An educational panel on the topic of mental illness, "Stop the Stigma," will take place on Thursday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Cultural Center, 5461 North Terrace Road. There is no cost to attend. Coffee and dessert will be served. RSVP to 493-0270 or rsvp@jewishchattanooga.com
Featured panelists include Dr. Tracy Schultz, Jane Elmore and Barbara Paper. The panelists will present a general overview, discuss support services, educational resources and facilities, and discuss the stigma surrounding the topic. There will be an opportunity for the audience to ask questions.
Dr. Schultz, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist who graduated from New England College in 1992. She completed her doctorate in clinical psychology at Miami Institute of Psychology in 2001. Dr. Schultz completed her training at Brookdale University Hospital in Brooklyn, NY. Since completion of her doctorate program, she has worked in a variety of mental health settings. She has special interest in the treatment of depression and other mood related disorders, anxiety disorders and adjustment disorders. Dr. Schultz is also experienced in working with relationship issues. Dr. Schultz works with adults and geriatric population.
Ms. Elmore has an MSW and an MBA and spent her career in a variety of capacities in human service agencies. Her favorite jobs were head of the Illinois Foster and Adoption Program and as director of the Berwyn Cicero Senior Citizen Program. After she retired she became aware she had family members with mental illness and started to educate herself and others on mental illness. She was president, vice president, and advisor to a local mental health group. Ms. Elmore has lobbied locally, on the state level and nationally for services for the mentally ill.
Ms. Paper, an author, will sell and sign her book, Moon Flyers, which tells the story of a typical family’s struggle with mental illness, following the panel discussion. Ms. Paper graduated from the University of Alabama with a BSEd, and returned home to teach elementary school and later became the director of Religious Education for the Springhill Avenue Temple. In 1990, she moved to Atlanta. Ms. Paper traveled throughout the Southeast providing educational and leadership programs for the Union for Reform Judaism. Now Tennessee is her home where she is a member of NAMI Chattanooga.