Annual Meeting & Election of Officers

September Meeting

The 2012 NAMI Idaho Annual Meeting began with the President's Report covering the Board's activity over the last year, focusing on organizational, educational and advocacy efforts and highlighted by the chartering of NAMI Idaho under the NAMI Standards of Excellence. The full President's Report is available on the NAMI Idaho website at www.nami.org/sites/namiidaho.  The Treasurer delivered his annual report.

The amendments to the NAMI Idaho Bylaws that brought them into conformance with the Standards of Excellence were approved. The following Directors were elected to serve two-year terms expiring at the 2014 Annual Meeting:
Regional Directors - North:  Jane Pritchett (NAMI Latah) and Ann Wimberley (NAMI Far North)
Regional Directors - West:  Kathie Garrett (NAMI Boise) and Tom Hanson (NAMI Wood River Valley)
Regional Directors - East:  Mike Sandvig (NAMI Upper Valley) and Dawn Smith (NAMI Southeast  Idaho)
State At-Large Directors: Rick Huber (NAMI Southeast Idaho) and Doug McKnight (NAMI Far North).

Newly elected and retiring Board members are included at the September 15, 2012 NAMI Idaho Annual Meeting in Sandpoint. Back row: Jane Pritchett (NAMI Latah), John Tanner (NAMI Upper Valley), Wendy Norbom (NAMI Wood River Valley), RuthSpencer (NAMI Coeur d'Alene), Ruth McKnight (NAMI Far North), Kathie Garrett (NAMI Boise), Heather Taber (NAMI Coeur d'Alene).  Front row: Amika Dupree (NAMI Coeur d'Alene), Doug McKnight (NAMI Far North), Mike Sandvig (NAMI Upper Valley),  Tom Hanson (NAMI WoodRiver Valley), Dawn Smith (NAMI Southeast Idaho). Not pictured: Ann Wimberley (NAMI Far North), Kim Jardine-Dickerson (NAMI Southeast Idaho), Steve Proctor (NAMI Southeast Idaho) and Rick Huber (NAMI Southeast Idaho).

  
The Board thanked retiring Directors Steve Proctor and Heather Taber for their service.

The Board of Directors meeting began with the approval of the minutes of the August 27, 2012 meeting. As the first order of business the following officers were elected for a term of one year:
 President:  Doug McKnight;  Vice President: Tom Hanson; Treasurer: Michael Sandvig; Secretary: Wendy Norbom.

Board meetings and Regional Conferences were scheduled as follows:  January 21-22, 2013: Boise; April 2013: Pocatello; September 21, 2013: Coeur d'Alene. The Board will continue to meet on the last Wednesday of every month by conference calls except in December.

Reports were presented by Educational Programs Committee Chair Ruth McKnight and Public Policy Committee Chair Kathie Garrett. In her absence, the written report of Ann Wimberley, CIT Coordinator, was read by President Doug McKnight.

The Board discussed implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Idaho and the RFP issued by the Department of Health and Welfare soliciting bids for introducing Medicaid Managed Care for Behavioral Health.

October Meeting

On October 31, 2012 the NAMI Idaho Board of Directors met by conference telephone call, approving the minutes of the September 15 meeting and accepting the report of the Treasurer.

Kathie Garrett reported that the Behavioral Health Interagency Cooperative will report to the Governor in December and may not be continued thereafter. The 'pyramid' of mental health services articulated by Ross Edmunds has  been incorporated into a statute that is before the Governor for review. No decision has yet been made by the Governor regarding either a state health care exchange or expansion of Medicaid coverage to approximately 100,000 additional individuals as allowed under the Affordable Care Act.

Further Board discussion concerned the cost of new Idaho Medicaid staff needed to comply with Medicaid changes, the length of time it takes individuals seeking help for mental health issues to receive ongoing treatment, the RFP for Medicaid Managed Care for Behavioral Health, and the proposed use by the Department of Correction of funds previously appropriated for a secure mental health facility.

In anticipation of its Advocacy Day in Boise at the state legislature on January 22, 2013, the Board discussed the presentation of the following issues:
 1. Basic mental illness education for legislators;
 2. Additional CIT training for Department of Correction officers;
 3. Decriminalization of mental illness;
 4. Adequate funding to enable Medicaid to smoothly and safely transition individuals  living with mental illness from one provider to another under managed care, and to  collect and publicly disseminate outcome data;
 5. Evaluation and response to DHW legislation affecting delivery of behavioral health services.

The program materials for Family-to-Family are being revised and will be reissued in connection with the Train the Trainer programs to be held in Washington, DC on March 15-17, 2013.

Ann Wimberley reported that the Byrne/JAG grant for CIT training will end on March 31, 2013 and that all Regions have made their final requests for CIT funding under the grant. The Department of Correction is developing their own CIT training program. In Region 1, 911 dispatchers have been trained in CIT and the training they received, with some modifications, is anticipated to become part of the initial training for all dispatchers. 

November Meeting
The Board of Directors met by conference call on November 28, 2012. Minutes of the October 31, 2012 meeting were approved as amended. The Treasurer's report was read and approved later in the meeting.

The new curriculum materials for Family-to-Family have been reviewed by outside professionals and updated to current scientific information, language and terminology, and reflecting cultural competency and diversity. Distribution of this material will be delayed from mid-December to after March 15 to coincide with the Train the Trainer sessions, which will be held in the Washington, DC area. By September 2013, all F2F trainers and teachers will be expected to have been oriented to the new material and to teach from the new curriculum.
 
Amika Dupree has resigned from the Board and recommended an individual who appears willing to serve as a Director and to assist with coordination of the educational programs.

The Board established the date for the spring meeting and East Region Conference as April 27, 2013 in Pocatello. The Conference will be planned by Regional Directors Tanner, Smith, Sandvig and Jardine-Dickerson.

President Doug McKnight reported to the Board on a telephone conversation he and Ruth McKnight had with Ross Edmunds, Director of the Idaho DHW Behavioral Health Division.

Ann Wimberley reported that the Idaho CIT Work Group is working to ensure the appropriate use of the Byrne JAG grant throughout the Regions. All are either planning or executing 40 hour CIT academies, with purchasing and accounting assistance by NAMI Idaho.

The Regional Directors planning the January 21-22, 2013 West Region Conference and Advocacy Day reported that the event will be in the Harrison Plaza Suite Hotel with speakers on stigma-busting, IOOV, NAMI Smarts for Advocacy and others. Kathie Garrett will be asked to help create lists of legislators and agency heads to assist Directors in making appointments for their January 22 meetings.

President Doug McKnight suggested that the Board's standing committees be reviewed and some of them eliminated in favor of specific task assignments. He will send a proposal regarding committees to the Board and solicit further discussion.