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QUARTERLY NEWS
In This Issue
Idaho Affiliates
Talking About Mental Illness
Contact Us
Invitation: West Region Conference
NAMI Idaho Board of Directors
Idaho CIT in Action
Mental Health Care Advocacy
2013 NAMI Idaho North Region Conference Report
Around our Affiliates
Support and Education
Idaho Affiliates
Contact  Information

NAMI Boise  

Harless McMikle, President 

 [email protected]

4696 Overland Rd., Ste. 272    

Boise, ID 83705                  

[email protected]

www.nami-boise.org  

208-376-4304

Educational Programs: F2F, FSG, Basics, Connection, P2P, IOOV

 

NAMI Coeur d'Alene  

Bonnie Wilson, President   

[email protected]

P.O. Box 2068               

Coeur d'Alene, ID 83816 

www.namicoeurdalene.org

Educational Programs: F2F, FSG, Basics, Connection, IOOV         

                      

NAMI Far North (Sandpoint)

Jan Burt, President  

[email protected]    

P.O. Box 2415 

Sandpoint, ID 83864  

www.nami.org/sites/namifarnorth

[email protected]  

208-597-2047

Educational Programs: F2F, FSG,

Basics, Connection, IOOV

 

NAMI Latah  (Moscow)

Jane Pritchett, President

[email protected]   

P.O. Box 8654 

Moscow, ID 8384 

208-882-7743

Educational Programs:  F2F, FSG 

    

NAMI Lewis/Clark Valley (Lewiston)

Barbara Kauffman, President

[email protected]

3336 16th St.

Lewiston, ID 83501

 

NAMI-Quad (Payette)

Lee Kroeker, President

[email protected]   

108 W. Park Ave.

New Plymouth, ID 83655

208-291-0322

(F2F: Jose Acosta: 301-751-5921)

 

NAMI Southeast Idaho (Pocatello)

Zina Magee, President

[email protected] 

P.O. Box 6066

Pocatello, ID 83205

208-232-5791

Educational Programs: F2F, FSG, IOOV

 

NAMI Upper Valley Idaho (Idaho Falls)

Jane Roberts, President

[email protected] 

P.O. Box 2452 

Idaho Falls, ID 83401

www.namiuv.com

[email protected] 

208-757-8300

Educational Programs: F2F, FSG,

Basics, Connection

 

NAMI Wood River Valley (Hailey)

Gail Miller Wray, President

[email protected]     

P.O. Box 95

Hailey, ID 83333 

[email protected]    

www.nami-wrv.org 

208-309-1987

Educational Programs: F2F, Basics, Connection, P2P, FSG, IOOV

 

TALKING ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS
  
"The facts are clear - six out of ten Americans living with serious mental illness have no access to mental health care at all.  Glaring gaps of treatment of this kind would not be tolerated for heart disease, cancer or diabetes and they should not be tolerated for mental illness either.  States that decline to expand Medicaid will miss as good an opportunity as they may ever have to address this shameful void in access to mental health treatment."

 

Medicaid Expansion & Mental Health Care, NAMI 2013.

 

 

 

Contact Us:
NAMI Idaho
P.O. Box 95
Hailey, ID 83333  
208-242-7430
Volume 2, Issue 4
                  December 2013 
From the President's Desk

                                                                        December 13, 2013 

Dear Members and Friends of NAMI Idaho: 

  
My experience of a loved one with mental illness began when my son became ill in 1999 during his 5th year of college. 
 
Formerly a member of the Idaho State Mental Health planning council, I am current vice chair of the Region V Behavioral Health Board which now joins the RAC Board monthly for meetings, and I am one of four co-chairs of the joint board.  I was vice chair of the Blaine County Hospital, and was involved in joining three hospitals to create the current St. Luke's hospital. I have been employed by the same company for 35 years, and have watched it grow from a staff of 15 to over 2200, with 32 offices.
 
