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Full Agenda for
2015 NAMI-NYS Education Conference
&
Young Adult Scholarships
Now Available!!!
The full agenda for the
2015 NAMI-NYS
Education Conference
-Redefining Recovery: New Challenges, New Opportunities, New Hopes, taking place Nov.13-15 at the Desmond Hotel in Albany is now available.
You can click here to view the conference brochure detailing the full weekend agenda. The brochure also contains a registration sheet you can print out and mail in. NAMI-NYS members can expect to receive the brochure in the mail soon.
Stay tuned as NAMI-NYS will be announcing additions to the agenda in the coming weeks.
As you will read in several stories in this issue, mental health on college campuses is becoming more recognized as a serious issue. Young adults play a large and crucial role in providing awareness, education and support on college campuses and in local communities. This is why NAMI-NYS is proud to include and expand our Young Adult Track at the Education Conference. Once again NAMI-NYS is offering special scholarships for young adults ages 18-26. If you know someone in that age group, please encourage them to attend.
Click here to view the details of the Young Adult Track and Click here to obtain a Young Adult scholarship application.
Many people have asked about scholarships for the conference. The applications are now available and you can
click here
to obtain one.
Please note: Only NAMI-NYS members can apply for a scholarship and an application does not guarantee a registration.
NAMI-NYS Announces Office Changes
NAMI-NYS is proud to announce that Tammie Paradis has been promoted to the role of Affiliate Development Coordinator. Tammie has been part of the NAMI-NYS team for more than four years working on membership. She is excited to expand her role in the organization and help our affiliates increase their ability to educate and support their communities.
Matthew Shapiro's title has been changed to Public Engagement Coordinator. This move formalizes Matthew's role of orchestrating communication and advocacy for the organization. Matthew looks forward to helping NAMI-NYS expand our identity and amplify our advocacy voice.
NAMI-NYS Participates in NYAPRS Conference
On Friday, September 18th, NAMI-NYS Programs Coordinator Shaniqua Jackson and Helpline Coordinator Christine Rickeman presented at the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS) conference in Kerhonkson, New York.
Shaniqua and Christine spoke about NAMI Signature Programs, in particular Peer to Peer, describing the courses and the significance of sharing personal stories. The conference, entitled Recovery at the Crossroad: The Choices and Changes Ahead, was attended by mental health advocates from around the state and beyond.
NAMI-NYS is grateful to have had the opportunity to reach so many people and talk about the work that NAMI does.
NAMI on Campus Club at Syracuse Hosts First Event of the Semester
Last week, the NAMI on Campus Club at Syracuse University held their first event of the fall semester. The club at SU is the original NAMI on Campus in New York State and they have been providing education and support to the campus for more than a decade.
NAMI on Campus clubs provide students with what they have repeatedly said they want: peer-run mental health organizations on campus. These student-led clubs help: Support fellow students; Raise mental health awareness; Educate the campus community and; Promote and advocate for services and supports. NAMI on Campus clubs address mental health issues so that all students have a positive, successful and fun college experience.
Information on NAMI on Campus Clubs will be featured on our
Young Adult Track at the 2015 NAMI-NYS Education Conference.
NAMI Schenectady Lunch Event Focuses on
Special Education Reforms
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NAMI Schenectady Board Member Cindy Seacord, President Roy Neville and Rita Levay
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NAMI Schenectady's most recent meeting which took place on September 18th, featured Rita Levay, Director of Special Education for Schenectady Schools. Ms Levay gave an inspirational presentation detailing both her experience as a parent of a child with mental illness as well as the unique trauma experienced by many children in the Schenectady school district. Ms Levay explained the great
lengths the district has gone to address these special needs, including providing meals, counseling for students and parents and having special advisers in classes.
