Support Education Advocacy Research

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1 Support Education Advocacy Research June 2017 We exceeded our goal! Thank you to everyone who donated May 9th during GIVE OZARKS! The funds raised during this 24-hour online event will be used to support NAMI Southwest Missouri and the Hope Center in various ways. Give Ozarks is presented by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks and the generous support of many sponsors. NAMI Southwest Missouri and Hope Center 1443 N. Robberson, Suite 408,Springfield, MO Office : Hope Center: Warm Line:

2 Story of Impact by Tammy Lawrence I grew up in Springfield, Missouri in a middle class family. I had a fairly normal childhood except for the fact that I was teased a lot in school. I was always trying to fit in. By 12th grade I found that group that made me feel like I finally fit in. Turned out they were the wrong group. I ended up spending my time partying smoking pot and experimenting with different drugs. After continuing this for several years, at 17 years old I became pregnant with my son. This would be the first time that I got sober and stayed sober off and on for a couple of years. I had always been a social drinker but in 1988 I began drinking on a daily basis after the separation from my second husband. A few years later my sons father, after having no contact with him for 14 years decided he wanted to take custody of him. My son went to Germany due to his father being stationed there in the military. My son became a very angry young man and did some things that caused his dad problems so his father decided to bring him back to the states and have him locked up in a behavioral healthcare facility and left him there. During this time I was working full time trying to care for my ailing mother and also dealing with my father who was having heart problems struggling with the separation of my son and I. My sons father decided several months later to return from Germany and met my son and I at the courthouse with a piece of paper that he asked my son to sign. It stated that my son could be on his own at age 15 and his father would pay him $100 a month. My son wanting as far away from his father as he could, he decided to sign the document. After the paperwork was signed my son then decided in order to cope that he wanted to experiment with drugs. After that his mental illness began to rear its ugly head. Around this same time my father passed away leaving me to care for my mother 24/7. I became extremely overwhelmed and began drinking more. I ended up in treatment in June of 1992sobered up once again but still felt helpless with my son. I decided to get in contact with the mental health director and figured out what was going to have to happen to get him help. He ended up in a psychiatric facility. I learned of NAMI Southwest Missouri from the newspaper as they were going to have a program called Family to Family. I signed my boyfriend and I up. This was the best thing I could have ever done as it educated us and gave us the tools we needed to cope and deal with the situation. They taught us about the many mental illnesses, symptoms, medications, side effects but most importantly how to communicate and make life a little easier for my son. Prior to the classes I had survived two suicide attempts because of my severe depression. I went through the feelings of being helpless and worthless for not being able to fix my sons situation. At 22 my son lost his guardianship to the state. This is when I survived my third suicide attempt. I realized at this point that God must have a purpose for me. I started attending support groups and NAMI Southwest Missouri and volunteering on the Warm Line and reaching out to those who are feeling lost like my son and I felt. Today I still volunteer at NAMI Southwest Missouri almost daily doing whatever needs to be done. Most of all I enjoy doing In Our Own Voice Presentations where I am able to go to the hospital and tell my story. My son is still in state care in a rest home and is 40 years old. Little by Little with everyone's help we can lessen the stigma that goes with mental illness and our loved ones may not have to live out their lives tucked away with no hope for a normal life. I will continue to give my life to my son and NAMI Southwest Missouri continuing to help those who are lost and and need a place to feel safe and secure with who they are. I would like to personally thank all of my family and friends who have stood by my son and I along the way. 2

