Tis the season for awards. Awards are important, and it's not just because both you and I like to get them. I would be lying through my Starbucks-stained teeth if Isaid I didn'tlike getting recognition for the work I do. You bet your ass I do.
But nominating people and organizationsin the perinatal mood and anxiety disorder community is a good thing to do for an even more important reason. It garners recognition for postpartum depression. We hardly get any attention, unless it's negative, as most of you well know. Even within the health community, mental health is often left out. Even within the mental health community, perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are often left out. We are the red-headed stepchildren. And I can say that, because I am a red-headed stepchild.
So we alone must take responsibilityfor generating our own attention, making sure people don't forget us, making sure people understand how many women suffer and how little services are available and how much stigma still exists. If someone you know — a psychiatrist, social worker, scientist, volunteer, or, say … a blogger — has inspired you or helped you in a significant way, nominate them. Now. Time's a wastin'.
Here isthe list of just some of the awards:
For Bloggers
1. Babble.com has created a list of the top 50 mommybloggers of 2009. They've also asked their readers to let them know of other"mommy blogs"to watch. There are lots of deserving, courageous women bloggers who are talking about their experiences with postpartum depression (or a related illness) and who are helping others. They need to be recognized. Nominate them here. (And while you're there, will you vote for Postpartum Progress? We're #348 right now. I'm sure you could help us move up a bit. Couldn't you? Just a little? We could move up to #100 with just 15 votes.)
2. The 2009 Medical Blog Awards
Ok. I'd really like to benominated for this one. I'm just sayin'.
This is the sixth year of the competition and these awards are designed to showcase the best medblogs, and to highlight the exciting and useful role that the medical blogosphere plays in medicine and society. The categories for this year's awards are:
Best Medical Weblog Best New Medical Weblog (established in 2009) Best Literary Medical Weblog Best Clinical Sciences Weblog Best Health Policies/Ethics Weblog Best Medical Technologies/Informatics Weblog Best Patient's Blog
Nominations are now accepted in the comments section of this post. When nominating, please indicate the blog's name and URL, as well as your thoughts why this particular blog deserves recognition. A blog can participate in more than one category, so please be precise which one(s). Whenthey have all the nominees, Medgadget editors will sort through all the blogs, and we will select five blogs in each category based on merit, and on our own internal voting results. Nominate Postpartum Progress, and/or other mental health and PPD blogs you like,for Best Patient Blog! Nominations are only open until Sunday, January 24. (Shhh. I'm going to nominate the MGH Center for Women's Mental Health blog for Best Medical blog, among others …)
For Public Health Leaders
Nominations of public health leaders are invited for the 2010 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation Hero Award.
The CDC Foundation Hero Award is designed to honor a distinguished leader who has made a significant impact in the field of public health. The award recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to improving the public's health through exemplary work in advancing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's mission of promoting health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability.
Established by Congress, the CDC Foundation helps the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention increase the effectiveness of its programs by forging effective partnerships between CDC and corporations, foundations, organizations, and individuals to fight threats to health and safety.
Complete program information and nomination materials are available at the CDC Foundation Web site.
For Mental Health Consumers
Nominate a mental health consumer leader who has made outstanding contributions in the following areas:
- Led efforts to promote the social inclusion of people with mental health problems
- Personally demonstrated that recovery is real and possible
- Made a positive impact on their community, workplace and/or school
Here's how to nominate someone for a 2010 Voice Award.
For Mental Health Organizations
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has issued a call for applications for its 2010 Science and Service Awards, a national program that recognizes community-based organizations and coalitions that have shown exemplary implementation of evidence-based mental health and substance abuse interventions.
Awards will be made in each of the five categories: substance abuse prevention, treatment of substance abuse and recovery support services, mental health promotion, treatment of mental illness and recovery support services, and co-occurring disorders. To be eligible for an award, an organization must have successfully implemented a recognized evidence-based intervention. Examples include those that are published in scientific literature and/or appear on a Federal and/or state registry of evidence-based interventions.
Both public sector (State, local, territorial, tribal) and private sector organizations (including community-based organizations and/or coalitions) are eligible to compete for these non-monetary awards. Developers of an evidence-based intervention or their research collaborators, previous award winners, and Federal agencies are not eligible for the awards. Complete information is available on the SAMHSA Web site at www.samhsa.gov/scienceandservice by clicking on “Application Materials for 2010 Awards.”
For Research Scientists
NARSAD: The Mental Health Research Association is accepting applications for the Independent Investigator Award Program, which provides support for investigators during the critical period between the initiation of research and the receipt of sustained funding.
This program provides a two-year award up to $50,000 per year (maximum of $100,000 for two years) to scientists at the associate professor level or equivalent who are clearly independent and have won national competitive support as a principal investigator. Basic and/or clinical investigators are supported, but research must be relevant to schizophrenia, major affective disorders, or other serious mental illnesses. The program is intended to facilitate innovative research opportunities.
Applicants must have a doctoral-level degree (M.D., Ph.D., etc.), be an associate professor (or equivalent), and have received, as P.I., competitive research support at a national level such as NIH, NSF, or foundation support. A need for funding must be shown, and the applicant's institutional position must allow a minimum of 50 percent time for research. Visit the NARSAD Web site for complete program information.
For Tweeters
You can even nominate someone for the Shorty Awards. This honors the best Twitterers, or as they describe it, the best producers of short, real-timecontent. You can nominate people you follow on Twitter in categories like Health, Nonprofit, Science and more. Check it out here.