NAMI Westchester Honored by Community Advisory Board and Presents at CIT Training
NAMI Westchester Board Member Christina Bauso, President Jennifer Jacquet-Muarry and Program Director Sharon McCarthy accept their award
This was a busy week for our NAMI Westchester affiliate. First they were honored by The Community Advisory Board of the Rockland Community Mental Health Center in Yonkers for being the Nation's Leading Voice on Mental Health and outstanding services.
On September 22nd, Sharon McCarthy, NAMI Westchester Program Director, had the opportunity to present at the Westchester County CIT Training in Valhalla. During her presentation Sharon emphasized how their affiliate works on educating families on how to work positively with local police officers and the police department should use NAMI as a resource for families to find support and help.
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Governor Cuomo Announces Executive Actions to Reduce Barriers For New Yorkers
With Criminal Convictions
Governor Cuomo announced that 12 recommendations made by the Council on Community Re-Entry and Reintegration, which removes barriers faced by New Yorkers with criminal convictions when attempting to re-enter their communities, will be fully implemented by his administration.
Two of these recommendations directly impact people living with a mental illness. These recommendations will:
- Create new housing and treatment capacity for mentally ill people leaving state prison. Capacity will be increased through a Department of Mental Health solicitation for supported housing units for seriously mentally ill individuals returning to New York City. This supportive housing will help keep seriously mentally ill people in treatment and off the streets.
- Increase the number of individuals leaving prison who are enrolled in health care coverage.New Medicaid enrollment efforts will be fully rolled out, led by the Department of Health and the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Close to 400 people a month have been enrolled thus far. This coverage is needed because people leaving prison and jail have high medical needs, including for treatment of substance abuse disorders and chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. Without medical coverage, they end up costing all of New York more through expensive emergency room visits.
NYC trains lay people as mental health screeners
The Door, a wide-ranging youth outreach center in New York City, is training its employees to be able to identify possible psychological problems they may have. This is part of a $30 million initiative to provide mental health training to staff at social service organizations. The practice of screening people for possible mental health issues comes with its own problem though. The New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitative Services is concerned that this system will create many false positives, contribute to the concerns among the mentally ill, as they fear this system will possibly make their conditions seem worse than they are.
Click here to read more.
Marcia Fazio named New Director of the
Suicide Prevention Center in NYS
Marcia Fazio has been named as the new director of the Suicide Prevention Center in New York State. Marcia has been a long time Deputy Commissioner at the New York State Office of Mental Health. Marcia brings over 30 years of experience and leadership both at NYS-OMH Central Office and the Hudson River Field Office, serving with distinction throughout. During that time she has always been passionate about Suicide Prevention, leveraging her leadership positions to bring increased attention to the field, including as lead author of OMH white paper "Suicide as a Never Event" in 2013.
She assumes her new post at SPCNY on October 19th.
In-School Mental Health Centers Help Children
Access Services
The Shenendehowa school district in New York York's Capital District noticed a dramatic increase in the amount of students coming into the nurse's office last year for mental health related symptoms. The school realized they were not equipped to handle these situations. This year they have teamed up with the Saratoga Center for the Family to get a licensed clinician in the all of the schools a few days a week to provide counseling. Other schools in the area have already done the same thing and it is proving to be so successful that it is being presented to the New York State Board of Education at their upcoming convention.
Click here to read more
.
Public Forum: Medicaid Managed Care Is Changing for Adult Mental Health and Substance Use
Service Recipients
On Monday October 5th, 2015, there will be an interactive forum providing important updates on New York City's transition to managed behavioral healthcare and how this will impact the services people receive.
People can sign up for either the morning or afternoon session: Morning: 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. OR Afternoon: 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
The forum will be taking place at the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) NYC Field Office: 501 7th Avenue, 8th floor (between West 37th/38th Streets), New York, NY 10018
NY Times Features
Dear Parent, Your Child Has Had a Psychotic Break
The New York Times recently contained this opinion piece from a college psychiatrist. College is the time when a majority of people report their mental illness surfacing for the first time. The psychiatrist in this article tells her story of a certain student who was brought to her by his roommates because he was going through a psychotic episode and not taking care of himself, and she has to go through the process of breaking this news to his mother.
