Next Peer Networking Call

Recovery 2000: Peer Networking Call--January 20th

The next Peer Networking Call will be Wednesday, January 20th 3:00 EST


Subject: Hiring Peer Providers: Applications, Screening questions-- What can be asked, What not; Legalities and Ethics. Perspectives from Peer Supervisors, Administrators and Peer Providers to be included.

Presenters: Rodney Pfeister, Austin State Hospital, Kevin Huckshorn, Delaware Commissioner of Mental Health, Holly Dixon, Riverview State Hospital, Augusta, Maine, and Nannette Larson, Director of Recovery Support Services, Illinois

Bios to follow.

Call-In information: 888-537-7715 Passcode: 78462993#.......
http://bit.ly/5mKFAa

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Mental Health Heros of the Year-2009

Knowledge Is Necessity: My Mental Health Heroes of the Year - 2009

My true heroes in mental health are those whose efforts never come to our attention, yet change lives: A mother who battles indifferent clinicians and bureaucrats on behalf of her kid; a volunteer who arrives early to turn on lights and arrange chairs and greet visitors; a doctor who refuses to give up on a patient, a postgrad research assistant laboring tirelessly on peasant wages; a middle manager who sticks his neck out on a risky hire; a patient who falls down seven times and gets up eight ...

Public person hero of the year - Barack Obama...

Internet hero of the year - Katherine Stone. Katherine’s blog Postpartum Progress is a must-read on a normal day...

Advocate hero of the year- Kathi Stringer. The reason you have probably not heard of Kathi is that she is smart rather than loud...

Recovery hero of the year - Abraham Low Self-Help Systems (ALSHS). Recently, Recovery Inc changed its name to Recovery International, then merged with the Abraham Low Institute, which resulted in its present name. Recovery Inc was founded in 1937 by neuropsychiatrist Abraham Low (pictured here), who espoused the radical idea that - with the right cognitive skills and peer help - patients could recover from even severe mental illness. Some 600 self-help groups exist worldwide.  In its new incarnation, ALSHS is retooling to reach out to a wider audience. Stay tuned ...
http://bit.ly/7F11ho

recovery, heroes, 2009

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OCD Diaries 12-22: The Ego OCD Built

Last night I got on here to explain that sometimes OCD is good for me, in the sense that it provides fuel for my professional ambitions. Some might look at the post and think I was letting vanity take over.

Truth is, I was.And I do it often.

I’m the first to admit that humility isn’t one of my strong suits. I’m working on it, because as a Christian that’s what I need to do. I’ve always been a better talker than listener. I’m going to work on that or die trying.....

Has "Some Kind of Monster" as background music...

http://billbrenner1970.wordpress.com/

Recovery, OCD

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Recovery: In Our Own Words

“Realizing that this journey itself is non-linear
the darkest clouds
can become opportunities for growth.
This journey is a process
that is only beginning to unfold.
The glimpse of the future that we have seen
shows us how much more is possible.
Walking together, making the recovery journey a reality.
We are the evidence that for all the risks
that this is a journey worth our commitment
for it is built on hope and a willingness to live with change.”

—KC, Recovery: In Our Own Words

“I will keep on keeping on, because there are still more mountains to climb and beautiful vistas to drink in.” —DF

Recovery: In Our Own Words is a collection of personal stories of recovery and transformation, based on the Ten Fundamental Components of Recovery from the National Consensus Statement on Mental Health Recovery, and shared by Keystone Community Mental Health Services' Leadership Council and Recovery Specialists.

http://bit.ly/5bpesQ

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Case Management: Time for step four!

