“I have bipolar disorder, and no, I’m not crazy.” June 2011 Journal Heidi Nordin, Minnesota Published in the May Women’s Day magazine [email protected] www.namigdm.org Box 12174, Des Moines 50312 (515) 277-0672 Several years ago, shortly after I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I was chatting at an Easter “Support, Education and Advocacy” celebration when a family member turned to me and Serving Polk, Dallas, Warren, and Madison counties said, ―You know, I don‘t think mental illness is real. I Mission statement don‘t know why you bother taking medication.‖ Empowering individuals, families and community by providing hope and education about brain disorders I was so dumbstruck that I just turned and walked away. I couldn‘t help but wonder if I had made a mistake in telling him in the first Join NAMI with a single click of your mouse! place. When I was first diagnosed in 2000, I didn‘t tell anyone for the Become a member at the local, state, and national level. first year because I was afraid they would think less of me. When I www.namigdm.org (click on white ―donate or join‖ box in lower finally told my family, they initially seemed to be receptive. right of the screen) - or - www.nami.org/JOIN For the most part, my condition is well controlled. But I have several Business Meeting episodes every year, and each one can last for months. (Medication Our next Business meeting will be at 3:30 does help, but I often have to change doses and switch to different P.M. on Thursday, June 9, at Westminster ones.) When I‘m severely depressed, I don‘t want to leave the Presbyterian Church, 4114 Allison Avenue, house. Reading or even getting out of bed seems like too much Des Moines. The church is located at the effort. When I‘m in a manic phase, I become very impulsive. Once I corner of Franklin and Beaver Avenue. We will be in the Seminary bought an $8,000 motorcycle that I didn‘t know how to ride. I‘ve Center which is the first room as you come into the building from since taken lessons and I love it, but that was a lot of money to spend without really thinking about it. the South Franklin Street entrance.

Letters to the Editor Given how I feel when I‘m experiencing an episode, I can‘t believe that some people don‘t accept that mental illness is real. Plus, You are welcome to send letters to the editor by mail or E-mail. research shows that chemical imbalances in the brain cause this If you receive our newsletter by e-mail and would rather receive it illness. It‘s not something you bring on yourself; why would anyone by snail mail – or vice versa – communicate your preference to: choose to live or feel this way? Teresa Bomhoff, Box 12174, Des Moines, Iowa 50312 or E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] Still, I‘m cautious about whom I confide in. Once when I was on the NAMI Greater Des Moines is the local affiliate 515-277-0672 way to a restaurant with a group of friends, we passed a homeless NAMI Iowa Office is the state affiliate 254-0417 or toll free 1-800- person. One of them said something like, ―Did you see that crazy 417-0417 www.namiiowa.org guy?‖ In my head, I was thinking about how that person probably NAMI National www.nami.org Help Line 1-800-950-6264 M-F 10-6 has a mental illness and needs help. But if I‘d said anything, they Each level of the organization is a separate 501(c) (3) probably would‘ve thought that there was something wrong with me too. July 2011 NAMI National Convention in Chicago! For similar reasons, I‘ve told very few coworkers about my condition. The 2011 Convention is scheduled for July Most of the time I can make it through the workday OK. If I‘m really 6-9 at the stunning Chicago Hilton Hotel— depressed I‘ll take a sick day, though once I missed a week of work located across the street from Grant Park on because I was hospitalized for suicidal thoughts. In the past I worried the city‘s Magnificent Mile. For more that I could lose my job if more people found out about my condition, convention information and to register, go to even though I know that‘s illegal. I also worried that colleagues www.nami.org/convention. would think I was less competent, but I realized I‘ve already proven

Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute on Mental myself. I‘ve been at my current job (in an IT department for a large company) for about five years, and I supervise 10 people. Health, will deliver a special address on new research underway at the nation's largest research institution devoted to mental Many people think that everyone with mental illness is flaky or weird, illness. but the truth is, in most respects I‘m just like everyone else. I‘ve

Jessie Close (Glen Close‘s sister) and her son Calen Pick will be worked since I was 18 years old, and I work really hard. I have a lot addressing the convention in the opening plenary session. of friends, and I love going to the movies, museums and Minnesota Twins games. Within a 10-minute walk of the Hilton there are many terrific attractions, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Field Since getting involved with the mental health organization NAMI in Museum, Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, Buckingham 2005, I‘ve been trying to be more open about my condition. I help out Fountain and more. Visit www.choosechicago.com for details. with NAMIWalks (a big annual fundraiser) and represent NAMI on the Minnesota Mental Health Advisory Council. But the scariest thing I‘ve ever done was give a talk at a NAMI event. I had never done www.namigdm.org 515-277-0672 [email protected] 1 Find help. Find hope.

public speaking before, and my hands were shaking as I stepped 23. Wear something that makes you feel good up to the podium. I looked at the crowd of about 250 people 24. Look through old pictures, scrapbooks and photo albums staring at me and I almost froze, but I took a deep breath and just 25. Make a list of your accomplishments dove into it. As I started speaking I felt myself relax a little, and 26. Spend ten minutes writing down everything good you can think when I finished, everyone applauded. I thought to myself, I could of about yourself get used to this. 27. Do something that makes you laugh  28. Do something special for someone else Bipolar disorder, also called manic depression, is a mental illness 29. Get some little things done in which people experience extreme highs (mania) and lows 30. Repeat positive affirmations (depression). It may be caused by a combination of brain 31. Focus on and appreciate what is happening right now chemistry, genetics and your environment (for example, it’s more 32. Take a warm bath common in people who’ve lost a parent at a young age). Finding 33. Listen to music, make music or sing the right treatment—usually a combination of medication and talk therapy—can be difficult, but it enables people with the disorder to Your list of tools could also include things you want to avoid like: lead productive lives. Well-known figures who have bipolar 1. alcohol, sugar and caffeine disorder include Catherine Zeta Jones, Robin Williams, Jane 2. going to bars Pauley, Richard Dreyfuss and Carrie Fisher. Learn more at 3. getting overtired NAMI.org, NIMH.NIH.gov and DBSAlliance.org. 4. certain people Refer to these lists as you develop your Wellness Recovery Action Developing a Wellness Toolbox Plan. Keep it in the front of your binder so you can use it whenever Mary Ellen Copeland, M.S., M.A. you feel you need to revise all or parts of your plan. The first step in developing your own Wellness Recovery Action Plan [WRAP] is to develop a If you want to learn more about developing a Wellness Recovery Wellness Toolbox. This is a listing of things you Action Plan (WRAP) – go to: have done in the past, or could do, to help yourself http://www.mentalhealthrecovery.com/aboutwrap.php stay well, and things you could do to help yourself feel better when you are not doing well. You will use these "tools" to develop your Suicide: Not a Good Idea own WRAP. Mary Ellen Copeland, M.S., M.A. 12-10-08 Insert several sheets of paper in the front of your binder. List on Experiencing psychiatric symptoms is horrible. these sheets the tools, strategies and skills you need to use on a Many people who try and live with these daily basis to keep yourself well, along with those you use symptoms every day sometimes feel so frequently or occasionally to help yourself feel better and to relieve discouraged they want to end their lives. Suicide troubling symptoms. Include things that you have done in the past, is never a good idea. Why not? things that you have heard of and thought you might like to try, 1. Psychiatric symptoms get better. Sometimes they get better even and things that have been recommended to you by health care if you don't do anything about them. But there are many things you providers and other supporters. You can get ideas on other tools can do to help relieve these symptoms. To feel a little better right from self-help books, including those by Mary Ellen Copeland. now, try the following:

The following list includes the tools that are most commonly used Tell someone how you feel--someone you like and trust. Talk to to stay well and help relieve symptoms: them until you feel better. Then listen to them while they tell you 1. Talk to a friend - many people find this to be really helpful what is going on in their life.

2. Talk to a health care professional Do something you really enjoy--something you love to do--like go 3. Peer counseling or exchange listening for a walk, read a good book, play with your pet, draw a picture or 4. Focusing exercises sing a song 5. Relaxation and stress reduction exercises 6. Guided imagery Get some exercise--any kind of movement will help you feel better. It doesn't have to be strenuous. 7. Journaling - writing in a notebook 8. Creative affirming activities Eat something healthy like a salad, some fruit, a tuna fish 9. Exercise sandwich or a baked potato.

