Founded in 1974, RAMS, Inc. is a private, non-profit mental health agency that is committed to advocating for and providing community based, culturally-competent, and consumer-guided comprehensive services, with an emphasis on serving Asian & Pacific Islander Americans. RAMS is committed to reflecting the multicultural & multilingual diversity of our community.
Dr. Loong Kwok and Dr. Stephen Lugar - clinicians with the RAMS Child, Youth, & Family Services and clinical supervisors at RAMS, who also have private practices in San Francisco - recently presented at the 2013 Spring Meeting of Division 39 of the American Psychological Association, which took place from April 24-28 in Boston, MA. They were part of a panel where five clinicians from varied generations and ethnicities attempted to place age and desire in a creative tension, titled, What Age is Desire?. Through their own personal and clinical stories they explored how aging affects the experience of desire, be it romantic, sexual, or otherwise. Other members of the panel included Drs. Michael Donnell, Stephen Hartman, and Bart McGee. The papers touched on the social contexts of aging and sexuality, touching on the meanings attached to bodies, ethnicities, generational differences, disease, and sexual mores.
Well-received at Division 39, the papers presented at the panel will be published in the upcoming issue of the journal Studies in Gender and Sexuality.
Click HERE to see more details about the APA Division 39.
UPDATE: The papers were published in Studies in Gender and Sexuality, Volume 14, Issue 2, 2013. Click HERE for details.
To receive more background information on the National Conference on Mental Health, held at the White House on June 2, 2013, click HERE.
The White House Blog also provided a write-up of significant events at the conference, click HERE to read their post.
Watch President Obama's Opening Remarks at the Conference:
"The brain is a body part too; we just know less about it. And there should be
no shame in discussing or seeking help for treatable illnesses that affect too
many people that we love. We've got to get rid of that embarrassment; we've got
to get rid of that stigma."
-President Barack Obama
RAMS, Inc. was honored to take part in this important conversation and national advocacy on mental health. We are more than ever committed to this cause and will continue to work with other organizations, healthcare providers, advocates, and consumer groups locally, statewide, and nationally in order to raise awareness, reduce the mental health stigma, and reach out to those with mental health issues in need of support. We want to insure that mental health is an integral part of healthcare delivery - there is no health without mental health!
The Obama Administration also launched a new online resource MentalHealth.Gov, aimed to provide one-stop access to U.S. government mental health and mental health problems information. We encourage you to visit this website and share this great resource with others.
RAMS CEO Kavoos G. Bassiri was an invited attendee to the National Conference on Mental Health, held at the White House on June 3, 2013. Here are some pictures from the event:
President Barack Obama addresses the guests and the nation:
Panel presentation and discussion facilitated by U.S. Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at White House Mental Health Conference:
Well-received at Division 39, the papers presented at the panel will be published in the upcoming issue of the journal Studies in Gender and Sexuality.
