Michael Thevar , LSW, President, Omni health servcies Inc, USA

OMNI Health Services Inc, founded in 2007 by Michael Thevar , LSW, is a private, for profit behavioral healthcare corporation. Michael Thevar is a Licensed Social Worker in Pennsylvania. He began his career as a drug and alcohol counselor, and went on to become Director of Admissions at Pennsylvania Hospital. In 2000, he started Temp Solutions, Inc., a successful healthcare staffing agency in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Marianne Gilson : Quality Assurance Director

Marianne Gilson, MCAT, received her Master’s Degree from Hahnemann University in 1982.  Following a fifteen year clinical career in mental health program management, she moved to a career in behavioral health administration management.  She presently provides Quality Improvement and Risk Management Consultation Services for OMNI.  She is responsible for the development of the organization’s clinical and administrative policies and procedures, monitoring the quality of services provided, and assuring that the company is compliant with state and federal regulations.

Dr. Mickal Kamuvaka : Clinical Director

Dr. Mickal Kamuvaka has been a resident of Philadelphia since 1982. She holds a bachelors degree in Social Work and Clinical Psychology from the University of the North, in South Africa.  In 1982, she obtained a master’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies (Psychology Degree) from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In 1989, she obtained a Doctorial Degree in Social Work Administration and Racism from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She is also a licensed Social Worker in the state of Pennsylvania. Additionally, she is a diplomat of the American Psychotherapy Association. Dr. Kamuvaka is also certified in E.M.D.R., CBT, Play Therapy, Parenting Education, and previously certified as a diplomat of the American College of Professional Mental Health Practitioners, as well as a Substance Abuse Professional (SAP), and Nationally Certified Addiction Prevention Specialist. For the past eleven years, she has been teaching at Lincoln University’s Master of Human Services (MHS) program. She has over thirty two years of experience as a social worker, which span over a variety of settings; ranging from hospital, faith based, the navy, partial hospitalization, home-based services, outpatient, and Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

Christine Cloud-O’Brien : Therapist

Christine Cloud-O’Brien has a M.S. degree in Counseling Psychology from Holy Family University and B.A. degree in Psychology with a Criminal Justice Minor.  Christine has several years of experience working with children and adults. Her specialties are Anxiety Disorders and Adolescent Counseling.

Nicole M. Wyatt : Office Secretary

Nicole M. Wyatt has attended Bucks County Technical High School for her Allied Health/Nurses Aid diploma. Nicole has excellent interpersonal skills and good insights on team work. She has experience in secretarial, front desk management and financial assistant.

Pravin Lawande : Project Coordinator

Pravin Lawande has a MSW Degree in Social Welfare Administration from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai (India).  Pravin also completed M.Phil from International Institute for Population Sciences, India. In his professional career, he served many National and International organizations in the capacity of program manager, oversaw program monitoring and evaluation, and acted as team leader.  His strengths lie in Individual, Family, and Group Counseling.  He specializes in areas of Anger Management, Anxiety, and Stress Management.

Please put your general questions on the comment section of this blog:
Whereas for  confidential queries please mail us at
Email: ohsi@comcast.net

If you desire to reach us via postal correspondance, Please do so at:

OMNI Health Services
595 Bethlehem Pike
Heritage Executive Campus, Suite 106
Montgomeryville, PA 18936

website:

www.omhsi.com

or

www.omnihealthservicesinc.com 

And if you want to call us please Phone us at : 215-997-2000

In its own way to guide, the mental health awareness questions are also welcomed after considering expertise of Omni Health Services Inc into service specialties-

Outpatient Services

Confidential counseling services are available in our private office setting located in the Heritage Executive Campus in Montgomeryville. Our office, which is located on the Route 309 corridor, is also easily accessible by public transportation. Our services include:

Individual Counseling
Marital Counseling
Family Counseling
Stress Reduction
Bereavement Support
Assessment and support for children and adolescent emotional or behavioral problems
Psychological Evaluation
Psychiatric Evaluation
Medication Management
For your convenience, OMNI employs bi-lingual counselors. When you call to schedule an appointment, tell us if you speak Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, or Kannada.

Wrap Around Services for Children and Adolescents

A team of professionals, specializing in working with troubled children and teens, will provide in-home therapy and support services to your family. This program is designed for children and adolescents who are experiencing behavioral and emotional problems at home or at school. The professional team will work with your family to develop a detailed plan to address problem behaviors and nurture the natural skills and abilities of your child.

By E. Fuller Torrey, M.D. and Mary T. Zdandowicz, J.D.