10. Diet considerations Develop and use a symptom monitoring and response plan 11. Light through your eyes (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) to help yourself get well and stay 12. Extra rest well. 13. Take time off from home or work responsibilities 14. Hot packs or cold packs 2. When you feel better, you will have many wonderful experiences- 15. Take medications, vitamins, minerals, herbal supplements -warm spring days, snowy winter days, laughs with friends, playing 16. Attend a support group with children, good movies, tasty food, great music, seeing, hearing, 17. See your counselor feeling. You will miss all these things, and many more, if you are not alive. 18. Do something "normal" like washing your hair, shaving or going to work 3. Your family members and friends will be devastated if you end 19. Get a medication check your life. They will never get over it. They will think about it and miss 20. Get a second opinion you every day for the rest of their lives. If you have a box of family 21. Call a warm or hot line photographs, choose some photos of the people you love and 22. Surround yourself with people who are positive, affirming and display them around your house to remind yourself that you never loving want to hurt these people. www.namigdm.org 515-277-0672 [email protected] 2 Find help. Find hope.

lasted months. When they came, our split-level in Western New When symptoms are very severe, you may have a hard time York seemed to mirror her inner gloom. making good decisions for yourself. To make it difficult to make a bad decision, like ending your life, make suicide hard for yourself by It would reek of unemptied trash and overflowing ashtrays, of sour taking these preventive actions. dishwater and unwashed skin. Thick living room drapes were coated with dust, never parted to let sunshine in.  Get rid of all the old pills and any firearms you might have around your house. Often, the only light was from a TV screen. Bluish rays would flicker over Mom's crumpled form on the couch, day and night, in the same  Give away your car keys, credit cards and check books when clothes she'd worn for weeks. you start to feel experience symptoms--before they get worse. If someone knocked on the door, we kids knew to shut up, freeze  There are good people who can help you through these hard and pretend no one was home.

times. It may be your family members or friends. Set up a Unannounced visitors were forbidden. Mom was afraid of strangers system with them so they will stay with you around the clock and, I now suspect, of anyone learning her children were virtually when your symptoms are severe. If you don't have family raising themselves. members or friends who could do this, call your local mental health emergency services and ask them what to do. Sometimes there wasn't much food in the house. By age 6 or 7, I'd figured out how to forage in the back of the freezer and kitchen Mom's dark spells left kids in house of chaos cupboards, concocting dinners for my brother and me out of stale Carol Ann Alaimo | Arizona Daily Star | April 17, 2011 egg noodles or freezer-burned pot pies. We learned to run the Now that my mother is dead, our relationship is washing machine, to get to the school bus on our own. the best it's ever been. A woman in despair could hardly be expected to make rational While she was alive, neither one knew what to choices in romance. Mom married three times to men with mental do about the wall between us that existed as far problems of their own. back as I remember. Our birth father, who had bipolar disorder, left us when I was 2, not Mom spent most of her life behind a mask, long after my brother was born. trying to pretend she wasn't mentally ill. And I spent most of mine judging her harshly for things I did not understand. Our next dad had a cruel streak. He once burned my brother's hands with a cigarette lighter - ostensibly to teach a lesson after the In mid-20th century America - and often still, today - families didn't boy, then 5, was caught playing with matches. talk openly of loved ones having schizophrenia, or bipolar illness, or I still can see my brother, hair shorn in a summer buzz cut, forced to major depression, conditions so common that experts say they stand with arms outstretched like Christ on the cross. Our stepdad strike one in 17 adults. flicked open a silver Zippo, the faint scent of lighter fluid wafting as Mental illness was considered a curse, a disgrace, a black mark on flint struck metal. the clan. Elders made excuses - "She's just high-strung" - or looked A blue flame popped up. It was tipped with yellow, and my brother the other way. shrieked as it singed his skin. My mother looked on from a doorway, Children, in particular, were kept in the dark. hands at her mouth.

I screamed at her to make it stop. She did nothing. The silence left me and my only sibling - a brother who later would take his life - to grow up in chaos without knowing why, assuming, When it was over, we were sent to our rooms, where we wailed for the way kids do, that we were somehow to blame. what seemed like hours, then fell asleep, exhausted.

I've had decades to consider what might have been different had We figured then that no one was going to protect us. Who could we my mother's illness not been cloaked in secrecy and shame. ask for help - a teacher? Our mother was a teacher.

MOTHERLY ADVICE Our next stepdad, an alcoholic, would punch my brother and once When Mom was doing well, she could be comical: A spirited blonde chased mom around the house with a cleaver, holding it to her who sang and played piano, she had a laugh so loud it announced throat in a drunken melee. her presence in any room. No matter what horrors had unfolded the night before, the next day Sometimes she'd try to offer motherly advice, though often it was off everyone went about their business pretending things were fine. the wall, colored by a suspicion of others that sprang from By my teens, I was angry. And mouthy. schizophrenia. "What's WRONG with you?! You're not normal!" I would yell at my "Don't smile so much - people will think you're retarded," she'd mother. counsel me. "You're crazy," was her standard reply. She'd insist that she was Mom had a master's degree in education. She worked on and off as fine. Other people were the problem. a teacher for years - until she was caught drinking on the job. She'd load up her purse with vodka - "it doesn't smell on your breath" - My brother and I emerged from childhood with post-traumatic stress hiding it in empty brown cough syrup bottles she'd swig from in the disorder, our nervous systems overwhelmed by exposure to darkness of her classroom coat closet. wrenching events.

"My nerves are bad," she said one morning as I watched her fill the I escaped by marrying the first man who asked me and moving to bottles on the kitchen counter. another country.

DARK SPELLS He escaped into a world of drug abuse. Her dark spells - Mom also suffered from major depression - often www.namigdm.org 515-277-0672 [email protected] 3 Find help. Find hope.

DOCTORS, PILLS With her passing, painful memories came flooding back to my I don't mean to make it sound like my mom was a monster. At brother and me. times, when the fog in her brain would clear, I'd get a glimpse of the His addictions escalated, landing him in jail. He did stints in rehab, kind of parent I now believe she wanted to be, had it been within but killed himself a few years later. her power. By grace, good luck or whatever one calls it, I was able to recover. Once a year or so, she would hire a cleaning crew and throw a party, inviting relatives who'd exclaim what a great job she was It took years of therapy, and rivers of tears, to untangle the web that doing with her kids. stigma wove. I became a mom myself - a pretty good one, my now- grown kids say - and a doting grandma. In later years, her illness seemed to go into remission now and then. During these times, she took great interest in my children, By some miracle, I now find myself at the center of the loving family who have fond memories of her. I'd always craved. It is this, more than anything, that has given me compassion for my mom. It's not like my mother never tried to get help, I now realize. I dimly recall her spending long periods in hospitals, while my brother and I She missed out on this joy of deep connection. I put myself in her lived with relatives. shoes and wonder: What would it be like to have kids you couldn't nurture? To have a chemical imbalance in your brain and be made At times, she seemed to have lots of doctors' appointments. A to feel ashamed of it? kitchen shelf became crowded with bottles of pills with strange- sounding names: Haldol, Thorazine, Prolixin, which I now know There's a lot that we, as a community, can't do about mental illness. were antipsychotics. We can't cure it, and we can't ever seem to find enough money to treat all those who need it. The medicines may have quieted her mind, but they did awful things to her body. But we can talk about it.

Sometimes she'd sit for hours with her mouth agape, as if Talking gives others permission to talk, too. persistently astonished. Sometimes she seemed near-paralyzed, And eventually, we start to unshackle one another. only able to walk by shuffling her feet in baby steps.

