An Open Letter to the Norwich City Council

Mayor Nystrom and members of the City Council,

Once again, the City wants to punish people for doing well. Last year the City Manager tried to cut staff from Norwich Human Services, which you had the sense and the compassion to restore, mostly. This year the CDBG Committee wants to cut $7,500 from the *Hospitality Center*
budget. I urge you to restore this cut as well.

The Hospitality Center is a program you should be /bragging /about to other towns. It is a model of *inter-agency cooperation*, where members check their egos at the door. State, local, non-profit, and religious organizations work in perfect harmony. Volunteers do the cooking. Lee Ann Gomes scrounges small grants from banks and others.

It pays staff a paltry $10.00 an hour to stay up all night with people who are going through a bad time in their lives. It dealt with a record /low/ number of people last year, 63, because it does its job so well.

It /diverts /more people from the shelter so that they did not have to stay there at all. It finds /permanent /housing for a substantial number of its residents. Though it targets the "hard core" homeless, only about a quarter of the people return year after year. Others make their way back to the mainstream, the world of the housed and self-sufficient.

Are they rich? No. Do they pay taxes? Some. (More jobs would help.) Are their lives longer and better because of the Hospitality Center and the Community Care Team? Absolutely.

Many people with addictions eventually get sober, but very few do so on the first try.
Addiction changes your body and makes it /extremely /hard to change back. Have any of you tried to quit smoking, or even cut out dessert? You need help. The Hospitality Center and the Community Care Team are part of that help. They try to protect people from predators and
nurture the part of them that wants a better life. The least you can do is not make it harder.
Thank you.

Robert Davidson
119 Cedar St.
Norwich

President, Community Care Team
Executive Director, Eastern Regional Mental Health Board
President, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Connecticut (NAMI-CT)

'NAMI Saved My Life'

By Kenton Robinson

Even today, Randye Kaye can’t really say when the sensitive and affectionate boy who was her son began to slip away from her. But in the middle of his teenage years, something began to change in him.
At first, she chalked it up to adolescence.
“I heard a psychiatrist say, ‘Every teenager is a little bit mentally ill,’” Kayes says. “I think one of the turning points for me was my friends had adolescents, and we could commiserate. Other people were going trhough these things too. But … a couple of years into his midteens, my friends’ kids were getting better and my son was getting worse.”
It was in his 16th year that Ben, once a popular honor student, truly began to unravel. And Kaye, casting about for an explanation, found herself descending into a deepening hell. As he dropped out of school and became increasingly irrational, Kaye sought help from half a dozen pscyhiatrists.
Their diagnoses ran the gamut from ADD to anxiety, depression, OCD and bipolar disorder and each came with a regimen of medications, none of which touched Ben’s symptoms. And those symptoms were becoming increasingly terrifying. Ben communed with a bush in the yard, spent a day walking along the highway screaming, told her there were psychic vampires out to devour your spirit and talked to his car in the garage.
Finally, Kaye found a pamphlet from the Connecticut Chapter of National Alliance on Mental Illness titled “When nobody understands….NAMI-CT does.” And three years into Ben’s illness, Kaye went to a family-to-family meeting in Trumbull, where she confirmed at last, from families who were going through the same hell, what it was that had taken over her son: schizophrenia.
“I went, ‘Omigod, my son is not stubborn and poorly raised; my son is ill,” she says. “That moment is both devastating and a release. I could stop blaming him and blaming myself … Family-to-family is what turned it around for me.
“NAMI saved my life,” she says. “Without the education I got at NAMI, without the opportunity to meet other famillies, I might have given up on my son. It saved my life by teaching me what I could realistically do …
“It saved my life by teaching me how to be real about getting my son back into our family, and he is back in our family. He goes to work; he goes to school. I don’t think any of that would have happened if I hadn’t learned about his illlness, and I learned that because of NAMI.”
And Kaye came to understand why so many psychiatrists could have been so wrong. It’s extremely difficult to diagnose schizophrenia when it is gradual onset, as it was with Ben.
“The way things stand now we have to wait till psychosis to diagnosis,” she says. “That’s like waiting to stage three in cancer; that’s like waiting till you have a heart attack to diagnose heart disease.”
Today, after seven hospitalizations, Ben is back with his family, and Kaye has received training from NAMI to teach others about mental illness. Also, she has written a riveting memoir, “Ben Behind His Voices,” of her struggle to save her son.
“You need to have education to get empathy,” she says. “And to get beyond the stigma of mental illness.”
And so Kaye urges anyone who has a mental illness, a family member with a mental illness, or simply compassion for those who do, to sign up for the 9th annual NAMIWalk, the organization’s key fundraising event, which will be held at Bushnell Park in Hartford on Saturday, May 19.
The walk is from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and will include face painting and hula hoop contests for the kids, a live band and a breakdancing demonstration.
All donations are tax deductible and go to support the free programs NAMI offers across the state. Persons wishing to participate or donate should sign up in advance by visiting http://tinyurl.com/namictwalk or calling Janice Shilosky at 860-882-0236.
Kenton Robinson is the deputy director of the Eastern Regional Mental Health Board.    

A Story of Recovery

May 5th is indeed an important day for me. May 5th marks one year that I have continuously been out of the hospital. A year might not sound like a long time, but believe me, for me, this is a big deal.
Before this date last year, I was averaging being in the hospital about every three months. As a person with Bipolar Disorder, previously known as manic depressive disorder, I had extreme ups and downs. However, did this mean I needed to be in the hospital every two or three months? No, but I THOUGHT it did, and that was the thought pattern I had to break.
When I went to the hospital, I was taken care of, my atmosphere was less stressful, I could go to classes, but then rest. Weren't these things I could do at home? I didn't think so because there was one thing standing in my way. When things got really difficult, when I became overwhelmed, my thoughts immediately turned to suicide.
After all, I had thought of suicide beginning at the age of eleven. My mother had attempted suicide twice, and had been in the hospital most of my life. Being in the hospital, being taken out of a stressful situation was modeled for me my whole life.
Of course, in the early years, there were not sufficient medications to make a person truly stable enough to live in recovery, only to exist. Therefore, if I had a suicidal thought, I immediately thought I had to be hospitalized. That wasn't the case, but I THOUGHT it was the case, and that's what kept me stuck. Something in my thinking had to change and I did not know how to go about it.
DBT, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, was new on the horizon when I came to Connecticut. It was THE go-to behavior modification tool that is still used widely in outpatient programs across the state and country.
When I was first approached about going to this type of class, I went berserk. I thought I was being blamed for my thinking. I wasn't being blamed. People were trying to show me a new way of thinking, which would thereby affect my actions and ultimately, my mood.
I started learning about how to do the opposite of what I felt like doing if what I felt like doing was staying in bed, or being self-abusive. I learned how to be in the moment rather than stewing in the past or projecting into the future. I learned how to distract myself and soothe myself by taking long bubble baths, slathering my skin with creamy lotion, or letting chocolate melt in my mouth until I experienced all the layers of the taste of the chocolate.
Do I do at least one of these on a daily basis? Most of the time. I will not go so far as to believe that DBT is THE cure-all, but it certainly helped.  
There was one other brick to take out of the wall though. I needed to believe that I could take care of myself. Because my mother had been in the hospital off and on since I was eight months old (I'm 46 now), I PERCEIVED that I would always need someone to care of me. I needed someone to offer me a blanket; I needed someone to assure me that I was going to be okay. I needed someone to check in with me.
I found those things in the most unlikely of places, or so I thought. The source? Alcoholics Anonymous. Being in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous has not only helped me to apply their principles to abstaining from alcohol or other mind-altering substances, but it has helped me to admit, that left to my own devices, I am powerless over my mental illness.
I said powerless, not helpless. I cannot predict how I might feel on a certain day, but I do have the skills to know how to make it better. Part of making it better is believing that a Power greater than myself, whom I choose to call God, could restore me to SANITY — yes, that is verbatim from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous!
In this fellowship, I have found women who care, women I can bond with, women I go on campouts with, and women who help me stay ACCOUNTABLE! As I go further in my journey, I can pass along the experience, strength, and hope that I have found in recovery.
That's really what recovery is about, isn't it? Staying accountable to taking care of myself! If I am accountable to myself, well then, recovery is really in MY hands isn't it?
Now, of course, chemicals in my brain may change, life circumstances may change that warrant an extra doctor’s visit or an extra therapy session, but I can do that! I can call my doctor, the same one I've had for twelve years and say, "Hey, Doc, I think I'm starting to get depressed." "Hey, Therapist, things are starting to pile up on me, can I schedule an extra session?”
Acting on these things as quickly and effectively is really the key. And how will I celebrate my anniversary/birthday? Like any other — with cake and ice cream and friends in recovery — one day at a time, one moment at a time, one second at a time.
Life is good; in this moment life is good, and that's all I have to be concerned with: this moment. I think I'll stick around!