3 Andrea Bishop, MBA, MS, LPC Executive Director Betty and Bobby Allison Ozarks Counseling Center Often, a person struggling to deal with mental health issues needs help from many different sources. The peer support from NAMI is crucial in maintaining important social connections, feeling less isolated, and learning new ways to cope with problems. We at the Betty and Bobby Allison Ozarks Counseling Center are proud to be a sister United Way affiliate of NAMI and the two agencies have worked together for many, many years to be the mental health safety net in our area. Counseling is different than the services NAMI offers in that we, as professional psychotherapists, help our clients identify unproductive thinking and coping patterns, provide psychoeducation on the issues the individual is facing, and teach coping skills to help the client maintain his or her treatment. The reason our two agencies complement each other so nicely is in coverage of services. Therapy is only one time per week. NAMI groups meet daily and thus provide more consistent support throughout the week as needed. Our combined services provide a continuity and variety of care that neither of us can do individually. Currently, we are both working in collaboration with the Missouri State University MSU Care program, which in turn is a collaboration between MSU and the Mercy hospital system. We provide an integrated care system of physical healthcare, psychiatric medication, counseling, and NAMI peer support under one roof. Our clinicians work closely together to identify and treat individuals with mental health issues to improve their quality of life and reduce emergency room use. This model has been very successful and we have experienced a much-better-than-average attendance and usage rate than in other settings. All these services are offered completely free to those who are over age 18, uninsured, and low income. The counseling and peer support component is made possible through a grant from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. Finally, another benefit to our relationship with NAMI is its strong national advocacy program. Time and time again when writing requests for grant money, we have used national NAMI studies and statistics to quantify the need for mental health services and the efficacy of treatment in helping people lead healthier lives. As a small, local and independent nonprofit counseling clinic, we greatly appreciate the work the organization does to study mental health issues, advocate for those who need services, and work to end the stigma associated with mental illness. Andrea Bishop, MS, LPC Andrea originally completed her Master of Business Administration degree and eventually returned to Missouri State University to complete her Master of Clinical Psychology in As a Licensed Professional Counselor, and the Ozarks Counseling Centers Executive Director, Andrea serves many roles throughout the Springfield community. She typically works with adolescents and children dealing with depression, anxiety, depression associated with pregnancy as well as post-partum, issues of gifted children, blended families, divorce, and mid-life reexamination issues. Andrea focuses on cognitive behavior approaches and enjoys working with people to further aid in expressing emotions, examine patterns of behavior, and to learn new tools to help achieve goals associated with living a healthier and more fulfilling life. Andrea believes we walk one path together and the degree of possible change usually depends on the degree of openness of her clients. She values working on client s goals and helping them fulfill these aspirations. 3

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5 THANK YOU TO OUR RECENT DONORS Kickapoo High School HOSA Rolla Technical Center HOSA Ed Derr All the Donors who Contributed through Give Ozarks The Marian Center and LuLaRoe Fund Raiser Including Gabrael Lampe & Julie Belk The Carpet Shoppe Home Depot Jahnavi Delmonico MSU Psychology Club and PSI CHI Carrol Lund Judee Steward Parker Mee Davie & Carlene Anderson Pat Uthoff in memory of Tom Gustaveson Anonymous In Memory of Josephine Alsup Cox Health North NAMI SWMO Hope Center Calendar of Events and Other Activities All activities are held at the Hope Center unless otherwise noted. July 4, 2017 NAMI SWMO Hope Center closed for the Holiday July 11,2017 Advocacy Group 2:45pm July Advisory Council Meeting 2:30pm July 21,2017 Facilitator Meeting 2:30pm July 25,2017 Town Hall Meeting 2:45pm June 27,2017 Town Hall Meeting 2:45 July 27,2017 Board Meeting July 28, 2017 Karaoke Party 3:00pm August PCCC Golf Tournament September 16, 2017 Illuminating the Darkness 5k Run for Suicide Prevention Watch our Website and Facebook for details! 5

6 NAMI on Campus Missouri State University Article by: Jessica Allen NAMI Southwest Missouri has made an impact on so many lives in the Springfield area. As a social work student at Missouri State University, I had heard of NAMI s influence in the community and began familiarizing myself with its outreach opportunities about two years ago. Last year I was taking a Social Welfare policy class and was assigned a paper for which I had to interview a person involved in policy making. I ed several members of Springfield City Council to no avail when I remembered that I could also interview directors of programs, being that these people were also involved in policy making. I contacted Debora Biggs, the Executive Director of the NAMI Southwest Missouri here in Springfield, and got quite a bit of information about how NAMI functions and the services it provides to the community. Deb sparked my interest in NAMI, and I asked her how I could get involved. She mentioned an oncampus group that met at least once a month and gave me the contact information for the President of the club at the time. I ed him and asked if I could get involved; only to find out that he was the only member in the group and a senior in his last year of school. He told me that he was looking for someone to turn the group over to, and as I had been the only one to show interest in the group all semester, the job was mine if I wanted it. I decided that being in charge would be better than not being involved at all, and that I would take this as an opportunity to grow an organization that had not previously been getting the attention it deserved from other students. I went through the process of registering the organization on campus, making flyers, and visiting classrooms to get the message out about NAMI on Campus. Within the first month of operation we went from one member (myself) to five regular attendees. Many more students have reached out to me wanting to get involved and attend meetings sparsely due to conflicting schedules. We have put on a number of events since the beginning of last semester and attended others in support of other organizations. We participated in NAMI Southwest Missouri s Illuminating the Darkness 5k run in September. NAMI on Campus also co-sponsored an event with the Student Activities Council on Missouri State campus called Stress Shredding, where students were invited to write down something that was stressing them out, put it through a paper shredder, and enjoy a free snack. NAMI on Campus passed out free mental health resources at this event to help keep students healthy during the stress of midterms. For Veteran s Day, we held a fundraiser for K9 s for Warriors. This is an organization that provides veterans affected by PTSD with service dogs. During the same week that we held the fundraiser, we also sponsored an event in Carrington Auditorium where a retired veteran came to share his story about his struggle with PTSD and how his service dog was able to help him. We raised over $200 in three days to help veterans and made a positive name for our group in the campus community that week. This semester, NAMI on Campus is focusing on gaining even more members to accomplish our goals. We have several events still in the planning process. So far we have elected two new officers with the possibility of filling more positions. We are also working to collaborate with other groups on campus more frequently this semester. The main question we are asking ourselves is: How do we get more people involved in the group? As NAMI on Campus, we believe that it is important to open the conversation about mental health in everyday situations. People who are mentally ill are not the only ones who benefit from having open dialogue about their mental health. It is something that we are all affected by. Therefore, it is necessary to break the stigma surrounding mental health topics and make the subject approachable for all age groups, genders, social classes, races, religions, etc. This is the goal of NAMI on Campus, and by expanding our roots we hope to grow exponentially in numbers and in influence this year. Keep an eye out for more information on this semester s events! Jessica Allen, President NAMI on Campus Missouri State University, Ja5995@live.missouristate.edu 6

