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June 2010 Newsletter
From the Director
“Revolutions begin when people who are defined as problems achieve the
power to redefine the problem.” - John McKnight
Opportunities abound in this time of fiscal restructuring and reform. We can always find avenues to advocate for a mental health system that meets our real needs in an efficient, effective, and accountable manner. Here in Washington DC, we are working several pathways to change. One opportunity, for example, is Medicaid. On June 3, 2010 while meeting with Cindy Mann, director of Medicaid, she said “We need to end the institutional bias… it is objectively there… we need to eradicate it.” Medicaid wants to hear from National Coalition members and friends. Medicaid has just started a new Center for Innovation – they want to know specifically what works and what has worked in the past. Talk to them - at the state, regional or federal level. Another priority area where we are making progress is encouraging discussions between Medicaid and SAMHSA about peer support and identifying model projects. This work is moving forward.
Let us remember, we know how to make our way out of chaos and into the light. Our journeys of recovery have taught us much about being creative, and staying hopeful and focused on the vision. And know that you are not alone – even though it may often feel that way. Invite others to join you or support you in your advocacy efforts so we can amplify our collective voice and create the change we want.
In solidarity
Lauren Spiro
Help support our work to promote a mental health system that meets our real needs.
News
Kennedy, Green Introduce SAMHSA Reauthorization
On May 28, Congressmen Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI) and Gene Green (D-TX)
introduced legislation to reauthorize the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA). Established in 1992, SAMHSA is tasked with
targeting services to the millions who fail to receive the substance abuse or
mental health services they need, and to translate research in these fields into
more effective prevention and treatment strategies.
To read the full press
release, click here.
Briefs Filed in Florida, Illinois and New Jersey to Support the Supreme
Court’s Olmstead Decision
Briefs Allege Failure to Comply with the ADA
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed briefs in three separate cases in
Florida, Illinois and New Jersey as part of its continuing effort to enforce
civil rights laws that require states to end discrimination against and
unnecessary segregation of persons with disabilities. The department’s filings
support two private lawsuits seeking relief in Florida and New Jersey, as well
as a proposed statewide class action settlement in Illinois.
To read the full
press release, click here. In Washington DC and in meetings with Cindy Mann, the
National Coalition and JFAAN (our cross-disability coalition lead by people with
disabilities) have strongly advocated for the enforcement of Olmstead and that
Medicaid reinforce the efforts of the DOJ.
Disability Rights Leader Judith Heumann to Join U.S. State Department in
Fulfillment of Obama-Clinton Pledge
Judith Heumann, an international leader in the disability rights movement and
a governmental representative to the USICD Board of Directors, will be joining
the U.S. Department of State as their Special Advisor for International
Disability Rights. This position was announced last summer, when President Obama
and Secretary Clinton declared that the United States would sign the Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Heumann resigned her position
as Director of the Department on Disability Services for the District of
Columbia, and will assume her new position at the Department of State on June 7,
2010.
To read the full press release, click here.
Speaking from Your Heart: Public Speaking and the Path to Recovery
Webcast Available Online
Presenters: Dally Sanchez, Lauren Spiro, and Daniel Fisher
Sharing one’s recovery story helps change the mental health system. Recovery
stories are not just powerful on a personal level; they break the silence that
exists, bring people into the discussion, and help transform the system to be
more person-driven. This is a very powerful demonstration of a marginalized
group taking a step toward social inclusion.
This training provides:
- Information on the value of public speaking as a recovery and
educational tool.
- Information on self-disclosure as a recovery and educational tool.
- Introductory skills and tips in preparing to share one’s personal story.
Click here for more information and to listen to the webcast.
NYAPRS 6th Annual Executive Seminar on Systems Transformation
Transforming Systems and Services: From Policy to Practice
Presentations Available Online
NYAPRS’ 6th Annual Executive Seminar on Systems Transformation brought
together over 200 representatives of community behavioral health agencies, state
policy makers, advocates and self advocates from across the state and nation.
This exciting program featured cutting edge information in the most essential
areas of systems transformation. Presenters have graciously made presentation
materials available for download.
Click here to access the presentations.
New Madness Radio Shows Online! - Art and Schizophrenia: Louis Sass
Does modern art, such as Artaud, Beckett, and Duchamp, parallel the mad
frames of mind that get labeled “schizophrenia?” Is extreme sensitivity and
inner self-consciousness behind artistic innovation and breaks with reality?
Rutgers University psychologist Louis Sass, author of Madness And Modernism:
Insanity in the Light of Modern Art, Literature, and Thought, discusses art as
an insight into the subjective inner world of madness.
Click here to listen to
the show.
Reinventing Bipolar: Steven Morgan
Peer Specialist advocate and bipolar survivor Steven Morgan talks about his
experiences with spirituality and meditation, including healing through dream
work.
Click here to listen to the show.
Jonathan Metzl: Schizophrenia and Black Politics
How did the definition of schizophrenia change during the civil rights and
Black Power era of the 1960s? Why did a disease primarily affecting withdrawn
white housewives suddenly become focused on angry and "paranoid" African
American men instead? Psychiatrist and historian Jonathan Metzl, author of The
Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease, discusses racism
and social control in psychiatric diagnosis, and how Black protest was turned
into a mental disorder.
Click here to listen to the show.
Mindfreedom Radio: Robert Whitaker and Linda Andre
This web radio show interviewed two authors whose books question common
psychiatric treatments. Journalist Robert Whitaker is the author of the new
book, "Anatomy of an Epidemic," which says that studies show the main
psychiatric drugs are actually increasing the level of mental and emotional
problems. Electroshock survivor Linda Andre is author of the book "Doctors of
Deception," which exposes the history of electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT. Host
is psychiatric survivor David Oaks, director of MindFreedom International.
