Rogers InHealth Created to Help Reduce Mental Health Stigma

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May 20, 2013, 05:31 ET

OCONOMOWOC, Wis., May 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of Mental Health Month, Patrick T. Hammer, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rogers Behavioral Health System (RBHS), is pleased to introduce Rogers InHealth. The System's newest key corporation, Rogers InHealth was created to help eliminate stigma through self-empowerment and illuminating recovery by sharing stories of real people who live with a mental illness.

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The Beginnings
The creation of Rogers InHealth was a vision for the management team at RBHS long before recent news on reducing mental health stigma. "As one of the nation's leading mental health providers," Hammer said, "we feel a responsibility to address this issue. We hear far too many stories of people delaying treatment, only to wish they had discovered the difference it could make in their lives earlier." He added that Carl Templer, RBHS Board Chair, and Paul Mueller, CEO of Rogers Memorial Hospital, were two of the most instrumental in the development of the new key corporation.

"At Rogers, we understand the impact stigma has on the lives of those with a mental illness," Templer said, "We also realize that stigma can be a significant barrier not only to treatment, but to the ability to find work and housing as well – all of which are crucial to maintaining a life of recovery with mental illness. That's why our goal is to reduce stigma as one of the barriers to effective treatment, whether it's at Rogers or elsewhere."

Mueller agreed. "Getting proven-effective treatment can literally save lives," he said. "We know entire families who have been changed through treatment. The inspiring stories Rogers InHealth shares are indicative of the opportunities for recovery. The program also aligns with Rogers' primary goal to help people see that life is worth living when they get the treatment they need."

The Leadership
When looking into who might be ideal as co-directors of the new key corporation, Mueller instantly thought of two people who would make a good fit. Sue McKenzie, M.A., and Suzette Urbashich, M.S., had been working for more than 12 years with InHealth WI, helping teachers and families with children who were struggling with mental health issues. "What we wanted to do with Rogers InHealth was parallel to what they were already doing in an educational setting," he said, "we just wanted to make the outreach global."

Urbashich and McKenzie have a passion to develop and facilitate key initiatives related to education and advocacy for stigma reduction. Along with an advisory team comprised of community partners, research and content experts, staff and consumers, the two guide the Rogers InHealth program through collaboration and innovation. Among those involved is one of the nation's top researchers in stigma reduction, Patrick W. Corrigan, PsyD, a distinguished professor of psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

As a corporation, Rogers InHealth has already facilitated Wisconsin's Initiative for Stigma Elimination (WISE), a statewide collaboration of organizations and individuals seeking to reduce the stigma of mental illness in Wisconsin. With Dr. Corrigan as the lead academic consultant and evaluator, WISE promotes the use of evidence based practices and outcome evaluation.

Rogers Behavioral Health System consists of five key corporations: Rogers Memorial Hospital, which is currently ranked #7 in the country for mental health services; Rogers Memorial Hospital Foundation, Inc.; Rogers Partners in Behavioral Health, LLC; Rogers Center for Research and Training; and Rogers InHealth. The hospital has become nationally recognized for its specialized residential treatment services and affiliations with academic institutions and teaching hospitals in the area. Rogers Memorial Hospital is currently Wisconsin's largest not-for-profit, private behavioral health hospital, providing adults, children and adolescents with treatment for eating disorders, chemical dependency, obsessive-compulsive and anxiety disorders, as well as a variety of child and adolescent mental health concerns. For more information, please visit www.rogershospital.org.