NAMI California Annual Conference 

Friday, August 19th & Saturday, August 20th

Doubletree Hotel

2001 Point West Way

Sacramento, California 95815

Phone:  916-929-8855

NAMI California's Annual Conference is just around the corner!  

Register online or send in a printable form:

Printable registration, English   

Forma de registro, Español

TRANSLATION DEVICES AVAILABLE 

Translation devices are available for all main speaker events and select workshops! Remember to check the "Transponder Unit Needed" box on your registration form! 

Hay equipo de traducción disponible para todos los oradores principales y algunos talleres. Recuerde de marcar la opción de "necesito una unidad de traducción" en su forma de registro!

Sneak Peek at the Agenda

August 18 

August 19

August 20

Main Speakers  

We are pleased to have the following speakers at this year's conference. 

Keynote Speaker 

Frederick J. Frese, Ph.D., Northeast Ohio Medical University,

Presenting, Recovery: Myths, Mountains and Miracles  

Other presenters: 

Dr. Cameron Carter, UC Davis Medical Center 

Presenting: The Neuroscience of Schizophrenia: Towards Improved Outcomes and Treatments 

Honorable Stephen V. Manley, Santa Clara County Superior Court and Mark Gale, 2nd Vice President NAMI California Board of Directors, 

Presenting: Looking Ahead: Opportunities for Criminal Justice and Mental Health System Collaboration in Changing Times 

Trudy Scott, President, National Association of Nutrition Professionals  

Presenting: Food and Mood: The science behind the effects of food on mental health 

Curley L. Bonds, MD, DFAPA, Medical Director, Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services   

Presenting: Closing the Gap: Mental Health Disparities  

Sherry Riney, LCSW, Supervisory Social Worker for the Trauma Recovery Programs 

Presenting: Returning Service Members and Veterans: Recognition, Recovery and Resources 

Special Guest:  Dr. Joyce Burland

Workshops

·        Behind the Mask: Erasing Stigma with Art Exhibits

·        CANVAS - Developing Innovative Volunteer Based Wellness Programs

·        Children of Mental Illness

·        Choices in Recovery

·        Culturally Rich Realties: Living Invisible & Unspoken in California Communities

·        Food and Mood: 9 Steps to Eliminate Anxiety, Stress, Social Phobia and Panic Attacks

·        Health Care Reform: Boosting Recovery with Private Personal Support Services & Special Needs Trusts

·        Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System

·        Supporting our Returning Service Members and Veterans with PTSD: What can I do?

·        The California MHSA Multicultural Coalition - The "CMMC"

·        The Importance of Spirituality in Recovery

·        The Power of Positive: Innovative Approaches to Promoting Social Inclusion

·        Using Logic Models to Initiate Action and Sustain Change

·        What you need to know about mental illness and SSDI

·        Working for Us: MHSA Client and Family Member Employment and Advocacy

·        YOU CAN with NAMI CAN!

For more information or questions, please contact NAMI California's office at (916) 567-0163.    

2011 Proud Sponsors

Family to Family Update 

NAMI California Family to Family had a very busy training year, with a total of eight teacher and support group trainings that were funded by state contract.There were also additional trainings that were held by affiliates and three Basics trainings as well!  We also had the opportunity to bring a support group training to Inyo and Mono counties; and we're looking forward to some positive feedback from there in the months to come.  

A comment from a recent 12 week classes held in Monterey:
 

"[Family to Family] is by far the best educational program of its kind anywhere.The topics presented were excellent, just what family members need for a complete understanding of brain disorders."  

-- Lynn Cathy, Director of Family Programs

NAMI California

Legislative Accomplishments

We thought we would remind you of some bills that became law during the last couple of years with your help. They are not big pieces in the mental health picture, but they demonstrate the attention that must be paid to all bills that can potentially improve mental health and related services for people living with mental illnesses.

Here are two examples from our selection:
 

SB 296, Lowenthal (2009). Mental health services.

This act, as of July 1, 2011, requires every health care service plan to issue an identification card, as specified, to each enrollee in order to assist the enrollee with accessing health benefits coverage information and other information. Further, every health care service plan shall maintain an Internet site that includes information to subscribers, enrollees, and providers that will assist subscribers and enrollees in accessing mental health services.The web site shall provide an online form that subscribers or enrollees can use to file a grievance with the plan.

Read the legislation here.