Click here to read more.
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Seven Things I Want You to Know About my Son and Suicide
This article was written by a mother who wants people to understand her son and the struggle he faced with clinical depression. She wants people to understand his fight and not judge him for having this disease that ultimately caused his death. She details the seven important things she wants everyone to know. Click here to read more.
Beach Boys Icon Brian Wilson on Mental Illness, Campaign to Change Direction
Beach Boys member Brian Wilson is increasing his efforts to raise awareness and fight the stigma associated with mental health. Wilson was portrayed in the movie Love & Mercy which came out earlier this year and tells two stories: the first on how Brian wrote the landmark album "Pet Sounds," the second on how his future wife Melinda helped advance his recovery from mental illness. The movie was released with the help of the Campaign to Change Direction, which Wilson is affiliated with. Their goal is to change the way people think about mental illness.
Click here to read more about Wilson's efforts.
The Seattle Times Endorses HR 2646 and States
Congress Can Finally Make A Difference in Mental Health Reform
In an article above NAMI-NYS details the importance of voicing our support of HR2646-
The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.
NAMI-NYS applauds the Seattle Times for their published endorsement of HR 2646.
Click here
to read the Times endorsement.
Click here to watch the bill's sponsor, Rep Tim Murphy on House floor discussing how HR 2646 empowers families..
The Ivy League, Mental Illness, and the
Meaning of Life
William Deresiewicz was an Ivy League professor at Yale and his years of experience there lead him to write this article about the negative side of attending an Ivy League university. William explains how the students at Yale are "excellent sheep," a term derived by one of his students. The terms means that they are all excellent students, but like sheep they are only successful because they are being told exactly what to do and how to act. William says that the pressure these students are put under will eventually take a toll on their mental health.
Click here to read more.
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NIMH and NIJ Collaborate on Justice System Study
With nearly 12 million admissions per year and short stays, U.S. jails serve as a catchment area for at-risk individuals at a time of high life stress and high suicide risk, providing an important opportunity for suicide prevention intervention.
NIMH and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) have announced a major collaboration that is NIMH's largest investment in suicide prevention in the justice system.
NIMH RDoC Joins the Twittersverse
NIMH's Research Domain Criteria project is now on Twitter. You can follow them at @NIMH_RDoC to learn the latest updates on how this project is fine tuning research and making breakthroughs in understanding psychiatric disorders.
NAMI-NYS is thrilled to welcome
Sarah Morris, Ph.D., Acting Director of NIMH's Research Domain Criteria Unit, who will be a featured presenter at the 2015 NAMI-NYS Education Conference.
National Recruitment
Join NIH Depression Research Studies
Does depression impede your daily life? Are you currently feeling sad and hopeless, experiencing worthlessness and guilt, and have a lack of interest in everyday activities you once enjoyed?
NIH studies are investigating the brain and experimental medications (such as ketamine and diazoxide) to rapidly reduce depressive symptoms. Research includes: depressed adults ages 18 to 70, outpatient visits or inpatient stays of up to 12 weeks at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD.
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September 26
- Join NAMI of Central Suffolk for a new NAMI Basics course at St. Mary's in East Islip. Classes will be from 10:00 am - 12:30 pm on Saturday mornings. For more information and to register please contact Beth at (631)673-6097 or e-mail.
September 26 - Join NAMI Rockland for a new NAMI Family-to-Family course Saturdays from 9:30 am to 12 noon. At the Rockland Psychiatric Center, Bldg 57, first floor conference room.
September 28 - Join NAMI Queens/Nassau for a new Family-to-Family course being held at the North Shore Zucker Hillside Hospital. Classes will be held Monday nights from 7:00 - 9:30 pm. For more information contact NAMI Queens/Nassau at (516)326-0797 or (718)347-7284 or by
e-mail.