We all know that mental health care change is under way in our country and state at many levels. Becoming educated in maintaining our own and our loved ones' mental health, being linked through NAMI affiliate and NAMI ID boards, we can make our voice heard in recommending changes that make a real difference. We can have the largest impact now as these changes happen, not when they get locked into place down the road.  Let's be more vigilant than ever of our loved ones' stress levels to avoid change-related crisis. 
 
Lastly, we should be thankful for all the good in the world, from the support of our state and local caregivers, and from those in our communities!  We celebrate the giving and gift of love for all mankind.  I wish you and all you touch the very best of Holidays and a positive approach to this coming New Year of 2014.  It will be good!
  

Sincerely,

Tom Hanson, President

NAMI Idaho

   West Region Conference
Winter 2014
NAMI Idaho
West Region Conference 
Monday
January 27, 2014
    

One of America's best-known advocates for better mental health care is coming to Idaho to raise awareness, provide education, create and channel energy, and promote improvements in our system of providing care and treatment for individuals living with mental illness

 

 

PETE EARLEY

 

Meet and Greet Pete
7 a.m. - Hall of Mirrors
(J. R. Williams Bldg.)
700 W. State Street, Boise, ID
  • Meet PETE EARLEY, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of 'Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness' and enjoy continental breakfast with him and the NAMI Idaho Board of Directors. 

This informal session will be followed by:

 

 NAMI Idaho

EDUCATION AND SUPPORT CONFERENCE

For all Members and Friends of NAMI

  • Learn more about Optum Idaho and the current state of Medicaid Managed Care; Dual Eligibility for Medicaid and Medicare; possible redesign of Medicaid Coverage; Idaho Lives Suicide Prevention, and new developments in the Behavioral Health environment in Idaho.  
CONFERENCE AGENDA
"An Update on Things That Matter"
8:15    Provider Perspective: Dr. Charles Novak/Dr. Roberto Negron
8:45    NAMI Idaho Advocacy in Action: Doug McKnight
9:00   Medicaid Redesign: Corey Surber  
9:30    Idaho Lives Project: Kim Kane
10:00 Update on Medicaid Managed Care: Optum Idaho
10:45  Break

11:00  Service Provision for Dual Eligibles: Jeanie Phillips

11:30   Behavioral Health Transformation/Behavioral              

               Health Community Crisis Centers: Ross Edmunds

  

RSVP [email protected] or 208-309-1987

by January 20, 2014.

 

***  

SPECIAL 

EVENING PRESENTATION

By PETE EARLEY

7 p.m.

LINCOLN AUDITORIUM

Idaho State Capitol Building

 

There is no cost to attend the conference or

Pete Earley presentation. 

 

NAMI Idaho 

Board of Directors

 

At the annual meeting of NAMI Idaho on September 21,1013 the following members were elected from the Board of Directors to serve as Officers for a term of one year.

 

Tom Hanson, President (NAMI Wood River Valley, Hailey) 


Mike Sandvig, Treasurer (NAMI Upper Valley, Idaho Falls)

Kathleen Mercer, Secretary (NAMI Boise, Boise)

 

Kim Jardine-Dickerson, Vice President (NAMI Southeast, Pocatello)

NAMI Idaho thanks Ruth Spencer, NAMI Coeur d'Alene and Wendy Norbom, NAMI Wood River Valley, whose terms as Director ended at this annual meeting, for their service to improve the lives of individuals and families living with mental illness in our state. Thanks also to Doug McKnight, retiring as President of NAMI Idaho after serving in that capacity for three years.

 

 

  cit logo  Idaho CIT in Action

Focus on Youth

Idaho Region VII is sponsoring a Youth Focused Crisis Intervention Team Academy in Idaho Falls Idaho on January 27 - 31, 2014 at Eastern Idaho Technical College (EITC).   This academy will primarily be designed to train police officers, first responders, mental health professional and others who have already been trained in the 40 hour, adult CIT model, and who have a role in CIT training in their departments. This training will use the new youth-focused curriculum and add tools and skills for CIT trained personnel and will cover information such as adolescent development principles, youth mental health symptoms and disorders, crisis de-escalation and interventions skills and communication techniques and local service and resources linkages for youth and families. There are role playing scenarios, voice simulation exercises, and other learning activties for participants. The training is provided at no cost for Law Enforcement.

