Firewalkers

VOCAL is seeking seven people in Virginia who will share their stories in interviews for a new project: Firewalkers: Seven Stories of Seven People Transformed by Mental Illness. This project will be a "living anthology" including a book of interviews, photo series, and outreach events where people can share their stories. Learn more on our website at: Learn More About Firewalkers.

New reads on the VOCAL Website:

*VOCAL Hires It's First Executive Director
*Assembly to Focus on Mentally Ill
*VOCAL Public Policy Statement
*House Appropriations Statement
*Resolution in Honor of Ray Bridge
*Promoting Wellness

Read all these and more at:
http://vocalvirginia.org/system.htm

Dare to Transform: Revolutionizing Mental Health and Human Services, a 2-day learning exchange and networking transformation forum to highlight useful and practical strategies for moving forward together with the implementation of trauma- informed care.  Held July 11 and 12, 2008 in Washington, DC, hosted by the National Center for Trauma Informed Care.

(1) Call for presentations/posters: If you have a model or promising program, or are involved in a demonstration of trauma informed care implementation, we want to hear from you!

(2) The H.O.P.E. Awards celebrates innovation and leadership in promoting trauma informed services in the public mental health systems. Seeking nominations.

For more information contact Mary Blake, 240-276-1747, mary.blake@samhsa.hhs.gov http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/nctic

Consumer Survey on Cultural Competency

Below you will find a link to an important survey for consumers on the cultural competence on consumer-run programs. When you take the survey you will help us move toward the important goal of making peer programs truly available to ALL.
 
This survey is from the UIC National Research and Training Center and the NAMI STAR Center. They hope to learn what peer programs do well and where they struggle in helping people from culturally diverse communities. They are particularly interested in hearing from people in recovery from the African American, Latino, Asian, Native American, and other diverse communities. The survey will take about 10 to 20 minutes to complete. It is voluntary and anonymous. Visit http://www.cmhsrp.uic.edu/nrtc/survey.asp         

Mental health slammed in Bush Budget
~ from Mental Health America

Help fight back! At a time of real insecurity for vulnerable Americans, the President's $3.1 trillion proposed budget for FY 2009 abandons the millions of children and adults with mental health needs and others at risk of mental health problems. These cuts would harm many low-income Americans who need the critical support Medicaid provides.

The plan further decimates a wide range of highly effective federalprograms critical to people with or at risk of mental health problems, including suicide prevention, housing, education, juvenile justice,public health, health promotion, workforce development, and research. (Note: The plan also eliminates all funds for consumer programs, including the funds for the VOCAL Network).

Jobloss, economic and personal hardship, school failure, disability, homelessness and even suicide would result from these cuts.  Your members of Congress must hear from YOU that mental health must be an area of robust investment, not fiscal retreat. Raise your voice with others and call on Congress to reject the Administration's budget and adopt a budget that makes children and adults living with, or at risk of, mental health conditions one of the nation's most urgent priorities. 

Find out more about how to take action at:
http://takeaction.mentalhealthamerica.net/fightback 

Advocacy Opportunities
~ from Bonnie Neighbour, VOCAL Network Advocacy Coordinator, network@vocalvirginia.org
 
During this 2008 legislative season many newspapers are running articles, letters, editorials, and editorial cartoons about mental illness.  Some of these published items are friendly towards consumers, some are not.  This presents an opportunity to do some advocacy work from your home. 

If you see something in the paper that you support or something you oppose, consider writing a letter to the editor.  Some people in the Roanoke area are writing letters in response to the editorial cartoon seen at this link: http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/xp-index.  Letters to the editor of the Roanoke Times can be sent to Karen.trout@roanoke.com and letters@roanoke.com.  The address for letters to the editor for other newspapers can be found on the editorial page of each newspaper.  Some Virginia newspapers' contact information for Letters is included at the end of this email.

Tips for Writing Letters-to-the-Editor:

Thank you to Mira Signer from NAMI-VA for providing these tips:

�Submit your letter in a timely manner about a timely topic. Don't let too much time slipby - news gets old fast.

�If possble, link your letter to something published recently in the paper (either a news item or another letter-to-the-editor) and respond as quickly as you can.

�Keep it focused on one main point, concise and informative. Editorial space is limited. A shorter letter has a better chance of getting printed. Word limit is about 200 words per letter but check the paper for guidelines. 

�Find out the publication's guidelines (length, letters/writer, signers/letter) and stick to them.

�Be firm but polite: make your case without insults or rants. Don't engage in personal attacks on reporters or other letter-writers. 

�Write with the assumption that readers know nothing about your topic. Don't use acronyms or "industry lingo" that only a few will understand.

�Use talking points that may be provided to you but don't rely too much on them - always personalize.

�Always proof read your letter before sending it.

�Recruit your friends and colleagues to send in letters as well--the more letters submitted on a topic, the better the chance of one of you getting published.

�If you hold a position include that with your signature (ex. Affiliate President) to add credibility. It increases the chance that you'll get published.

Submitting your letter  

Always include your full name, address and phone number. This information will not be published but many publications will contact you to verify your identity before printing a letter. Also be sure to sign your letter unless submitted over e-mail.  

Richmond Times-Dispatch: letters@timesdispatch.com  
Freelance Star (Fredericksburg): letters@freelancestar.com
Washington Post: letters@washpost.com  
Virginian Pilot: letters@pilotonline.com  
Daily Progress(Charlottesville):letters@dailyprogress.com 
Daily Press: www.dailypress.com
Roanoke Times:  Karen.trout@roanoke.com  
News and Advance (Lynchburg): www.newsadvance.com 
Daily News Record (Harrisonburg): www.dnronline.com   

Did you get a letter published? Be sure to let others know: send it to bonnie@vocalvirginia.org and consider sending it to your state representatives.

More Advocacy Opportunities 

Here are several ideas of things you can do to advocate for Mental Health issues.

1)  Write a letter to the editor of your newspaper.   

2) If you are in the Richmond area, or want to travel into the area for a day, there are always meetings right now that can be attended.  If you attend a meeting you may have an opportunity to speak to an issue. If you don't get an opportunity, or choose not to, speak, consumer presence is still valuable at these meetings to keep an eye on what different legislators are saying about mental health issues.

3) In your home district you can contact your own legislators and let them know about Recovery and how you feel about various issues before the legislature.  This is important to do now, while the General Assembly is in session, but it's also very important to do throughout the year.  As I sit in the committee and subcommittee meetings I can see that we (consumers) need to be doing more of that background work.  If you want ideas about how to do this through the year, let me know and I may have some ideas. 

4) From your home district, or really from anywhere, you can watch the newspapers for articles, editorials, letters to the editor, and editorial cartoons about mental health issues and forward links to them to the VOCAL office.

5) From anywhere you can rally your peers to be doing the same things that have been suggested here.  Talk one-on-one with peers.  Create a work group around an issue and approach your local legislator(s) together.  

Also, for the benefit of the VOCAL Network in general, when you do something, let us know.  We can build off of what you've done through the year when the legislators are in session here in Richmond.  Besides, it's just nice to hear what our peers are doing across the state and we can mention your activities on the website or in the newsletter.  I think it's easier to take action on things if you see others are doing the same thing.

Thanks for anything you can do right now to help.  Don't forget to save the dates for the VOCAL conference in Harrisonburg in May. 
 

Peer Program Directory

Peer-run programs are designed, led and governed by people who have been diagnosed with mental illness. To find out more, or to contact the programs in this newsletter, visit our Directory of Peer-Run Programs in Virginia.

Read recent issues of the CO-OP News:

http://vocalsupportcenter.org/news.htm