Medical knowledge of mental illness was in its infancy in the 1960s From Schizophrenia to Recovery and 70s. Unlike today, doctors often couldn't do much to help. and Working in the Mental Health Field By Randy Sturdevant, NAMI Faithnet newsletter Mom, I now suspect, would stop taking her medications when the I first remember the gradual decent into insanity side effects became too much to bear. starting when I was 13. I began to withdraw in my

I used to worry a lot about becoming mentally ill myself. Not once, room and play video games for hours on end. I played but twice - just to be sure - I took myself to psychiatrists who them so much I needed glasses after not too long declared me sane. from staring at the computer screen. I became depressed and socially withdrawn more and more as Somehow, I escaped my mother's fate. the years passed. I kept my grades high through high NEARING THE END school until the 11th grade. Before then I was even in advanced When the end came for Mom, it was like, well … something you classes and on the honor roll. might read about in a newspaper. Then in 11th grade, the social withdrawal and anxiety got so severe A county health department condemned her home, which was that I skipped school and started failing classes. The school overrun with animal excrement from pets she'd stopped caring for. counselor started seeing me. They couldn't quite pin down what was happening. I think they thought I was just being a typical teenage The squalor came to light when Mom had a car accident, and rebel. However, the truth was that I was descending into insanity. paramedics found she had a fever of 104 degrees. Hospital tests revealed a massive e-coli infection, a likely consequence of the filth I had started smoking marijuana around the age of 17. I smoked in which she'd been living. marijuana only 10 times, but when I did smoke, I became very paranoid, which I believe triggered something. My faith was also During treatment, she had to go off all psychiatric medications. Only suffering. I was raised in a Christian home, but my life didn't reflect it then did I see what schizophrenia looked like in the raw. and I hadn't yet accepted Christ. I then tried Buddhism and In terrified whispers, Mom told me how "rape squads" were meditation. Meditation became an obsession, and for hours on end, I attacking her in the hospital at night, how the rapists had infiltrated would meditate in my little world. the ward by posing as physicians wearing white coats. Eventually, I started having delusions of grandeur and started "There's one of them!" she hissed as a doctor walked by. thinking the clouds in the air were signs of God talking to me. I began seeing distorted faces that looked sinister and evil. I started She hunched in a ball, like an armadillo trying to ward off a hearing weird, mumbled angry voices. People had fangs and hollow predator. Her hair was stringy, her eyes wild. black eyes. I wouldn't eat or drink and I stopped sleeping. Then, I It didn't matter how many times I tried to explain that her mind was tried to run away from home and my parents called 911. playing tricks on her. To her, the danger was real. I was shortly after brought to a mental health crisis unit in "Please! Pleeeeease!" she begged, clinging to me when visiting Binghamton, N.Y., (CPEP) and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. I hours ended. "They're coming! Don't leave me!" was hospitalized a total of seven times. I would become euphoric She died a few months later, on April Fool‘s Day 2000. and manic, then suicidal and depressed. At one point I almost tried to kill myself to end the suffering, but by God's grace I didn't. MEMORIES, TEARS www.namigdm.org 515-277-0672 [email protected] 4 Find help. Find hope.

They tried over 20 different meds over the course of the seven when grouped as a circuit. When compared to healthy neurons, years, and I would seem to get all the rare side effects. Among the neurons generated from patients with schizophrenia made them, I developed a brain tumor on my pituitary gland and I fewer connections with each other. "In the circuit level, when we developed tardive dyskinesia, twitches and dystonic muscle look at a massive number of neurons, then the neuronal problems. My cognitive function was impaired greatly and I gained connectivity is indeed decreased," he said. 30 pounds in one month. An estimated one percent of the world‘s population suffers from I did not give up and eventually began to find recovery. After six schizophrenia, the most persistently debilitating of the major years of that hell I managed to find the right medicine, by the mental health conditions. There are anti-psychotic medications to grace of God. With the new medication, I was able to find relief treat the condition, but they are frequently ineffective. with a low dose, which helped eliminate the side effects. This Chen says the Salk investigators tried a number of anti-psychotic benefited my memory and I improved drastically. I became stable compounds and found that one of the drugs improved the in my recovery and am now an editor of a journal at a mental connectivity and communication among brain cells derived from health club. the patients with schizophrenia.

Now, I am doing wonderful and plan on working in the mental Chen believes that using living cells to learn more about the health field. I plan, down the road, to pursue my doctorate or biological mechanisms of diseases like schizophrenia will help masters in psychology or psychiatry. I feel I have the experience researchers develop better treatments. "We think understanding and in-depth knowledge to greatly help other people who live with that it maybe is not (an) individual neuronal problem but rather a mental illness. circuit level problem will help us to thinking about what kinds of strategy to take to combat this kind of disease," he said. I want to help people just as much as God helped me in my time of trouble (which is a lot). My faith in Christ got me through those Researchers say the method of growing neurons in a dish will aid suicidal years and kept me alive to where I am today. It wouldn't in the study of other mental and developmental conditions, be right to not thank Him personally for my recovery. I want to help including autism and a type of chronic depression called bipolar people and comfort those in need and give back to the community. disorder.

I would like to say to anyone struggling that there is hope. You can Chen says his group‘s groundbreaking work with recreated get better. Dare to dream big because you can recover and neurons is an example of personalized medicine in which doctors accomplish them. Just never give up. May God bless you all. will someday be able to prescribe effective treatments based on Randy Sturdevant is 24 years old and was diagnosed with their patients‘ unique biological make-up. schizophrenia at age 18. An article describing the creation of brain cells to better understand

schizophrenia is published in the journal Nature. Stem Cells of Persons with Schizophrenia Could Shed Light on Causes of Mental Illness A Necessary Piece of the Puzzle Voice of America 4-13-11 SAMHSA Scientists say a new method for recreating the Social inclusion occurs when individuals and entire brain cells of patients with schizophrenia could communities of people have access to rights, shed new light on the cause of the disabling opportunities, and resources that are usually available to mental disorder, which is marked by paranoid members of American society. People with mental health and delusions and auditory hallucinations. substance use problems are more likely to fully recover and rebuild

Schizophrenia‘s cause remains a mystery, and researchers their lives when they have access not only to care and services, but hoping to gain a better understanding of the disorder have used also to social, economic, educational, recreational, and cultural genetic technology to recreate a schizophrenic patient‘s own opportunities that most citizens take for granted. A socially inclusive brain cells, or neurons. society also provides opportunities for individuals in recovery to contribute to their communities as peers, employees, parents, Gong Chen, a neurobiologist in the Department of Biology at residents, students, volunteers, teachers, and active citizens. Pennsylvania State University, worked with researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, to Statistics from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America create the cells. Healthy Place newsletter

Chen says scientists used molecular biology techniques to  Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., reprogram the skin cells of patients with schizophrenia to affecting 18% of U.S. population (40 million adults in the United become stem cells. These unspecialized master cells can be States age 18 and older). coaxed with growth factors and other chemicals to become any  Anxiety disorders affect one in eight children. Research shows type of cell in the body. that untreated children with anxiety disorders are at higher risk to perform poorly in school, miss out on important social Researchers then cultured the stem cells in a petri dish to experiences, and engage in substance abuse. become neurons. These brain cells from patients with  Generalized Anxiety Disorder affects 3.1% of the U.S. population schizophrenia were then compared to brain cells derived from (6.8 million adults). 2 X more women affected as men. the skin cells of healthy volunteers.  Panic Disorder, which has a high co-morbidity with major Chen used electrophysiology techniques to test the function of depression: 2.7% (6 million). the stem cell-derived neurons.  PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) - 3.5% of the U.S. Chen says that at the individual neuron level, there was little population (7.7 million). Rape is the most likely trigger for PTSD apparent difference between the two groups of brain cells. But and child sexual abuse is a strong predictor for developing PTSD. researchers discovered a distinct difference in how they behaved www.namigdm.org 515-277-0672 [email protected] 5 Find help. Find hope.

 People with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY, JUNE 22 AND 23: likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be GROUP CRISIS STABILIZATION AND INTERVENTION hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than those who do not Location: Holiday Inn Downtown at Mercy Campus suffer from anxiety disorders. 9:00 to 4:30, lunch included 14.0 CEU - No cost What Causes Anxiety Disorders to Develop? Questions? Please register by email to Karen Hyatt at Heredity, brain chemistry, personality and life experiences play [email protected] or fax to 515-242-6036 roles in the development of an anxiety disorder. Name: Agency: Researchers and scientists are learning more about the biological, Email: Name of training: psychological, and social factors that influence the development of an anxiety disorder thanks to new technologies. With a better NAMI and the Pulitzer Prize understanding of underlying causes, better treatment and even NAMI Advocate prevention measures will be possible. One of this year's honorees is Clifford Levy

The following are all believed to play a role in the occurrence of of the New York Times for International anxiety disorders: Reporting on Russia's justice system. What's the connection to NAMI and mental illness? In 2003, Levy also won the Pulitzer Prize  heredity for Investigative Reporting in a series on the abuse of people living  brain chemistry with mental illness in "adult homes." In fact, NAMI helped spark the  personality investigation.  life experiences Heredity and anxiety disorders: Go to http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2003-Investigative-Reporting There is clear evidence that anxiety disorders run in families. to read more.