 
CIT is a community collaboration model for law enforcement, mental health professionals and advocacy. Through community partnership and sustainability planning, CIT will continue to be an ongoing force in Southeastern Idaho.  As Major Sam Cochran states "CIT is more than training". 

 

Region VII CIT Awards Banquet 

The 5th Annual CIT Awards Banquet will be Tuesday January 28th starting with a social hour at the Hotel on the Falls, 475 River Parkway. Everyone is invited, tickets are $25.00. CIT Officers are free. Contact Kim Jardine-Dickerson at  208-589-767  or email  [email protected]    Registration can be made through Sgt. Alisa Prudent at Bonneville County Sheriff's Office, 605 N Capital, Idaho Falls, ID 83402 [email protected]  208-317-8455 

 

Kim Jardine-Dickerson

Vice President, NAMI Idaho

 

Region I CIT Academy No. 6

The sixth CIT Academy conducted by and for Region  I will be held in Sandpoint February 17 - 21, 2014. Registration is being handled by the Bonner County Sheriff's Office. To register, contact [email protected].

 

Ann Ferguson Wimberley, MD (retired)

NAMI Idaho CIT Coordinator

 

Mental Health Care Advocacy

In its role as advocate for Idaho individuals living with mental illness,the Board of Directors of NAMI Idaho has identified the following issues as matters of importance to be addressed with the Idaho legislature and behavioral health care agencies.

   

Issue #1.  MEDICAID REDESIGN
NAMI Idaho supports Medicaid Redesign to extend coverage to Idaho individuals earning below 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level that would be pad through federal matching funds. 

 
Idaho has only TWO options:
1.   Maintain the Medicaid status quo:

*Pay for the expected increase of 45,000 enrollees in 2014 with no additional federal support.


2.   Redesign Medicaid:  

*Create a Medicaid program (or a private insurance purchase program paid by Medicaid) based on participant personal responsibility and accountability, healthy behaviors, preventive care, and access to low cost primary and mental health care instead of emergency room treatment.
* Funding would be provided through 2016 with 100% federal matching funds, decreasing until the federal match reaches 90% for 2020 and subsequent years.
* Help hard-working, low-income Idaho citizens who cannot otherwise get health care coverage.
* Eliminate or significantly reduce the cost of maintaining State Catastrophic Health Care and County Indigent Programs.
* Expand the care for the mentally ill.

* Lower the tax burden on Idaho taxpayers

 
Issue #2.  BEHAVIORAL HEALTH TRANSFORMATION LEGISLATION 
NAMI Idaho supports the passage of this legislation.

 

This legislation seeks to improve the delivery of community behavioral health services in Idaho by:

1.   Combining mental health/substance use disorder regional behavioral health boards under the supervision of the department of health and welfare (DHW).  Authorizing these regional behavioral health boards to provide community recovery support services, requiring the DHW to be responsible for and provide oversight for the range and quality of services provided by the regional behavioral health boards.

2.   Defining the services to be provided for individuals living with mental illness and/or substance use disorders by the regional behavioral health centers operated by the Behavioral Health Division of DHW (BH). 

3.   Reconstituting the state planning council on mental health into a state behavioral health planning council that will advocate for individuals living with mental illness and/or substance use disorder.


Issue #3.  CREATION OF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH COMMUNITY CRISIS CENTERS

NAMI Idaho supports the passage of this administrative rule. 

 

The creation of behavioral health community crisis centers will provide a place for individuals with mental illness and/or substance abuse use disorders in crisis to receive evaluation, intervention, and referral in an outpatient facility operated by a hospital or mental health center rather than being directed to jails or juvenile detention facilities. 

 

Issue #4.  RESTORATION OF DENTAL CARE TO SERVICES COVERED BY MEDICAID

NAMI Idaho supports the restoration of Medicaid preventive dental services.

