Tipper Gore to headline mental health symposium

Tipper Gore will be the featured speaker at this year's Southeastern Symposium on Mental Health in Greenville.

Hosted by Greenville Health System's Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine, the second annual symposium is held to raise awareness about and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness as well as improve access to services.

Gore, as a mental health policy adviser to President Bill Clinton during her husband’s tenure as vice president, chaired the first White House National Conference on Mental Health, which involved tens of thousands of Americans in more than 1,000 cities nationwide. An advocate for eliminating the stigma of mental illness, she also supports quality, affordable mental health care.

“Mental illness is a major public health issue for the Upstate and our nation, with one in five adults experiencing mental illness in a given year,” said Dr. Karen Lommel, a GHS physician who specializes in emergency medicine and psychiatry.

“Mental illness is a community issue that requires a community-wide solution," she said, "and it’s important that we have these discussions in a public forum so that we can not only reduce the stigma associated with mental illness but develop solutions to meet the needs of our community.”

Other speakers at the symposium include Dan Westbrook, a partner with the law firm Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough, LLP; Frederick Frese, coordinator of the Summit County (Ohio) Recovery Project; Dr. Vladimir Maletic, a clinical professor of neuropsychiatry and behavioral science at the University Of South Carolina School Of Medicine in Columbia;  Rich Jones, executive director of Faces And Voices Of Recovery (FAVOR) Greenville; and Dr. Desmond Kelly, vice chair of academics and community affairs for the GHS Department of Pediatrics.

Also speaking will be Pete Earley, the author of four New York Times bestsellers including “Crazy: A Father’s Search through America’s Mental Health Madness,” and Deborah Blalock, the executive director of the Charleston Dorchester Mental Health Center. She provided trauma counseling after the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

Topics include responding to signs of mental illness and substance abuse, depression in the workplace and ways to improve worker productivity,

The event will be held May 12 and 13 at the Hyatt Regency Greenville. Those interested in attending can register at sesmh.org.

In addition to the GHS Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine, the event is sponsored by the GHS Health Sciences Center, which includes Clemson University, Furman University and the University of South Carolina, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, the Carolina Center for Behavioral Health, FAVOR Greenville, Lundbeck, NAMI Greenville, NAMI North Carolina, Nelson Mullins and S.C. Department of Mental Health.