Dance moves, silly props, and lots of laughter are in store for people in the latest of a series of recovery support classes offered by Northern Lakes Community Mental Health (CMH).
Funded by a federal block grant administered by the Michigan Department of Community Health, Exercise Without Exertion classes are based on the Lebed Method, which [...]
I’ve been in the mental health field as a consumer of services since I was nine years old. Twenty years have passed and I see more and more changes every day. Recovery this and recovery that. What the heck do these people mean? Recovering from what? I still need to take my meds. I still [...]
I went into a local store where I live a few weeks back and saw a woman and her two sons standing at the cash register fully clothed from head to toe in almost 70 degree weather. I assumed this was because of their religion because, growing up, we were taught that people who looked [...]
After several years of planning, organizers held a dedication ceremony on June 10 for the national consumer memorial which commemorates the hundreds of thousands of mostly anonymous people buried at state hospitals across the country.
Our friend Larry Fricks, director of the Appalachian Consulting Group and vice-president of peer services for the Depression and Bipolar Support [...]
This is R.D. (short for Recovery Doll)
He comes with many parts and many colors.
We too, have many parts and come in many colors.
If someone hits R.D.,
it doesn’t hurt him.
If someone hollers at R.D.,
he doesn’t let it bother him.
If someone hits you,
don’t let it hurt your feelings.
If someone hollers at you,
don’t let it bother you,
no matter [...]
The Recovery Council meets monthly to help move the Northern Lakes system transformation forward so the organization is increasingly more recovery-based.
Some of the key accomplishments of the Council:
The Recovery Council developed the official Definition of Recovery – The definition is key to driving system transformation and keeping our vision on track. The definition is posted [...]
Here are Learning Community agendas from January, February, April, May, and June. During March, Learning Communities did not meet. Instead, Northern Lakes Community Mental Health conducted the Recovery Enhancing Environment (REE) survey.
For several months, the Learning Communities learned about a different diagnosis each meeting. In January it was Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. In February the topic [...]
There are many reasons that people volunteer. Some people want to feel needed or to share a skill that they have. Some want to get to know a group of people or to show a commitment to a cause or belief. Many people need to volunteer to repay a debt or to earn credit in [...]
Chances are that you might wake up with a mental illness tomorrow; that’s 1 in 5. I didn’t choose the illness, it picked me. I really didn’t want it; maybe you’d like to have it instead…
I have bi-polar – there, I said it, like it was a dirty word or something. Well, it’s not! My [...]
“Beyond the Shadows of Stigma” highlights works from a gallery showing produced by participants in the Photovoice course, “Taking off the Blinders: A Project to Combat Stigma and Discrimination.” The 8-minute online video poignantly captures the essence of the Photovoice experience through interviews with participants and the works they created.
Similarly to Northern Lakes CMH’s Photobiography [...]