Fighting the stigma of mental illness

It was my first year as a middle school teacher, and as the world sank into a gray November, I found myself faced with a challenge even greater than teaching hormonal 6th and 7th graders.
Her name, let us say, was Katy Jones.
She was a quiet girl with sky-blue eyes.
She was, like all the students in my writing class, required to keep a journal and turn it in each week. They were free to share their deepest thoughts, with my promise that I would never betray them. There was but one exception: If they wrote they were in danger or involved in a crime, I would have to report that.
Many were surprisingly frank about their inner lives. Katy was one of those. As the year went on, she wrote about her deepening sense of despair.
And I, who have fought my own battles with depression, saw the illness in her. I took Katy aside. “I know what you’re going through,” I said. “I’ve been there. You need to talk to your parents. You need to see a therapist. There are medications that can help.”
Katy shook her head. “I can’t tell my parents,” she said. Still, I urged her to try. The following week, she wrote of trying to broach the subject. Her parents had no ear for that. No child of theirs was “mentally ill.”
Finally, in December, as I grew increasingly concerned by the talk of death in her journal, I asked the school psychologist to intervene. “Why?” Katy wrote me. “Why? Why? … Why destroy trust in a person who is so weak?”
After that, she never turned in her journal. And she refused to talk to me. Then, on Jan. 20, she dropped it on my desk and walked out of the room. I opened it immediately.
It was a suicide note.
“Dear Mr. Robinson ... You are very kind. You care for people you hardly know … I wish you could help me. But you can’t. No one can… My emotions are tearing me up inside like a cat in you that is scratching to get out… I’m sorry I was mad at you … Bye-bye.”
In an instant, I was on the phone to the school psychologist. We must act now, I said. We called her parents and ordered them to come to the school that afternoon. When they came, they were furious. How dare I say their daughter was “crazy?”
And we told them: Either they got Katy help or we would see that Katy was taken away.
That night, Katy was admitted to the psychiatric unit at the local hospital, where she was given medication before being released into the care of a therapist.
When she returned to school, I took her aside. “Why did you betray me?” she asked. “I’m sorry,” I said, “but I saw that you were drowning, and I could not let you drown.”
Over the next few weeks, Katy’s demeanor changed. She was smiling now, chattering with friends (so much so as to earn admonishments from her teacher), and raising her hand in class.
She completed the 7th grade, and I didn’t see her again until the following year, on the last day of school before Christmas. Accompanied by three giggling friends, Katy came to my room and handed me a gift: an angel she had made with wire and green plastic beads.
This is how dire the consequences of the stigma of mental illness can be. And this is how confronting that stigma can save a life.
Depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are illnesses, just as diabetes and heart disease are illnesses, but they are still viewed by many as the victims’ fault. That stigma makes people ashamed and afraid, and it prevents many from getting the treatment they need.
Which is tragic, because, according to the Centers for Disease Control, one in four of us suffers from a mental illness in any given year. If you’re one of us, you’ve no doubt experienced the stigma first-hand. Or perhaps you’ve known it through a member of your family.
What’s more, many don’t know how to combat or cope with their illness, or where they and their families can go for help and support.
They can go to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s leading grassroots organization dedicated to providing dozens of free support groups and educational programs in churches, community centers, schools and libraries across the state.
In Fairfield County alone, the Connecticut chapter of NAMI provides such services in Fairfield, Stamford, Greenwich, New Canaan, Stamford and Westport.
NAMI helps people understand mental illness and cope with it, and it fights for changes in public policy to improve the services available to people with a mental illness. Finally, NAMI is in the forefront of combating the stigma that prevents so many from getting help.
I urge anyone who has a mental illness, a family member with a mental illness, or simply compassion for those who do, to buy a ticket to “Art Talks,” a reception and exhibition at the Silvermine Arts Center in New Canaan from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Friday, May 18.
The exhibit, featuring Westport artist Sherri Wolfgang’s series of paintings titled “Crazy Making,” will raise funds to expand the services provided by NAMI. Tickets must be purchased in advance on the NAMI Connecticut website: http://www.namict.org/art-talks.php.
The art show is Fairfield County’s kickoff for the 9th annual NAMIWalk, the organization’s key fundraising event, which will be held at Bushnell Park in Hartford on Saturday, May 19. The walk is from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and all donations are tax deductible.
Persons wishing to participate or donate should sign up in advance by visiting http://tinyurl.com/namictwalk or calling Janice Shilosky at 860-882-0236 or Iris Nazario at 860-882-0236.
Doing so could save the life of a girl like Katy Jones.
Kenton

Come Walk with Me at the NAMIWalk

I’m going to be participating in the 9th annual NAMIWalk at Bushnell Park in Hartford on Saturday, May 19. It’s the chief fundraising event of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and, as most of my friends know, I have personal reasons for walking: a lifelong battle with depression. Full disclosure: I also am doing some publicity for NAMI-Connecticut these days.

One in four Americans reports having a mental illness in any given year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. So there’s a tremendous need for the services NAMI provides across the state free of charge: support groups and educational programs for families dealing with mental illness, as well as advocacy in the halls of government.

But the walk isn’t just about raising money to pay for those services.

“It’s the one day of the year that we lift the shroud of the stigma of mental illness,” says Kate Mattias, the executive director of NAMI-CT. “We want to bring it into the sunlight.”

That stigma is a serious matter; it prevents a lot of people from acknowledging their illness and getting the help they need. Certainly, it kept me from recovery for nearly half my lifetime.

So consider this an invitation: Come walk with me or donate to support my participation in the walk. You can visit my personal walker page to sign up at http://www.nami.org/namiwalks12/CTC/kenton.

There is also a link so you can donate directly to me online. Donating online is fast and secure, and I’ll get immediate notification via e-mail of your donation. Oh, and feel free to repost this message on your own facebook wall or send it to your friends.

The walk is from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and includes more than walking. It’s a day for families to have fun. There will be face-painting and hula-hoop contests for the kids, as well as a live band and a breakdancing demonstration. Also, Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra will be speaking.

NAMI is a 501(c)3 charity, so any donation you make to support my participation is tax deductible. NAMI has been rated by Worth magazine as among the top 100 charities “most likely to save the world” and has been given an “A” rating by The American Institute of Philanthropy for efficient and effective use of charitable dollars.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Kenton

Successful Homecoming:
Reconnecting offenders to their family and community

Learn about the services available to prison offenders, and how providers can empower families with an ex offender member.
This is an opportunity you do not want to miss! Register now for this free training!
The session will run from 9 a.m. to noon on Friday, May 4th at the offices of the Southeastern Regional Action Council at 620 Norwich/New London Turnpike in Uncasville.
You can sign up by calling 860-848-2800 or writing an email to serac.office@gmail.com.
Seating is limited. Please indicate if you would like CEU's from the State of CT Department of Education.
To learn more about SERAC, visit the website: www.sectrac.org

Legislatve Update from DMHAS

The House and Senate are beginning to meet on a regular basis to take up the bills that have come out of committee and are ready for action.  This update will highlight some of the bills that are sitting on the House and Senate Calendars.  Please note that there are still a number of bills that have not come out in “File” copy, and as a result, they are not on the House or Senate floor.

