NAMIWalks Kickoff Luncheon for Team Captains and Sponsors on August 7, 2013

Health Homes: The Treatment Approach for the Future  

The increasing cost of Medicaid at the Federal and State level has stimulated a number of service innovations designed to help control cost and improve treatment outcomes. One particular innovation is the Behavioral Health Home which is designed to engage persons with severe mental disabilities that are underserved by primary care and suffer from - or are at high risk of - chronic disease conditions (i.e. hypertension, diabetes, COPD, etc.). Therefore, the aim of the health home is to reduce the physical consequences and cost of care caused by unhealthy lifestyle choices and/or inadequate medical care.

The Ohio Behavioral Health Home initiative was designed by the Ohio Department of Mental Health in the spring of 2012 and piloted in five (5) locations, including one in Butler County, beginning in October, 2012. The primary purpose of the Ohio Behavioral Health Home is to connect persons with severe mental disabilities with primary care and then integrate all health care services, especially behavioral health. The research on this approach has repeatedly shown that the integration of treatment, especially with behavioral health treatment, improves the quality of all care and enhances treatment outcomes. The research on this approach has consistently documented improvement in both the quality of care and treatment outcomes.

Ohio's Behavioral Health Home services are provided by a team of professionals with various health care skills and team roles. The basic duties of each team are as follows.

1. Comprehensive Care Management:
2. Care Coordination:
3. Health Promotion:
4. Transition of Care:
5. Individual and Family Supports, and
6. Referrals to Community and Social Supports

National health data has for years revealed that the severely mentally ill have one the highest incidence rates for chronic disease conditions and one of the lowest rates for adequate medical services. Consequently, the Behavioral Health Home represents a very significant opportunity to positively impact both of those problems.       

Upcoming Education Meeting Speakers:

Join us for our free Education Meetings the third Thursday of the month at 7:00 PM.  Meetings are held at the Mental Health Board office located at 5963 Boymel Drive in Fairfield.  All are welcome! 

August 15th: Ryn Brown    

My Journey of Recovery  

Ryn Brown will present her personal journey of recovery, including her own struggles with bi-polar disorder, as well as the struggles her family has endured in supporting her through this illness. Ms. Brown, a US veteran, full time employee and intermittent college student, openly discusses her struggles with medication compliance, repeated hospitalizations, family involvement and other challenges she has faced on her journey. Her candid self disclosures are both heartwarming and inspiring, and her insight into her own family dynamics provides food for thought to any family member trying to understand and support a loved one with a mental illness.

September 19th:   Dr. Tracy McDonough, College of Mount St. Joseph

The Schizophrenia Oral History Project - Our Turn to Speak at Last: Stories of Living with Schizophrenia 

Cincinnati Children's Hospital: Saving Lives with the World's Largest Suicide Note Collection 

More than 1,300 suicide notes are at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, as a part of groundbreaking research by John Pestian and his team. They are developing a way to support professionals in their suicide assessment decisions. Currently in clinical settings, assessing a person's suicide risk is done by social workers, nurses, psychologists or doctors and their conclusions can be subjective because of differences in training and life experiences. Pestian is an expert in "teaching computers how to listen and report back what they think they've heard from people".

His first step was to collect data - notes written by people who died by suicide. Notes written from 1950 to present day by people in age from adolescents to senior citizens came from surviving family members across the country. 165 volunteers - people who had lost loved ones to suicide - were recruited to read the notes and select words and phrases that represent particular emotions: abuse, anger, blame, fear, guilt, hopelessness, sorrow, as well as positive emotions like forgiveness, happiness, love, and thankfulness.

The result was a database against which computers could compare the speech of people at risk of suicide. Pestian's team developed an algorithim to enable a computer to find patterns, derive meaning, and make predictions from people's speech. In a recent clinical trial at Children's, the team tested the algorithim by asking a series of questions to 30 young people with suicidal tendancies and 30 in a control group. The computer was 93% accurate in identifying those individuals with suicidal tendancies, while humans were rightly slightly more than 50% of the time with the same groups.

The next step is an experiment conducted at more sites. The final practical step would be the possible creation of a product that can be used in a clinical setting. However, even if and when that day comes, the program will support - not replace - a real person. When assisting patients, some subjectivity is absolutely necessary. In the end, Pestian says, "The clinician, the person at the bedside, makes the decisions."

