A Year in Review
IMPACT REPORT at the
Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Depression Center
2019
We are expanding our reach every day at the Johnson Depression Center — making great strides toward a future when harmful stigma is a thing of the past and all those in need of high-quality mental health care have access to the very best. Your partnership makes our progress possible. – Marshall Thomas, MD
WITH GRATITUDE As we kick of the new year at the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Depression Center, it is a pleasure to share updates and highlights of our work at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and in the communities we serve. With your partnership, we continue to elevate the Johnson Depression Center as a national leader and a destination for the latest knowledge and education about depression and mood disorders. We remain committed to further uniting the mental health resources and expertise on our campus and across Colorado to serve more people and more families, and to reach them where they are when they need us. Our pilot telehealth initiative in Eagle Country, Colorado, proved successful, and our program has since reached people all across the state and now serves as a model to be replicated across the country. Our skilled clinicians and staff are building on traditional care models and creating new, innovative approaches to serving patients and families in all stages of life. By offering thriving community outreach programs, we are reaching thousands of people each year, as well as developing additional preventative programming, and promoting early intervention and mental wellness, rather than crisis care. Through partnerships with veterans groups, we are reaching more of those who so selflessly served our country, including veterans living in rural areas. We are expanding our reach virtually as well, through a cache of free resources, coping tools and informational videos on our website. Because of your generosity, the list of the ways we are reaching those who need us continues to lengthen. These efforts translate directly into lives changed and lives saved. We are making the impossible possible every day at the Johnson Depression Center with your help, and I am grateful for your partnership as we set our sights on all that lies ahead. Sincerely,
Marshall Thomas, MD Marsico Chair for Excellence Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine Executive Director Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Depression Center
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Community Outreach & Education Since she joined the Johnson Depression Center, community programs manager Alex Yannacone, MA, has been instrumental in expanding our reach and equipping more people and community groups with lifesaving training, education and tools. In her first year, she educated more than 3,000 individuals across the state and built strong partnerships that are tremendously valuable to our efforts today. In year two, Alex doubled the number of people trained on topics including trauma, stress management and suicide prevention to nearly 7,000. We sat down with Alex to learn more about her and her vital work.
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When did you join the Johnson Depression Center?
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I joined the Johnson Depression Center team in the summer of 2016, after serving at The Kempe Center, where I provided coaching and training on childhood abuse prevention.
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Why do you do what you do?
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I really enjoy the impact of training and programming. Education and awareness have such a positive impact in the mental health field, and I truly enjoy being part of such an important topic and line of work. I really enjoy talking with people and learning from them. Even though I’m providing the programs, I always learn new things and hear such hopeful stories from those who attend. It’s always touching to hear people say that they have used the skills and tools I taught and made an impact in their own communities.
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What is Working Minds and why is it important?
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Working Minds is a suicide prevention program designed for the workplace. Just as organizations have realized they can help reduce heart disease by encouraging exercise, they can also reduce suicide by promoting mental health, and encouraging early identification and intervention. This is important because the highest rates of suicide fall between the ages of 45 and 64, and are typically men. More days of work loss and work impairment are caused by mental illness than many other chronic conditions such as
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diabetes, asthma and arthritis. Depression alone is estimated to cause 200 million lost workdays each year, at a cost to employers of up to $44 billion. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of programming (if any) to address these issues. Working Minds takes that first step to start talking about the importance of our mental wellness and the impact it has on the workplace. We currently have over 300 trainers nationwide who are providing this training to workplaces and their communities.
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What is Mental Wellness for Coaches and why is it important?
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The goal of the Mental Wellness Workshop for Coaches (MWWC) program under development here today is to promote mental wellness as an early prevention measure for mental illness. We will work with coaches — athletic, drama, music, debate and other areas — to equip them to promote mental wellness among the students they teach. Because coaches often develop different relationships with students and work with them in unique environments, this program gives us a special avenue for reaching more adolescents. MWWC will cover the basics of common mental health conditions, how to recognize anxiety and depression, promoting happiness and positivity, and how to connect students with resources and services.
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What excites you about the future of your work?
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There is starting to be this great momentum around programming and education. People are finding value in workshops, training and learning opportunities. I believe we have the ability to grow our programs to make a huge impact on creating hopeful and caring communities.