7 Its almost that time again! Illuminating the Darkness 5k Run/ Walk for Suicide Prevention Runners and walkers will literally glow in the dark during the National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwest Missouri s (NAMI SWMO) Illuminating the Darkness 5K (timed) Run and 1 Mile Walk Saturday, September 16, at McBride Elementary School 5005 S Farm Road 135, Springfield, MO Luminaria lining the course will offer a sentimental element again this year. Friends and family may purchase one or more for $6 each. Names and a tribute to their loved one may be added. This popular decoration will line the course with light, and will also support NAMI SWMO s suicide awareness and prevention initiatives. To purchase luminaries contact: Stephanie Appleby, at NAMI Southwest Missouri, Orders may be taken by phone and paid by credit or debit cards. Questions may also be sent via stephanie@namiswmo.com. An In Loving Memory message will be included on each luminary so that the light shines on the person being remembered that evening. Containers for the luminaries are also be available for individuals to purchase and to write a personal message or sentiment. These are available at the NAMI SWMO Hope Center, 1443 North Robberson Avenue, Suite 408. (Cox North Medical Tower, between Boonville and Robberson). Hours of operation are 9:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. Watch our website for registration information. 7

8 Mental Health Awareness Month Activities Cox and Mercy light up green to support mental health awareness. Thanks to The Moxie Cinema for partnering with NAMI SWMO to screen Love and Mercy during Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental Health Awareness March on the MSU Campus. Thanks to NAMI on Campus and all the other student groups for the support. Congratulations to Officer Betsy Shipley with the Springfield Police Department for being recognized as the 2017 CIT Officer of the Year! NAMI SWMO was highlighted on KGBX, Alice 95 and the Wolf. Thanks to Liz Delany with KGBX and iheart Media for helping make this happen. 8

9 Donate to NAMI Southwest Missouri through the Price Cutter Charity Championship Golf Tournament NAMI Southwest Missouri is one of over 40 nonprofit agencies that benefits from this event. Your donation helps NAMI SWMO provide peer support to those living with mental illness and their family members. NAMI SWMO offers over 30 support groups weekly, training classes, education, social activities, a peer phone support telephone and more through the Hope Center, a drop in center service. For each $25 donation to NAMI Southwest Missouri through the Price Cutter Charity Championship you will receive: 4-day admission to the Price Cutter Charity Championship Golf Tournament (If you don t golf, share the ticket with someone else and keep the door prize ticket for yourself. Access to the grounds during the golf tournament. 1 in 20 odds of winning a daily ticket prize valued at $25 or more 1 in 8,000 chance of winning $10,000 cash 1 in 8,000 chance of winning a 2017 Ford F-150 NAMI Southwest Missouri Membership Join! Membership with NAMI Southwest Missouri includes NAMI and NAMI Missouri. Members stay informed about research breakthroughs and recovery with the NAMI Advocate Magazine and the NAMI Missouri and Southwest Missouri newsletters. NAME Address City State Zip I want to receive alerts Yes No address Annual Membership Dues Individual/Family $35 Limited Income $3 NAMI Southwest Missouri 1443 N. Robberson Suite 408, Springfield, Missouri Your full donation goes directly to NAMI Southwest Missouri. Contact NAMI Southwest Missouri to purchase tickets. The cost of the ticket/donation is $25 for individual tickets or 4 tickets/donations for $75 (buy 3 and get 1 free) $ Tax deductible donation to NAMI Southwest Missouri 9

10 Follow Us! NAMI Southwest Missouri 1443 N. Robberson Suite 408 Springfield, Missouri