Click
here to listen to the show.
Upcoming Events
GLBTQI* Pride Month: A Celebration of Recovery, Mental Health and Wellness
(*Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Intersex)
Thursday, June 17, 2010, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. Eastern (2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Pacific)
Speaker: Edward Schreiber
Edward Schreiber is a Trainer, Educator, Practitioner of Psychodrama and an
author and editor of a number of books. His life story is an example and an
expression of our ability to access inner power and move through and beyond
challenges and barriers.
Edward Schreiber has served as clinical director of the addiction services at
Harvard Medical School, teaches a course at Lesley University, and originated a
program at the Boston Living Center that teaches a method for awakening the
autonomous healing center within the individual as well as within groups and
organizations. Edward is a person with a long and rich history of experience
with and recovery from mental, physical and spiritual conditions, including
extreme states involving trauma and addiction.
Please register by sending your request to
star@nami.org
JOIN US: A FREE WISE WEBINAR HIGHLIGHTING SUPPORTS AND SERVICES FOR TICKET
HOLDERS WITH MENTAL HEALTH DISABILITIES
JUNE 23, 2010 FROM 3:00 – 4:30 PM (EASTERN)
If you are a person with a mental health disability interested in learning
about the Ticket to Work Program or other Social Security Work Incentives, you
can attend a FREE Web-based education event on work incentives! This first-ever
Mental Health Work Incentive Seminar Event (WISE) Webinar will feature
presentations by people who know the ins and outs of all available work
incentives, including the Ticket Program. A success story of a Social Security
beneficiary who used work incentives successfully will be shared. We will also
be joined by a mental health peer counselor who currently works encouraging
other people with mental health disabilities in their recovery through work.
Want specific information on how work and work earnings will impact your
personal Social Security disability benefits? Please visit
www.ssa.gov/work or
www.choosework.net to get more
information and to find a list of resources available in each state, including
the Work Incentives Planning Assistance (WIPA) projects, professionals who can
provide more information on your individual situation.
Register for this free WISE Webinar or find WISE events in your area at
www.cessi.net/wise.
Approximately 2 days before the event, all those who have registered will
receive an e-mail message with instructions on how to log in to the Webinar.
If you have questions, please email
wise@cessi.net or call 1-877-743-8237 (v/tty).
STAR Center Teleconference Series: Celebrating National Minority Mental
Health Awareness Month with Tenemos Voz , New Mexico : Building Latino/Hispano
Networks
Thursday, June 24, 2010, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time (2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Pacific Time)
To register please send your request to
star@nami.org with title of teleconference in the subject line. More
information will be sent in advance of the call, as well as posted on the STAR
Center Web site, www.consumerstar.org.
The STAR Center gratefully acknowledges SAMHSA as the funding source for the
STAR Center ’s work and activities. Please visit SAMHSA/CMHS at
http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cmhs for many helpful resources, self-help
tools and guides, and links.
The STAR Center promotes consumer-directed approaches that maximize
self-determination and recovery and assist people with serious mental health
challenges to decrease their dependence on expensive social services as well as
to avoid psychiatric hospitalization.
Empowerment - Independence - Responsibility - Choice - Respect and
Dignity
“Let your Star shine!”
SAMHSA ADS Center Training Teleconference
Building an Inclusive Society
Tuesday, June 29, 2010, 2:30 p.m.– 4:00 p.m., Eastern Daylight Savings Time
(EDT)
Presenters
- Henry Claypool—U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Celia Brown—New York State Office of Mental Health Recipient Affairs
- Andy Imparato—American Association of People with Disabilities
How can we build an inclusive society with a collaborative network of agencies
aligned to deliver effective integrated services to people with disabilities
including individuals with psychiatric disabilities? To assist people with
disabilities, consumers, survivors, family members, advocates, and health
care/mental health providers to better understand the rights of people with
disabilities, the challenges posed by the assertion of these rights, and the
protections offered under the law, the SAMHSA ADS Center invites you to a free
training teleconference titled “Building an Inclusive Society.”
To learn more and to register, click here. Registration will close at 5:00 p.m.,
EDT, on Friday, June 25, 2010.
This training teleconference will include a question and answer session. We
invite you to submit questions at any time before or during the teleconference.
To submit questions before the teleconference, please e-mail
promoteacceptance@samhsa.hhs.gov.
Speakers will answer as many questions as possible during this session, but we
cannot guarantee that your question will be answered during the teleconference.
We will provide each presenter’s contact information so that you may contact him
or her directly for a response or additional information.
This teleconference is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Opportunity
Opportunity for Creation of a Study Guide To Go with “Can,” A Documentary
Film by Pearl J. Park
A rough cut has been completed of the documentary film, “Can”, about the life
of a young Vietnamese-American man with a mental health condition. This is a
60-minute film shot in “cinema veritae” for the general public, as opposed to a
“clinical-type” film for therapy classes.
The Mental Health Association and REMHDO (the Racial and Ethnic Mental Health
Disparities Coalition) are looking for a person to create a study guide for this
film. There is approximately between $3,500 - $4,000 for a study guide to be
developed. This would need to be completed by August 15th, 2010.
If you are interested in this project, please
email Stacie
Hiramoto to apply or call (916) 557-1167. Please feel free to forward this
to others that may be interested and qualified.
The purpose of the NCN is to share information that is consistent with our
mission and values and that is significant for our constituency. We are not
endorsing any particular organization. |