John Young, whose column appears regularly in the Hamilton Journal-News, writes:
"What we do, or don’t do, for severely mentally ill individuals is a scandal. One of the rarely discussed scandals is the lack of housing assistance."
"When it comes to housing the mentally ill, most policymakers don’t get it. They don’t see that permanent housing, with support, for the mentally ill is cost-effective. It helps people recover. It reduces demands on jails and mental hospitals.
"You’ve heard the old definition of insanity — doing something over and over again and expecting a different result. That’s what we do when mentally ill people go from jail, to the mental hospital, and back to the street. Yeah, that’s crazy."
Read the complete article at this link.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
NAMI's 30th Anniversary Convention July 6-9
NAMI National is celebrating its 30 year anniversary at the 2009 Convention this year in San Francisco, CA from July 6 -9th. There is still time to register for the convention by going to www.NAMI.org.
Denise Nichols: The Elememts of Recovery
Our NAMI speaker for the May 21st meeting was Denise Nichols, a long-time friend of NAMI and provider of services in Butler County. She is now a counselor at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. Denise discussed the elements of recovery and highlighted getting sleep, having a schedule and exercise as three important components. Also she believes everyone with a mental health diagnosis should have an "advanced directive", a document that clearly states how one wants to be treated, by whom and with what in the event of a serious decompensation in mental health status.
This document gives control to the person with the mental illness and helps family members and doctors know how to proceed according to the patient's wishes. Also for people with bipolar illnesses, it is important that a close friend or family member recognizes the first signs of decompensation and takes steps to avert disasters. Often times, one of the first signs is a person going for days with little or no sleep. With an increased manic state there is tendency to abuse credit cards, some people willingly give up the cards, especially if that if one of the conditions of the advanced directive. This alone saves untold grief and depression for the person once the manic state subsides.
Denise said that a good doctor who finds the right medications plus a trusted therapist are imperative to a successful recovery. Putting together all these pieces can take a lot of time but the payoff is worth the investment.
This document gives control to the person with the mental illness and helps family members and doctors know how to proceed according to the patient's wishes. Also for people with bipolar illnesses, it is important that a close friend or family member recognizes the first signs of decompensation and takes steps to avert disasters. Often times, one of the first signs is a person going for days with little or no sleep. With an increased manic state there is tendency to abuse credit cards, some people willingly give up the cards, especially if that if one of the conditions of the advanced directive. This alone saves untold grief and depression for the person once the manic state subsides.
Denise said that a good doctor who finds the right medications plus a trusted therapist are imperative to a successful recovery. Putting together all these pieces can take a lot of time but the payoff is worth the investment.
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