Northern Lakes Community Mental Health » News

Today Marks 20th Anniversary of ADA

Northern Lakes CMH — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:43:56 +0000

July 26, 2010 marks the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, one of the most important civil rights victories in U.S. history. Some of the pioneers who worked to pass the ADA are featured in compelling videos produced by TASH. TASH is an international association of people with disabilities, their family members, other advocates, and professionals fighting for a society in which inclusion of all people in all aspects of society is the norm.

The official ADA web site has added a video which documents the speech given by President George H. W. Bush when he signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law on July 26, 1990. In the video, President Bush speaks to a huge audience of activists, Congressional supporters, people with disabilities, and their families and friends gathered on the south lawn of the White House.

The 22-minute film, provided to the Department by the George Bush Presidential Library, is being re-released on the Internet to increase awareness of the ADA.

Anti-Stigma Presentation at the State Consumer Conference

Mary Beth Evans, Recovery Coordinator — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:50:02 +0000

I had the honor and the privilege to both attend and present at the State Consumer Conference on Thursday, July 22. There were so many wonderful workshops that I had a hard time choosing which ones I wanted to attend. I presented with Steven Batson from the Michigan Recovery Center of Excellence on Anti-Stigma. We showed the documentary that NLCMH just recently released (Look Closer: See Me For Who I Am) and got all great feedback on how well it was created.

I found it rather educating to hear folks answer the question of why they chose to attend our session after Steven had asked them. There were so many different answers to this question and it led to an amazing discussion on what people thought stigma was and how it affected their lives in so many different levels and in so many different ways.

What kinds of stigma do you encounter on a daily basis?
How does it make you feel?
How can you change it as only one voice/person?

All of this consumes me at so many different levels. I’d like to hear your thoughts on these questions. Maybe your thoughts can help someone else. I’m hoping it will help continue to show that even though we might all not know each other, we all face it and deal with it daily and we might even stigmatize others daily without even knowing it. How? Why? When? Think about it and how you can help others. Leave your thoughts and help someone else.

9th Annual Conference By, For & About Consumers Coming June 16, 2010!

Northern Lakes CMH — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:19:15 +0000

The 9th Annual Northwest CMH Affiliation Regional Conference By, For, and About Consumers is planned for Wednesday, June 16 at the Northern Lakes CMH Traverse City Office.

Learn & Lead to Succeed is the theme and the topics will be:

Discover The Leader Within… Inspire, Lead, Succeed
Strategic Sharing and Advocacy
Stepping Out and Sharing Your Gifts as a Volunteer or Employee

If you are receiving services or supports from Northern Lakes CMH, you are invited and encouraged to attend! The conference is free, and includes continental breakfast and lunch. Transportation from Cadillac, Houghton Lake and Grayling will be arranged for those who need it.

The conference runs from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Registration deadline is Friday, June 11, 2010. Here is the Registration Form. If you have trouble downloading the form and printing it out, you may also call Cindy Petersen at 231-935-3099 or Rosemary Rokita at 1-800-337-8598 for more information.

National Women’s Health Week: It’s Your Time!

Northern Lakes CMH — Sun, 09 May 2010 13:13:03 +0000

May 9-15, 2010 celebrates the 11th Annual National Women’s Health Week. The theme, “It’s Your Time,” reminds women that even though they are often caregivers for children, spouses, and parents, they must not forget to take time to focus on their own health. This nationwide celebration urges women to make their own health their top priority.

Women are very different from men. While we share many common traits as human beings, we don’t share all of the same health concerns. Some conditions are more common in women. Here are some good sources to learn more – including some practical, easy things you can add into your life right away:

Women’s Mental Health: What It Means To You is a great publication by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Office on Women’s Health. Click womenmentalhealth to access this 22-page booklet which is packed with helpful information of specific interest to women.

Another fantastic resource to support women’s health can be found in the Health Education Answers section of our web site. Click here and then choose “Launch” to access this interactive site!

Local Artist Work Selected for State Show

Northern Lakes CMH — Mon, 03 May 2010 05:18:30 +0000

Artwork by Traverse City resident Robert J. Morey has been selected for inclusion in the statewide “Creative Minds Changing Minds” traveling art show. Morey’s collage featuring faces and eyes will be one of thirty-five pieces in the show sponsored by the Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards (MACMHB), and will represent the six counties of northern Michigan served by Northern Lakes Community Mental Health (CMH).