 

In 2011, Medicaid payment for preventive dental services to adults was eliminated because of budget cuts.  In 2012, these services were partially restored for a small subset of the most serusly disabled adults. Lack of preventive dental services results in predictable negative impacts over time with causal links between poor dental health and chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart and lung disease and stroke.

 

 
2013 North Region Conference

 

NAMI Idaho's 2013 North Region Conference and meeting of the Board of Directors was held at the Ameritel Inn in Coeur d'Alene on Saturday, September 21, 2013 with approximately 45 members and friends of NAMI in attendance for all or portions of the day. New officers were elected for the year ahead and reports were made by the Treasurer and retiring President Doug McKnight.

NAMI Idaho Board of Directors, Left to Right.
: Jane Pritchett, Kathleen Mercer, Catherine Perusse, Sean Rodgers, Mike Sandvig, Doug McKnight, Tom Hanson, Ruth McKnight, Kim Jardine-Dickerson, John Tanner, Kathie Garrett. Not pictured: Ann Wimberley, Shannon Rood, Rick Huber.

 

At the Threshold of improvement in Idaho's mental health care.

The theme of the Conference was 'At the Threshold' focusing on looking ahead to the continued roll-out of Medicaid Managed Care for Mental Health, the impact of the Affordable Care Act, implementation of a state-run health care insurance marketplace, and the possibility of redesign of the Medicaid system in Idaho. All Conference speakers addressed what was happening at the moment and what could be anticipated in the near future.

Retiring President Doug McKnight welcomes incoming Secretary Kathleen Mercer.

Conference special guest speakers were Rep.John Rusche, Nez Perce County, who discussed the state insurance exchange; Rebecca Divittorio, Director, Optum Idaho, addressing Optum's first weeks managing Medicaid mental health care in the state; and Mary Wolfinger, Kootenai County Mental Health Court Coordinator, who talked about the criteria for engagement in and the success of that problem-solving court. Board member Kathy Garrett also spoke on the subject of Medicaid Redesign.

 

Rebecca Divittorio, Executive Director, Optum Idaho.
Rep. John Rusche discusses the state-run health insurance marketplace with Tom Hanson, Kathie Garrett and John Tanner.
Conference attendees hear about possible Medicaid Redesign.

NAMI Idaho thanks retiring Board member Ruth Spencer for her assistance in planning for the very successful Conference.  

Around our Affiliates 

 

NAMI LATAH

Reducing anxiety about your adult children with mental illness may include

starting a Special Needs trust, which can be used for our loved ones when we are gone. Paul Clark, a Moscow lawyer who specializes in disability and senior law problems, gave a very helpful presentation complete with a question and answer session that Latah Alliance members really enjoyed.

    

In mid-November, Ryan Wagner, a  University of Idaho student who has had depression, spoke about a student group he founded called Beyond Blue, which he hopes to get in full swing in the spring semester to talk about eliminating stigma and helping students who have mental illness.

 

Alliance members are now planning to go to the Legislature in January for NAMI-Idaho's winter conference in Boise. Happy Holidays!

 

NAMI BOISE 

Thanks to all contributors and participants, the September 28, 2013 NAMI Boise NAMI Walk raised approximately $56,000 toward providing help and support to people living with mental llness and their family members. The team raising the largest amount of money was Region 4 Mental Health Stigma Stompers, followed closely by the team from Intermountain Hospital.

 

Under the leadership of newly-elected President Harless McMikle, NAMI Boise has moved to a new office in the same business complex. The move enables the affiliate to devote more resources to programs 

 

To increase the number of Connection Support Groups in the valley, NAMI Boise will host a Connection Facilitator Training class at the Riverside Hotel, 2900 Chinden Blvd, Boise on February 1-2, 2014. Leaders of other affiliates are invited to send qualified consumer members to this training.

