with a topic for this week’s blog. The only thing that has come across my path that feels compelling is the hummingbird who showed up at our coral honeysuckle on Sunday. Unfortunately, integrating that ruby throat into my article does not seem like an easy task. Sometimes, I feel like I [...]
This morning I read an editorial (An ounce of prevention could heal a pound of pain) by Dina Overland of the FierceHealthPayer newsletter. She decided to use her platform as the editor of a newsletter that is aimed at insurance payers to directly address those payers about prevention of healthcare problems and diminishing future costs. She focused on an [...]
In a previous life, when I was actively involved in the American Psychological Association (APA), I was for three years a member of and one year the chair of the Public Information Committee of the APA. Prior to that, I hosted a live, call-in television show for two years. Frankly Speaking with Dr. Kathy Peres was [...]
The holiday last Monday made it difficult to get to my blog. As each new item that I needed to handle came up, I found myself thinking about what I had hoped to write. Thinking about it was all I managed. No matter how much I thought, I did not discipline myself to leave all [...]
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 is American Psychological Association’s Mental Health Month Blog Party. This post is dedicated to Mental Health and Mental Health Awareness. This past weekend, we rode 104 miles in the BikeMS Citrus Tour 2011. One of the fun parts of the weekend was getting to spend a few hours with our friend [...]
Do you have a favorite author? I have loved different writers at various times in my life. At present, one of my favorites is Barbara Kingsolver. What? You don’t know her work? Well, you should try one of her best known, The Poisonwood Bible, the story of a missionary family in the Congo in the [...]
I don’t know about you, but I was born and raised in a city. I spent 21 years in New Orleans and then almost 20 years living in the never-ending urban/suburban environment of South Florida. I had not been camping until I was in college. While some childhood vacations included visits to national parks and natural wonders, we always stayed [...]
On February 24, 2011 I received an email letter from Linda Rosenberg, National Council President and CEO. The letter was entitled Trauma-informed Care: A Call to Arms. I was delighted to read it. In my previous life, when I worked as a psychologist, I practice Feminist Therapy. Somehow, my practice had developed into one in which I [...]
I am in the process of deciding how to proceed with and utilize my blog during 2011. Since you are the consumers of the blog articles, I would very much appreciate your input about how I should do this. Are there particular topics I have written about that were particularly interesting or useful to you? [...]
Since October 2008, we have published 85 almost weekly blog articles. Holidays and vacations and family illnesses have sometimes interrupted the flow, but I have not purposefully interrupted the postings until now. Between now and the end of 2010, if I post a blog article, it will be brief and mostly focused on a link [...]
As a psychologist, I never cease to be amazed at how much I learn from other people. While my day-to-day work is in software for mental health organizations, much of my recreation time is spent bicycling. The Horrible Hundred is a bicycling event here in central Florida that covers up to 100 miles on the hills of [...]
On October 7 the National Council announced the release by The Parity Implementation Coalition of a toolkit aimed at helping consumers of mental health services deal with their insurance companies. The National Council, a member of the Coalition, has made the 60-page booklet available on their web site. This toolkit is aimed at providers, consumers, and their advocates. [...]
2010 has been a year of marker events for us at SOS and this is a time of year when I usually think about such things. I have mentioned previously that Fall feels like the new year to me. The start of school, my birth in September, the Jewish New Year…all of these contribute to the feeling [...]
One of our customers recently shared a NY Times column about photos you post on the web revealing where they were taken. Geotags provided by some digital cameras and many smartphones with built-in GPS features indicate where the photo was taken. If you post a photo of your child’s at-home birthday party taken with geotags turned ‘on’ [...]
Note: This is one of an occasional series of postings on how we can work to affect climate change. A couple of weeks ago we went to the home of friends in our book club planning to watch a movie together. When we arrived, we did not know what movie we would be watching, but I was [...]
On January 29, 2010, the federal departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury released their ”guidance” on the Wellstone-Dominici Mental Health Parity Act. The National Council discussed some of the contents of the Interim Final Rule (IFR) in their February 4 Public Policy Update. The IFR goes into effect April 5, 2010 and applies to policies [...]
Note: This article is my once-in-a-while exploration of human behavior and climate change. While it is in no way related to health care, it may be directly related to health. The cold temperatures across the nation this week have had some individuals scoffing at the notion of global warming. On the other hand, most scientists explain [...]
As a psychologist trained 30 years ago in a Boulder-model scientist practitioner training program in clinical psychology, the ability to critically evaluate research and to determine its application to the treatment of my patients was an essential part of my practice and of my outlook on clinical psychology. That initial training fed my early interest in [...]
I’ve mentioned here pretty often than I am not a technology sophisticate. I use technology every day in my work life, but I am a slow-adopter. For some of you, this article may be so old-hat that you will ask “Kathy, where have you been?” But I know there are others out there like me, so [...]
