January 20, 2006

MADI Resource Center celebrates fifth anniversary

The MGH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Institute (MADI) Resource Center — part of the MGH Department of Psychiatry — celebrated its fifth anniversary Jan. 3 with a dessert reception in the Trustees Room. The center utilizes the department's latest advances in research and clinical programs to provide practical mental health information to patients, families and caregivers.

From left, Gary Sachs, MD; Mark Pollack, MD; Maurizio Fava, MD; Blumenfeld; Jerrold Rosenbaum, MD; and Lee Cohen, MD, all of MGH Psychiatry, raise their commemorative MADI Resource Center mugs.

The MADI Resource Center was founded in 2000 with the support of the Willis family and a private foundation. It offers information on a variety of mental health issues — including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder — through community education programs, support groups and the publication of the Mental Health Resource Guide, available online at www.moodandanxiety.org and at the Blum Patient and Family Learning Center. The center also provides literature about a variety of mental health topics on display in many MGH patient waiting rooms.

MADI is directed by Karen Blumenfeld, MSW, who joined the institute in 2001. "For the past 10 years, the MGH Department of Psychiatry has been the country's top-rated hospital psychiatry department in the U.S. News & World Report," says Blumenfeld. "Our role at the MADI Resource Center is to leverage this extensive knowledge base to increase its accessibility to people in the community who need it the most."

To learn more about the center, visit www.moodandanxiety.org or www.schoolpsychiatry.org.