We're worried about case management. Over the years, stacks and stacks of regulations and rules have been developed and applied to case management in an attempt to regulate its function and standardize its practice. For the most part, the end result of all this regulation and standardization is a significant reduction in the effectiveness of the case management function. A conservative estimate of the amount of time spent on paperwork that is unrelated to recovery is approximately 70 percent. This is not good!.....
http://bit.ly/6DWmEI

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FREE Webinar Tomorrow: "Using WRAP to Develop a Strong System of Support"

http://bit.ly/4p3IAW

Technorati Tags: Recovery,Webinar

Wednesday, December 16, 2-3pm Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Online and on the phone
In Mary Ellen's studies, most people felt that everyone should have a support team of at least 5 people, people who care, people who are willing to listen, people who are willing to help when needed, and people who share the joys and sorrows of our lives, people who like to do fun things. Yet many, probably most people, find Developing and Keeping a Strong Support System to be a challenge in their lives.
To Register:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/752684345

3 Arrests in Public Guardian's Office

http://bit.ly/687ncn

Technorati Tags: guardianship crime

The Michigan State Police’s investigation into the Arenac County Public Guardian Office, which began in June, has led to three arrests.
A statement from the Ogemaw County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office issued Dec. 9 said over $300,000 worth of misappropriated funds from approximately 50 clients, during the years 1999 to 2009, was uncovered by the MSP investigation.
According to Detective Sergeant David Rivard, of the West Branch State Police Post, public guardian Robert Romps was arrested by the Michigan State Police on Dec. 8, along with Sherilyn Jones, the public guardian Romps replaced who was fired in August while her office was under investigation for criminal activity by the Michigan State Police and being audited by the Michigan Treasury Department. Jones’ mother, Sally Lebeau, was also arrested…….

GUEST VIEWPOINT: Eugene recognizes mental health patients have rights, too

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/sevendays/23894253-35/story.csp

Technorati Tags: Recovery,rights,MFI,Eugene,OR

Two famous authors from Lane County — Opal Whiteley and Ken Kesey — had significant interactions with the mental health system. Whiteley, who portrayed the woods around where she grew up near Cottage Grove as a fairyland, ended up in a psychiatric institution in England for more than 40 years. Kesey, whose novels are interwoven with what amount to love poems to rural Lane County, used the authoritarianism he witnessed while working inside a psychiatric institution as a metaphor for conventional society in his bestseller, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

I like to think this coincidence has something to do with our closeness to what’s left of America’s wilderness. When I swim in an Oregon mountain lake surrounded by ancient trees, I feel alive in mysterious ways that do seem “northwest of normal,” as our popular local slogan puts it. Our civic “mad pride” contributed to the recent passage by the city of Eugene of the first and only municipal resolution I know of that affirms support for human rights in mental health.

Today, the 61st anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is a good day to celebrate that resolution’s approval……

The Origin of CHARGE

Technorati Tags: Recovery,CHARGE

Center of Healing Arts, Recovery, Growth & Empowerment

        I started drinking when I was 11 and it was not because I liked it, it was because it was a way to deal with my mental illness. By the age of 13 I was an alcoholic and drank and lived on the streets until 12 years ago when I went into treatment. A living Hell on earth is a tepid description of my life as an alcoholic. Today I have been working in the mental health field for 7 years, (5 at Detroit Wayne County CMH). I have found that folks hoping to get well must actively participate in their recovery process. However, a person does not participate in the process when there is little or no self-esteem. With no sense of value there is no incentive to participate in the healing process of treatment and recovery.

         Four years ago I initiated "Empowerment Day": a day devoted to increasing the self-esteem of folks recovering from mental illness and/or substance abuse. I still felt something more was needed as I was still being treated as ‘lesser than’. I figured there had to be something I was capable of doing that people in the system could not tell me I was wrong about.  Before I became really sick I used to play a pretty good flute, so my recovery involved my picking up my flute again. I started the "Recovery Band" which is dedicated to demonstrating to the world that folks with disabilities are capable of becoming contributing members of society as long as we have the proper support. When consumers would come and make music with us, we would see their self-esteem increase. The level of self-esteem is directly related to ones participation in the healing process.