 

At the same location and on the same dates, there will also be a training for In Our Own Voice (IOOV) presenters. For additional information about these training sessions, contact NAMI Boise at 208-376-4304, [email protected] or Harless McMikle at [email protected].

    

NAMI UPPER VALLEY

On January 27 - 31, 2014 Idaho Region VII is sponsoring a Youth Focused Crisis Intervention Team Academy in Idaho Falls at Eastern Idaho Technical College (EITC) designed to train police officers, first responders, mental health professionals and others who have already been trained in the 40-hour adult CIT model in the new youth-focused CIT curriculum. (For more information see "Idaho CIT in Action" above.)

 

The 5th Annual CIT Awards Banquet will be held Tuesday, January 28 at the Hotel on the Falls, 475 River Parkway, Idaho Falls.Tickets are $25.00. CIT Officers are free. Contact Kim Jardine-Dickerson, at 208-589-767  or [email protected]   Sgt. Alisa Prudent at Bonneville County Sheriff's Office, 605 N Capital, Idaho Falls, Id, 83402 [email protected] 208-317-8455.

   

SOUTHEAST IDAHO NAMI      
For the first time ever, NAMI Southeast Idaho, Pocatello, has been invited to participate in the Health Fair at Fort Hall, Idaho, home of the Shoshone-Bannock tribe. This event, staffed by NAMI Southeast Idaho volunteers, is scheduled for January 14, 2014.
  
The Board of Directors is planning to conduct Peer-to-Peer and Family-to-Family classes in Pocatello during 2014.

 

NAMI FAR NORTH 

NAMI Far North members are deeply involved in the planning of Region I CIT Academy #6 scheduled for February 17 -21, 2014 in Sandpoint. Traditionally, this affiliate does not hold regular meetings in the month of December.It is planning to begin its 2014 program year with a Regular Monthly Meeting and presentation on Spirituality and Mental Health by Dr. Carl Haugen on January 15, 2014.

 

NAMI Far North will sponsor Family-to-Family classes in Bonners Ferry beginning in February 2014. 

  
NAMI COEUR D'ALENE 

After the retirement of all four affiliate officers at the end of the year,

NAMI Coeur d'Alene is working hard in support of the local mental health

court program and in sustaining IOOV and Connection. The new officers are

Bonnie Wilson, President; Gene Salois, Vice President; Brad Ross,

Treasurer; and Anneke Connaway, Secretary. 

 

Support and Education
Family-to-Family in Bonners Ferry
For more information on Family-to-Family, contact Gini Woodward at 208-267-5638. 
Connection Facilitator Training
In Our Own Voice (IOOV) Presenter Training
For more information, contact NAMI Boise at 208-376 4304 or [email protected].
Interested in starting Peer-to-Peer?  
For more information, contact Ruth McKnight at 623-242-6105. 
MENTAL ILLNESS is TREATABLE. 
RECOVERY is POSSIBLE.
NEVER GIVE UP HOPE.

Join NAMI|Idaho
 B
ecome a member of NAMI, NAMI Idaho and your local affiliate 

  

                                 Name_________________________________________________    

 

                                 Address_______________________________________________

 

                                 City, State, Zip __________________________________________

 

                                 Phone ____________________________

 

                                 E-mail____________________________

 

 

My local NAMI Affiliate is____________________________________

 

Membership Type (Check One)

____ Individual/Family Membership ($35 Annual Dues.)

____ Open Door Membership ($3 Annual Dues.)

  (Full membership for individuals and/or families on limited income. )           

____ I want to make a tax-deductible donation to NAMI Idaho.

                                                    

 Optional Information:

I am:    ___An Individual Living with Mental Illness 

   ___A Family Member

   ___A Friend

   ___A Mental Health Professional

   ___Other ___________________

 

Print Application and mail with check payable to NAMI Idaho to:

NAMI Idaho * 4097 Bottle Bay Rd. * Sagle, ID 83860

or

Treasurer, NAMI Idaho * 1985 E. 25th Street * Idaho Falls, ID 83404

 

NAMI Idaho is a 501(c)(3) corporation