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Bringing Family Lived Experience To You
Accept, Advocate, Act
February 1, 2024 | Volume 2, Issue 5
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Note from the Executive Director
Celebrating Caregivers Now and Always
The National Federation of Families has family caregivers as our sole focus. All that we do is centered on achieving social justice for families of loved ones with mental health and/or substance use challenges. We do this by supporting the families, family peers, and partnering organizations who advocate for family-driven approaches. We also celebrate the lived expertise that caregivers have to share with the support staff who partner with them to offer a pathway to recovery for their loved ones.
In February, we celebrate National Caregivers Day. We want to give a huge THANK YOU to the caregivers out there tirelessly advocating for family-driven supports and policies, making sure their loved ones get the best support, and paving the way for better systems that lifts up all members of society.
We hope you will celebrate the caregivers in your life this month and always! We also hope you will join us for our 35th anniversary celebration at the 2024 NFF Conference in Orlando, FL this November! We've just announced the Call for Proposals and we can't wait to see what wisdom you will be sharing with us this year.
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Lynda Gargan, PhD
Executive Director, National Federation of Families
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At a recent benefit event for one of our affiliates, MIKID in Arizona, the emcee opened the evening by talking about compassionate action. She stated, "It is compassionate action that moves the dial of social justice north." explaining that compassion alone does not create change and that action without guidance may not accomplish the desired goal.
Reflecting on her comments, take a moment to think about where you are in your efforts to accept, advocate, and act. Are you still working toward acceptance of the mental health and substance use challenges families face? Are you using your voice to advocate for families? Are you ready for action? We invite you to visit our new social justice page to think further about what you can do as an individual or organization to promote social justice for families whose children—of any age—experience mental health and/or substance use challenges during their lifetime. We hope you will use the tools provided there to strengthen your efforts to #AcceptAdvocateAct.
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Our Headquarters Has Moved
Please make a note of our new address and share it with others on your team who coordinate with our main office.
9841 Washingtonian Blvd, Suite 200
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
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2024 Children's Mental Health Acceptance Campaign Week | | |
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We’re excited to share the 2024 Children’s Mental Health Acceptance Week theme, "Lighting the Path to Social Justice for Children and Youth." The foundation of social justice is living the “golden rule,” treating others as we would like to be treated—at every level. As individuals, this means accepting each person for who they are—celebrating and embracing the diversity of every individual. At the community level it means accepting all members—welcoming their participation and valuing their contributions. At the system level, it means accepting that each person has unique strengths and goals—shaping supports and resources to be responsive to each person’s dreams.
In essence social justice means:
- Equity across all community members
- Ensuring all members of our society are physically and psychologically supported
- Giving every person the opportunity to realize their goals
- Supporting one another to live meaningful, purposeful lives
This Children’s Mental Health Acceptance Week, May 5th - 11th, we invite you to join us in lighting the path to social justice for children and youth. Learn more about what you can do to #AcceptAdvocateAct in your state and/or community.
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For the last 35 years, the National Federation of Families has brought together families, parents, community leaders, providers, partners, and legislators at our Annual Conference. We work to leverage our lived experience and learned solutions for the support and advancement of families whose children—of any age—experience mental health and/or substance use challenges. To accomplish this, we welcome diverse expertise and voices of lived experience to learn from and alongside at our annual conference.
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The 2023 conference, held in Chicago, IL, offered more than 90 great workshops featuring speakers representing 84 organizations from across the nation and Canada. Attendees included 629 mental health and substance use prevention advocates and professionals working to support, educate, and empower families!
We welcome proposals from family members, advocates, youth, and the workforce who support the well-being of children—of all ages—and promote family voice. Apply by May 1st to present at our 2024 conference and 35th anniversary celebration in Orlando, Florida this November. We look forward to celebrating with you!
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Farewell to Sandy Bumpus,
Welcome Tammi Paul
Sandy Bumpus served as the Executive Director of Oregon Family Support Network (OFSN), our affiliate in Oregon, from 2012. She brought over 20 years of experience in developing and managing family support programs to OFSN along with her lived experience of caring for a child who was identified as struggling with social emotional learning and mental health challenges at the age of 3. Sandy's time at OFSN marked tremendous growth and exciting new programs in support of Oregon families. We wish her well as she moves on to new endeavors.
In her stead, Tammi Paul is now serving as the Interim Executive Director for OFSN. Previously the Deputy Director, Tammi is well-acquainted with OFSN's work. Her background in education administration and special education law, combined with her lived experience as a parent, will serve them well in this next chapter. We welcome Tammi and support her and the team at OFSN in this transition.
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Legislation and Advocacy:
Adding Power and Data to Your Voice for Change
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Recent Trends in Children’s Poverty and Health Insurance
Learn about poverty and food insecurity rates in your state. During the pandemic, many federal dollars were invested in children and families. Today, those programs and dollars are declining. At the same time, millions of Americans are being disenrolled from Medicaid. There is growing concern that both children’s poverty rates and Medicaid coverage losses have increased.