   SB 92 AN ACT CONCERNING THE DISPOSAL AND COLLECTION OF UNUSED MEDICATION.  SUMMARY:  This bill prohibits a health care institution and its employees, staff, contractors, or other people under its direction or supervision from discharging, disposing of, flushing, pouring, or emptying unused medication into a wastewater collection or septic system. Hospitals are exempt from the prohibition. Under the bill, “unused medication” means unopened, expired, or excess medication dispensed for patient or resident care and includes pills, tablets, capsules, and caplets. The bill requires the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) to establish a program for collecting unwanted pharmaceuticals.  The DCP commissioner must organize a public awareness campaign about unsafe pharmaceutical disposal and the program.  The bill allows the DCP commissioner to adopt regulations to implement the program. This bill will impact DMHAS and its provider community.  EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2012.  The bill is on the Senate floor awaiting action  

SB 293 AN ACT CONCERNING PERMANENCY AND TRANSITION PLANS.  SUMMARY:  This bill requires the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to document a child's eligibility for Social Security benefits, including supplemental security income (SSI), survivor, and disabled child benefits, in the permanency plan for each child in its care and custody.  The bill also adds additional permanency plan requirements. The bill requires DCF to complete and submit an SSI application for each eligible child in its care and custody.  It also requires DCF to (1) maintain and respond to any correspondence regarding the benefits, and (2) determine if a 17-year-old Social Security recipient will need a representative payee when he or she ages out of DCF care and plan accordingly.  EFFECTIVE DATE:  October 1, 2012.  The bill is on the Senate floor awaiting action

     HB 5013 AN ACT CONCERNING THE BOARD MEMBERS OF THE CONNECTICUT HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGE.  SUMMARY:  This bill adds two new members to the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange's board of directors, increasing the membership from 14 to 16.  It makes the Healthcare Advocate, who is currently an ex-officio nonvoting board member, a voting board member.  Lastly, the bill increases, from six to eight, the number of board members that constitutes a quorum.  EFFECTIVE DATE:  Upon passage.  The bill is on the House floor awaiting action.  

HB 5037 AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE GOVERNOR'S BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS CONCERNING PUBLIC HEALTH.  SUMMARY: This bill allows the state to recover the cost of caring for an individual committed to a state institution after being found not guilty of a crime by reason of a mental illness.  It authorizes the state to follow existing statutory collection methods.  (Presumably, recoveries will be made in a similar manner to those for residents of state humane institutions.)  Current law requires the state to be charged for these costs.  EFFECTIVE DATE:  July 1, 2012.  This bill originally also merged the PSRB into DMHAS but that language was eliminated.  The bill is on the House floor awaiting action. 

 HB 5063 AN ACT CONCERNING TREATMENT FOR A DRUG OVERDOSE.  SUMMARY:  This bill allows licensed health care practitioners who can prescribe an opioid antagonist to prescribe, dispense, or administer it to anyone to treat or prevent a drug overdose without being civilly or criminally liable to anyone for such action or for the opioid antagonist's subsequent use.  Current law allows practitioners to do this only for a drug user in need of intervention without civil or criminal liability to that individual.  It does not address liability for subsequent use.  The bill would enable these practitioners to prescribe opioid antagonists to family members or other individuals to assist a person experiencing a drug overdose. The bill requires the Department of Mental Health and Addictions Services (DMHAS) commissioner to report, by January 15, 2013, to the Public Health committee on the number of opioid antagonist prescriptions issued under DMHAS programs to those other than drug users for self-administration. The law defines an opioid antagonist as naloxone hydrochloride or any other similarly acting and equally safe drug approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for treating a drug overdose.  By law, physicians and surgeons, physician assistants, dentists, advanced practice registered nurses, and podiatrists may prescribe them.  EFFECTIVE DATE:  October 1, 2012.  This bill is on the House floor awaiting action.  It is expected that it will be referred to the Judiciary Committee for a vote before it is taken up in the House.

  HB 5527 AN ACT CONCERNING A WORKING GROUP TO STUDY HEALTH CARE REFORM.  SUMMARY: This bill would direct the Department of Public Health to convene a working group tasked to make recommendations to the Special Advisor to the Governor on Healthcare Reform and the Public Health Committee regarding funding opportunities to strengthen community health programs and other health care related issues.  EFFECTIVE DATE:  Upon passage.  The bill is on the House floor awaiting action. 

 HB 5287 AN ACT CONCERNING THE APPOINTMENT OF A GUARDIAN AD LITEM FOR A PERSON WHO IS SUBJECT TO A CONSERVATORSHIP PROCEEDING OR A PROCEEDING CONCERNING ADMINISTRATION OF TREATMENT FOR A PSYCHIATRIC DISABILITY.  SUMMARY:  This bill limits the circumstances under which judges or family support magistrates can appoint a guardian ad litem (GAL – a person assigned to make findings and recommendations about a litigant when a court is concerned that this person is incapable of making his or her own decisions).  Currently, court GAL appointments and functions are purely discretionary and vary considerably from court to court. The bill applies when: 1. the court is being asked to order that an individual be given psychiatric medication or hospital treatment against his or her will; 2. a litigant, by request, has a court-approved conservator to handle his or her daily or financial affairs, or both; or 3. a mentally ill person has filed a habeas corpus writ, claiming that he or she is being held or medicated unlawfully. (In this case, the bill prohibits GAL appointments.)  EFFECTIVE DATE: October 12, 2012.  This bill is on the House floor awaiting action.
 
HB 5389 AN ACT CONCERNING THE PALLIATIVE USE OF MARIJUANA.  SUMMARY:  This bill allows a licensed physician to certify an adult patient's use of marijuana after determining that the patient has a debilitating condition and could potentially benefit from the palliative use of marijuana, among other requirements.  The bill lists certain medical conditions that qualify as debilitating (e.g., cancer, AIDS or HIV, Parkinson's disease) and also allows the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) commissioner to approve additional conditions. Among other requirements, patients seeking to use marijuana for palliative purposes under the bill must have a written certification by a physician and register with DCP.  The bill provides for temporary registrations until 30 days after certain required regulations take effect.  The bill allows qualifying patients and their primary caregivers to possess a combined one-month marijuana supply. The bill sets conditions on who can be primary caregivers and requires them to register with DCP.  The bill authorizes DCP to impose a $25 registration fee for patients and caregivers, and other fees.  Registry information is generally confidential and not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), but may be disclosed for specified purposes (e.g., to law enforcement officials for investigating and prosecuting crime). The bill creates licensing requirements for pharmacists (termed “dispensaries”) to supply the marijuana and for producers to grow it.  DCP must adopt regulations setting the maximum number of dispensaries and producers (the number of producers must be at least 3 but no more than 10), providing for their licensure, and setting standards.  The commissioner must set dispensary and producer fees, including a producer licensing application fee of at least $25,000. The bill prohibits patients, their caregivers or doctors, dispensaries, or producers from being subject to criminal or civil penalties, or being denied any right or privilege, for specified actions relating to palliative marijuana use.  Caregivers are only protected from such punishments if, among other things, they obtained marijuana from a licensed dispensary.  The same restriction does not apply to patients. The bill prohibits schools, landlords, or employers from taking certain actions against patients or caregivers if the actions are solely based on the person's status as a palliative marijuana patient or caregiver, unless the actions are required by federal law or to obtain federal funding. The bill specifies settings where its protections for patients do not apply.  These include ingesting marijuana at work, at school, in public places, in moving vehicles, or in front of children. The bill requires the DCP commissioner to establish a board of physicians who are knowledgeable about palliative marijuana use.  Among other things, the board must (1) recommend to DCP additions to the list of debilitating conditions and (2) convene public hearings to evaluate petitions by those seeking to add conditions to the list.  It requires and allows the DCP commissioner to adopt regulations on various matters, including requiring him to submit regulations reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule II controlled substance (it is currently a Schedule I controlled substance, subject to the most stringent regulation). Among other things, the bill also (1) requires law enforcement agencies to return marijuana or other property seized from a patient or caregiver who complies with its provisions; (2) creates misdemeanor penalties for certain lies made to law enforcement officials related to palliative marijuana use; (3) specifies that it does not require health insurers to cover the palliative use of marijuana; and (4) requires that all fees DCP collects under the bill be deposited in a separate, non-lapsing palliative marijuana administration account the bill establishes. EFFECTIVE DATE:  October 1, 2012, except for the provisions (1) providing for dispensary and producer licensing (§§ 9-10), (2) creating a Board of Physicians (§ 13), (3) requiring or allowing certain regulations (§ 14), and (4) establishing the palliative marijuana administration account (§ 18), which are effective upon passage.  The bill is on the House floor awaiting action. It is expected that this bill will be referred to a number of other Committees before it is taken up in the House.
 
