MSACD PROJECT

Project Description:

First, a focus on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

The Maternal Substance Abuse and Child Development Project (MSACD) began life as the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Screening project in 1981. At that time, the Georgia Legislature had the foresight to establish a program for screening pregnant women for alcohol use in order to identify the extent of the problem in Georgia as well as methods for prevention in this group. In the early 1980's, there was still considerable debate about the extent of this problem and, indeed, about the existence of FAS and other conditions resulting from prenatal exposure to substances of abuse. The FAS Screening project was among the first to work with this problem and was able to establish that alcohol effects could be seen in the newborn infant. We also found that an informational intervention with pregnant women could reduce alcohol and other drug use and improve birth outcomes. Thirty percent of the drinking women we interviewed stopped use and delivered babies who were of normal birth weight and had better developmental outcome. As part of this project, we developed the Dysmorphia Checklist, as screening tool for use in FAS clinics that reliably and validly identifies alcohol effects in children and adolescents. At the present time, we continue to work with alcohol-affected children and adults to describe the long-term effects of exposure. You can find more information about our findings on this Website at our Research section or our current studies at our Adult Assessment Project section.

Send E-Cards (CDC)

Check out our latest Feature Articles

Guidelines for Identifying and Referring Persons with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Going the Extra MILE: A Math Tutoring Program for Alcohol Affected Kids

Cocaine During Pregnancy

Central Nervous System Abnormalities Associated with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

Caffeine During Pregnancy

Website aims to remove stigma of mental illness in black communities:

Atlanta — According to statistics, only 1 in 3 black people who need mental health care receive it. This exemplifies the
well-known fact that the black community faces significant barriers to mental health care. While issues such as racism,
institutional mistrust and lack of insurance are major obstacles, the barriers posed by stigma and misinformation are some of the most prohibitive.

BlackMentalHealthNet.com is designed to empower the Black community by promoting mental health and providing a safe place to learn about mental illness, discuss mental health issues, connect with other individuals and families dealing with mental illness, and find treatment.

"Stigma often stifles the conversation regarding mental illness in the Black community," explained Dr. Sarah Y. Vinson, a Harvard-trained, Black psychiatrist and founder and chief editor of BlackMentalHealthNet.com. "Families too often base decisions on little information or misinformation. We hope to change that by providing facts and facilitating dialogue around mental illness in an environment of relative anonymity and acceptance."

BlackMentalHealthNet.com visitors will find clinically based information and summaries of mental health research relevant to the Black community presented plainly. Site contributors represent a variety of disciplines and backgrounds, including psychology, psychiatry, social work, and people with first-hand experience with mental illness.

The site includes valuable resources like a library of mental illness descriptions written specifically for the Black
community, links to additional mental health and mental illness resources, and a growing directory of mental health
providers working with and within the Black community. The meat of BlackMentalHealthNet.com, however, is its interactive discussion forums and articles.

Several recent postings have a back-to-school theme, including an article by a school psychologist addressing planning ahead and a video discussing school accommodations for mental health issues. Other postings include the first in a series of articles about anxiety by a black anxiety expert; a report on July's State of Black Mental Health Forum on Capitol Hill; a column by a New Orleans native, Hurricane Katrina survivor and psychiatrist-in-training about her personal experience with the disaster's effects on mental health; and an article reviewing some of the ongoing needs for mental health treatment in New Orleans post-Katrina.

"At BlackMentalHealthNet.com, we appreciate the strengths of the Black community while acknowledging its unique
challenges, both in a broader social sense and specifically in matters of mental health," said Dr. Vinson. "We want to
help people stop looking at mental illness as shameful and provide the information they need to develop their strengths
and embrace the help that is available."