Florida’s chief psychiatrist at the Department of Children and Families will present a “360-degree perspective” on “holiday blues” and depression, as NAMI Wakulla’s featured speaker on Dec. 6.

Dr. Janetta Cureton said that depression must be looked at in a multi-layered context, for example, in the setting of the current economic downturn, or at the onset of the holiday season.

“People have the same diagnosis, but it is unique to them,” Cureton said. “That is the way we need to look at the illness… a 360-degree perspective.”

Cureton joined Florida’s DCF as a clinical psychiatrist interested in public policy.  Since she began her leadership in mental health, she has become a trailblazer in combining clinical psychiatry with the development of public policy.

“One of NAMI Wakulla’s missions is to offer helpful information on mental illness to the people of Wakulla County,” said Charlie Creel, president of NAMI Wakulla.  “We are so lucky to have people of Dr. Cureton’s background and expertise to offer the benefits of their knowledge to us.”

Cureton’s expertise in psychiatry began with a passion for the subject while she studied medicine as a Martin Luther King Jr. fellow at Boston University.  “I was fascinated; this [psychiatry] was what I wanted to be doing,” she said.

From Boston, Cureton worked in a political arena focusing on health care issues in the U. S. Congress.  “I learned listening and not talking,” she said. “If you stop talking you will learn so much.”

From congressional work, Cureton moved to Miami to train in forensic psychiatry at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where, as chief resident, she supervised 45 colleagues.  Cureton’s next move was to Tallahassee where she wanted to see what she could do from a public perspective.

Since her arrival at DCF, Cureton has established a new concept for the agency by combining her knowledge of clinical psychiatry with the development of the state’s mental health policies.  “It’s about us doing the next right thing for patients,” Cureton said.  “That’s exactly what I’m about.”

NAMI Wakulla is inviting all who are interested in depression and other mental illness to attend this open meeting on Dec. 6 at 6:30 p.m. at The Inn at Wildwood, 3896 Coastal Highway, Crawfordville.  NAMI Wakulla is an affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and can be reached at 926-1033, or on the NAMI Wakulla Web site at www.NAMIWAKULLA.com.

Written by :

ccreel

 

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