Studies show that if one identical twin has an anxiety disorder, the NAMI had previously honored Levy in 2001 with an award for his second twin is more likely to have an anxiety disorder than non- accurate, balanced and compassionate reporting. That same year, identical (fraternal) twins. No Iframes These findings suggest that a NAMI honored Alex Raksin of the Los Angeles Times with an award genetic factor, possibly activated in combination with life for editorial writing. In 2002, Raksin, like Levy a year later, won the experiences, predisposes some people to these disorders. Pulitzer Prize. Brain chemistry and anxiety disorders: Because symptoms of anxiety disorders are often relieved by Go to http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2002-Editorial-Writing to read medications that alter levels of chemicals in the brain, scientists more. believe that brain chemistry appears to play a role in the onset of The winner of this year's Pulitzer Prize in Fiction is Jennifer Egan for anxiety disorders. the novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, "an inventive investigation of Personality and anxiety disorders: growing up and growing old in the digital age, displaying a big- Researchers believe that personality may play a role in the hearted curiosity about cultural change at warp speed." development of an anxiety disorder, noting that people who have low self-esteem and poor coping skills may be more prone. HBO also has announced that it has purchased the rights to turn the Conversely, an anxiety disorder that begins in childhood may itself book into a TV series. What's Egan's NAMI connection? contribute to the development of low self-esteem. In 2008, she published a non-fiction cover story in The New York Life experiences and anxiety disorders: Times Magazine, "The Bipolar Puzzle," which NAMI honored at its Researchers believe that the relationship between anxiety 2009 national convention. She received a standing ovation. disorders and long-term exposure to abuse, violence, or poverty is an important area for further study, as life experiences may affect Go to http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/magazine/14bipolar-t.html an individual's susceptibility to these disorders. to read more. Sometimes anxiety may be caused by using street drugs like amphetamines, LSD or Ecstasy. Even the caffeine in coffee can be Army Gen. Carter Ham, commander of Libya operations, sought enough to make some of us feel uncomfortably anxious! help for posttraumatic stress syndrome By Richard Sisk, Daily News Washington Bureau 3-21-11 Disaster Behavioral Health Trainings in June Friday, June 10 – Solution Focused Techniques Army Gen. Carter Ham, the plain-spoken Location: Des Moines, facility pending commander of U.S. and allied operations 9:00 to 4:30, lunch included against Libya, battled past his own 6.0 CEU - No Cost personal demons to take on one of toughest jobs in the military. MONDAY, JUNE 20 - PSYCHOLOGICAL FIRST AID LOCATION: Holiday Inn Downtown at Mercy Ham in 2005 became the highest-ranking Campus - 9:00 to 4:30, lunch included U.S. officer to admit seeking help for 6.0 CEU - No cost posttraumatic stress syndrome - setting an example for troops who often deny a problem. TUESDAY, JUNE 21: DISASTER BEHAVIORAL HEALTH RESPONSE TRAINING (DBHRT) Seeking help from a chaplain or mental health professional is viewed (Mandatory training to join the Disaster Behavioral Health by many in the military as a career-ender. But Ham, who was a one- Response Team) star general at the time, went on to a series of promotions and a four-star rank. Location: Holiday Inn Downtown at Mercy Campus 9:00 to 4:30, lunch included 6.0 CEU - No cost

www.namigdm.org 515-277-0672 [email protected] 6 Find help. Find hope.

"Frankly, it's a little weird to me that people are making a big deal background sounds that arise from moment to moment, observing about it," Ham told the Stars and Stripes military newspaper in them without analyzing them or making judgments about what‘s 2005. going on around you. If you drift into thoughts about the past or concerns about the future, you bring your attention back to the "Like lots of soldiers I needed a little help, and I got a little help." present, for example, by refocusing on your breathing. It takes Ham said he first realized that he was in trouble after coming practice. home from a tour in Iraq. A new study, published in the May 2011 issue of Neuroimage, "The dog comes bounding out of the house and leaps up on me, suggests that one effect of all this focusing and refocusing is and I start bawling like a baby," Ham said. increased brain connectivity. Researchers at the University of

Ham, 59, of Portland, Ore., has never shied away from tough California-Los Angeles compared the brain activity of volunteers who assignments. had finished eight weeks of mindfulness-based stress reduction training with that of volunteers who did not do such training. As head of the U.S. African Command, Ham is now responsible Functional MRI scans showed stronger connections in several for U.S. military operations in Libya and much of the rest of the regions of the meditators‘ brains—especially those associated with continent. attention and auditory and visual processing. Unfortunately, the

SPRC and AFSP are pleased to announce the release of the study didn‘t scan the volunteers‘ brains before mindfulness training, online resource After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools so no one can say for sure that mindfulness training was responsible for the differences. Available at At Massachusetts General Hospital, researchers used MRI scans to http://www.sprc.org/AfteraSuicideforSchools.asp document before and after changes in the brain‘s gray matter—the or www.afsp.org/schools). ―processing‖ neurons—associated with mindfulness meditation. The Developed by a team of national experts, including density of gray matter increased in regions governing such distinctly clinicians and crisis response professionals, this different activities as memory, self-awareness, and compassion, and toolkit draws on scientific research and best practices to guide decreased in the amygdala—the part of the brain associated with schools which have recently experienced a suicide. fear and stress.

Topics covered include the initial crisis response; helping students For Mindfulness Meditation classes in the Des Moines area, contact cope; working with the community; memorialization and contagion; Glenn Hobin at Eyerly-Ball Community Mental Health Center 243- and social media. The document also outlines the following 5181 guiding principles: To read more about the study in Neuroimage – go to  Schools should strive to treat all student deaths in the same way http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=21334442  Schools should follow safe messaging guidelines to avoid the risk of suicide contagion Basketball Star to Receive Award for  Schools should emphasize that the student who died by suicide Mental Health Work was likely struggling with a mental disorder that can cause Los Angeles Lakers star Ron Artest will receive an award psychological pain that may not have been apparent to others for his work to promote mental health awareness. Artest  Schools should emphasize that help is available for any student was selected for the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. who may be struggling with mental health issues or suicidal Presented annually by the Professional Basketball Writers feelings Association, it honors a player or coach for outstanding service We hope that those of you who work with schools will find this a and dedication to the community. Artest has appeared before helpful tool in supporting schools where a suicide has occurred. Congress to support the Mental Health in Schools Act and raffled off Many of the principles and science discussed are also applicable his 2010 NBA championship ring, raising more than $650,000 for to responses in other settings, so we encourage you to take a look mental health programs. (Sports Illustrated, 4/27/11) even if you do not work with schools. Do Antipsychotic Drugs Change Brain Structure? Mindfulness Meditation Improves Connections Treatment Advocacy Center in the Brain SUMMARY: Changes in brain structure are caused Carolyn Schatz, Editor, Harvard Women’s Health Watch 4-8-11 both by the disease process of schizophrenia and When I‘m stressed, I listen to a 20-minute bipolar disorder and by the antipsychotic drugs used mindfulness meditation tape. It always helps me feel calmer and to treat these diseases. Different antipsychotic drugs more relaxed. Many meditative practices can do this. But may have different effects. It is important to study the brain changes mindfulness meditation is getting a lot of attention because it caused by antipsychotic drugs, since this may tell us how these seems to help with so many physical and psychological drugs work and/or predict which individuals are more likely to problems—like high blood pressure, chronic pain, psoriasis, sleep experience side effects. The changes caused by antipsychotic drugs trouble, anxiety, and depression. It‘s also been shown to boost used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are similar in kind to immune function and stop binge eating. No one knows for sure structural brain changes caused by drugs used to treat Parkinson‘s what‘s behind these benefits, but physical changes in the brain disease, epilepsy, and other brain diseases. It is incorrect to probably play a role. characterize these brain changes as an indication that these drugs are dangerous or should not be used. Mindfulness meditation is a mental discipline. You start by focusing your attention on your breath, a sensation in the body, or To read the full report, go to: a chosen word or phrase. You note the thoughts, emotions, and http://treatmentadvocacycenter.org/resources/about-mental- illnesses/schizophrenia/1378 www.namigdm.org 515-277-0672 [email protected] 7 Find help. Find hope.

