News from Butler County NAMI

Please join us for our NAMI meetings to hear local speakers, get answers to questions, share stories and find support. January's guest speaker is Kara Frederick of LifeSpan, Inc. Kara will discuss the guardianship program that the agency provides for people with mental disabilities. Topics will include: when guardianship is needed, how to access this service, what is a payee and when is that needed, costs involved if there are any, and other questiosn that the attendees can ask regarding guardianship. She will also briefly describe some of the other services LifeSpan, Inc. provides.

Also, mark your calendars for the February NAMI Meeting on Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 7:00 PM. Speaker Stacy Martz, Executive Director of PLAN of Southwest Ohio will talk about Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET). This is an evidence based practice that helps people with schizophrenia and related mental illnesses improve their cognition and social abilities. CET attempts to jump start the brain and re-engage individuals in the process of developing social and cognitive function. This is another tool to promote recovery along with medication and counseling. PLAN has reported amazing results with CET. Come hear about this new therapy!

NAMI DVD Project

The DVD that was paid for by the garage sale sponsored by the Leadership 21 Class of the West Chester/Liberty Township Chamber of Commerce has been completed! We will show this 7 minute video at our January 20th NAMI meeting. Or, you can view it now on Youtube.com.

The DVD will be mailed to community leaders, churches and others along with an informational brochure of NAMI programs and free services. This will raise public awareness of NAMI and also promote donations from the community by people who have never heard about us before. A huge thanks goes out to the Leadership 21 class!! Also, three graduates of that class joined the NAMI Board of DIrectors: Jerry Summers, Rebecca McDonough and Charlie Borton. Another thanks to these community-minded volunteers.

Rhonda Benson, NAMI Associate Director, was a class graduate and obviously did an outstanding job of promoting NAMI and getting us to be the chosen project by the Leadership 21 class. Only one project is chosen and we were the lucky one this year...thanks for sure to Rhonda for a convincing presentation on NAMI!

Family to Family Graduates Support Group
February 3, 2011 6:30 PM

NAMI Butler County Offices
5963 Boymel Drive
Fairfield OH 45014

The Family to Family Graduates Suport Group will meet on Thursday, February 3, 2011. This support group continues the bonding and education of the F2F program.

For more information, call the NAMI office at 860-8387.

NAMI Book Club

February 10, 2011, 6:30 PM

NAMI Butler County Offices
5963 Boymel Drive
Fairfield OH 45014

This month's book is Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness by Mark Vonnegut.

We welcome anyone interested in an evening of fun, food and friends, for our regular book club which meets at 6:30 pm on the second Thursday of each month. We are currently developing a reading list for this year and would welcome suggestions. Please email suggestions to rbenson@nami-bc.org!

New Family to Family Class

Mondays, Januay 24, 2011 - April 18, 2011

6:30 PM

Vinyard Community Church
Resource Center Banquet Room

11340 Century Circle E.

Cincinnati, OH 45246

The Family-to-Family Education Program is a 12-week course designed to guide family members to emotional understanding, healing, insight and action related to mental health disorders of Schizophrenia, Major Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Panic Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder of a loved one. This course does not cover childhood disorders of Autism, Childhood Schizophrenia and ADHD. Topics include diagnosis, medication, de-compensation, self-care, communication skills and other vital information for families.

The class is FREE, but registration is required. Please contact the NAMI office at (513) 860-8387 or (513) 860-8386 to register or if you need additional information.

Public Condolence on Tuscon Tragedy

NAMI Butler County joins NAMI state and national organizations in publicly expressing our deepest condolences for the victims of the horrific shooting in Tuscon. The suspect from all accounts appears to be severely mentally ill. This is a great sadness and concern for all advocates who promote recovery and a responsive mental health care system in our state and elsewhere.

Unfortunately with additional funding cuts on the horizon, mental health services are inadequate now and will become more so in the future to meet the needs of our most severely mentally ill. NAMI Ohio plans an aggressive advocacy effort to convince legislators not to further cut funds for mental health services in this 8 billion dollar state budget deficit. We will be calling on our local NAMI members and supporters to be a part of this advocacy.

Thoughts on the Tuscon Tragedy

Once again our country is traumatized by tragedy. And the search to "stop the insanity" takes many turns. Should we enact stricter gun laws, restrict political rhetoric? There must be some power we can wield to prevent a similar tragedy.

Current information indicates that the person who pulled the trigger in Tucson was severely mentally ill. It must be said that the vast majority of people with mental illness do not have a propensity toward violence. Treatment works and most live productive and peaceful lives. The Tucson offender had a family, contacts at school, neighbors and multiple encounters with law enforcement.

Perhaps none of these contacts recognized the symptoms of mental illness or if they did, didn't know what to do. One of the officers if trained in Crisis Intervention could have flagged the offender as possibly mentally ill and channeled him into community treatment or treatment mandated under a mental health diversion court. Other contacts could have called a mental health crisis line. These are complex illnesses and there are no guarantees, but early intervention/treatment could possibly have changed the course of this tragic event.

Public awareness and knowledge of the mental health system of care is incumbent on all of us in promoting safe communities. This IS the most effective power we can wield to "stop the insanity". Know the symptoms of mental illnesses, know what mental health services are available in your community and how to access them, know the crisis numbers, don't hesitate to report (even anonymously) bizarre or threatening behavior to a crisis center, police or 911. People who pose a danger to self or others, can be held involuntarily in a hospital for evaluation and treatment. There is one caveat and that is that the mental health system in Ohio has sustained such severe funding cuts that it is often inadequate to address the ever-increasing needs of the most severely mentally ill.

In Butler County go to the Butler County Mental Health Board website to see a list of agencies and crisis numbers: www.bcmhb.org. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is the largest grassroots organization in the country for families whose lives are impacted by major mental illnesses. The local chapter of NAMI offers free educational classes and will provide presentations to any community organization. For information go to: www.namibutler.net or call 513-860-8387. The national website is www.nami.org.

Sally Fiehrer, Executive Director

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Butler County

Fairfield, OH