CMH Board ASsociation Conference

10/27’07

This years annual fall conference of the Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards theme was 'Year of The Child', and I can say this much, they're going to need a bigger place. As folks from across the State and the Nation get wind of how well Michigan is doing transforming the system of treatment and recovery, what was large hall 3 years ago, was merely sufficient in size this year. My one beef has always been that each of the many workshops contain such valuable info, it’s always hard choosing which one to go to. So this year I made sure I at least got handouts from the ones I could not attend. And if I was lucky enough to meet the person giving a particular workshop I found them just as interesting.

The cool thing was the large amount of folks in attendance who had given up on the system years ago, but their interests have been aroused by what's been coming out of Lansing over the last few years. Wrap, Advanced Directives, IDDT, Cultural Diversity, to name just a few, plus many consumers are beginning to question them about Peer Support. I met what can best describe as a lovely couple in Dr. V. P. Veluswamy and his wife Angammal (New Center/ Detroit) and both stated how they’ve been waiting years for the changes they are seeing today. It made me feel like a winner to have someone like that, talk with me and not at me. I think you can call them change agents as they demonstrate that for system transformation to be successful, individual attitudes and approaches play a major role.

To get a copy of the agenda and a list of workshops go to the web site www.macmhb.org. I will speak about the one that affected me the most. I am bi-polar and until recently had no idea that I needed to maintain a proper diet and get the right amount of rest to deal with my disease. Larry Fricks (Vice Pres. of Peer Services/ Depression and Bi-Polar Support Alliance) Irene Kazieczko, and Pam Werner (Michigan Department of Community Health) hosted a workshop entitled 'Michigan Peer Led Health Self Management' in which they spoke on the effects physical health have on mental health. I am willing to utilize any and all tools available to help me in my recovery, and the idea that by sleeping and eating right I have greater control over my disease is just plain deep. I don't know how or even if these things affect others but this is such a basic but vital issue that from no on physical health will be a priority when I speak one on one with my brothers and sisters in recovery.

This year, I was a recipient of the 'Partners in Excellence Award’, which is given annually by the MACMHB. I am still having trouble believing it because it is so easy for me to do what I do. All I have to do is think back 10 or 20 years and I know just how a consumer is feeling. I also know the amount of hope a kind word, a listening ear, and an open heart can provide. I certainly do not mean to lessen the value of the award I received, but the greater reward is to have a consumer give me a sincere hug and say 'Thanks'. This is the type of hug I owe to Dr. Michele Reid (Medical Director/D-WCCMHA) and Veda Sharp (Interim Director/ Detroit Wayne County CMH). Not only did they nominate me for this award, but also during a recent crisis they basically said, “How can WE work together to make sure you don’t go through again”. As a result I heard about the relationship between physical health and mental health for the first time in my life. A persons true stature is measured in not how big they are, but in how far they are willing to bend down to help another human being up.

By giving me this prestigious award the MACMHB is proving how deeply the State of Michigan is committed to both personal and system wide efforts to put consumers first. I now have a clearer understanding of what Martin Luther King meant when he said he had been to the mountaintop and looked over to see a new day. If I can literally come from deaths door, to receiving a top State honor that means there are many more to follow and that soon we will be seen in a whole different light. We will be viewed as people with problems that can easily be solved as long as the right methods are used. We will no longer look at our past history as something negative. Instead we shall value it because through it we learned certain life skills that are of immense value to those going through what we went through.

Patrick Barrie (MDCH Deputy Director/Mental Health & Substance Abuse Administration) gave a presentation on the differences between the old system and a transformed system. In it he spoke of a concept he called 'Capability Depravation'. The system of maintenance was designed to assure we could ruction on a day-to-day basis. The disadvantage of this old way is that it also keeps us from growing and reaching our full potential. We become angry at the system for not giving us an opportunity at success, and then we are labeled as non-compliant. The leaders of a transformed system will be those under whose tutelage consumers will thrive and become productive citizens.

You may remember how I said how the Go-Getters Drop In Center never turns anyone away, no matter the situation. Now they are in need of your help. Two gentlemen recently lost everything they own in a house fire, and any sort of help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Go-Getters= 313-842-4046. Finally, the Recovery band will be playing the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History this Thursday and of course we are honored and excited about it. However, the main thing is that since we are donating our services, we are showing that consumers in recovery are quite capable of giving back to society. Yes, the 'Freedom Train has left the station and this is that time we get to apply all those principals and philosophies of do unto others and treating the least of his brethren as you would yourself.

Gerald Butler

CPSS

Consumer Advocate