Inseparable Releases New Reports on Access to Mental Health Care
Inseparable released Improving Mental Health Care: The Access Report, with state-specific snapshots of progress on policies that enhance access to care. It includes insightful new data from a companion report they commissioned from Milliman, Access across America, that paints a stark and revealing picture across multiple types of health coverage.
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Follow our Legislative and Advocacy Facebook page and use the data and facts you learn there in concert with your advocacy skills to represent the voice of families where you live. Get a sneak peak of what's provided in the toolkit by watching the video above. | |
| QUESTION: Who do the caregivers with whom you work support? | | | |
Responses from January Poll: How do you mentor others to promote social justice for families? | |
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We're continuing to shine the light on the importance of social justice for families as we work towards acceptance and equity for families affected by mental health and/or substance use challenges. We were curious how you promote social justice. About 17% of you are training staff about what social justice looks like in family peer support. Just under 30% of you are sharing tools that support families in their efforts to advocate for family-driven systems and policies. Just over 30% of you create opportunities for families to come together with decision-makers to discuss these systems and polices changes. And 22% of you do all of these things!
Each is a key component to embodying social justice in family peer support. We hope the tools we've offered in this newsletter—especially our new Social Justice Webpage—can continue to inspire you to center social justice in your work!
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NFSTAC News and Highlights | | |
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Effecting Change: Social Justice and Advocacy for Families
This companion infographic to our January Office Hour explains the key skills Certified Family Peer Specialists master to demonstrate competency in Effecting Change, the second of the Five Core Competencies for CFPS.
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Family Connections: 988 & 911: When to Call, What to Expect
February 1st, 1:30 p.m. ET
At our next Family Connections, we will discuss the differences between 988 and 911, 988 myths, calling 988 for a minor child versus an adult child, and your questions about responding to crisis. Calling or texting 988 or chatting with 988lifeline.org connects anyone in crisis to compassionate care with a trained counselor.
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Office Hour: Person-Centered Resources and Natural Supports: Strengths-Based Relationship Building
February 13th, 3:00 p.m. ET
Join us in February to learn about how sharing person-centered resources and highlighting families' natural supports can support strengths-based relationships between family peers and the families with whom they work, as well as within families.
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Webinar: Communicating Your Superpowers
January 17th, 2:00 p.m. ET
When we equip families to take a person-centered approach to communications, it creates opportunity for each person to determine for themselves what their core values and communication style might be.
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NFSTAC invites you to submit requests for free technical assistance from our network of partners and subject matter experts. NFSTAC is driven by the needs of families and the workforce that supports families. You'll find education, training, and family support resources tailored specifically to families, the family peer workforce, communities, healthcare systems, clinicians, and educators. | | | |
Celebrating Our Affiliates! | | |
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Mentally Ill Kids in Distress (MIKID) recently celebrated and raised money with their Winter Benefit Concert for Hope. As we mentioned above in the Social Justice Corner, the theme of the night was compassionate action, taken together with others to come closer to social justice. We encourage you to become as inspired as we were from this night of enchanting music and generosity.
MIKID is excited to announce their recent expansion of person-centered, family-driven services from a long-standing presence in Arizona into Colorado. MIKID takes a strengths-based approach to supporting families as they navigate systems alongside their loved ones with mental health and/or substance use challenges. If you're in AZ or CO, check out their local family support, youth services, suicide prevention, transition age youth, and training programs and resources. No matter where you are, you might find something that will support your family peer work on MIKID's downloads page.
If you want to learn more about the great work MIKID is doing, join us for our February Office Hour where MIKID staff members Akia Compton and Anna Jure will share more!
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Interested in being a Featured Affiliate?
In March, we'd love to feature YOU! Reach out to dasby@ffcmh.org if your organization has a program, event, or great story to share!
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Each year, National Caregivers Day is observed on the third Friday in February— February 16th this year. The day honors individuals who selflessly provide care and support to those who need it most. There are many types of caregivers, including parents, family members, and the family peer support workforce. Many caregivers give their time and love tirelessly, without recognition or pay, which is why it is essential that we take the time to appreciate and thank them on National Caregivers Day—and throughout the year.
Learn more from the National Alliance for Caregiving
Additionally, we recognize the following campaigns taking place this month.
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Screenagers: Using Data to Talk to Teens/Young Adults About Substance Use
Dr. Delany Ruston wrote a blog recently on the website for the movie Screenagers about the importance of using data related to youth substance use to talk about this topic. Dr. Ruston includes links to interactive data sets, instructions for how to get the data you want, and questions to get a conversation started. Also included on the blog are videos related to youth behavioral health challenges.
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These short videos from SMI Adviser offer valuable, firsthand advice from peer specialists who have years experience in the field to new peer specialists as they enter their careers. While these are adult peers, the practical insights they share can support your understanding of the different systems of care, navigating relationships, maintaining peer support values, understanding roles, establishing boundaries, and much more. | | |
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Amplify Youth Voice created a platform for young people with lived experience of mental health challenges to express their unique stories in their own words. NTTAC provided 10 young poets from across the country the opportunity to participate in intensive writing and performance workshops. View four young poets' work and learn how to amplify youth voice in your work at their website.
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