Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler,
818/677-2130
carmen.chandler@csun.edu

CSUN to Join Nation in Trying to Paint
a Different Picture of Mental Illness

"Mental IllnessŠPaint A Different Picture" will feature a panel of mental health experts who will examine the ways clergy and lay people can be more responsive to the needs of individuals and families coping with mental illness. The satellite telecast will begin at 10 a.m. in Room 5 of the Oviatt Library in the center of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

"The panelists will discuss the causes and symptoms of mental illness, which currently affects one in every four families," said the Rev. Allyn Axelton, director of the university's United Campus Ministry. "They will examine the prevailing fears and stereotypes that isolate and place needless burdens upon individuals and their caregivers."

Axelton said the teleconference is intended to be a resource for pastors, social workers, chaplains, seminary students and others interested in the role the faith community can play in breaking the stereotypes of mental illness.

M. Garlinda Burton, editor of a journal for the United Methodist program, will moderate the discussion.

Panel members include: Jennifer Shifrin, executive director of Pathways to Promise; Lynn Swan, a mental illness advocate dealing with bi-polar disorders; Angie O'Malley, founder of CROSSWAYS, a support group for family members, consumers and caregivers; Arthur Pressley, associate professor of psychology and religion at Drew Theological Seminary; and Frederick J. Frese, a psychologist and diagnosed schizophrenic with faculty appointments in psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University and the Northeast Ohio College of Medicine.

Parking will be available for a small fee on the Prairie Street side of the campus.

For more information, call Axelton at 818/677-5814.