HB 5450 AN ACT ESTABLISHING A BASIC HEALTH PROGRAM.  SUMMARY:  This bill requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) commissioner, in consultation with the Office of Health Reform and Innovation (OHRI), by January 1, 2014, to establish and implement a Basic Health Program (BHP) in accordance with the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010.  Under the program, the state would provide federally subsidized health insurance to individuals (1) with incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL), (2) under age 65, and (3) who do not qualify for Medicaid and otherwise meet the federal eligibility criteria. (Starting January 1, 2014, federal law requires state Medicaid programs to cover anyone with income up to 133% of the FPL.)  Individuals in the BHP would not be able to get their health insurance through the state's health insurance exchanges, which the state must establish by 2014 (see BACKGROUND). The bill requires the BHP to offer the same benefit levels and limited cost sharing (e.g., co-pays) that the state's Medicaid recipients currently enjoy unless the state's cost exceeds the federal subsidies.  The bill moves certain HUSKY A (a Medicaid coverage group) adult recipients into the BHP provided that they maintain the same level of benefits and cost sharing limits (currently they do not pay cost sharing).  The bill appropriates to DSS the anticipated savings from moving HUSKY A adults into the BHP in order to (1) provide the same benefits and cost sharing to BHP enrollees that apply to Medicaid recipients and (2) increase provider reimbursement rates. The bill requires the DSS commissioner, in consultation with OHRI, to submit a BHP implementation plan to the Human Services and Appropriations committees for their approval. The bill requires DSS to take all necessary steps to maximize federal funding and seek any necessary federal approval in connection with establishing the BHP.  And it establishes a separate, non-lapsing General Fund account to hold the federal subsidies.  EFFECTIVE DATE:  Upon passage.  This bill is on the House floor awaiting action.  

HB 5453 AN ACT CONCERNING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE.  SUMMARY:  Among other things, peace officers responding to the scene of family violence incidents must immediately assist victims.  This may include giving them contact information for a regional family violence organization that employs, or provides referrals to, counselors trained in providing “trauma-informed care.”  This bill expands the meaning of this term, defining it to include other characteristics these family violence organizations may possess. The bill requires the Department of Public Health commissioner, within available appropriations and by June 30, 2012, to develop a televised public service announcement intended to prevent teen dating and family violence.  She may apply for grants to cover the costs of issuing the announcement. The bill also makes a conforming change to the current statute. EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2012. This bill is on the House floor awaiting action. 

HB 5483 AN ACT CONCERNING COVERAGE OF TELEMEDICINE SERVICES UNDER MEDICAID.  SUMMARY:  To the extent permitted by federal law, and where deemed medically appropriate, this bill permits Medicaid-covered health care services to be provided by telemedicine in place of in-person contact between a patient and health care provider.  Under the bill, “telemedicine” means the use of interactive audio, video, or data communication in the delivery of medical advice, diagnosis, care, or treatment. It includes the provision, through electronic communications or interstate commerce, of diagnostic or treatment services, including primary diagnosis of pathology specimens, slides or images, to any person located in this state as well as similar “telehealth” services approved by federal Medicare regulations. Facsimile and audio-only telephone transmissions are excluded from the definition of telemedicine.  EFFECTIVE DATE:  January 1, 2013.  This bill is on the House floor awaiting action.
 
Accessing Information via the Connecticut General Assembly Web Page:   If you wish to get the details/status on a bill, read the text of a bill, or check on committee agendas or upcoming events in the Bulletin, log onto the Connecticut General Assembly web page at: http://www.cga.ct.gov   If you wish to look up committee agendas or check upcoming events in the Bulletin, these can be accessed on that same page by scrolling down and clicking on the appropriate item.      If you are seeking info on a specific bill, type the bill number in center box (on top of page) – just the actual number, you do not need S.B. or H.B. – and click on “GO.”  The page which will come up shows the bill history, summary, etc. for that bill.  If you wish to read the bill text, scroll down the page, and click on the bill text, and the bill will come up on the screen.  

Two pieces of testimony from last week's Judiciary hearing

Outpatient commitment won’t help

Robert E. Davidson, Ph.D.

Outpatient commitment, like prohibition, is a well-intentioned but ineffective solution to a problem we are lucky enough not to have much of in Connecticut.  Many people don’t want to take medications—some of whom have mental illnesses—but we have better ways than forced medication to persuade them to do it.

Outpatient commitment is popular in states with bad mental health services because it makes providers give the meds as well as making the client take them.  In some places, it is the only way to get off waiting lists.  If you can’t get services here, we have an effective grievance procedure, Regional Mental Health Boards, and a whole array of consumer advocates to help.

 A judge cannot make you take the meds.  He can issue an order, but he will not track you down and then hold you down while you ‘comply.’  That is up to a treater, most of whom are ambivalent about forced medication.  Those who are not will be after seeing it done.  And when the order expires in 120 days, clients will have to re-establish trusting relationships with people who forced them to do something they saw as unpleasant, unnecessary, and coercive.

Moreover, forced meds are a slippery slope, the last refuge of a burned out treater who wants to shift the blame to the patient for a service plan that doesn’t fit.  It is a new hammer, but it will make more people look like nails.  It starts with people who you think will shortly become dangerous, then extends to people who will just “do better.”  It is the worst kind of “substituted judgment,” a substitution of values, not just capacity.

So, the main problem with outpatient commitment is that it does not work.  But it also damages treatment relationships, makes it less likely that the client will comply in the future, and violates people’s rights.  It punishes people for what they might do in the future.  The argument is that they have demonstrated that they will decompensate if left to themselves, that they really don’t want to be psychotic and they will thank us afterwards.  Maybe.  I hope so.  But a service plan that works must respect the rights and dignity of the patient.

Meds have side effects.  They slow you down and make it harder to deal with people without cognitive impairments.  You gain weight.  You feel worse, not better.  You drink Red Bull and Mountain Dew.  Yes, you may become psychotic, but you won’t know that until later.  One goal of services is to associate the consequences with the cause, and that will be much easier without an overlay of coercion.

We call clients of the mental health system “consumers.”  That implies that they have a choice of services, like you have a choice of brands in a store.  DMHAS is committed to “person-centered planning,” which is the antithesis of outpatient commitment.  Every use of outpatient commitment discredits treatment among a naturally suspicious group of people whose encounters with the courts and treaters have not been positive.  People refuse meds for good reasons.  We can counter those reasons, but only by convincing them that things have changed.  If this proposal passes, that task becomes impossible.

 

Cheri Bragg

Testimony before the Judiciary Committee

Re:  In Opposition to SB 452

March 29, 2012

Good morning/afternoon Senator Coleman, Representative Fox, and distinguished members of the Judiciary Committee.  My name is Cheri Bragg and I am a registered voter from Manchester, CT.  I am here today to testify in opposition to SB 452, An Act Concerning the Care and Treatment of Persons with Psychiatric Disabilities.

My mother lives with bipolar disorder.  She was first hospitalized when I was 2.  She spent decades institutionalized in CT, partly due to a much different mental health system, but also because she does not believe, to this day, that she has a mental illness.  She would often come home feeling well, decide she didn’t need her medication, and inevitably end up back in the hospital.  I worried when she was missing, got confused or scared when she experienced delusions or psychosis, and grieved immeasurably when she was re-hospitalized.  Today she believes that my family died in a car accident – to her I do not exist as a “daughter”.  I get it – I understand completely why other family members might want to see outpatient commitment become law.  I’ve spent over 40 years grieving the “loss” of my mother and if outpatient commitment was the magic wand that I could wave to make her well and make the traumatic impact of mental illness go away forever, no one would jump faster or wave harder.  But my own experiences tell me otherwise.

My mother was hospitalized multiple times, often for very lengthy periods of time, during which time she was forcibly medicated.  NOT ONCE did the action of forcing medication make her believe that she has a mental illness nor did it increase her chances of success in the community.  

