Seminar to probe mental health of military, families

Mental Health America of Hawaii will present a brown bag mental health seminar on the mental health challenges faced by Hawaii soldiers and their families from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 3, at Catholic Charities Hawaii, 1822 Ke'eaumoku St., Honolulu.

The session will feature Laura Wheeler, Hawaii National Guard's State Family Program director and deputy commander for Clinical Services; Michael Faran, MD, director of School-Based Mental Health at Tripler Army Medical Center; Clay Park, case manager and veterans' specialist for Helping Hands Hawaii and Ann M. Fisher, Sexual Trauma and Readjustment counselor a the Honolulu Veterans Center.

Pre-register by sending name, address, phone, and email address to susan@mentalhealth-hi.org. A $10 donation will be collected at the door. Topics the seminar will cover include:

• One-third of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have mental health problems 
• Suicide rates are at an all-time high among military
• Female soldiers face high rates of sexual assault and harassment in addition to the trauma of combat
• Returning soldiers' mental health problems dramatically impact their families
• Reservists do not have the same level of support as others
• The system to care for soldiers' mental health is stretched to the breaking point
• How problems impact soldiers, their families and Hawaii as a community
• How we as a community can help