Press Releases
For Immediate Release
Laura Baxter (L) Dr. Julie Gentile
FROM: Linda Anderson Smith
Public Relations Director
Champaign Residential Services, Inc.
1150 Scioto Street
Urbana, Ohio 43078
937-653-1324
lsmith@crsi-oh.com
Date: December 2009
RE: Dual Diagnosis Conference
New Orleans: The National Association for the Dually Diagnosed (NADD) recently held its annual conference in New Orleans. Attending the conference from CRSI were CBO Barb Keller and Laura Baxter, Director of the Ben-El Child and Family Center.
NADD is a not-for-profit membership association established for professionals, care providers and families to promote understanding of services for individuals who have developmental disabilities in combination with mental health needs.
CRSI, a member of NADD, provides dual-diagnosis services through Ben-El Child & Family Center for ninety-eight individuals who have developmental disabilities and who also have mental health issues. Seventy-three are CRSI consumers.
The three-day NADD conference gave participants the opportunity to hear and learn from some of the leading professionals in the field of Dual Diagnosis.
Receiving the NADD 2009 Clinical Practice Award was Dr. Julie Gentile, M.D., an associate professor at Wright State University.
Dr. Gentile serves on Ohio’s collaborative group known as the Coordinating Center of Excellence (CCOE). CRSI is a partner in the group along with the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, the Ohio Department of Mental Health and the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council.
Dr. Gentile is Director of the Dual Diagnosis Program and Director of Medical Student Mental Health Services at Wright State. In her affiliation with the CCOE she has worked in three specific areas that together address important issues, statewide, that will improve services for individuals with a dual diagnosis.
Those three areas are:
• Assessing individuals to determine best treatment approaches, given an individual’s circumstances and characteristics;
• Training students in Psychiatry at Wright State in effectively working with affected individuals; and,
• Organizing information for families who are seeking assessments and treatment for affected family members.
Dr. Gentile was nominated for the award by Laura Baxter for her commitment to serving individuals with dual challenges and her commitment to setting high standards for individuals who fall into service gaps between diagnoses of developmental disabilities and mental health.