September 28
- Join NAMI of Central Suffolk for a new NAMI Basics course at the Farmingville Mental Health Clinic. Classes will be from 10:00 am -12:30 pm on Monday mornings. For more information and to register please contact Beth at (631)673-6097 or e-mail.
September 28 - Join NAMI Queens/Nassau as they offer Family-to-Family at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. Classes will be held from 6:00 - 8:30 pm on Monday evenings. For more information or to register e-mail
[email protected] or call (516)326-0697 or (718)347-7284.
September 30
- Join NAMI of Central Suffolk for a new NAMI Basics course at the Dolan Family Health Center in Huntington. Classes will be from 10:00 am - 12:30 pm on Wednesday mornings. For more information and to register please contact Beth at (631)673-6097 or e-mail.
October 3 - Join NAMI Queens/Nassau for a new NAMI Family-to-Family course being held at the Greater Allen A.M.E Cathedral of New York. Classes will be held Saturday afternoon from 1:00 - 4:30 pm. For more information contact NAMI Queens/Nassau at (516)326-0797 or (718)347-7284 or by e-mail.
October 3 - Join NAMI of Central Suffolk for a new 10 week NAMI Peer to Peer course at the Federation of Organizations in Patchogue. Classes will be held on Saturday afternoons from 12 noon to 2 pm. For more information or to register contact Sandy at (631)793-4712 or
[email protected].
October 6-Join NAMI Schenectady for their "
first of many" Family-to-Family classes. The 12-week course will be held on Tuesdays from 6-8:30 pm at Temple Gates of Heaven, at Ashmore and Eastern Parkway, just off of Union Street in the Upper Union Street area of Schenectady. The first class will be held on Tuesday, October 6th promptly at 6:00 pm. For more information and to sign up for the course (it's free), please contact either Davin at
[email protected]
or Cindy at
[email protected]
or 374-8071 (leave a message and we'll call you back.)
October 17
- Join NAMI Mid-Hudson as they host a new NAMI Basics course. Classes will be held on Saturday mornings from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm for three weeks. For more information or to register contact Jo Ann Brown at (845)832-6368 or by
e-mail
.
October 25-NAMI Rockland will present a special NAMI In Our Own Voice program co-sponsored by the Friends of the Finkelstein Memorial Library, Spring Valley. Contact (845) 359-8785 for more information.
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September 25
- Join NAMI Huntington as they participate in the Northport VA Medical Center "Stand Down For Homeless Veterans." Any donations of personal care items and softly used clean, warm clothing to distribute to homeless veterans is appreciated. For more information contact Jayette Lansbury at (631)385-0754.
September 25 - "Ask the Doctor," Dr. Mark Ragins, The Village and Recovery. 11 am to 12 noon. (888)858-6021, Participant Code 309918#.
October 6- Join OASAS and OMH when they conduct a joint hearing on their statewide comprehensive plans from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. Both agencies will receive input for consideration in the development of their respective statewide comprehensive plans and ongoing initiatives. The hearing will be held via videoconference (VTC) among nine locations; Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, Ogdensburg, Manhattan, Staten Island, and West Brentwood. You must attend at one of the VTC sites to see and participate.
October 6-
Dr. E. Fuller Torrey Teleconference.
DJ Jaffe, Executive Director of
Mental Illness Policy Org
is hosting a conference call on Tuesday October 6 at 7PM EST with Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, author, Surviving Schizophrenia and scores of books on mental illness policy, mental illness science, and mental illness treatment. He directs the Stanley Medical Research Inst., and founded the
Treatment Advocacy Center
. Hear about his latest study, mental illness politics and more. Q&A at end. Invite your friends. Dial in (712) 775-7031 Access Code 715-149
Click here for more info.