There is also potential for abuse, especially when an imbalance or perceived imbalance of power exists between the “professional” and the person receiving treatment.  My mother resides in a skilled nursing facility (referred to in Section 4 of SB 452).  I have the honor of serving as her “conservator of person”.  Last year she was hospitalized for the first time since arriving at the nursing facility over a decade ago.  I was told that she had become “increasingly agitated” and “demonic” (yes, they actually used those words).  They said she was psychotic.  When I visited her in the hospital, she was NOT psychotic, only sad and confused about why she was forced to go there.  They wanted to increase her medications against her wishes and asked me to assist with the process.  I refused because a) She was NOT psychotic or behaving differently b) the medication they recommended causes gross weight gains and other health complications c) forcing my mother to take medication against her will could irreparably harm our relationship of trust d) forcing medication would reinforce her paranoia and d) historically, forced medication has NOT increased her insight into having a mental illness.  The nursing facility called me at work under the guise of “an emergency” and when I wouldn’t budge, they screamed at me and tried to convince me to give up my conservator of person status saying “wouldn’t you be happier if someone else made those decisions”?  Stunningly, my mother was immediately returned to the nursing facility WITHOUT a medication adjustment and has miraculously lived there without another hospitalization this past year.  My mother returned amidst the completion of a Public Health Department inspection. In less than a week, her room had been re-modeled (carpet torn up/walls painted) and ¾ of her belongings had been thrown out without her permission including personal pictures, books, art and other belongings.  Instead of working with her to sort through belongings and prepare for a public health inspection, they took the coward’s way out through force.  Some people see pills as an “easy fix” vs. putting in the time to effect change through trust.  I have taken medication for depression only after careful consideration of my choices – ALL members of the community deserve these same rights and opportunities.

Working with her to form a trusting relationship, reviewing the pros and cons of various medication choices including the rights and responsibilities that go along with choosing NOT to take medication, opportunities to hear from positive, successful role models living with mental illness, working from a strengths-based, person-centered approach to treatment and recovery:  these are what DMHAS’ recovery-oriented principles are all about today.  Outpatient commitment would greatly set back progress and gravely affect consumer-provider relationships throughout the state.  At the core of these principles are trusting relationships. 

Please reject SB 452:  Long-term relationships are built on trust – outpatient commitment is force - lasting, trusting relationships aren’t forced, they’re fostered. Invest in fostering relationships through Advanced Directives, peer mentoring, positive role models and strengthening person-centered, strengths-based, recovery-oriented community mental health care.  Thank you. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.

Airlines and Mental Health: Issues to Think About

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Alliance on Mental Illness today released the following statement concerning the recent incidents aboard American Airlines and JetBlue flights:

On March 27 this week, a JetBlue airline pilot experienced a medical emergency in flight. On March 10, an American Airlines flight attendant also experienced a medical crisis while aboard an aircraft. In the latter case, the crisis apparently involved what she indicated was a pre-existing diagnosis of bipolar disorder.The incidents have raised concerns about public safety and mental health issues in aviation and other workplace settings.

To-date, there is no information confirming that mental illness was involved in the JetBlue incident. There are many potential causes of sudden changes in behavior, ranging from diabetes to medication side effects to extreme sleep deprivation. Because of this, a thorough assessment is essential for anyone experiencing a rapid change in behavior. Nonetheless, there are broad points and principles that are relevant for discussion by the public.

· The Americans with Disabilities Act permits health questionnaires and medical examinations when necessary to qualify for specific positions—provided that they occur after an offer of employment is made and are applied to all persons hired or employed in positions of that kind.

· The Federal Aviation Administration http://www.faa.gov/ withholds first-class medical certificates for pilots who take certain medications. Since 2010, the FAA has had an exception for pilots who take an anti-depressant medication for mild to moderate depression. Out of 120,000 commercial pilots, about 30 have utilized the exception. The exception does not apply to other medical conditions such as anxiety disorders.

· Medical conditions which may affect public safety are not limited to mental illness but may include a broad range of other medical disorders, including heart disease, diabetes, epilepsy, impaired vision and others. Medical concerns are also not limited to the airline industry; they also involve other forms of transportation and other professions such as police, doctors, lawyers and others.

· It is essential that policies governing medical and mental health concerns in certain professions not create disincentives for individuals to seek medical help when needed for fear that their livelihoods might be threatened.

· Greater awareness of mental health issues and training in appropriate and effective responses to crisis situations should be part of every industry and workplace.

About NAMI
NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI advocates for access to services, treatment, supports and research and is steadfast in its commitment to raising awareness and building a community of hope for all of those in need.

NAMI on Twitter http://twitter.com/namicommunicate  
NAMI on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/officialNAMI

SOURCE National Alliance on Mental Illness 

 

Alert: Public Hearing on S.B. 452 Is Thursday

The state legislature’s Judiciary Committee will be holding a public hearing Thursday on a bill that would allow probate judges to order the forcible medication of persons with a mental illness.

If this bill were to become law, a probate judge would need only hear from ONE, not two psychiatrists “selected by the court” in forming his or her opinion as to whether the person should be subject to Involuntary Outpatient Commitment.

Thus, “state or local police” may be enlisted in “transporting” a person who is “capable of giving informed consent but refuses to consent to take medication” to a hospital or clinic where he or she “may be medicated over his or her objection.”

Ironically, this shall be done “consistent with the dignity and privacy of the patient.”

According to Hartford Probate Judge Robert Killian, who advocated this bill, it is intended for only a handful of people, but he receives some 400 commitment petitions a year. There is reason to think that, if enacted, the law would be applied to an ever-widening pool of people.  

The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in Room 1E of the Legislative Office Building.

Persons wishing to testify need to sign up between 8 and 9:30 a.m. in Room 2500 of the Legislative Office Building. NAMI-CT will sign you up, if you can’t make it that early, and will help with writing or copying testimony. Call 860-882-0236 and ask for Maura to sign you up. And if you need a ride, call us.

Remember: Each speaker is limited to 3 minutes of testimony. So think succinct.

DMHAS Legislative Update # 9 March 23, 2012

This update will flag a few of the bills that have come out of committee.  Please note that the Outpatient Commitment bill public hearing has been scheduled for Thursday March 29th.  The information regarding that hearing is contained in this update.  We also want to remind folks that it is expected that the Appropriations Committee may vote on the budget adjustment bill for the upcoming fiscal year.  We will keep you updated as that process unfolds.

Judiciary Committee

The Judiciary Committee will hold a public hearing on Thursday, March 29, 2012 at 10:00 A.M. in Room 1E of the LOB.  Please submit 45 copies of written testimony to Committee staff, preferably any day prior to the hearing, but no later than one hour prior to the start of the hearing in Room 2500 of the LOB.  Testimony should clearly state testifier name and related bill number(s). Testimony submitted after the designated time may not be distributed until after the hearing.  Sign-up for the hearing will begin at 8:00 A.M. and conclude at 9:30 A.M. in Room 2500 of the LOB.  Speaker order will be decided by a lottery system.  Anyone wishing to testify after the drawing is closed must sign up in the hearing room and be placed at the end of the list.  The first hour of the hearing is reserved for Legislators, Constitutional Officers, State Agency Heads and Chief Elected Municipal Officials.  Speakers will be limited to three minutes of testimony. The Committee requests that testimony be limited to matters related to the bills on the Agenda.

SUBJECT MATTER:   Miscellaneous Bills

*S.B. No. 452 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE CARE AND TREATMENT OF PERSONS WITH PSYCHIATRIC DISABILITIES.  This is the Outpatient Commitment bill

*S.B. No. 455 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES. 

*S.B. No. 456 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING HARASSMENT, ELECTRONIC HARASSMENT AND CYBERSTALKING. 

*H.B. No. 5553 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS. 

*H.B. No. 5554 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING HABEAS CORPUS REFORM. 

*H.B. No. 5555 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING DIVERSIONARY PROGRAMS.  
 
Bills voted out of committee

 
SB 293 AN ACT CONCERNING PERMANENCY AND TRANSITION PLANS.  This bill would ensure permanency plan documents and hearings include information regarding what steps the department has taken to make any necessary referrals for children under five years of age to early intervention, preschool, or special education services, steps taken to enable a child sixteen years of age or older to learn independent living skills and complete a secondary education or vocation program, and steps taken to develop a personalized transition plan for children between the ages of sixteen and eighteen.  It is on the way to the Senate floor for further action.