Criminal procedures: veterans. Assembly Bill 674, Salas (2010)

For the purpose of allowing a court to order treatment instead of jail or prison, this act removes the requirement that a behavioral health problem be a result of serving in a combat theater as long as the individual is an eligible veteran  

Read the legislation here.

Click here to view a complete summary of our accomplishments for the year and bills going forward. 

Watch this space next month for the primary bills currently being considered -- or look at the position statements on the Legislation Page  at NAMI California.

 -- Bettie Reinhardt, NAMI CAN!

The MECCAMulti-Ethnic Arts Festival -- Drawing Out Stigma -- was held at Bowers Museum Lee Court in Santa Ana on Thursday, June 23, 2011, Events included drawings of 78 multi-ethnic MECCA art workshop participants with 70 professional artists from the OC mental health and multi-ethnic communities along with live international music and dance performances.  

NAMI OC member, artist and art instructor, Janice DeLoof led Drawing Out the Feelings of Stigma workshops held at six MECCA agencies and assisted in the coordination of the exhibits. Artists shared the commonality of the thoughts and feelings experienced by multiple ethnic participants, revealing how mental illness impacts all of us, causing the same human emotions of pain, frustration, anger, confusion,and  isolation.

Presenter of the festival, the Multi-Ethnic Collaborative of Community Agencies (MECCA) is an organization of local ethnic community-based service providers targeting the Arab, Iranian, Korean, Latino, and Vietnamese communities.

President Changes Long-Held Policy Against Condolence Letters for Families of Slain Troops 

In response to lobbying in part by mental health professionals and groups such as 

The American Psychiatric Association, Mental Health America, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, President Barack Obama has issued a statement that, in-effect, changes long-held White House policy of not responding to families with members who have died in combat. Some 160 Army personnel committed suicide and over 1,700 attempted suicide between 2005 and 2009, one fourth of them while still in combat zones.

The official White House statement issued July 6:

"As Commander in Chief, I am deeply grateful for the service of all our men and women in uniform, and grieve for the loss of those who suffer from the wounds of war - seen and unseen. Since taking office, I've been committed to removing the stigma associated with the unseen wounds of war, which is why I've worked to expand our mental health budgets, and ensure that all our men and women in uniform receive the care they need.  

As a next step and in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the military chain of command, I have also decided to reverse a long-standing policy of not sending condolence letters to the families of service members who commit suicide while deployed to a combat zone. This decision was made after a difficult and exhaustive review of the former policy, and I did not make it lightly.  

This issue is emotional, painful, and complicated, but these Americans served our nation bravely. They didn't die because they were weak. And the fact that they didn't get the help they needed must change. Our men and women in uniform have borne the incredible burden of our wars, and we need to do everything in our power to honor their service, and to help them stay strong for themselves, for their families and for our nation."

Madhouse Rhythm 

Pathways to Wellness a Success 

Over four hundred Angelenos converged on the Sheraton Gateway for our fourth annual community conference on mental health - Pathways to Wellness - where they mingled with experts in the fields of mental health and mental illness, and got answers to some of their most pressing questions. NAMI Westside-LA President Sharon S. Dunas, MFT, received spontaneous applause in her opening remarks when she reminded the crowd that people with brain illnesses and the people who love them are not a minority; everyone knows someone with this disease. She exhorted the crowd to refuse to be stigmatized.

Charles Rubin, author of Don't Let Your Kids Kill You, was the keynote speaker, and breakout sessions were held on sixteen different subjects of interest, including anger management, how children of depressed parents can thrive, advances in schizophrenia care, self-injury, promising new treatments for bipolar disorder, OCD recovery, holistic methods for coping with stress, what to do if your relative is arrested, borderline personality disorder, obtaining LPS conservatorships, and treatment for depression. Between sessions participants picked up useful information in the exhibition hall.

Conference Coordinator, Eddie Silberman, led another outstanding conference, and organizers are grateful to all the volunteers who ensured that it ran smoothly.

FROM THE AFFILIATES  

NAMI San Francisco made the news recently, receiving kudos for its work with consumers who were victims to gang violence,   

New American Media

local gas utility disasters, and community stigma. A story in New America Media cited the accomplishments of the affiliate in educating and supporting

members of the area's minority community -- African Americans, Hispanics and Asians, -- "drawing people out of the shadows".

Read the glowing report at New America Media. 

NAMI Glendale plans to initiate more affinity types of Support Groups in the community it serves and already plans are being made to start an Armenian Support Group, Glendale has the largest Armenian population outside of Armenia, and to continues to grow Spanish language support groups and Famila de Famila Classes.