NAMI Information

How can you help NAMI Greater Des Moines? Please send a big THANK YOU to Mara Swanson and the students at Ruby Van Meter School for their assistance in Tax Deductible Donations Your help will enable us to On-line at www.namigdm.org assembling our monthly newsletter continue: Or send a check payable to: Monthly newsletter NAMI Greater Des Moines Website Please send a big THANK YOU to Cindy Gross and Jim Vandeberg, Treasurer Family member support groups Plaza Printers for their assistance in printing our Peer support groups 4114 Allison Avenue NAMI Family to Family education newsletter - 6762 Douglas Avenue, Urbandale, Iowa 50322 Des Moines, Iowa 50310 278-4695 www.plazaprinters.net NAMI Peer to Peer education NAMI Provider education Become a member NAMI GDM Partners in Recovery Would you like to be a teacher for any of the NAMI programs On-line at www.nami.org Mental Health First Aid listed? Family to Family, Basics, Peer to Peer, or dues of $35 NAMI Hearts and Minds Provider education? Contact or $5 (limited income) Presentations to the community [email protected] or call 254-0417 Or send a check payable to: Advocacy NAMI Walks NAMI Greater Des Moines Family to Family – a free Jim Vandeberg, Treasurer Conference exhibits Your help will enable us to 12 week class for family 4114 Allison Avenue members of adults with Des Moines, Iowa 50310 expand to: Hearing Voices experience mental illness. To sign up for fall classes, contact Provider In-service education [email protected] or call 274-6876. Volunteer Become a teacher Parents and Teachers as Allies Curriculum: Brain biology, schizophrenia, major depression, NAMI Basics Serve on a committee or project NAMI De Familia a Familia mania and schizoaffective disorder, mood disorders, borderline Be a support group facilitator In Our Own Voice personality disorder, anxiety disorders, dual diagnosis, basics about Adequate office space the brain, problem solving skills, medication review, empathy and

understanding, communication skills, self-care, recovery, and NAMI Greater Des Moines Board of Directors advocacy

Effective January 1, 2011 Nationally, the Family to Family program has had 250,000

graduates. There have been over 7000 volunteer teachers. Course President Jim Goodrich 288-1149 material has been translated into Spanish, Italian, Vietnamese, and E-mail: [email protected] Arabic. Vice-President and Editor of Newsletter Teresa Bomhoff 274-6876 E-mail: [email protected] Peer to Peer – a free 10 Treasurer – Jim Vandeberg 360-1529 week course for persons E-mail: [email protected] stable and working towards recovery. Topics addressed are relapse prevention, brain biology Secretary – Cece Arnold 276-7871 and research, education on different psychiatric disorders, E-mail: [email protected] storytelling, advance directive for mental health care decision Board members making, stages of recovery and mindfulness, along with stigma, Grace Sivadge [email protected] 961-6671 empowerment, and advocacy. Contact: Dawn Olson 515-254-0417 Kay Kopatich [email protected] 252-0714 or 800-417-0417 [email protected] Sharon Johnson [email protected] 277-7811 Colleen MacRae [email protected] 201-5084 Mental Health First Aid Mary Kelley [email protected] 981-6702

Chris Gammell [email protected] 991-2787 NAMI Greater Des Moines is now offering the 12 hour

Mental Health First Aid Training Course. This education

class can be given to any interested group in the NAMI Greater Des Moines has been community. The time period over which the 12 hours of accepted to the Donor Directed training is given can be negotiated. Cost is estimated to Contribution Program with the be $25 per person. Minimum class size is 10 with a maximum of 20 United Way of Central Iowa. to 25. Please contact Cece at 276-7871 or [email protected] www.unitedwaydm.org. United Way's pledge form provides the or Teresa at 274-6876 or [email protected] option for individual donors to direct part or all of their pledge to a Parents and Teachers as Allies – a 2 ½ hour in-service for specific health and human services agency or agencies. In the teachers and parents - The original team has disbanded. event an individual's employer does not use United Way's pledge If you would like to lead or be part of this team, please form, a separate Donor-Directed Contribution Form is available contact [email protected] upon request from United Way. Only personal contributions from individual donors may be directed. Would you like to become a support group facilitator for a For more information on donating to NAMI Greater Des Moines NAMI Connections support group through the Donor Directed Contribution Program – contact the (for persons in recovery)? Contact the NAMI Iowa 254-0417 or 1- Pledge Services Manager at 515-246-6511. 800-417-0417 or send an e-mail [email protected]

www.namigdm.org 515-277-0672 [email protected] 8 Find help. Find hope.

Information and Resources

Now Available!! Hearing Voices That Are Distressing: A SUPPORT GROUPS for Family Members Training and Simulation Experience Third Sunday of the month - Family members, if you are interested Hearing Voices is an immersion learning experience which allows in participating in a NAMI family support group, please contact Glenn participants to have a glimpse into the lived experience of trying to Hobin [email protected] or call 965-9799 - or contact Grace function and perform tasks while hearing voices that are distress- Sivadge [email protected] 961-6671. Meetings are at Eyerly- ing to many people. The learning goals of the training include: Ball Community Mental Health Center, 1301 Center St., Des Moines  Understanding the day-to-day challenges that face people with – 2:30 – 4:00 P.M. psychiatric disabilities 4th Monday of each month – 5:30 – 7 PM – a support group for  Learning about the subjective experience of hearing voices that Polk County parents and caregivers of children and adolescents with are distressing, and severe emotional disturbance (SED) or mental illness – a sibling  Becoming more empathic toward people who hear distressing support group meets separately - at Capitol Hill Lutheran Church, voices. 511 Des Moines St., in the basement – child care provided, can also The ideal length of the training is 3 hours but can be abbreviated provide free transportation and interpretation services – pre-register, to a shorter time frame. There is a program for members of the if possible – call Angie at 558-9998. general public and a program for members of the law enforcement community. Minimum class size is 15 and maximum is 40. Cost? 1st Thursday of each month - 6:30 P.M. – a support group for A donation to NAMI Greater Des Moines. Please contact Jim Family members – First United Methodist Church – 307 W. Ashland, Goodrich at [email protected] – phone: 288-1149. Indianola. We'll be in the first room on the right when you go in the April highlights for Northwest door on Ashland Ave. The room is called Gabel Chapel. NAMI Greater Des Moines Activities The facilitators will be Rose Weeks 480-8286 and Erica Bachof at 1. Attended meetings at the State Capitol to [email protected] or 515-771-4645.

monitor House and Senate bills on nd 2 Thursday of each month – 6:30 P.M. – a support group for mental health system redesign. Family members – Lutheran Church of Hope, 925 Jordan Creek 2. Volunteers Jim Goodrich, Cece Arnold, Parkway, West Des Moines – in Room 213. Supper (free will Barb and Dan Mueller, and Teresa offering) is available at 5:30 prior to the support group. Bonnie and Bomhoff met to prepare for implementing Randy are facilitators. the ―Hearing Voices‖ training and simulation program. 3. Executive Board meeting on April 12 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month –Des Moines CURE/Voices to 4. Grace Sivadge, Cece Arnold and T Bomhoff staffed a NAMI be Heard Support group – Union Park United Methodist Church – GDM table at the Principal Volunteer Fair East 12th & Guthrie - Light meal at 5:30 P.M. Support group for 5. Business meeting on April 14 adults and program for children from 6 PM to 7PM. –If you have a 6. GDM affiliate leaders participated in two webinars on the NAMI loved one in prison or parole system you are concerned about or if Standards of Excellence chartering process you are concerned about those in prison, please feel free to join us. 7. Attendance at Veterans National Recovery Center (VNRC) If you have questions, please call Jean Basinger at 277-6296 or project planning meetings on Friday mornings in preparation Melissa Nelson at 280-9027. for presentation to VA on May 12 in Washington, D.C. First Saturday of each month –Family Support Group – 10 AM at 8. Several members participated in AMOS Central Leadership th Team meeting on April 9, AMOS mental health work St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1120 North 8 Avenue, Winterset. Call group meeting on April 18 and the AMOS ―Community Grace at 961-6671 or Pat at 515-462-3479 for information.