IMPACT BY THE NUMBERS
12,000+ people trained in mental wellness in 3 years
400
300
training sessions offered
trainers trained nationally
3
1,500
people reached through train-the-trainer programs
Changing Lives Through Clinical Care: Christopher Schneck, MD As medical director for the Johnson Depression Center, Christopher Schneck, MD, oversees all of the patient care delivered by center providers. His other roles at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus include serving in the outpatient division of UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and as behavioral health director of the UCHealth Infectious Disease Clinic. In addition to seeing patients, Dr. Schneck teaches courses at the CU School of Medicine. From early on in his career, Dr. Schneck knew his passion was in treating patients and teaching medical students, residents and other trainees. “When Dr. Marshall Thomas hired me in 1995, I remember I specifically told him those were my interests,” he said. “My entire clinical career has been treating patients with complex mood disorders across the depressive and bipolar spectrums.” Dr. Schneck has been on the CU faculty for nearly 25 years, and a part of the Johnson Depression Center since its inception in 2008. He has found his work with patients and a collaborative group of clinicians gratifying. “We have an incredibly smart, talented and hardworking group of clinicians with varying backgrounds and specialties,” he said. “Each contributes a unique clinical perspective on patient care, and all are supportive of one another, especially when we have complex, confusing or worrisome cases.” He also credits the support of a passionate board for helping the team improve the patient experience and extend the reach of care. While the Johnson Depression Center faces the challenges of growing and evolving amidst an ever-changing health care landscape, Dr. Schneck credits the Johnson Foundation’s historic gift with accelerating progress in a number of key areas. “This gift has allowed us to deliver specialized, high-quality care for patients suffering from mood and anxiety disorders, to educate the community about these disorders and thereby reduce the stigma of mental illness, and to create a clear vision in which understanding and treating mood disorders is the entire focus.”
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Christopher Schneck, MD Medical Director, Johnson Depression Center Associate Professor, Psychiatry • Education & Training
BS, Stanford University MD, University of Colorado School of Medicine Psychiatry Residency, Yale University Psychiatry Fellowship, Yale University
• Awards & Publications 5280 Top Doctors (since 2004) National Institute of Mental Health study site: faculty-focused therapy for adolescents at-risk for bipolar disorder American Journal of Psychiatry Archives of General Psychiatry Journal of Clinical Psychiatry Journal of Affective Disorders Current Psychiatry Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology
• Areas of Expertise & Research Interests bipolar disorder rapid cycling bipolar disorder adolescent bipolar disorder depression mood disorders
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Mental Health & Technology: 8th Annual Johnson Depression Center Luncheon #HOOKED: How Technology Impacts Mental Health Smartphones, Social Media & Stress
On October 5, 2018, the 8th annual Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Depression Center Luncheon brought together more than 700 supporters, patients, board members, staff and friends for a timely and compelling discussion of the ways that smartphones, social media and other technologies contribute to stress and impact mental wellbeing. We brought leaders from Silicon Valley and the field of psychology to speak about how we got to where we are today, the implications of the ever-increasing presence of technology in our lives, and what we can do about it.
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Nir Eyal, MBA, Silicon Valley product developer and author of “Hooked,” spoke about ethical product design. He noted that smartphones are so popular because they add a lot of value to people’s lives, and that he is “trying to understand the psychological code” behind how developers design products and services. While he said smartphones themselves are not the problem, they are one of the triggers of distraction. “Tech use is the drug of choice for people looking for an analgesic,” he said, “and unfortunately — as with any drug, any analgesic, anything that cures pain — if you use it too much it can be detrimental.” Jean Twenge, PhD, prominent personality and social psychologist, and author of “iGen,” offered insights into how today’s technology is taking a toll on mental health. “Right at the time smartphones became used by the majority of Americans, teen mental health began to suffer,” she said. Phones and social media have teens comparing themselves with unrealistic expectations or other people’s “highlight reels.” Both Eyal and Twenge cautioned moderation for teens, and for all of us, when it comes to smartphone use and social media activity, to lessen potential impacts on our mental health.
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The Anschutz Health Sciences Building: A New Home for the Johnson Depression Center In January 2019, the CU Anschutz Medical Campus broke ground on a state-of-the-art new building, expected to open in mid-2021, that will integrate research, education and patient care into a seven-story facility at the heart of campus. It will also serve as the new home of the Johnson Depression Center. The highly anticipated new facility will position the campus well to expand its footprint in strategic areas including mental health, personalized medicine and novel therapeutics. “This building is the next phase of our future,” said Chancellor Donald M. Elliman, Jr. “It’s really 390,000 square feet of possibilities.” When the Anschutz Health Sciences Building is open for business, the Johnson Depression Center will move from the University of Colorado Medicine building to occupy modern, functional space for research, training and clinical care. While the move itself is exciting news for our providers and patients, perhaps even more exciting is the collaborative nature of the new space. Mental and behavioral health programs, resources and expertise from all across campus, including the CU Department of Psychiatry and the National Mental Health Innovation Center, will be located together, opening up untold opportunities for deeper collaboration and innovation in patient-centered care. The interdisciplinary building will also house the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine, the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, classrooms, exhibit space and more.
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With your support and partnership, there is no limit to what we can accomplish for people of all ages, families and communities across Colorado and around the country. We are grateful for all that you make possible at the Johnson Depression Center and in the lives of those we serve.