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Collin County mental health experts gather for symposium

Celina Record (TX)
Nov 28, 2015

Over a dozen organizations were represented last Thursday at the McKinney Sheraton Hotel as stakeholders and mental health professionals gathered for the second annual Collin County Mental Health Symposium.

Donning their favorite team jersey in honor of this year's theme, "Teamwork: a Playbook for Success," agencies that encounter residents with mental illnesses like the Allen, McKinney, Plano and Frisco police departments, Dallas County and Collin County judges and court staff and LifePath Systems were there to learn about the latest trends and treatment.

This year's keynote speaker was Dallas-based attorney Brian Cuban, brother of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban who's advocated for mental health awareness for years in lectures across the U.S. and Canada.

Cuban spoke about his history with mental illness and his long battle with drugs and alcohol and his subsequent recovery. He also suffered from bulimia.

Cuban said he consistently struggled with self-esteem growing up in Pennsylvania. As a college freshman, he stood 6-foot-2-inches and thought of himself as overweight. When he turned 21 years old and could legally drink, he became a full-blown alcoholic. Soon after moving to Dallas in the late 1980s, he added cocaine and steroids to the mix.

It was only through the intervention of his family, Cuban said, in particular the bond among his brothers Mark and Jeff, that he was able to turn his life around. In 2007, he made a vow of sobriety that he has yet to break. He's also the author of "Shattered Image: My Triumph Over Body Dysmorphic Disorder," which recounts his struggle with body image and attempt to destigmatize eating disorders, especially for men.

"Loving yourself is a process," Cuban said. "It's a process even to this day for me."

Michael Downs, who played free safety for the Dallas Cowboys from 1981-88, spoke about his playing days and the current issues America's most popular sport faces regarding mental health stemming from concussions.

According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, damage to the brain resulting from a concussion can last for decades after the original head trauma. Research from The Ohio State University says concussions can eventually result in depression. Four thousand former NFL players have filed suit against the league alleging that the NFL failed to protect them from the long-term consequences.

Downs said he might have health complications arising from concussions suffered during his time playing professional football. He said he feels the NFL is taking the issue seriously now, though he'd have liked it to happen sooner.

"What I guess I'm a little bit angry about is it took so long for it to break and do something about it," he said. "Mental illness is a problem and it seems like it's getting worse rather than better."

Andrew Young, a professor at Lubbock Christian University, gave a lecture titled "Intervention Strategies for Those in Crisis and with Mental Illness." Young is a specialist in the areas of crisis counseling and emergency services and is also a negotiator with the Lubbock PD SWAT team.

In his lecture, Young played an audio clip of a standoff in which he attempted to negotiate a peaceful ending between police and an armed man. The situation ended in a shootout.

In such a situation where someone is actively psychotic, Young said an officer may need to give that person room, avoid placating them (i.e. "I hear the voice, too") and ground them in reality by asking them what they see and telling them to focus on the officer and listen to their voice.

"Some helpful techniques are patience, calm, understanding regarding the individual's symptoms, paraphrasing what's said, allowing for venting and then moving towards problem solving once that individual feels heard," Young said.

Alyse Ferguson, attorney director for the Collin County Mental Health Managed Counsel, said she hasn't seen a spike in mental health illness cases in Collin County so much as they've learned how to better identify such cases. Since local mental health hospitals started closing down in the 1980s, the correctional system has become the largest mental health provider in the county.

"It was this whole deinstitutionalization. Now where the people end up going and getting treatment are the jails and the prisons," she said.

Collin County was one of the first in the state to release non-violent offenders who suffered from mental illnesses, and now, Ferguson said many counties are coming to them to see their program in action.

"Obviously there are some offenses ? a murder or things like that that are crimes of insanity ? that we need that immediate safety net and there is a repercussion sometimes," Ferguson said. "But the other folks, the criminal justice system is not the right place for them."

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