October 7 -
Join NAMI of Central Suffolk for their monthly speaker series: Trauma Release Exercises workshop given by Patricia DeCarmine LMT at Mather Hospital, Port Jefferson, Conference Room One/Two at 7:30 pm. For more information contact (631)675-6831.
October 8 -
Join NAMI Columbia County as they welcome Claudia Coenen, CT, MTP, Counselor in Hudson, NY. Coenen will speak on the 'Loss and Grieving'. To learn more contact NAMI Columbia County by phone (518)336-0246 or e-mail.
October 8 - Join NAMI Syracuse for their annual Educational Conference from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm at the New York State Fairgrounds. For more information on this event call (315)487-2085.
October 13 - Join the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation as they welcome Carrie E. Bearden, Ph.D., for their monthly webinar. Dr. Bearden's topic will be
Mood Disorders. The webinar will be from 2:00-3:00 pm,
click here to register.
October 14 -
Join NAMI of Central Suffolk for their annual exhibit table st Suffolk County Community College's, Mental Health Awareness Day, at the Ammerman campus in Sheldon from 9:30-1:30pm. For more information contact (631)675-6831.
October 16- "Ask the Doctor," Dr. Ellen Leibenluft, Diagnosing Bipolar Disorder. 11 am to 12 noon. (888)858-6021, Participant Code 309918#.
October 18 - Join the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Capital Region chapter for their Walk for R.I.T.A. The walk will be held at the Saratoga County Fairgrounds. To learn more about click here.
October 20-Join NAMI Rochester as they host the 14th Annual Jessica Henderson Memorial Event at the School of the Arts from 6:00 - 8:30 pm. This year's speaker will be Kevin Hines, an award winning speaker, author and mental health advocate who reaches audiences with this story of an unlikely survival and his strong will to live. His book, "Cracked, Not Broken: Surviving and Thriving After a Suicide Attempt" shares the message of learning to live mentally well in the face of mental illness. For more information or to register, go to
www.namiroc.org
, or call 585 423 1593. Registration is $ 15 and includes a light reception and book signing.
October 21 - Join NAMI Westchester for their first Educational Event with Dr. Xavier Amador. This event will be Wednesday from 1:00 - 4:30 pm at St. Vincent's Hospital. For more information click here.
October 21 - Join NAMI Rockland for their annual Breaking the Silence. Topics addressed will be ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder): Triumphs and Challenges. Will take place at Cultural Arts Center of Rockland Community College in Sufferen. Suggested donation $15, students admitted for free. For tickets and information call NAMI Rockland at (845)359-8787 or
www.namirockland.org
.
October 22- Join NAMI April of Brooklyn for a free showing of No Kidding! Me 2! by Joe Pantoliano at 7:00, located at South Beach Psychiatric Clinic, Brooklyn. For more information contact (718)375-0600.
October 23- "Ask the Doctor," Dr. Jackie Feldman, Jail Diversion. 11 am to 12 noon. (888)858-6021, Participant Code 309918#.
November 4-6 - Join the Association for Community Living for their 36th annual conference. The conference will be held at The Sagamore Resort, for more information click here.
November 7 - Join NAMI Columbia County and the Apogee Center, with the cooperation of Parsons Child and Family Center for an all day workshop with Dr. Daniel Fisher on Emotional CPR. Pre-registration will be needed for this event and the cost is $10 per person. To learn more contact NAMI Columbia County by phone (518)336-0246 or e-mail.
November 10 - Join the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation as they welcome Carol A. Tamminga, M.D., for their monthly webinar. Dr. Tamminga's topic will be Schizophrenia. The webinar will be from 2:00-3:00 pm,
click here
to register.
November 13-15 - Join us for the 2015 NAMI-NYS Education Conference.
Click here
to learn more.
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TO HAVE YOUR EVENTS FEATURED IN THE NAMI-NYS NEWS RELEASE PLEASE EMAIL EVENT DETAILS TO MATTHEW SHAPIRO.
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