Make it your New Year's Resolution to Become a NAMI Volunteer!

Our volunteers help out at health fairs, distribute our brochures and flyers at public places and offices, assist with fundraisers and speak to the public about our services.  Do you love public speaking? Great, we will train you to spread the word about NAMI Butler County.  Do you prefer to work behind the scenes? We'll put you to work in our library or sign you up to help with mailings.  You can set your own volunteer schedule and work as much or a little as you like with no set weekly or monthly commitment. Our next ambassadors meeting will be held at our offices on Thursday, January 19th at 6:15 PM. 

Looking for a Support Group to help with Depression, Anxiety or other Mental Health Issues?

The women's support group "Speak Easy" is geared toward women who are vulnerable to depression and anxiety and is held on Thursday nights from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM at Butler Behavioral, 1490 University Blvd. in Hamilton. For more information call Pat Irwin, RN, MSN, CS at (513)860-0220 ext. 2.

Recovery International offers meetings for those struggling with stress, panic, mood disorders, sleeplessness, worry, fears and feelings of hopelessness on Monday nights at 7:30 PM at Holy Cross Lutheran Church on 5071 Winton Road in Fairfield. For more information call 887-7184 or see their web site a LowSelfHelpSystems.org.

NAMI Warren County offers a weekly support group for men and women living with mental illnesses including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression and anxiety disorders. This group is led by trained peer facilitators and is held on the first and third Mondays of each month from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM at the Lindner Center of HOPE in Mason, Ohio. 

The Presbyterian Church in College Hill offers a support group for those suffering from Bipolar Disorder select Saturdays each month at 1:30 PM. See their calendar at chpc.org/calendar or call them at (513)541-5676.

See our web site (nami-bc.org) for more support group offerings.

Book Club Update

Don't forget that our book club has gone virtual. If you haven't yet had a chance to check out our December book, it was Irresistible Lightness by actress and model Portia de Rossi. The book illustrates the distorted thinking and rituals that often accompany those suffering from eating disorders and details how devastating the illness is on both mind and body. 

Book selections for coming months:

January: I am Not Sick, I Don't Need Help by Xavier Amado (2007). A professor of clinical psychology, who has a brother with schizophrenia, Amador details how to help someone with mental illness accept treatment. Amador offers great insight into how it feels to suffer from a mental illness and the best ways to offer help and support (without making matters worse!). His tips for communicating with a loved one are particularly useful. This book has received great acclaim from professionals and laypersons alike.

February: Voluntary Madness by Norah Vincent (2008). A journalist, pretending to be in need of psychiatric hospitalization, commits herself to three different mental health facilities with varying approaches to treating mental illness. The author, herself, had previously been treated in a psychiatric hospital following her own bout with severe depression. 

March: Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet (2006). An exploration inside the extraordinary mind of an autistic savant.

If you read the books, please take a moment to share your thoughts, comments and questions (at khsnami@bc.org). We will post them (along with answers to any questions) on our web site.  

IT'S ALL GOOD

by Kathleen Stevens, Associate Director

This is the second in a series of columns that I hope will provide a breath of fresh air amidst the negativity and stigma that often surround mental illness. I'd like to begin the new year with a story of hope for all of those family members with a loved one who is resisting treatment.

   I recently had the opportunity to meet a young woman being treated for bipolar disorder who has gone from resisting treatment to embracing it. I will call her Hope. Hope told me that being diagnosed with a mental illness in her teens left her feeling powerless. She didn't like feeling that she was dependent on pills and medications to function. She felt that she was strong enough, and in control enough, to push through the symptoms of her illness. She was convinced she'd be fine.  At age 19, she stopped taking her medication and was soon cycling in and out of the hospital. She recalls at least 10 hospitalizations.

    Throughout it all, Hope felt as if she had lost herself. "It felt as if I was in another dimension and didn't know who I was," she states.  She remembers feeling as if she were a mere shadow of her former self and she missed who she had been. She began to keep a photograph of herself to share with staff and other patients when she was hospitalized. "I would tell them 'This is what I look like when I am well.'"   

     During one of her hospitalizations, Hope found herself studying her mother's face. "She was tired," she recalls. "I was tired," she adds. In that moment she was not only struck by how much her mother loved her but also recognized how her mother's dedication to getting her the help she required (yet Hope kept resisting) was resulting in great emotional and physical fatigue. She began to wonder if her refusal to truly accept treatment was responsible for her many hospitalizations, the tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills she had accumulated and the endless roller coaster ride that her family was forced to ride with her. Hope wondered if her illness truly was manageable and that if embracing her treatment, instead of fighting it, could possibly make a difference. She decided to give it a try. Afterall, she reasoned, what she had been doing so far was not working. 

    On her path to wellness, Hope says her faith, her family and keeping an open and honest line of communication with health care professionals has been key to her ongoing good health and well-being. She says that while her family has always been greatly supportive she's also aware of times when they inadvertently enabled her. Boundary setting with your loved one, she stresses, is an important part of helping someone in their quest to live an independent and fulfilling life.  

     Hope is no longer waiting for the next relapse to happen but is prepared to work hard when and if she does have a setback. She says that her medications are always being tweaked and she works hard to stay compliant. She calls her meds "a game changer" in how she is able to function and live and believes she could have avoided most of her hospitalizations if she had taken them. Hope now enjoys talking to others about treatment compliance and the difference it has made in her life. She is going to school and holds a good job. In person she is an attractive professional woman who is personable, outgoing and confident. You would never guess the difficult road she has traveled.