SB 397 AN ACT AMENDING THE MEDICAID STATE PLAN TO INCLUDE CHIROPRACTIC TREATMENT AS AN OPTIONAL SERVICE.  This bill would add chiropractic treatment as an optional service covered under the Medicaid state plan.  It is on the way to the floor of the Senate for further action.
 

HB 5064 AN ACT CONCERNING THE DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION SERVICES' REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.  This bill would combine the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services' reporting requirements into one report submitted every three years and to eliminate a hospital reporting requirement regarding protocols for screening patients for alcohol and substance abuse, which is unnecessary.  It is a DMHAS sponsored bill and is headed to the floor of the House for further action.
 

HB 5219 AN ACT CONCERNING THE INCLUSION OF YOUNG ADULTS IN THE ANNUAL REPORT CARD ON POLICIES AND PROGRAMS AFFECTING CHILDREN.  This bill would expand the annual report card on policies and programs affecting children to include young adults.  It is headed to the floor of the House for further action.


HB 5287 AN ACT CONCERNING THE APPOINTMENT OF A GUARDIAN AD LITEM FOR A PERSON WHO IS SUBJECT TO A CONSERVATORSHIP PROCEEDING OR A PROCEEDING CONCERNING ADMINISTRATION OF TREATMENT FOR A PSYCHIATRIC DISABILITY.  The bill would provide that: (1) A person who is subject to a conservatorship proceeding or a proceeding concerning administration of treatment for a psychiatric disability shall not be appointed a guardian ad litem prior to a determination that such person is incapacitated, and (2) such appointment be made for limited purposes and duration established by the court. It is headed to the floor of the House for further action.

 HB 5360 AN ACT PROHIBITING CERTAIN PERSONS FROM ALLOWING MINORS TO POSSESS ALCOHOLIC LIQUOR IN DWELLING UNITS AND ON PRIVATE PROPERTY.  This bill would protect the health and safety of persons under the age of eighteen and to prohibit certain persons from allowing minors to possess alcoholic liquor in dwelling units or on private property.  It is headed to the floor of the House for further action.

 
HB 5387 AN ACT CONCERNING HEALTH INSURANCE CLAIM FORMS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A UNIFORM TREATMENT AUTHORIZATION FORM FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES.  This bill would allow health care providers to use a National Provider Identifier in lieu of a federal tax identification number on an HCFA1500 payment claim form, and to require the development of a uniform treatment authorization form for mental health services.  This bill is headed to the floor of the House for further action.

 
HB 5389 AN ACT CONCERNING THE PALLIATIVE USE OF MARIJUANA.  This bill would permit the palliative use of marijuana.  It is headed to the floor of the House for further action.

 
HB 5453 AN ACT CONCERNING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE.  This bill would adopt and define a trauma-informed child and family-serving system in family violence cases.  This bill is on the way to the House floor for further action. 

 
HB 5450 AN ACT ESTABLISHING A BASIC HEALTH PROGRAM.  This bill would establish a basic health program providing coverage for persons under sixty-five years of age with family income up to two hundred per cent of the federal poverty level.  This is the Human Services Committee bill that is on its way to the House floor for further action.

 
Accessing Information via the Connecticut General Assembly Web Page:

 If you wish to get the details/status on a bill, read the text of a bill, or check on committee agendas or upcoming events in the Bulletin, log onto the Connecticut General Assembly web page at:

New Job Posting

Jennifer Gross, who recently left us to become Director of Development for the ALS Association CT Chapter, says there is a job opening there for the position of Care Services Coordinator. She says this is an ideal fit for someone with a background in social work, nursing and/or case management. Here's the link:

 http://careers.ctnonprofits.org/jobseeker/job/9777813/Care%20Services%20Coordinator/THe%20ALS%20Association%20CT%20Chatper/?vnet=0&t735=122&max=25&t3961=46099&t736=223

Board Has New Deputy Director

Kenton Robinson is the new Deputy Director of The Eastern Regional Mental Health Board. Robinson comes to the board after nearly thirty years in journalism, both as an editor and a writer for The Hartford Courant and The Day of New London. During his time with The Day, Robinson wrote many stories about mental health issues and a column about the stigma of mental illness in which he "outed himself" as a consumer. 
Robinson is excited to be starting a new career in a field close to his heart. He can be reached at 860-886-0030 or by email at krobinson@ermhb.org.

Authors of "Divided Minds" Visit Norwich

Pamela Spiro Wagner and Carolyn Spiro, MD, joined the January meeting of the Changing Minds Book Group to facilitate the discussion of their dual memoir “Divided Minds:  Twin Sisters and their Journey through Schizophrenia”.   They reminisced about how an agent sought them out, a practically unheard of experience, after reading an article about them in the Hartford Courant.  The book was actually on a deadline at a time when Pamela was in and out of the hospital.  Carolyn remembers many trips to the hospital, manuscript in hand, to get her sister’s help with the edits demanded by the publisher.

During the writing process, the sisters, who are identical twins, titled their book “Solo for Two”.  Insistent that the focus of the story should be on the twin relationship and schizophrenia, however, the book’s publishers renamed it, a decision that still rankles with the sisters.  Indeed, long passages about the larger family situation and other issues were casualties of the editor’s pen.  As a result, the sisters say, they have been criticized for the absence of detail regarding family issues, and some family members feel excluded from the story. 

Pamela does not believe she has schizophrenia, as the title of the book might suggest, but that her illness is due to the neuropsychiatric effects of Lyme Disease.  Carolyn, a practicing psychiatrist, said that some of her sister’s symptoms were not typical of schizophrenia, and that in fact other external or medical causes could have been at work.

In discussing the family dynamics surrounding Pamela’s illness, both sisters say that their father, a prominent physician at Yale, had a powerful need to deny the illness.  Neither of their parents has ever attended an event for their book or for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).  However, Carolyn remembers her father telling her to “write everything down” when the book was in its early stages. 

Carolyn has a particular appreciation for involving families in the treatment process and believes that she is more sensitive as a psychiatrist to family members because of her personal experiences; she is determined to treat family members with the respect that her sister’s doctors failed to give her.  She notes that family opposition to treatment is particularly damaging now, because it can be a barrier to receiving care that is far superior to what her sister had in the 1970s.

Both sisters are glad they wrote the book and agree that doing public appearances for the book has brought them closer together.  Says Pamela, “Writing it is the only way I can deal with it [the illness].  There is never any relief; I need to share it with others.” Her blog at www.wagblog.wordpress.com provides a continuing outlet that helps her to cope, giving voice to her personal observations about her illness and her treatment experiences.  But when whether she would consider writing a sequel to her book, Pamela demurred.

An award-winning poet and talented artist in her own right, Pamela read one of her poems “Poem in which I Speak Finally” to the group. Two of her life-sized paper mache sculptures joined the circle for the book group.  “Dr John Jumoke" represents the ideal psychiatrist; “Jumoke” means “loved by all” or “well-beloved”.  Along with "Ermentrude, Sitting", the sculpture is in permanent residence at Otis Library, thanks to Pamela’s generosity.

Authors of "Divided Minds" to Lead Book Discussion

When:  Wednesday January 4, 2012, 6:30 PM.

Where:  Otis Library, 261 Main Street, Norwich, Ct 06360

The Network Education Committee, in partnership with Otis Library, presents the Changing Minds Book Club is pleased to announce an appearance by Carolyn S. Spiro, MD and Pamela Spiro Wagner, authors of "Divided Minds:  Twin Sisters and their Journey through Schizophrenia" at January's meeting of the book group.  They will lead the discussion and answer questions, offering insight into the creative process for their book.  For more information about this event, call Jennifer Gross at 860-886-0030. 

Barnes & Noble synopsis:

Growing up in the fifties, Carolyn Spiro was always in the shadow of her more intellectually dominant and social outgoing twin, Pamela. But as the twins approached adolescence, Pamela began to succumb to schizophrenia, hearing disembodied voices and eventually suffering many breakdowns and hospitalizations.

Divided Minds is a dual memoir of identical twins, one of whom faces a life sentence of schizophrenia, and the other who becomes a psychiatrist, after entering the spotlight that had for so long been focused on her sister. Told in the alternating voices of the sisters, Divided Minds is a heartbreaking account of the far reaches of madness, as well as the depths of ambivalence and love between twins. It is a true and unusually frank story of identical twins with very different identities and wildly different experiences of the world around them.