CHARGE/ A New Approach to Recovery

       Realizing the positive role the arts play in the healing process the Recovery Band started the Center of Healing Arts, Recovery, Growth, and Empowerment. The G used to be guidance, but no one can guide a persons recovery journey, thus we provide a positively charge environment where growth can occur naturally. As long as we are kept in clinical environments separate from society, the more dependent on the system we become. Soon we grow to accept our selves as incapable because that is how we are treated.  CHARGE is more an environment than a place. It’s an atmosphere where folks can be who they are, and hone their God given talents. This increases self-esteem and encourages us to work harder on our recovery.

       I moved the CHARGE program into an artistic community called the Russell Street Center & Bazaar: an artistic community of 250 professional artists and musicians. The band plays at some of the artists’ events and in exchange they are willing to help our consumers hone their talents. We also formed the ‘Visions of Recovery Gospel Choir”. The Rackham Symphony Choir has invited CHARGE to entertain at the afterglow for their “Concert for the Homeless” in March. In keeping with President Obama’s declaration  ‘Year of Community Living’ for people with disabilities, CHARGE has been working with many different community based organizations, block clubs, and Churches to join us in the fight against stigma. Authentic consumer/peer run programs are vital because: leaders of such programs are models of recovery as other consumers see them actually managing recovery-centered programs.

     According to the SAMHSA the Consumer Movement is not unlike any other civil rights movement. Despite enormous successes over the past decades including a re-orientation around the concept of recovery, negative perceptions and attitudes are still prevalent. SAMHSA Nov. 19^th 2009. My hopes and dreams are simple: I hope to one day be appreciated for my accomplishments, and to be defined according to my accomplishments, and not by my illness. My dreams are that there will be a system of treatment in the U. S. that truly gives the consumer what we need, recovery.

Gerald Butler

A Statement of Recovery From Gerald Butler

Technorati Tags: Recovery,CHARGE

12/6/2009

          When a Doctor attends a cocktail party it’s pretty much assured someone, is going to ask his/her medical advice. If the person is an auto mechanic invariably somebody will ask advice about the noise his engine is making. The commonality of these cases is an area of the brain called the Hippocampus, which is the storage center of memory, learning, spatial/environment, and emotion. Very often information can be gleaned from this section of the brain that the person had no knowledge of: i.e. while under hypnosis a crime witness reveals details that he did not even know were there. Unless it has been damage, the hippocampus functions the same in those with a mental illness thus it is illogical to ask us to forget the past. What is needed is a place where consumers can feel comfortable and safe enough to bring to the surface and deal with those issues that have been buried in the brain. If not, we remain sick.

       A majority of Americans do not tell their Doctor everything, such as whether or not they are staying on a diet. The longer mental health issues remain buried in our subconscious, the longer we remain sick. A recovery-centered environment must be one where consumers feel safe enough and are encouraged to do a self-inventory and take charge of their lives. By doing so, many consumers find out they are not as bad as they thought. In the ‘medical model’ there are constant reminders that we are sick and incapable, and that only a staff person can teach us how to live. Staff supervises the medical model. The Recovery model is consumer directed and just as people think of their own maladies upon seeing a doctor, when we see staff, we are reminded that we are sick. Recovery programs should not contain references to illness.

CHARGE ON THE MOVE

         On our own CHARGE has: fought stigma by establishing and nurturing relationships with many community based organizations. Working with NAMI, we arranged a television interview. We have own code of conduct and by-laws. The ‘Voices of Recovery Gospel Choir’ is making tremendous strides helping to spread the message of hope. We moved into an artistic community and are developing relationships with many visual artist and musicians in the complex. We contacted Detroit Cable T. V. and asked them to do a public service documentary on CHARGE. We made the arrangements for CHARGE to provide entertainment at the historic Fort Street Presbyterian Church. We are currently working with the Rackham Symphony Choir to participate in their concert for the homeless in March.  