The White House Conference on Mental Health identified stigma and discrimination as the most important barriers to treatment for the mentally ill. For the most severely ill, there are more significant barriers to treatment such as laws that prevent treating individuals until they become dangerous. These laws and our failure to treat individuals with schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness are, ironically, the leading causes of stigma and discrimination against those with mental illnesses.

Stigma is created by the sort of headlines that result when a person is not being treated for mental illness and shoots two Capitol police officers to death or pushes an innocent victim in front of a speeding subway train. Some 20 years of research, in fact, has proven this point.

A 1996 study published in the Journal of Community Psychology demonstrated that negative attitudes toward people with mental illnesses greatly increased after reading newspaper articles reporting violent crimes by the mentally ill. Henry J. Steadman, an influential public opinion researcher, wrote as far back as 1981, “Recent research data on contemporary populations of ex-mental patients supports these public fears [of dangerousness] to an extent rarely acknowledged by mental health professionals. . . It is [therefore] futile and inappropriate to badger the news and entertainment media with appeals to help destigmatize the mentally ill.”

Tipper Gore and the White House must tackle 30 years of failed deinstitutionalization policy if they hope to win the battle of mental illness stigma and solve the nation’s mental illness crisis. Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Americans are eking out a pitiful existence on city streets, under ground in subway tunnels, or in jails and prisons due to the misguided efforts of civil rights advocates to keep the severely ill out of hospitals and out of treatment. The images of these gravely ill citizens on our city landscapes are bleak reminders of the failure of deinstitutionalization. They are seen huddling over steam grates in the cold, animatedly carrying on conversations with invisible companions, wearing filthy, tattered clothing, urinating and defecating on sidewalks or threatening passersby. Worse still, they frequently are seen being carried away on stretchers as victims of suicide or violent crime, or in handcuffs as perpetuators of violence against others.

All of this occurs under the watchful eyes of fellow citizens and government officials who do nothing but shake their heads in blind tolerance. The consequences of failing to treat these illnesses are devastating. While Americans with untreated severe mental illnesses represent less than one percent of our population, they commit almost 1,000 homicides in the United States each year. At least one-third of the estimated 600,000 homeless suffer from schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness, and 28 percent of them forage for some of their food in garbage cans. About 170,000 individuals, or 10 percent, of our jail and prison populations suffer from these illnesses, costing American taxpayers a staggering $8.5 billion per year.

Moreover, studies suggest that delaying treatment results in permanent harm, including increased treatment resistance, worsening severity of symptoms, increased hospitalizations and delayed remission of symptoms. In addition, persons suffering from severe psychiatric illnesses are frequently victimized. Studies have shown that 22 percent of women with untreated schizophrenia have been raped. Suicide rates for these individuals are 10 to 15 times higher than the general population.

Weak state treatment laws coupled with inadequate psychiatric hospitals beds have only served to compound the devastation for this population. Nearly half of those suffering from these insidious illnesses do not realize they are sick and in need of treatment because their brain disease has affected their self-awareness. They do not recognize that the symptoms of their illness – hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and withdrawal – are, in fact, symptoms. Since they do not believe they are sick they refuse medication.

Most state laws today prohibit treating individuals over their objection unless they pose an immediate danger to themselves. In other words, an individual must have a finger on the trigger of a gun before any medical care will be prescribed.

Studies have proved that outpatient commitment is effective in ensuring treatment compliance. While many states have some form of assisted treatment on the books, the challenge remains in getting them to utilize what is at their disposal rather than tolerating the revolving-door syndrome of hospital admissions, readmissions, abandonment to the streets and incarceration that engulfs those not receiving treatment.

Adequate care in psychiatric facilities also must be available. Between 5 and 10 percent of the total 3.5 million persons suffering from schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness require long-term hospitalization – which means hospitalization in state psychiatric hospitals. This critical need is not being met since we have lost effectively 93 percent of our state psychiatric hospital beds since 1955.

It is time to recognize that feel-good mental health policies have caused grave suffering for those most ill and that real solutions must be developed. The lives of millions of Americans depend on it.

In June, Michael Laudor, a Yale Law School graduate who suffers from schizophrenia, allegedly slashed his fiancée, Caroline Costello, to death. Last month, Russell Weston, a drifter with schizophrenia, allegedly murdered two policemen, Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, in an assault on the U.S. Capitol.

These are only the most publicized of an increasing number of violent acts by people with schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness who were not taking the medication they need to control their delusions and hallucinations. The pattern has been emerging for the past decade. Based on information gathered in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, we estimate that approximately 1,000 homicides a year are committed nationwide by seriously mentally ill individuals who are not taking their medication.

