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| Featured Employment Opportunity | Employment Specialist
Location:
New Bedford, MA
Program:
New Bedford Network
Job Description: Responsible to carry out the services of the Individual Placement and Support Program by assisting consumers in obtaining and maintaining employment that is consistent with their vocational goals and recovery.
Bachelor's degree in mental health or social services, business, personnel management, or vocational services preferred. Will consider candidate with a high school diploma and three or more years of experience in job development, job marketing, vocational services and job securing for people with serious mental illness. Knowledge of long term mental illness, including treatment and medication, and the impact of illness on vocational functioning.
Contact:
Please contact Kimberly Mello, New Bedford Regional Director
Click here for all current FHR employment opportunities. |
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| From "Chronic" to "Recovering": 35 Years of Healing Beautiful Minds |
 May, officially recognized as "Mental Health Month" by Congress since 1949, is the perfect time to celebrate the strides made in the field of mental health care over the past few decades, while remaining mindful of the barriers still to be overcome.
Thirty-five years ago, the term "recovery" was not in the vocabulary of mental health practitioners. Instead, society viewed mental illnesses as incurable conditions that often left one completely disabled and stigmatized. The mentally ill were to be feared and the community to be kept safe. The NIMBY syndrome (Not In My Back Yard) was the rule of the day. The deinstitutionalization movement, which began in RI in the 1970's, was the state's attempt to find a more humane and cost-effective way to rehabilitate individuals whose mental illnesses had indeed become "chronic" by virtue of the years that they had spent in institutional care.
Fellowship Health Resources was at the vanguard of this movement, establishing the first group home for mentally ill adults in 1975 in West Warwick, RI. The organization opened a second residence in Providence in 1976, and soon after began helping individuals to find permanent places to live in the community after successfully completing the Fellowship's rehabilitative programs. Over the next three decades, the Fellowship would expand to seven states along the east coast from Maine to North Carolina, and would help many thousands of individuals in their recovery from mental illnesses.
The paradigm shift in thinking from "incurable" and "chronic" to "recovery" from mental illness did not occur abruptly, but rather, evolved over the last 35 years as a new breed of medications called neuroleptics were found to be significantly more therapeutic than previous drugs were in treating major mental illnesses. The gradual development of community support services such as housing, employment, and case management services provided by the Fellowship and other rehabilitative agencies, created an environment in which individuals could recover and regain their rightful place in their communities.
Our current behavioral healthcare environment, plagued with budget cuts and flat funding, threatens the very existence of these services at both the state and national level. This represents a clear and substantial danger to programs that have proven repeatedly to be effective in helping those who need our support to live successfully. The state and federal government must not turn its back on the millions of Americans fighting to gain control of their lives. For many, this is a matter of life or death.
--Joseph Dziobek, President/CEO |
| May is Mental Health Month |
 Mental Health America is proud to continue its tradition of celebrating "May is Mental Health Month," which began in 1949. "This year, our theme 'Live Your Life Well,' challenges us to promote health and wellness in homes, communities, schools, and inform those who don't believe it is attainable." (NMHA)
For 10 research-based, straightforward tools and ways to apply them in everyday life, click here.
May is Mental Health Month Calendar of Events |
| Rhode Island Kicks Off May is Mental Health Month |
 On April 29, the Governor's State Room in the Rhode Island State House was filled to capacity with lawmakers, mental health professionals and advocates, consumers, including many from FHR, and staff of mental health services to mark the kick off of May is Mental Health Month. Read article... |
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| FHR Annouces Participation in Falmouth Road Race |
Rachel Grinnell | Fellowship Health Resources President and CEO, Joseph Dziobek, has announced his support of and participation in the Falmouth Road Race to take place on Sunday, August 15, 2010. He joins Rachel Grinnell, member of Fairwinds clubhouse and Advisory board. Read their personal pledges and support their efforts.
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| Fellowship Health Resources, Inc. Expands Services in Massachusetts |
 The Department of Mental Health Southeastern Area has selected Fellowship Health Resources as the winning bidder of its recent Request for Response (RFR) for the expansion of its Community Based Flexible Support (CBFS) services on Cape Cod and the Islands. Fellowship Health Resources' newest site, located in Chatham, Massachusetts, will make it possible for six more individuals from Taunton State Hospital to move back into the community. Press release |
| Passing the Peer Respite Bill |
 A national movement is afoot to create peer-run respites for persons living with psychiatric challenges who are in the throws of a mental health crisis. Peer-run respites afford a person the opportunity to get well, while maintaining independence in the community. A Bill (House Bill #3584) is currently circulating in the Massachusetts House and Assembly instructing the Department of Mental Health "to conduct a study of feasibility of providing peer-run respite services." Read What is a peer-run respite? |
| Herr's Makes a Difference in PA! |
PRISMmodel | Fellowship Health Resources Pennsylvania (FHR PA) would like to thank Herr Foods for its donation of individual packages of chips to our Kiosk Project. The kiosk provides opportunities to help individuals who are participating in the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services program become more proficient in a small business enterprise, improve their community integration skills, and better position them to enter the community and find a job. Read more... |
| I Have Come a Long Way | |
 Arnie has been a member of Fellowship Health Resources (FHR) in Fall River, Massachusetts, since October 2001. Admitting to finding himself "caught up with drugs and in trouble with the law," Arnie was diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder in 1988 and hospitalized in 1999. He has been prescribed several different medications in order to find what works best for him. Now that he is on an effective treatment path, Arnie says "I know I have to keep taking my meds." Read Arnie's story ...
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| Save the Date for FHR Signature Regional Events |
A Nite to Remember 2009 | Fellowship Health Resources North Carolina presents its second annual signature event, A Nite to Remember on Wednesday, June 16, 2010 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets are only $6. For additional information or to order tickets, please call 919-573-6520.
Fellowship Health Resources Pennsylvania (FHR PA) will host Myth & Music, a musical program, in partnership with the Community Music School, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 2, 2010 at Franklin Commons in Phoenixville. Our goal is to dispel the many myths and misconceptions surrounding mental illness through entertainment, education, and example. For more information, contact Sharon Zislis at 610-415-9301 ext. 2215. |
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