Conversation on April 19 Coping After a Suicide Support Group – Polk Co. Crisis and 9. Sharon Johnson and T Bomhoff attended two fundraising Advocacy Services – Contact: Kate 286-2029 - Meeting day – 2nd workshops sponsored by the Greater Des Moines Community Thursday of each month 6-7:30 P.M. and last Saturday of each Foundation month 9-10:30 A.M. Meeting place is 2309 Euclid Avenue - park at 10. Family to Family classes at Lutheran Church of Hope on the west end of the building near the flags and come in the glass Thursdays and Mercy-Franklin on Tuesdays – volunteer doors. Victim Services Phone: 515-286-3600 teachers Grace Sivadge, Diane Banasiak, Mary Kline-Misol, and Teresa Bomhoff If you are interested in becoming a family support group facilitator for 11. Presentation given to West Des Moines Community and NAMI Greater Des Moines, please contact Grace Sivadge 205-9765 Economic Development lunch ‗n learn group. or e-mail [email protected].

12. The May newsletter was prepared, e-mailed and mailed. Local Assistance with Prescription Cost 13. Education committee meeting on April 25 – 4 people Polk County residents without full health insurance attended 14. Attendance at workshop on Principles and Practices for coverage can save on prescription drugs under a Charitable Non-Profits held at DMACC county sponsored drug discount program. Savings 15. NAMI support groups meet in Des Moines, West Des Moines, can be for up to 20%. For a complete list of card locations or a list of participating pharmacies, call 286-3895. Winterset and Indianola 16. Several GDM members in attendance at the GDM Community Possibilities for Prescription Assistance Foundation luncheon and report to the community – AMOS http://www.needymeds.org/ was one of four finalists for a $2500 award. http://www.rxassist.org/ 17. GDM Board members begin to meet individually with AMOS http://www.pparx.org/ or call 1-888-477-2669 lead organizer, Paul Turner, in preparation for retreat and to RXHOPE (For Healthcare Professionals) www.RxHope.com write an updated strategic plan.

www.namigdm.org 515-277-0672 [email protected] 9 Find help. Find hope.

Information and Resources

Looking for Community Resources? Polk County Jail Contacts on Mental Health Concerns Phone 211 www.211Iowa.org Medications – Sharon Chambers 323-5479

Contact Polk County Health Services Court appearance/Jail Diversion – Tim Larson 875-5779 th Veterans - will visit incarcerated veterans in need 218 6 Ave – 243-4545 Covers Central Iowa – Kimberly Neal, Social Worker – 669-3732 or http://polk.ia.networkofcare.org/mh/home/index.cfm 699-5999 Ext. 4036 – [email protected] Go to the Visiting Nurses website www.vnsdm.org Covers eastern Iowa – Sherri Koob, Veterans Justice Outreach click on ―links‖ – then click on Community Resource Directory Coordinator – cell 563-320-9887 [email protected]

Polk County Community Mental Health Centers Veterans – will accept phone calls for assistance Child Guidance Center – 808 5th Ave – 244-2267 Rebecca Buch, Administrator, Polk Co Veteran Affairs Eyerly Ball Community MH Center 1301 Center St. – 243-5181 286-3670 [email protected]

Broadlawns Medical Center- 1801 Hickman Road – 282-6770 th Narcotics Anonymous Help Line 515-244-2277 Eyerly Ball Golden Circle – 945 19 St – 241-0982 Drug and Alcohol Help Line 1-866-242-4111 Dallas County Mental Health Center Alcoholics Anonymous (515) 282-8550 West Central Community Mental Health Center Al Anon/ Alateen 1-888-425-2266 2111 Green, Adel – 515-993-4535 IA Substance Abuse Information Center Hotline 1-866-242-4111 Madison County Mental Health Center Alcohol & Drug Information Referral & Crisis Counseling – Bridge Counseling Center www.drugfreeinfo.org 300 West Hutchings St. – 515-462-3105 Primary Health Care & Behavioral Health If you receive Medicaid - Engebretsen Clinic, 2353 SE 14th St. – 248-1400 Family Peer Support Services Program Begins The Outreach Project, 1200 University, Suite 105 – 248-1500 The Iowa Plan has kicked off the Family Peer Support Services East Side Center, 3509 East 29th St. – 248-1600 Program. This program offers services in the home or community. Primary Health Care Pharmacy,1200 Univ.,Suite 103 262-0854 This service is available to families of children under the age of 21 Clubhouse Passageways,305 15th St., Des Moines 515-243-6929 who have a severe or chronic emotional disorder. This service is designed to work with families to keep children in the home and If you have a mental health crisis in your family community and keep families together. and are in need of emergency assistance – call 911. Be clear with the dispatcher what the situation Trained specialists provide these services. The specialists are is, that it is a mental health crisis, and you need the DM Mobile ―peers.‖ They are parents of children with mental illness. They have Mental Health Crisis Unit to assist. The goal is to keep everyone experience with the mental health system and can help others obtain safe and to seek the appropriate level of assistance for the ill services. A family peer support specialist works along with a licensed mental health professional. family member or friend. If you live in a surrounding city (not Des Moines), call your dispatch center. The non-emergency phone The specialist is trained to help families work with the mental health, number for the mobile crisis team is 283-4811. The police liaison substance abuse, education and child welfare systems. The to the Mobile Crisis Unit is Officer Kelly Drane. Her hours are 8 to specialist can help parents with: 4 Mon-Fri phone number is 205-2270.  Family support plans. The team leader for the Mobile Crisis Unit is Deb DeJong at 515-  Coping strategies. 729-3221 – Deb is the primary contact and will answer any  Stress management. general questions about the Mobile Crisis Team.  Parenting skills.

In response to your phone call, the first people to arrive to the  Understanding mental health symptoms. situation will be Des Moines police officers. Officers will determine Other family peer support services may include help with: if it is a mental health related issue and maintain safety at the  Getting to appointments. scene. Officers make a request through dispatch if the Mobile  Getting medication. Crisis Unit is needed. Mobile Crisis only takes referrals from law  Talking to providers. enforcement.  Learning advocacy skills.

When DM Mobile Mental Health Crisis Unit staff arrive, a mental  Crisis plans. health assessment will be done, on-site counseling and problem This service is now available in Des Moines and surrounding areas. solving, crisis plan development, coordination with hospitals if It is provided by the Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa (VNS). It will transport to a medical facility is necessary, and medication can expand throughout Iowa soon. DM suburbs also use the mobile crisis team services – their CIT International Conference in September officers make the decision whether or not the mobile crisis team is The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) International called. The Mobile Crisis Unit is available 6:30 AM to 2:30 AM – 7 Conference will be held in Virginia Beach, Va. from Sept. days week. It is staffed by licensed mental health professionals 12-14, 2011. Conference participants include law and registered nurses. enforcement personnel, behavioral health professionals, judges and Warning: Regular or heavy alcohol use can worsen court personnel, public defenders and prosecutors, family members, most psychological states, such as anxiety, depression, advocates and individuals living with mental illness. bipolar, schizophrenia, or eating problems. Alcohol can http://www.citinternational.org/ change the way a person feels in the short run; however, the overall effect only worsens a disorder. Marijuana and other Did you know the number of beds at the Independence Mental drugs can have similar or more serious effects on the brain. HeaIth Institute has dropped from 1800 in the 50‘s to a projection of 75 as of 7-1-11? www.namigdm.org 515-277-0672 [email protected] 10 Find help. Find hope.

You are not alone. The Board of Directors of NAMI Greater The illness is not your fault. Never give up HOPE. Des Moines unanimously passed a resolution at the business meeting on SUPPORT GROUPS for Persons in Recovery May 12, 2011, to follow the Iowa Every Monday evening 7-8:30 P.M. – a support group for Principles & Practices for Charitable persons with mental illness – facilitated by persons with mental Nonprofit Excellence. illness – at the NAMI Iowa office – 254-0417 – or 1-800-417-0417 www.nonprofit.law.uiowa.edu

- 5911 Meredith Drive, Suite E, Des Moines. Talk to Dawn Olson The Board will be following the Iowa