    While Hope once believed that being in control meant not taking her medications, she now realizes the true power comes in doing everything she can to keep her illness at bay. She refuses to let her illness ever get the upper hand again, even on those days that feel as if she is swimming against a swift current. "By not managing your mental illness," she states "you are giving it an invitation to manage you."

Free Online Medication Guide 

The National Institute of Mental Health offers a free medication guide online.

Click here for information about medications used to treat mental illness, side effects, and current FDA warnings.

 Wear a Silver Ribbon to Support Mental Health

The Silver Ribbon Coalition represents the combined interests of all those who are affected by a brain disorder or disability. To date, the Coalition is represented by advocates for and individuals with a wide variety of brain disorders and disabilities. The Silver Ribbon Campaign for the Brain promotes public awareness of the need for emotional, social, governmental, and research support of the mentally ill.

Why wear a silver ribbon?

• To show you care about someone with a brain disorder or disability
• To help break down the barriers to treatment and support
• To help eliminate the stigma against those who suffer
• To show you believe there is HOPE through education and research

For more information at the Silver Ribbon Campaign see www.silverribbon.org.

Art Workshop on February 18th Open to Everyone in Need of Balm for the Soul 

Interested in breaking through the winter doldrums, refreshing your soul and exploring your artistic side? Come to our workshop on February 18th (snow date February 25th). We will be creating individual collages that will be assembled together to create a paper quilt illustrating your compassion for those being treated for mental illness. Materials will be supplied but you may want to bring your own scissors. Bring any items you are able to share in the creation of this quilt (art supplies, magazines for clipping, yarn, old puzzle pieces and scrap-booking items).

The facilitator of this workshop will be Maxine Apke, a retired art teacher and active NAMI volunteer. "The collage can express one of many things," says Apke, "who you are, what you love, your fears or joys or something that cannot be expressed out loud." The workshop begins at 10:00 AM at our Boymel Road office. We will serve coffee. Donations of baked goods or other breakfast foods gladly accepted! There is no charge for this workshop. Teenagers may attend (no small children). We will display the quilt at various NAMI events. 

Ring in the New Year with a 

NAMI Butler County Membership

With over 500 people on our mailing list we would like to see as many of you as possible step up to the plate and become a NAMI Butler County member this year. Membership is $35.00 (10 cents a day!) and goes a long way toward supporting our free programs and services to families who have a loved one with a mental illness. Our membership number also makes a statement that mental health matters in our community. Please join today. You can join online or during one of our monthly education meetings. Thank you in advance for your support and commitment to NAMI Butler County.

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NAMI Ohio meets at Governor's Residence  

The NAMI Ohio Board of Directors and special guests met with Governor Kasich and Tracy Plouck, Director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health on Monday, December 12th at the governor's residence in Columbus. NAMI Executive Director Terry Russell expressed appreciation for the invitation and introduced Gloria Walker, Board President. Gloria introduced three special NAMI presenters: two family members and Dr. Fred Frese, Ohio's most outspoken advocate at both state and national levels.

The families told moving stories of the initial struggles they had in dealing with the mental illness of their loved ones. Access to new medication, case management services, counseling and other supports enabled both presenters to see their loved ones stabilized and working, now contributing to society as tax-paying citizens rather than revolving patients in costly hospitals or jails. Dr. Frese told of his own personal journey from being a patient in a Columbus hospital to eventually becoming the director of that same hospital after his mental illness was successfully treated. The clear, strong message was that people with mental illness can and do get better; treatment works; people recover.

Governor Kasich expressed great compassion for the pain and suffering of all families. He said, however, that he would not make promises he may not be able to keep. He said Ohio is still eight billion dollars in debt, the economy is in the tanks, unemployment is the third highest in the country, and people are leaving Ohio to find jobs elsewhere. Altogether 500,000 people have exited Ohio in the last several years. He said he would do the very best he could to help the situation but that efforts at working differently in these systems have to be implemented. 

Tracey Plouck briefly talked about some of the ways her department is trying to reduce costs in some areas in order to preserve core services for the majority in others. She and the Governor are working closely to meet the ever-increasing demands. The NAMI Ohio Board has established a great line of communication with the Governor and the Ohio Department of Mental Health.

Governor Kasich is not hesitant to present himself as a spiritual person.  He said he prays for families every day. After pictures were taken, Governor Kasich lead all in a closing prayer that reinforced his genuine concern for our constituents and was a comfort to all present.

Spotlight on our Winter Speakers for Education Meetings:

January's speaker is Emily Musonza, CTRS, a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist. She has been working at the Lindner Center of Hope for three years. Musonza has experience working in the community mental health setting in Lawrenceburg, IN. The focus for her presentation will be the importance of increasing and incorporating leisure time into one's recovery and for anyone's well-being.

February's speaker is Scott Fourman, MS, LPCC, Associate Executive Director of Mental Health Service at the Butler County Mental Health Board. Fourman will be talking about accessing mental health services in an effective and practical way. It's a great way to get informed and have the chance to get your questions answered.  

March's speaker is Bill Nordyke, RN, Program Coordinator at Ft. Hamilton's Partial Hospitalization Program. This program, which meets five days a week, includes individual and group psychotherapy, as well as classes in self-esteem, life issues, wellness, anger management, boundaries/relationships and addiction. In addition to giving an overview of the program, Nordyke will also talk about ways we can all work to ease anxiety, stress and depression in our daily lives.  

NOTE: Don't forget to send us your links if you read an interesting article or see an informative website on a mental illness related topic.