The Changing Minds Book Group is a monthly discussion group focused on mental health and substance use issues, the autism spectrum, and family involvement in recovery. These discussions are free and open to the public. Copies of the books are available to borrow at the Otis Library Circulation Desk. Seating is limited; please call (860) 889-2365, ext. 128, to reserve your seat.  Participants must read the book to attend.

Special Presention on CIT Scheduled for October 12th

Lt. Jeffrey Nixon of the Waterford Police Department will speak about the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model. Lt. Nixon also serves on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Alliance to Benefit Police Officers (CABLE) and as a member of CABLE's CIT faculty. CABLE is a grassroots, non-profit, 501 (C)(3) research and training collaborative that brings community and law enforcement resources together to address common issues... related to mental health. Since 2003, CABLE has delivered Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) patrol specialist training to police officers across the state. The 40-hour CIT training is designed specifically for the first responder to calls involving individuals in psychiatric crisis and covers:

-Mental illness and substance abuse
-The mental health system
-Safe de-escalation techniques
-Suicide by Cop
-Suicide assessment and prevention
-Children’s mental health and trauma
-Mental health and the law
-Excited delirium
-Real life family and consumer perspectives on living with mental illness

The CIT model was first developed and implemented in 1988 as a result of a partnership between the Memphis, TN Police Department, the University of Memphis, The University of Tennessee and the Memphis Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The model was developed to address the special challenges to law enforcement posed by persons with mental illness and to better serve the community. CIT has been formally recognized as a "best practice model” by the US Department of Justice, and offers proven benefits, including a reduced need for use of lethal force, fewer injuries to officers and to mental health consumers, reduced ED recidivism, and increased jail diversion for individuals with mental illnesses.

While serving at the New London Police Department, Capt. Kenneth Edwards, Jr. implemented the CIT model, making the NLPD the tenth police department in the nation and the first in New England to adopt the CIT model. Within our region, seven towns, two college campuses, and one tribal nation have CIT trained officers; of those, six police departments have a policy ensuring that a CIT patrol officer, if one is available, will be dispatched to a call involving a psychiatric crisis.

The CIT model has offered immense benefits to the providers, staff, consumers, and family members throughout our region, and continues to do so. In addition to the presentation, there will be a short Q&A session.

PLEASE RSVP to Jennifer Gross at 860-886-0030 or jgross@ermhb.org.

Changing Minds Book Group

On Wednesday, October 5th at 6:30 p.m., the Book Group will discuss "An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness", by Kay Redfield Jamison, an international authority on mood disorders and a Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The book is an autobiographical account of her own journey with bipolar illness.

The Book Group will meet at Otis Library, located at 261 Main Street in Norwich.  Books are available to borrow with your Connecticut library card at the Otis Library Circulation desk. Contact Jennifer Gross at 860-886-0030 for more information.

Keep the Promise Coalition to Hold Annual Legislative Advocacy Trainings

Each year the Keep the Promise Coalition holds Legislative Advocacy Trainings at the State Legislative Office Building in Hartford.  These trainings are an excellent way to "get your feet wet" if you are interested in becoming an advocate.  If you are already an advocate, these trainings can offer you a wealth of valuable information to help you hone your advocacy skills.  The trainings are open to anyone who is interested, as long as space is available.

You do not have to have any knowledge about the legislative process or prior experience with advocacy to register for these trainings, although you should take the trainings in the order they are offered, ie, "Essentials of Legislative Advocacy" before "Legislative Leadership Training". 

     Essentials of Legislative Advocacy: October 5th and 12th

     Legislative Leadership Training:  December 1st and 8th

See the attached flier and registration forms for more information about dates, times, location, etc.  Although there is a $20 fee for each of the trainings, scholarships and pre-approved travel and family care reimbursement may be available to those for whom the fee would be a barrier to registering.  Contact Cheri Bragg or Maura Sheil-Hughes at 1-800-215-3021 or 860-882-0236 for more information.

Ledyard Students Recognized in NAMI Essay Contest

The following article, written by Jennifer Gross, Deputy Director of the Eastern Regional Mental Health Board, appeared in the June 9, 2011 edition of The Thames River Times.

When my son Michael entered Ledyard High School as a freshman in 2004, teachers and peers alike had little tolerance for his quirkiness, a byproduct of his Asperger's Syndrome. I received phone calls from irate teachers who called Michael disrespectful, stubborn and argumentative. Other students were baffled by his poor social skills, his physical awkwardness, and a tendency to obsess about certain topics. His sophisticated grasp of the English language and sometimes inappropriate sense of humor confused, and often angered, his peers.

The reaction of most was to ignore Michael, condemning him to social exclusion for the duration of high school. But he often endured ridicule and outright intimidation from other students. He sank into deep depression, and soon stopped trying to fit in. For Michael, the worst pain came not from his illness, but from the stigma of being different.


All that seems to have changed, thanks to a collaborative effort between Ledyard High School and NAMI Southeastern Connecticut, now in its third year. The purpose of the essay contest is to address the shame and ignorance associated with mental illness, which keeps many young people from seeking help. With the support of Ledyard High School, the NAMI Southeast chapter sponsors an essay contest each year called "Breaking the Silence of Mental Illness."


Four of the five essay contest winners were honored last week at an awards ceremony for their accounts of living with mental illness. James O'Dea, PhD, MBA, administrative director of the Department of Psychiatric Services at Backus Hospital, in introducing one of the contest winners, said he often thinks about how much pain could be prevented if mental illnesses could be identified earlier, but thinks "that's going to change because of the essays these kids have written."


The first place winner, Marguerite France, wrote an essay entitled "Depression," Cheryl Jacques, APRN, who is CEO of the Southeastern Mental Health Authority, called Marguerite's essay "very bold and very honest." She added, "You let us know through your writing that there is a reduction in stigma… when people understand what mental illness is. People with mental illness suffer less."


Second place winner Amanda Eakin, in an essay called "Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness," acknowledged that until a family member developed an eating disorder, she had a lot of misconceptions about mental illness. She said, "Mental illness can test you and it can bring you together as a family."


Elizabeth Hooper won third place with her essay "Elephants," calling depression "a giant elephant in the room taking all the air." Honorable mentions were awarded to Ashley Giordano for "My Brother's Gift," and to Patricia Elliot for "Dementia and Me."

As the parent of a child who has at long last found acceptance and tolerance, I applaud Ledyard High School for supporting this valuable partnership with NAMI Southeastern Connecticut. It is an important first step towards helping our youth understand those who live with mental illnesses. I hope that other area high schools will follow suit.

Celebrate "May is Mental Health Month" in Eastern Connecticut!

Mental Health Month began in 1949 and is celebrated each month to raise awareness of mental health conditions and mental wellness for all.  Many organizations in Southeastern Connecticut will hold special events in recognition of this important celebration.  Please consider attending one of the events listed below to learn more about the abilities of people with mental illnesses to recover and live full and productive lives. You can also learn how to improve your own well-being and resiliency in the face of difficult times and challenges.  

May 1—30:  The Eastern Regional Mental Health Board has provided informational packets to area libraries.  Call or visit your local library to check out a book on mental health issues, or contact the Board at 860-886-0030 for a list of recommended readings.

Sunday, May 1st:  The Southeastern Mental Health Authority’s (SMHA) Family CROP Walk team will join with other area teams in a walk to end hunger. Over 30 clients, family members, staff and friends will walk to benefit St. Vincent de Paul Place in Norwich and relief efforts in Haiti and Japan.  Contact Jeff Montague at 860-859-4500 for more information. 

Thursday, May 5th:  Reliance House will hold a Mother’s Day Plant and Bake Sale from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at the Jewett City Baptist Church.  Plants, gift baskets and baked goods will be available.  Proceeds will benefit an employee who is undergoing treatment for cancer.  For more information, or to contribute a basket, please contact Lorraine Kindel or Tara Wolinski at 860-376-5991 

Thursday, May 5th:  At 8:45 am, there will be an informal gathering in the SMHA Lobby in recognition of the National Day of Prayer; focus will be on common theme of peace from various faith tradition perspectives. Throughout the day, there will be opportunities to participate in the unifying expression of prayer. 