First Monday of each month – 7-9 P.M. –GDM CHADD Support Principles and Practices as they Group – support for those families struggling with ADHD – formulate an updated strategic plan and continuously strive for organizational improvement and excellence. Attention Deficit Disorder - West Des Moines Public Library, 4000 Mills Civic Parkway –call Julie for more info –515-223-6730. NAMI Greater Des Moines will also be undergoing a new chartering process under the ―Standards of Excellence‖ process designed by 2nd & 4th Mondays of each month – 7 P.M. – depression and NAMI National. Please see the following website for more bipolar support group., St. Boniface Catholic Church, 1200 Warrior information: Lane, Waukee. [email protected] Julie 710-1487 https://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=NAMI_Center_for_Excel Every Tuesday evening – 8-10 P.M. - Recovery Inc., a self-help lence group for people who have nervous and mental troubles – at St. Mark‘s Episcopal Church, 3120 E. 24th St., Des Moines – Call 266- This book is designed for use by older 2346 – Marty Hulsebus. adolescents and adults who are working on

nd th issues related to loneliness, and for their 2 & 4 Tuesdays of the month – New Light Support Group – family members and care providers. It can 6:30 to 7:30 P.M. -for persons experiencing depression or anxiety be used as a guide for groups. disorders– at Westkirk Presbyterian Church, 2700 Colby Woods Drive, Urbandale, Iowa – 515-253-0330 – Pastor Michael Mudlaff As Mary Ellen teaches around the country, she continues to find that loneliness is a Every Thursday at 2:00 P.M. - Recovery, Inc. - a self-help group strong contributor to depression and poor for people who have nervous and mental troubles – at Central quality of life for people who experience Iowa Center for Independent Living, 665 Walnut St., Des Moines – mental health difficulties. In this book Mary Call 237-0232 – Mark Grunzweig. Ellen has described how to develop and keep a strong support system. She focuses on the Every Thursday evening – 7:45 – 9:45 P.M. – Recovery, Inc. - a importance of personal responsibility, enjoying time alone, support self-help group for people who have nervous and mental troubles th groups and building networks of support. In addition she has – at St. Timothy‘s Episcopal Church, 1020 24 St., in West Des addressed many issues that make it difficult for many people to Moines. Call – 277-6071-Deb Rogers. make and keep friends. As with her other books, Mary Ellen's Every Saturday afternoon – 2:00 – 3:30 P.M. – the Depression research was the foundation for The Loneliness Workbook. This and Bipolar Support Alliance meets at Iowa Lutheran Hospital – book was the result of a study of nearly 100 people to find out how University at Penn Avenue – Level B – private dining room. they relieve loneliness in their lives. To purchase, go to http://wrapandrecoverybooks.com/ MENTAL ILLNESS: THE FACTS From NAMI: In Our Own Voice Pete Earley, is a Pulitzer-nominated author of Mental illnesses are brain disorders. They are not defects in Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s someone‘s personality or a sign of poor moral character or lack of Mental Health Madness faith. They certainly do not mean that the ill person is a failure. I had no idea. I‘d been a journalist for thirty years Chemical imbalances in the brain, from unknown or incompletely and written extensively about crime and punishment known causes, are much of the reason for symptoms of mental and society. But I‘d always been on the outside illnesses. looking in. I had no idea what it was like to be on the Mental illnesses are like other organ diseases in which body inside looking out – until my son, Mike, was chemistry changes. The abnormal chemistry of mental illnesses declared mentally ill. Suddenly the two of us were thrown headlong affects brain function the same way that too little or too much of into the maze of contradictions, disparities and Catch-22s that make other body chemicals damage the heart, kidneys or liver. up America‘s mental health system. Crazy: A Father’s Search A heart attack is a symptom of serious heart disease, just as Through America’s Mental Health Madness is a nonfiction book that hearing voices, mood swings, withdrawal from social activities, or tells two stories. The first is my son‘s. The second describes what I feeling out of control are common symptoms of a mental illness. observed during a year-long investigation inside the Miami- Dade Mental illnesses can affect people of any age, race, religion, County jail, where I was given unrestricted access. I feel more education or income level. As you read this, five million people passionately about this book than any I have ever written. Our here in the United States are dealing with serious, chronic brain nation‘s jails and prisons have become our new mental asylums. I disorder. Major brain disorders include schizophrenia, bipolar wrote this book as a wake-up call to expose how persons with disorder (manic-depression), major depression, anxiety disorders, mental illness are ending up behind bars when what they need is and obsessive-compulsive disorder. help, not punishment. There are many points on the continuum of wellness, and Important note: The word “CRAZY” in the book title refers to the different degrees of recovery that can be reached with medication, mental health care system. http://www.peteearley.com/books/crazy therapy, and a strong support system. www.namigdm.org 515-277-0672 [email protected] 11 Find help. Find hope.

'Cuckoo's Nest' Revisited State Legislation Here are 3 places on the web to access E-mail to figure out who By: Alex Raksin and Bob Sipchen 11-22-01 Los Angeles Times your legislators are, to contact your legislators, get mailing addresses, and phone numbers. The people lined up at soup kitchens and rescue missions today http://www.infonetiowa.com/ - Has the latest on legislation. will get free turkey and dressing. And by dark many of them will Check out their great newsletters online. be curled up in ragged tents and cardboard boxes, trying to sleep http://www.legis.iowa.gov new website!! while their neighbors scream at imagined voices. Tomorrow, well- http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=state_advocacy meaning citizens will hand some of these same people money or a sandwich, affording them the opportunity to spend yet another The Crisis Continues Polk County Waiting List Update night on the sidewalks they call home. It doesn't need to be this way. And perhaps this day for counting blessings is as good a As of the end of April 2011 - time as any to ponder: What went wrong? What can be done?  582 on the waiting list for disability services The answers to both questions can be found, in part, in the legacy • 346 of the 582 are receiving only non-wait of author Ken Kesey, who died this month. "One Flew Over the list services Cuckoo's Nest," his 1962 novel about a sadistic psychiatric ward • 415 have mental illness that squelched individuality with brain surgery and zombifying • 122 have intellectual disabilities medications, accelerated a growing reform movement against • 45 have developmental disabilities such abuses in all-too-real psychiatric "snake pits." By the early • 212 of the 582 are at risk of hospitalization and/or 1970s, state institutions had released hundreds of thousands of homelessness mental patients. Tragically, the housing and services that were .Longest on List: 999 days supposed to help them flourish in their own neighborhoods never  # of kids on referral list – 97 materialized, leaving many to live on sidewalks or under freeway overpasses. NAMI Federal Action Agenda priorities were published in the October 2010 newsletter. This is wrong. There are ways to fix it. If legislators would now

Over 30 organizations sent a letter to the Governor and state show gumption and back these fixes up with carefully prescribed legislature to maintain open access to medications in the laws to compel the treatment of those who cannot or will not help Medicaid program – the letter was published in the November themselves, this civic shame could be remedied. Here's what it takes: 2010 newsletter. Our request was ignored.

NAMI State Key Policy Objectives were published in the HOUSING WITH BUILT-IN SUPPORT: November and December 2011 newsletter. The Village in Long Beach, a project of the Mental Health Assn. of Los Angeles, is a model of "supportive housing." A staff of NAMI Greater Des Moines supports the legislative priorities of the professionals and former "members" walk people with mental MHDS Commission/Iowa Mental Health Planning illness and sometimes addictions through ways to kick their drug Council/Olmstead Task Force/Iowa Advocates for Mental habit, get proper medication, find a place to live and work [(562) Health Recovery - published in the January 2011 newsletter. 437-6717].

NAMI Greater Des Moines is an institutional member of AMOS – a Other successful examples include the Salvation Army's shelter in Mid Iowa Organizing Strategy. AMOS is a grassroots social Bell and LAMP, a downtown organization that, in addition to activist group of 28 institutions. AMOS legislative priorities were running a drop-in center and offering housing and treatment published in the February 2011 newsletter. options, now gives a lucky few people with mental illness and addictions the chance to escape to a donated ranch near Bishop, There are Medicaid waiver programs Iowa offers eligible residents complete with a working garden, horses, llamas and views of the to allow persons to receive necessary services to remain in their eastern Sierra [(213) 488-9718]. home and community rather than an institutional setting. TEMPORARY SHELTER: Waiver Programs # slots there are # on Waiting List $‘s for May 2011 Before most people with severe mental illness are ready to move Ill & Handicap, 3163 1630 into treatment and long-term housing, they need places to stay for AIDS/HIV 56 0 a few nights or weeks. But many with mental illness have a deep Elderly 12052 0 fear of traditional shelters, some of which can be hellish even for those who don't hear voices. That's why Sheriff Lee Baca's idea Intellectual Disabilities (Child) 2851 74 of opening an open-air homeless safety center near downtown is Intellectual Disabilities (Adult) 572 136 a pilot project worth supporting. Brain Injury 1168 745 Physical Disability 1292 1723 Even in these tough budgetary times, state representatives Children's Mental Health 1117 938 should find the money to build Baca's center, because study after 22271 5246 study shows that simply letting mentally ill and addicted people Total persons on all waiver waiting lists across the state cycle from jail onto the streets and back is far more expensive 4722- Jan 11 4918- Jan 10 3644 – Jan 09 than taking solid steps to help them find a place to live, get treatment and work. Go to: www.ime.state.ia.us Click on "Members & Consumers" Click on "Additional Services" Then choose "Home & Communitywww.namigdm.org Based Services." 515-277-0672 [email protected] 12 If you scroll further down on the page you will see a section called "HCBS Funding Slots." Click on the link for "Slot Find and Waiting help. List Find hope. Information."