A Question of When

The total number of individuals with active symptoms of schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness is some 3.5 million. The National Advisory Mental Health Council has estimated that 40% of them – roughly 1.4 million people – are not receiving any treatment in any given year. It is therefore not a question of whether someone will follow Michael Laudor and Russell Weston into the headlines. It is merely a question of when.

A 1990 study of families with a seriously mentally ill member reported that 11% of the ill individuals had physically assaulted another person in the previous year. In 1992 sociologist Henry Steadman studied individuals discharged from psychiatric hospitals. He found that “27 percent of released male and female patients report at least one violent act within a mean of four months after discharge.” Another 1992 study, by Bruce Link of the Columbia University School of Public Health, reported that seriously mentally ill individuals living in the community were three times as likely to use weapons or to “hurt someone badly” as the general population. A 1998 MacArthur Foundation study found that seriously mentally ill individuals committed twice as many acts of violence in the period immediately prior to their hospitalization, when they were not taking medication, compared with the posthospitalization period when most of them were taking medication.

The emerging pattern of violence is clear. And it is part of a larger pattern: increasing numbers of severely mentally ill individuals among the homeless population, incarcerated in jails and prisons for offenses committed while psychotic, and loitering in parks, public libraries and transportation stations. The pattern is the product of deinstitutionalization gone awry, the discharge of hundreds of thousands of mentally ill individuals from the nation’s public psychiatric hospitals without ensuring that they get the medication they need to remain well.

Recent studies have shown that about half of those who have schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness have markedly impaired insight into their illness. That is, they do not know that they are sick, because their brain disease has affected the frontal lobe circuits that are necessary for complete self-awareness. If they are not sick, they reason, why do they need a cure? Mr. Weston repeatedly told his family that he was not sick and rejected their pleas that he take his medication.

Individuals like Mr. Weston will take medication only if it is mandated. And this can be done in 37 states under outpatient commitment statutes, or in a few other states under conservatorships or conditional hospital release arrangements. Both Montana and Illinois, the states that should have been treating Mr. Weston, have outpatient commitment laws under which he could have been required to take medication as a condition for living in the community.

However, these laws are difficult to invoke. Lawsuits brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and Washington-based Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law have changed most states’ criteria for outpatient commitment. Individuals must be classified as an imminent danger to themselves or others before they can be involuntarily treated, either in the hospital or in the community; this criterion is strictly applied. Most psychotic individuals, who are merely making threats against others or living on the streets and eating out of garbage cans, are not deemed legally sick enough to qualify for outpatient commitment.

At the same time as civil liberties lawyers have been making it virtually impossible to treat severely mentally ill individuals involuntarily until they commit some horrific act, state mental health officials have been increasingly abdicating their responsibility for these individuals. More than 90 % of state psychiatric hospital beds that existed in 1960 have been eliminated. Many states have turned over the responsibility for treating severely mentally ill individuals to health-maintenance organizations. Some of them, mostly nonprofits, are doing a creditable job. But for-profit HMOs, with few exceptions, have been disastrous for the severely mentally ill, who are expensive to treat. The newest antipsychotic medications, which are essential for some mentally ill patients, can cost $400 a month.

If we hope to stem this tide of unnecessary violence and preventable tragedies, we will have to address squarely the issue of involuntary treatment. Outpatient commitments, conservatorships, and conditional hospital releases should be used much more widely to ensure that discharged patients comply with the requirement that they take their medication. Since most severely mentally ill individuals also receive federal subsidies such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), or Veterans’ Administration benefits, such subsidies could be linked to treatment compliance. Mr. Weston, for example, had been receiving monthly SSI payments since 1984, but such payments were never linked to his treatment.

We prevent individuals with Alzheimer’s disease from living on the streets, because we understand that they have a brain disorder. We mandate involuntary treatment for some tuberculosis sufferers who refuse to take medication, because we understand that they are potentially dangerous to other people. We should do the same for individuals with schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness.

State Responsibility

Another necessary step: Washington should hold the nation’s governors directly responsible for their states’ mental illness treatment programs. The care of severely mentally ill and disabled individuals has been a state responsibility for 150 years. Most states have no internal monitoring to assess the quality of public psychiatric services. As a condition for receiving federal mental health block grants, states could be required to institute such programs, using audits of mental health centers’ clinical activities and unannounced inspections of hospitals and group homes. The state data could then be sent to the Institute of Medicine under the National Academy of Sciences, which would submit an annual report to Congress.

These horrors are preventable. Michael Laudor should be teaching at Yale Law School and Russell Weston should be mining Montana’s hills. Their victims should still be alive. The tragedy is that the mentally ill are a threat to society because society has failed them.

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