       We believe there are far too many folks seeking recovery in the United States who are not being provided the basic self- esteem needed to become participants in their own healing process. You can plant a flower in fertile soil, but whether it blossoms is up to the flower. The system cannot make anyone seek recovery. CHARGE is dedicated to helping transform the system by providing environments where creativity, self-esteem, truth, hope, and caring flourish. We encourage consumers to seek out leaders who truly have their interests at heart who support your efforts to heal. Mostly we tell them to hold their heads high, walk tall, and take charge of their lives.

Gerald Butler

Certified Peer Specialist

Virtual Recovery Center »

Technorati Tags: Recovery,NLCMH,newlstter

Thanks and a Hat Tip to Mary Beth Evans….. 

Here is the third issue of the Northern Lakes CMH Recovery: Make It Happen newsletter! (Click the title at the left to see it.) The issue highlights the new BringChange2Mind.org web site, which is a not-for-profit organization created by Glenn Close, the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation (CABF), Fountain House, and Garen and Shari Staglin of IMHRO (International Mental Health Research Organization).

In addition, you can read about Northern Lakes CMH’s new YouTube Channel which features 15 short videos created by people from Northern Michigan with experience with mental health issues in which they share their messages of hope and community acceptance……

Virtual Recovery Center »

MIWatch - Models beyond outpatient commitment

 

In the ten years since Kendra Webdale was pushed to her death by a man who was denied services for his mental illness, discussions about what could have prevented this tragedy have occurred often. Led by New York State, more than 40 others passed laws mandating outpatient or involuntary commitment (AOT). But the issue is hardly resolved, evidenced by the activists, services providers, and psychiatrists who crowded the Columbia University law school to discuss what it means to "gain compliance in the community."

Perceptions of violence have driven coercive measures since Colonial times when jails and almshouses were filled by people with a mental disorder, said noted psychiatrist Dr. Paul Applebaum in a sweep of history. Prisons and hospital commitment are extremes, but other techniques such as money management or access to housing, along with Kendra's Law, are often used to leverage psychiatric treatment.

Despite evidence from major studies that such events are rare, in 1999 New York State passed Kendra's Law to promote public safety with forced outpatient treatment. New York said it was for people who were "unlikely to live safely in the community without supervision."

Many believe Kendra's Law and involuntary treatment is the emblem of a failed system, a common theme during a conference held at the Columbia University's law school last month where scholars, psychiatrists, activists, and service providers discussed AOT. There was almost no talk of violence, perhaps because the numbers are small. Most of the discussion pertained to services, those that exist and others that are still needed. Kendra's Law, said Dr. Marvin Swartz, one of the authors of a research study about its effect in New York, has actually been used most often for discharge planning. Still it remains controversial. And it is symbolic………

BuzzNet Tags: Recovery,involuntary outpatient treatment

MIWatch - Models beyond outpatient commitment

CHARGE Current Activities

 

11/29/2009

Fort Street Open House

     CHARGE’S participation in the Fort Street Presby

terian Church’s Open House went much better than we anticipated. Under the direction of Pattie Charleston (a Peer Specialist) the ‘Voices of Recovery Gospel Choir’ did not leave a dry eye in the house. Al and D. C Holiday, bass player and lead singer of the band respectively, performed duets, as did Barry and I. Working with the community is beneficial, but it is also a lot of fun.

     The Church members treated us like royalty and since the New Pastor “Rev. Sharon Mook” is dedicated to expanding the Church’s community outreach efforts, we will have other consumer present there soon. The more we interact with the public the more obvious it becomes: much stigma is due to societies lack of knowledge. Each time we entertain at these public events we change at least 1 persons perception of mental illness and recovery. We are using our talents and abilities to fight stigma, educate the public, and gain the self-esteem needed for a good journey in recovery.

Recovery Centered Environment…….

BuzzNet Tags: CHARGE,Recovery,Activities