SPIN for Children’s Mental Health invites people of all ages to ride stationary spin bikes at the Orchard Hills Athletic Club in Lancaster for one, two or three hours on Sept. 30^th. All net proceeds from the collection of registration fees, pledges, raffle and sponsorships will be invested in local child and adolescent mental health services.

SPIN for Children’s Mental Health is open to the public and begins at 9:00 a.m. and continues until 12:00 p.m.

Pre-registration is required and there is a fee of $100 per spin bike. People can register and ride individually or multiple riders can register as a team.  Riders are also invited to collect pledges.

Each rider will receive a thank you gift and complimentary refreshments will be offered throughout the morning.

Registration and pledge forms are available at the Orchard Hills AC, 100 Duval Road, Lancaster, or by contacting the SHINE Initiative at 978-870-1494.

Thanks to the inspired efforts of the employees, directors, friends and patrons of Fidelity Bank, a two-month Quarter Mile campaign has raised $26,178.57 on behalf of the SHINE Initiative!

Promoting a “healthy bodies, healthy minds” theme to emphasize the influence that exercise and physical activity can have on emotional and mental well being, the employees of Fidelity Bank engaged in a walking campaign between June 11^th and June 24^th. Donning pedometers, employees recorded the number of steps each walked during that period of time. It is estimated that one mile is the equivalent of 2000 natural strides, meaning that employees strode 2,709,200 steps, tantamount to a trek from Leominster to Tampa, Florida!

Throughout the months of May and June employees at each of Fidelity Bank’s seven locations also supplemented the money pledges received for their walk by coordinating and hosting a variety of internal fundraising events.

And a contribution of $9021.25 from the Fraternal Order of Eagles helped boost the total dollars raised significantly.

Paulette Tata and Joyce Thibault, Fidelity branch services managers in Fitchburg and Shirley respectively, co-chaired the Quarter Mile campaign, which yielded a record-setting contribution to the SHINE Initiative.

The Quarter Mile campaign was introduced in 2009 as an annual fundraiser to help sustain the SHINE Initiative’s support of mental health research. Since then more than $90,000 has been raised and invested in research projects that are investigating causes of mental illness, especially as it affects children and young adults.

The Fraternal Order of Eagles contributed $9021.25 to the SHINE Initiative during ceremonies at its annual convention in Worcester on June 16th. Happily accepting checks from Eagles president Bob Lawrence and his wife Celeste was Joyce Thibault (left), a member of the SHINE Initiative Advisory Board and manager of Fidelity Bank’s Shirley branch.

The employees of Fidelity Bank began their annual Quarter Mile campaign on May 1^st with a goal to raise $15,840, the equivalent of one mile worth of quarters (63,630 coins edge to edge). As the first official day of summer approached more than $19,000 in pledges and contributions had been made – the equivalent of nearly 80,000 quarters, and well beyond one mile of coins.

Contributions have been made by bank customers who have deposited coins and bills in collection canisters on display at all Fidelity Bank locations. Additional funds have been raised through employee-driven events like raffles, the sale of baked goods and gift baskets, luncheons and even a “karaoke night.”

Fidelity Bank employees and friends of the SHINE Initiative have also engaged in a walking campaign whose theme “Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds” promotes the positive link between physical and mental well-being.

A significant portion of the contributions to the Quarter Mile campaign annually supports a SHINE Initiative grant to the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation and a mental health-related research project in Massachusetts.

Featured speaker will be Dr. Heather Brenhouse of Harvard University and McLean Hospital whose recent research has investigated the effect of early life stress and maternal separation and the link to depression and schizophrenia in adolescents and young adults.

Joining Dr. Brenhouse in discussion will be Lynn Hennigan, director of services for young children at Community Healthlink, and Dr. Beth Greenberg, director of school based services for Jewish Family Service, Worcester.