Morey will receive a $100 prize in addition to the honor of being selected.

According to MACMHB Executive Director Michael Vizena, the goals of the show are to help destigmatize mental illness, developmental disabilities and substance use issues by showcasing the multi-dimensionality of people who use community mental health services and to highlight the recovery potential of the arts.

“Art, for me, is an expression of what life, death, relations, isolation, and stagnation is and/or means to me in a variety of instances. Drawing is my most practiced medium. My goal is to be able to draw a noise or a mood without anyone focusing on specific objects. Social functions are my favorite theme,” said Morey.

The traveling art show will begin its two-year schedule at the MACMHB spring conference in Dearborn on May 17-19, 2010. The show will then be publicly presented at various venues around the rest of the state through 2012.

At the end of two years, the artwork will be auctioned and the proceeds will be used in other efforts to increase awareness of the prevalence of mental illness and developmental disabilities. “We hope the overall effect will be to alleviate stigma and normalize help seeking behaviors throughout Michigan,” according to Vizena.

Three representatives from the Cadillac Arts Council served as judges in choosing the artwork to represent the Northern Lakes CMH service area. They were Phyllis Olson, member of the Cadillac Area Artists Association who is a lifelong artist and has been one of the organizers of the annual Cadillac Art Fair for most of 40 years; Dean Sandell, President of the Northern Michigan Art Guild who has education, training and work experience as a landscape architect and is also a painter/potter/photographer; and Jim Smith, Vice-President of the Cadillac Area Artists Association, who works in oils, acrylics, watercolor, and pencil.

The judges described Morey’s piece as “a fascinating emotion-filled work, with inquiring eyes that draw the viewer in – seeing, searching, looking back.”

Sandell indicated, “The process of making a piece of art was clearly in play for each artist.” He added, “The process of making art allows an opportunity create a new focus, think in a manner outside ordinary ways and give expression to our new or developing awareness.”

Cindy Petersen of Northern Lakes CMH said, “We are pleased to have representatives from the art community partner with us in selecting the piece to represent our area in the statewide show. We will be scheduling the show to come to Northern Michigan sometime during the next two years and look forward to the opportunity to showcase the work of Robert Morey and the other artists from around the state.”

If your organization is interested in hosting the traveling exhibit in northern Michigan, please contact Petersen at (231) 935-3099.

Northern Michigan Mental Health Film Featured at NYC Film Festival

Northern Lakes CMH — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:16:57 +0000

Northern Lakes Community Mental Health’s video, To See What I See, was one of four featured films in the 6th annual New York City Mental Health Film Festival on April 25, 2010.

The film festival is sponsored by the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services and Community Access, a supportive housing organization. The festival is focused on mental health recipients and the arts.

To See What I See is a 20-minute documentary which highlights the Northern Lakes Community Mental Health Stigma Busters Project, where people who have experienced mental health issues use art, “photobiographies,” and writing to inspire others to understand them, to hope, and to spread the word that recovery from a mental illness is possible.

The movie was written and directed by Mary Pierce of Traverse City and edited by Jeff Morgan of Prometheus Motion Pictures, with technical advice from Deb Freed of Freed Communications of Suttons Bay and Cynthia Petersen of Northern Lakes Community Mental Health. Shawn Semelsberger of Traverse City narrated the film.

Pierce said, “I was humbled to be a part of this experience and the opportunity to work with people who were so willing to share the most difficult experiences of their lives – for their own healing and the healing of others with mental illness. They demonstrated a determination and fortitude, through their artistic achievements, in the face of challenges.”

Morgan said, “Working on this project is one of my proudest moments, and I feel so privileged to be a part of this message. Slowly but surely we can all start evaluating each other by who we are and what we do, not by the labels given to us.”

The film was produced by Northern Lakes CMH with the support of a mental health services block grant from the Michigan Department of Community Mental Health, provided by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Mental Health Services.

To See What I See is available for purchase or download at FilmBaby.com.

A second film on recovery from a mental illness, “Look Closer: See Me For Who I Am,” was recently released by Northern Lakes CMH on FilmBaby.com and on the Northern Lakes’ YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/NorthernLakescmh. More information may be accessed at www.NorthernLakesCMH.org.