Step Into the Light  

Denyce: Why do you volunteer with NAMI?

Leroy:   It was necessary to seek professional psychiatric help for a family member. As we sought this help, my spouse researched helpful resources and found the NAMI organization to assist us with education and support. We discovered the Family-to-Family class through the newsletters. I discovered a significant amount of vital information available through the class to improve my awareness. After being asked, we decided to train as teachers to become more involved and share knowledge and information with other families. I felt this was one of the best ways to become involved and help others.

It is important to have a common interest in an organization's core mission and goals, and I found that with NAMI. Non-profit organizations operate with lean budgets and small paid staffs, a predominate use of cash resources. Volunteers are extremely important to accomplishing their objectives.

Denyce: Are you willing to engage in other volunteer activities with NAMI?

Leroy: Sure, I have been involved with NAMIWalks and want to become more involved in contacting individuals, groups and maybe corporations to educate about NAMI, recruit for new Family-to-Family participants and encourage people and organizations to provide financial support to through memberships and donations.

Denyce: What impact do you think Family-to-Family has had on class participants?

Leroy: Participants have indicated: 1) the class provides an extraordinary amount of valuable information that individuals could never receive from one single source, including understanding various illnesses, treatments and a means of providing care to family members; 2) participation affords individuals a support group to assist them in dealing with situations; and 3) although there is no "silver bullet" cure, participation increases individual's confidence to assist family members in achieving a level of significant recovery.

Denyce: How has Family-to-Family influenced you personally?

Leroy: It helped me remove myself from the sidelines, as a mere observer, to "step into the light" and become actively involved in helping others through education, support and encouraging fundraising. Assisting others in understanding mental health issues, ways to remove the stigma and advocate for our family members and others is quite fulfilling.

Denyce: How would you encourage others to become involved as volunteers?

Leroy: Based on long-term research it appears 1 in 4 Americans deal with mental health issues personally or through involvement with a family member. (Remember there are approximately 310 million Americans.) There is a tremendous community need for education. A comparative low level of knowledge exists concerning the impact of mental illnesses, as well as limited exposure to the potential for available treatment and support. Our general population appears "stuck" in the perception that the root cause of mental illness is personality or character flaws, versus the true cause of biological disorder. Even though many live with mental illnesses, the conditions lack the attention, financial support, understanding and concern that we see with other illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease to name a few. Additional people and efforts are necessary to assist with communicating the facts, community education, advocacy and fundraising to continue the efforts of NAMI organizations.

Medicaid Expansion

Book Reviews

Forever Yours, Faithfully: My Love Story  

by Lorrie Morgan 

In this heartfelt memoir, country singer Lorrie Morgan recounts her life growing  up as the daughter of a famous country star. Lorrie knew all the ins and outs of Nashville at a young age and was working for a record label when she met bluegrass star Keith Whitley. The two fell in love and married and Keith pushed for Lorrie to get her own recording contract. Keith abused drugs and alcohol and died in 1989 at the age of 35 from alcohol poisoning. While the book never revealed that Keith was bipolar, he definitely suffered from mood swings and "dark moods" in particular. He tried going into treatment many times for alcoholism but was never able to stay sober. Lorrie's singing career was taking off just as she lost Keith. She was able to move on and remarry and still tours today.

My Rating:

Membership Update 

 We currently have 114 members as of June 24, 2013 and 805 people who receive our email communications. Remember, however, that your NAMI membership is a one-year membership, and therefore needs to be renewed each year. Please don't forget to renew your membership before it expires!  

If you would like to join NAMI Butler County, you will also receive our state newsletter and national magazine. You will also be telling our legislators that mental health is an important issue to you and your community. Founded in 1979, NAMI is the nation's voice on mental health disorders/mental illnesses. There are over 1,200 affiliates nationwide. Currently, less than one in 10 of our newsletter readers is a NAMI member. If you are a member, thank you!  If not, won't you join us today?

Sign Up or Renew Online click "add to cart" and pay with PayPal!

Annual Membership Dues:

Individual ............................................................$35.00

Additional Household Member..............................$10.00

Open Door (Consumers or Hardship cases)............$3.00