University of Southern Maine

December 2004

A new course titled “Responding to Mental Health Crisis through Community” will be offered in the spring semester at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College.

The course will focus on the ideology of mental illness as it is affected by factors of heredity, gender, and ethnicity. Contemporary issues of community mental health and the relationship to criminal justice, deviancy, and human behavior will also be analyzed. Students will explore tools for evaluating risks associated with emotionally distraught individuals and examine how people struggling with mental illness are able to function successfully in the community. Class members will also learn how to manage crisis and access community services.

The course instructor will be Laurie Cyr-Martel MA, MHRT IV, Crisis Intervention Specialist for the Lewiston Police Department. She is the author of Responding to Emotionally Disturbed Persons - A Manual for Law Enforcement, which she wrote to provide information to the law enforcement community about dealing with individuals in emotional distress. Cyr-Martel earned a bachelor’s degree in social and behavioral sciences from USM/L-A and she also holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Antioch College in New Hampshire.

The course (SBS 399) will meet Mondays, 9:00 - 11:30 p.m., beginning January 24, 2005. Registration is open through the first class meeting. Other courses being offered through the social and behavioral sciences program include Health, Illness, and Culture, Introduction to Social Services, Brain and Behavior, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. For more information or to register, please call 753-6530. The complete spring semester USM/L-A course schedule is online at www.usm.maine.edu/lac/schedules.