Amanda’s Story

Northern Lakes CMH — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 11:55:44 +0000

I saw my first counselor when I was eight years old. Even today, I don’t know why my parents decided to take me to one, but it probably had to do with my shyness, anxieties and trouble fitting in at school. Either way, from that point on I would always be different from the other kids I knew. I had a few friends but had little in common with most kids my age. I went to counseling for years. Then, at 12, I had my first hospitalization after a threat to commit suicide.

Despite my problems, I always thought I had a good life. I had a family who loved me, despite our problems. We went to church regularly and my faith gave me strength that probably saved my life. I was able to attend a small private school which met my needs both academically and emotionally. In the years when depression left me, I had friends and some great life experiences. But there was always one difference: sometimes I had a happy, perfect life, and other times I would get so depressed I couldn’t go on.

My relationships helped push me toward seeing my problems and recovering from them. I’ve always been a romantic and believer in love at first sight, and I am intensely attached when I fall in love. Breaking up with my high school/college sweetheart after four years together sent me into a year-long period of detachment, which ended with a complete breakdown that took a long time to mend. A few years later, I was in a very intense love/hate relationship that left me severely depressed. I found a low-income counselor and spent a year in therapy with her. She helped me analyze and work on many of my issues such as abandonment and inappropriate relationships. Yet as I left her and time went by, the depression always came back and went away, sometimes so quickly it was scary. I still knew I was different, that there was something more wrong with me.

One day I was doing Internet searches on what was bothering me and I ran across the condition, “Borderline Personality Disorder,” or BPD. Reading the symptoms was like looking in a mirror: chaotic relationships, intense anger, impulsivity, rapidly changing moods and even the tendency to self-injure. Deep down I knew this was what I had, yet with no health insurance and a low-paying job, I couldn’t afford to go anywhere for diagnosis or treatment. I also felt embarrassed about going to a doctor and telling them I knew what was wrong – as if I had no right to diagnose myself. So for years I rode the ups and downs; sometimes I was insanely happy and then suicidal on the same day. One time I barely got out of bed for two months, and then that episode faded into a happy, upbeat me.

One summer everything changed. After ending a chaotic friendship and facing more family struggles, I was sick of my problems! During that time I was practically living in my bed, feeling hurt all the time. I called Northern Lakes Community Mental Health and I met with my new therapist, who immediately saw my symptoms as BPD. In that moment, everything changed. I knew for certain what made me so different and I was ready to step into recovery.

Like everything in my life, even my recovery seems different. It seems to be happening so fast. I’m seeing my counselor, visiting groups and working through a DBT therapy workbook. I’m rapidly learning how to cope with my emotions and handle the aspects of BPD that affect my life and relationships. That is a good thing but sometimes it’s scary. I don’t know if BDP will ever leave me and I have no idea when the symptoms will strike again, but this time something else is different – I know who I am, and with the new skills I am learning, I will be ready.

National Poison Prevention Week

Northern Lakes CMH — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:41:08 +0000

National Poison Prevention Week, the third week in March each year, is a week nationally designated to highlight the dangers of poisonings and how to prevent them. However, every day people can and do prevent poisonings. We invite you to review the information compiled by the Poison Prevention Week Council and become actively involved in helping ensure the safety of children and adults in your home and your community.

Expect Recovery: Make It Happen Newsletter – Vol. 1, Issue 4 Here!

Northern Lakes CMH — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:01:13 +0000

Click Recovery Newsletter Vol. 1, Issue 4 to see the latest issue of the Northern Lakes CMH Recovery newsletter.

You’ll find an update about the latest work done on the NLCMH “Blueprint,” which is the roadmap that we will follow to make more improvements to our public mental health system to make it more recovery-oriented. Lots of people have had a hand in this work and we appreciate everyone’s participation! You’ll also find some very useful information on person-centered planning, a great article on trauma by Colleen Jasper of the Michigan Department of Community Health and much more.

Happy reading!

February is American Heart Month

Northern Lakes CMH — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:07:50 +0000

This is an ideal time to expand your knowledge of heart health, risk factors and making good lifestyle choices.

Visit the new Heart Health section of our Health Education Answers area and you’ll find new screeners, ‘empower tools’ that you can print for your health care team, and other interactives to help you move toward a healthier heart and a healthier life!