“An Open Mind to Mental Health” begins at 8:30 a.m. with registration and breakfast, followed at 9:00 a.m. with the presentation of speakers. The event is sponsored by Fidelity Bank, Mirick O’Connell, Seven Hills Foundation and Reliant Medical Group Atrius Health.

The event is open to the public but seating is limited and pre-registration is urged by calling the SHINE Initiative at 978-870-1494 or by email to prichard@shineinitiative.org.

It also marks the official start to Fidelity Bank’s “Quarter Mile” campaign whose collection of quarters and money is invested annually in research projects and programs that are creating “change” for children, teens, young adults and families whose lives have been disrupted by mental illness.

The theme of this season’s Quarter Mile is “Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds.”

Research has shown that such activities as yoga, meditation, jogging and even regular and routine walking can have a positive effect on one’s mental health. If you’d like to support the Quarter Mile campaign and do something worthwhile on behalf of your own physical and mental well-being, YOU CAN!

Walk as few or as many miles during a one-week, two-week, three-week or month-long period. We’ll even provide the pedometer and chart so you can track your total miles walked. Ask family and friends to pledge “one quarter” for each mile you walk. All monies collected to be donated to the SHINE Initiative. We’ll all be healthier!

To get your pledge form and pedometer contact the SHINE Initiative at 978-870-1494

or email: prichard@shineinitiative.org

It is estimated that 28,000,000 people between the ages of 18 and 54 and employed in the United States suffer from a mental disorder. It is also estimated that 50% of workday absences are due to mental disorders, which equals the number of days absent due to all other chronic physical conditions combined.

A $7,500 grant awarded to Genesis Club will uspport replication of an  education support and training program for young adults from Genesis who are enrolled at Worcester State University.

A $5,000 grant awarded to Jewish Family Service will support the expansion of on-site behavioral consultation for students who attend Woodland Academy and Goddard School of Technology in Worcester.

Since 2007 the SHINE Initiative has partnered with the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation of New York to award annual grants to Massachusetts-based researchers who are pursuing advances in brain and behavior disorders.

 In 2008 the SHINE Initiative awarded a research grant to Dr. Heather Brenhouse. She is an instructor of psychiatry at Harvard University and is an assistant neuroscientist at McLean Hospital, Belmont. Dr. Brenhouse initially investigated the effect of early life stressors on the development of the prefrontal cortex of the brain. A second grant awarded by the SHINE Initiative and the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation in December 2011 will support Dr. Brenhouse’s continued research into controlling neuroinflammation of the brain as a result of early life stress.

“I’ve been enamored of the brain since I began my schooling. The brain is a constantly changing organ, from infancy through adulthood,” is how Dr. Heather Brenhouse explains her passion for brain research.

She notes that the human immune system is influenced by stress, pointing to ulcers as an example.  “A hypothesis is that early life stress can manifest itself later in life,” and that early developmental “insults” can cause dysfunction within parvalbumin-containing interneurons in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. The neuropsychiatric disorders associated with such dysfunction might involve neuroinflammatory processes.

“It is possible that the adolescent brain is particularly vulnerable to inflammation, and inflammation could be instigated by early stressful experiences,” Dr. Brenhouse writes in a progress report for the SHINE Initiative.  “The resulting damage during adolescence could lead to depression, schizophrenia, and other neuropsychiatric disorders.

The research in which Dr. Brenhouse has immersed herself in recent years is attempting to demonstrate the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory treatment – specifically Cyclooxygenase-2 (known as COX-2), as a preventive pharmacological intervention for mental illness in adolescents and young adults. “I’m not looking to drug kids, but whether through pharmacological or behavioral adjustments, we want to control the effect of stress on these young people.”

Dr. Brenhouse’s most current research will pursue understanding of the developmental mechanisms controlling neuroinflammation after early life stress.  “This will allow us to determine critical periods of sensitivity to stress, enrichment and treatment, with the goal of successful treatment strategies for at at-risk traumatized children,” Br. Brenhouse concludes.