Friday, May 6th: The Human Services Program at Three Rivers Community College will sponsor a public forum about mental health services in Southeastern Connecticut from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. in Room C-101 of the college, at 574 New London Turnpike in Norwich.  Representatives of local mental health organizations, including the ERMHB, will participate.  For information, contact Joyce Martin, professor of human services, at (860) 892-5701. 

Monday, May 9th:  Artreach will hold Inner Peace/Global Peace, a poetry and music event at the Otis Library, 261 Main Street, in Norwich from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.  There is no admission fee for the event, but all donations will be welcome.  For more information, or to register, call 860-887-0014. 

Wednesday, May 11th:  The Eastern Regional Mental Health Board will hold a Recruitment Potluck Dinner from 4:00—6:00 p.m. at SMHA, 401 W. Thames Street, Bldg 301 in Norwich.  If you would like to influence the quality and accessibility of mental health services to people in Southeastern Connecticut, please attend.  Call 860-886-0030 for more information. 

Tuesday, May 17th:  SMHA will hold an Interfaith Celebration: Remembrance, Resilience, & Recovery, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. at SMHA.  Call Jeff Montague at 860-859-4500 for more information. 

Wednesday, May 18th:  The SMHA Recovery Advisory Council will hold “Let’s Get Better Together” at the SMHA building from 9:00 a.m.—1:30 p.m.  This year’s focus will be on wellness and social inclusion.  Call Cindy McGrath at 860-859-4500 for more information. 

Friday, May 20th:  Reliance House will hold Recovery Rocks from 10 a.m. to 3p.m. at Harkness Park.  Call 860-887-6536 for more information. 

Saturday, May 21st:  NAMIWalks for the Mind  at Bushnell Park in Hartford.  The NAMI Southeast affiliate is coordinating a team.  For more information or to make a donation, contact Robbyn Sibley at 860-887-1937 or Edie Lamprecht at 860-859-5497. 

Thursday May 26th:  The Southeastern Employment Network will hold its Annual Employer Recognition Celebration to honor business that employ individuals with mental health and substance abuse diagnoses.  The event will take place from 1:00—3:00 p.m. at the Southeastern Mental Health  Authority.  

Tuesday, May 31st:  Application deadline for the Eastern Regional Mental Health Board’s Michael Kerr Scholarship program.  Applicants must have a mental illness, reside in the Eastern Region of Connecticut (Region 3), and be in or applying to a recognized education or vocational training program.  Contact Jennifer Gross at 860-886-0030 for more information.  

Recruitment Potluck Dinner Scheduled for May 11th

The Eastern Regional Mental Health Board will hold its First Annual Recruitment Potluck dinner on Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. at the Southeastern Mental Health Authority, 401 W. Thames Street, Building 301, Norwich, Connecticut. 

We ask you to bring a dish to share and guests who would like to influence state mental health policy and the quality of mental health services available to citizens of the towns in which they live.    

In 1975 the state legislature established five Regional Mental Health Boards to ensure that citizens from every town in Connecticut could be actively involved in determining the nature and quality of mental health services delivered in Connecticut.  The Eastern Regional Mental Health Board is composed of four Catchment Area Councils (CACs), which elect members to the Board.  Together, they evaluate state-funded mental health programs, assess needs and plan for the future, and advocate for improvements.    By law, each of the 39 towns represented by the Eastern Regional Mental Health Board may have a representative in the CACs. Currently, the following towns have empty seats on the CACs: 

Northeast CT:  Canterbury, Columbia, Coventry, Eastford, Pomfret, Scotland, Sterling, Union, Willington
 
Southeast CT:  Bozrah, Griswold, Groton, Lisbon, North Stonington, Salem, Sprague, Voluntown

Even if you don't live in one of these towns, and you are interested in participating in the CACs, PLEASE ATTEND THE DINNER to learn more about the benefits to your town of participating in Regional Board activities.  Contact Jennifer Gross at 860-886-0030 or jgross@ermhb.org with questions. 

2011 Michael Kerr Memorial Scholarships

The Eastern Regional Mental Health Board is now accepting applications for the Michael Kerr Memorial Scholarships.

Eligibility:  You must have a mental illness, reside in Region 3, and be in or applying to a recognized education or vocational training program.  Awards are contingent on proof of enrollment or admission.

Application:  Your application must be complete to be considered.  Applications must be typed or printed legibly.  Please include phone number, an email address (if you have one) and complete address so that we can contact you if necessary.  Please give complete answers to the questions below.

Awards:  Scholarship awards will be presented at our Annual Picnic on June 14th (location to be determined).  Notification of awards will be by letter or email.

Submit your completed application to: 
Jennifer Gross, Deputy Director
Eastern Regional Mental Health Board
401 W. Thames Street, Campbell Building, Unit 105
Norwich, CT 06360
FAX:  (860)886-4014
EMAIL:   jgross@ermhb.com

To request an application form or ask a question, call (860)886-0030.
Deadline for Applications:  May 31, 2011

2011 Legislative Breakfast--CAC 11/12

On Friday, January 14, 2011, The Eastern Regional Mental Health Board held its 2011 Legislative Breakfast at the Southeastern Mental Health Authority.  Senator Edith Prague, Senator Andrew Maynard, Representative Tom Reynolds, and Representative Betsy Ritter attended the event. 

To see more photos of the event, click on  2011 Legislative Breakfast.  To read testimony presented at the Breakfast, click on Documents Library

Lorna Grivois, of Colchester, urged legislators not to transfer children’s mental health services from the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), because “DMHAS has plenty on their plate already.  They are dealing with both substance abuse issues and mental illness of young adults, adults and senior consumers in our state.”  Ms. Grivois, a mental health advocate with ten years experience, and the parent of a young adult who has received services from DCF and from DMHAS’ Young Adult Services program warned, “DCF’s behavioral health services have to be considered an equal priority in relation to the child protection function.  There must be a much-defined division between the two so parents are not so fearful when reaching out for help and staff do not get confused.” 

Robert Davidson, PhD, also warned about other proposed agency mergers, such as between Department of Developmental Services (DDS) and DMHAS, and the danger of marginalizing people with mental illnesses even further.  Everyone who receives services would suffer, he said, while newly-merged departments struggle to merge clashing cultures and workers become swamped with even more bureaucracy.

Jennifer Gross of Gales Ferry spoke about raising a son with Aspergers Syndrome.  Because of his disorder, Michael Pietras, 20, experienced severe bullying throughout his school years.  Teachers misconstrued the behavioral symptoms of Aspergers Syndrome as disrespect and defiance, she said.  “As his peers realized that teachers and administrators had already identified him as a troublemaker, the bullies among them also understood that he was an easy target…I know from long experience that he was desperate to fit in, and that he was baffled and miserable about his inability to stay out of trouble.”  When Michael asked for help from adults at school, Ms. Gross said, “They demanded proof, or simply said they didn’t believe him.”  Worse, “Bystanders never once spoke up for Michael or supported his side of the story.”  Ms. Gross worked long hours with her son on social skills-building and she says that while Michael is doing well now, “Multiple school systems failed to consider Michael’s mental health.  As a result, he spent his school years isolated and ostracized.”  

Michael spoke about having been bullied from the time he was in elementary school.  His teachers tended to assume that he was deliberately being disrespectful, and “when I went to adults for help, I didn’t get it, and more often than not, I was the one who got into trouble.”  He reports, “I was miserable because I thought there was something wrong with me.”  Michael is now a junior at Clark University, with a 3.7 GPA and multiple scholarships.  He says that though he is happy now, “People should have good childhoods that they remember and feel good about.”  

Reliance House Executive Director Dave Burnett, along with Service Coordinator Jerri Levenson, spoke about the challenges of living on non-profit salaries.  Ms. Levenson is pursuing a master’s degree in Social Work, and said that while Reliance House can only pay her $13.60/hour, she stays because she loves the members of Reliance House and her co-workers.  Many of her peers; however, must leave Reliance House when they can no longer support their families on such low wages, she said.  “The high rate of turnover is a huge disservice to Reliance House, to fellow employees, and most of all, to members,” Ms. Levenson said.   

The Keep the Promise Players, Howard Beatman, Judith Essex, Melody Smith, Dylan Croft, and Sam Bliven, performed the satirical skit “Budget Strategies”, written by Robert Davidson, PhD.  The skit was about what happens when people propose mergers based on superficial similarities.