REACHING OUT AGGRESSIVELY: professionals impotent to intervene. But civil libertarians have Many mental health organizations send workers who have defeated the bill twice now, by persuading legislators--notably wrestled their own mental illnesses and addictions under control Senate President Pro Tem John Burton [D-San Francisco, (916) out into the streets to cajole people to make use of services. This 445-1412]--that no one should be forced to take medications is important. But law enforcement agencies have the most contact against his will. with people living on the streets, and can have the biggest impact. Thomson's legislation has built-in civil liberties protections. But it The county Department of Mental Health has joined with the Los also recognizes that the balance between rights and Angeles Police Department and the Sheriff's Department to responsibilities has tilted so far toward preserving supposed create 30 teams of law officers and trained clinicians who work to freedoms that some people are now enslaved by the symptoms of coax people out of their encampments. One team, Deputy Craig their mental illness. They suffer because the rest of us--who don't McClelland and nurse Suzanne Newberry, is paid for, in part, by have the excuse of impairment--won't do whatever it takes to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, whose administrators make sure they get treatment. are eager to confront the problem of mentally ill indigents sleeping Psychiatric medication and treatment facilities have come a long at bus stops and causing problems on buses. Most of the money, way since the days of the despotic Nurse Ratched of "Cuckoo's however, comes from the state. This provides money annually for Nest." The scandal is no longer that people are locked up in the teams, supportive housing and similar mental health repressive snake pits. The scandal now is reflected in a challenge programs. a delegate from China once put to Mayor James K. Hahn, and to MENTAL HEALTH COURTS: Americans in general, upon seeing a deranged-looking man Los Angeles' mental health court, located in a former pickle sleeping in the shadows of Los Angeles City Hall: We think you factory north of downtown, falls far short of what it could be--and don't know what to do, or don't care. what model courts in other places have already become. To fix it, We do know what to do. So the only question is, "Do we care?" Los Angeles' judicial bureaucracy must replace conveyor-belt justice with a true "problem-solving court" designed to keep The costs of cutting the state‘s mental health care system are people with mental illness and addictions from being arrested for devastating individuals, families, and our communities. We must nuisance crimes, jailed and then spit back onto the streets in a protect and strengthen our state's mental health care system. The sad, expensive cycle. costs of untreated mental illness only gets shifted elsewhere to higher taxpayer costs-- to schools, police, courts, emergency San Bernardino County has such a court, where a no-nonsense departments, and overcrowded prisons. judge joins with prosecutors, psychologists, people who run board-and-care homes and even jailers to help mentally ill and The costs of cutting the state's mental health budget are high. addicted "clients" get treatment, housing, jobs and ongoing Without treatment, more people will end up hospitalized, in shelters, support. on the street, in jail or dead.

CHANGING ATTITUDES AND LAWS: What Happened in the State Legislature On some corners where people have set up makeshift camps, the Regarding Mental Health? smell of urine and garbage is so strong that shop owners and passing schoolchildren hold their noses. Vermin thrive, and so do After months of deliberations, subcommittee meetings, presentations diseases such as hepatitis and tuberculosis. Yet when Los and multiple bill drafts, the House and Senate have come full circle Angeles Councilwoman Jan Perry pushed to have the city on mental health reform. The discussion started in January with a regularly hose down the streets of skid row, civil libertarians ―shell bill‖ that stated legislative intent to redesign the mental health rushed to stop her, clamoring that a cleanup could dispossess delivery system. The discussion ended with essentially the same those who dwell on the sidewalks. Perry has persevered. But too bill. Efforts to completely redesign the county-based system stalled often elected officials cower at the first hint of resistance--and too after the House and Senate could not agree on the best approach. bad about the people, mainly poor, who have to live, work and In addition, counties raised significant concerns with the impact of play in the midst of chaos. the proposed redesign efforts. Thus, after three and a half months of early morning subcommittees, the effort was scrapped and Dirty streets are not the worst of it. Laws, as now written, make it replaced with a legislative interim committee and issue specific virtually impossible to force even the most obviously deranged workgroups to ―study‖ the issue. Complicating this process is the people who live on those streets into treatment unless they are a provision in SF 209 (signed into law by Governor Branstad) that grave and immediate danger to themselves or others. repeals the current authority for the county-based mental health

Fortunately, people are slowly beginning to realize that mental delivery system on July 1, 2013. illness often prevents those who have it from understanding The legislative interim committee will be comprised of solely they're sick and that when they are incapable of acting in their legislators. In addition to introducing legislation based on own best interests, government has an obligation to step in. workgroup recommendations, they will also address property tax

Political courage does exist. Early next year Assemblywoman issues, identify the means to ensure the state maintains its funding Helen Thomson (D-Davis) plans to reintroduce a bill that would commitments and consider issues posted by the repeal of county allow judges to compel a relatively few severely mentally ill people disability system & funding per SF 209. to accept outpatient treatment, including the sort of medication Workgroups will be as follows – adult mental health redesign that can usually help even the most severely ill return to some workgroup, adult intellectual disabilities and developmental semblance of a normal life. "Laura's law" is named after a young disabilities redesign workgroup, children‘s mental health redesign woman killed by a man whose mental illness went untreated workgroup, judicial workgroup on commitment issues, and a because existing laws left his family, the police and psychological workgroup to design a regionally administered program. www.namigdm.org 515-277-0672 [email protected] 13 Find help. Find hope.

National Alliance on Mental NONPROFIT ORG. Illness of Greater Des Moines US POSTAGE PAID Box 12174 DES MOINES IA Des Moines, Iowa 50312 PERMIT NO. 34

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Another year of preparation is in the works for the first Saturday in October for the NAMIWalks in Des Moines – October 1. We are looking for a record number of walk teams and individuals to participate and hope you are planning to join us!

A few facts about NAMI Walks Since its inception as a pilot program in 2003, NAMIWalks has grown to be the largest mental health /mental illness focused event in America. To date, we have held over 500 WALKS. We have grown to where we will be in 45 states in 2011. We are present everywhere except Alaska, North Dakota, West Virginia, Indiana and Alabama. In 2010, there were 74 walks. In 2011, there will be 82 walks – 45 in the spring and 37 in the fall.

Impact of the WALKS nationally

1) The WALKS have engaged tens of thousands of people that are new to our cause and NAMI. The outreach effort and community education brought about by our supporters talking to their neighbors, friends, family, work mates are making a difference in how America views persons living with a mental illness.

2) The engagement of the business community leaders has helped them to see how pervasive mental illness actually is and how their employees, customers, and their community are all impacted by it.

3) Persons living with an illness and their families and friends have seen that they are not alone in their fight. The WALK has built community and celebrated that fact at every WALK.

4) In addition, a new generation of supporters have become vocal advocates for the rights of persons living with a mental illness, and a lot of these advocates are persons living with a mental illness. The WALKS have helped add new supporters, volunteers, members and leaders to NAMI’s ranks.

5) The new unrestricted funds have allowed for the support of and expansion of all of our current services such as Help Lines, educational programs such as F2F, support programs, community outreach programs. New services such as Club Houses and drop- in centers as well as supported housing have also been developed as a direct result of the WALKS. And, other important programs such as Crisis Intervention Training for law enforcement personnel, among other programs have expanded due to WALK funds being available.

6) The funds have allowed us to bring on new salaried persons to help us become more effective in our activities. We have been able to secure education coordinators, volunteer coordinators, and executive directors where we never had one before.

In 2011 we renewed and expanded collaborations with outside organizations. BC2M and No Kidding Me Too, Glenn Close and Joey Pantiliono’s stigma fighting organizations, are now working with us in our efforts to erase the stigma associated with mental illness. www.namigdm.org 515-277-0672 [email protected] 14 Find help. Find hope.