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Lt. Governor Accepts Report on Women’s Mental Health in Wisconsin and Announces May is Mental Health Awareness Month
Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton today accepted a report from her Task Force on Women and Depression in Wisconsin. The report includes recommendations for both public and private sectors to improve the prevention and treatment of depression as a critical strategy to reduce its drag on our economy. She also presented a proclamation signed by Governor Doyle making May 2006, Mental Health Awareness Month in Wisconsin.
“As Lt. Governor, I am all too aware of the need to meet our workforce demands with healthy women and men who have been positioned to achieve the education and training necessary to make their best contribution,” said Lt. Governor Lawton. “I am committed to leading the changes that will improve our performance toward that end in both the public and private sectors.”
The report defines depression, provides a statistical profile of its incidence both in the general population and among women, assesses current treatment and describes models for prevention.
“I convened this task force to enrich our understanding of the status of Wisconsin women related to mental health, and then to build a precise diagnostic tool to tell us how best to address this critical public health issue,” said Lt. Governor Lawton. “Their recommendations are an invitation to all of us to respond to the compelling data that describe a status quo we cannot afford in our state.”
Lt. Governor Lawton convened the task force in 2005 in response to Wisconsin’s #48 ranking among other states for women’s mental health, as reported by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in their Status of Women in Wisconsin report. The UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs’ preliminary report on Wisconsin Women’s Mental Health followed, and served as a base for the task force’s work.
“The overall message that the task force wishes to convey to employers, to state government, and to Wisconsin residents is that depression is a serious, but treatable illness and should be a concern that informs state policies and practices,” said Task Force co-chair Dr. Joy Rice.
The Task Force on Women and Depression in Wisconsin is comprised of mental health experts from a wide variety of fields including eminent scholars; public health experts; citizen advocates; practitioners in the mental health field; corporate leaders; and university students. Their report builds on national and statewide research, evidence-based practice and the experience of clinicians who treat women and girls in Wisconsin diagnosed with depression.
“Women are at least twice as likely to experience depression,” said Task Force co-chair Dr. Janet Hyde. “We must act to address this issue.”
- Mental Health Task Force Report
Mental Health Task Force Report
