Education. Winter 2010/11. school, etc.) that you think would profit from IOOV, contact Bonnie Moore.

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1 Winter 2010/11 The National Alliance on Mental Illness has over 1000 affiliates and is America s largest grassroots organization that educates, supports, and advocates for individuals with mental illnesses and their families. Education Education is a mainstay of NAMI, and our affiliate strives to offer two NAMI s signature courses twice yearly. Family-To-Family is a free, 12- week class for family members and caregivers of individuals with mental illnesses. Joyce and Bruce VanLeuven will lead the spring 2011 class planned to begin on Sunday, March 27, from 2-4:30 in Sara Hightower Library. Please tell others about F2F and let them know that they must call Joyce or Bruce at to register. The Floyd County Juvenile Court submitted a grant to form a mental health court for adolescents. NAMI Rome partnered with the court to teach Family- To-Family to parents of troubled juveniles. Peer-To-Peer Jill Joss and Belinda Wheeler just completed training in P2P. They will lead this free, 10-week course for individuals with mental illness. They plan to start on Sunday, April 10. Like Family-To- Family registration is required. Call Belinda at In Our Own Voice is a short presentation where someone with a mental illness shares his/her story of recovery. Delores Nowell has been trained and is eager to tell her story. IOOV is ideal for small groups. If you know of any group (church, civic, school, etc.) that you think would profit from IOOV, contact Bonnie Moore. Crisis Intervention Team (CIT). NAMI-Rome co-hosted two classes the first two weeks in February with the sheriff s offices in Paulding County and Floyd County. We are scheduled to offer five more classes in If you would like to observe a class, let Jim Moore know. Guess what? A deputy from Cherokee County Alabama attended the Floyd class. He and the Sue McGuffey, NAMI Centre president, drove over each day and they are eager to create a CIT program in their county. Did you know that Georgia is the only state that offers this course statewide? Paulding County class Feb Floyd County class Feb

2 Floyd, Paulding, and Polk County Sheriffs have supported CIT well, as has Rome Police Department they sent nine to the last class. Polk County PD has also sent several officers. We do need to expand into surrounding counties Bartow, Chattooga, and Gordon to name three nearby counties. They are close enough to attend classes in Rome. Our next class will be the last week in May in Pickens County. Jim and Bonnie Moore attended a CIT tune-up meeting in Macon. A new schizophrenia module was introduced. Interactive scenarios will help officers understand schizophrenia better. An IOOV presenter will give the consumer perspectives module. Officer feedback has led to tweaking CIT. More changes will be made. Education Meetings. What would you like to know more about? Let us know and we will try to invite people who can help us learn more. Around 50 attended our January meeting we discussed the Department of Justice settlement. However, only 8 attended the February meeting; we updated NWGRH closure actions and other activities we are involved in. Granted a storm passed through early in the afternoon, but it was clear by 6 pm. So, what does NAMI Rome want to know more about? Bonnie and Jim Moore spoke at the February NAMI Centre meeting. They have been an affiliate since 2008 and are working to offer the same courses and support groups as we do. Encourage your eastern Alabama friends to attend their meetings, 6 pm Tuesdays at 1 st Baptist Church ROC on the bypass. Peggy Reiners and Joyce and Bruce VanLeuven manned a NAMI Rome table at a recent Volunteer Fair. Jim Moore did the same at the Latino Health Fair. Events such as these help people in our community recognize our name. Let us know when you hear of such events. Support NAMI CONNECTION (peer support group) and NAMI Support Group (family support group) meet each Monday evening from 6-7:30 at Rome 1 st UMC except on the fourth Monday, the time of our monthly educational meeting. Non-NAMI members are always welcome to attend and there is no charge. We have eight trained family support group facilitators--four couples. Two facilitators lead the groups. To avoid getting into a rut, some husbands and wives no longer facilitate as a team. Let us know your thoughts. NAMI Connection has temporarily become a care and share group (doesn t have the same requirements). Like the family support group, Connections is manpower intensive--it takes two to facilitate a group. A Connection group ideally needs eight facilitators to avoid burnout and to run effective groups. NAMI Georgia will come to Rome on April 9/10 to train consumers. Applicants must meet the following criteria to facilitate. o Be a NAMI member or be willing to join o Complete application o Attend two-day training o Co-facilitate group for one year o Follow NAMI Connection model o Submit data to NAMI National It also stands to reason that facilitators are stable. If you know of someone who is willing to volunteer for the training, let Jim know. NAMI ROME INFO LINE NAMI Rome now has a dedicated cell phone. A NAMI Rome member will provide information about our affiliate and services in our area. Let s use it.

3 Advocacy Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital Wow, such a whirlwind of activity since the announcement in January that the hospital will close in June. Seems everyone except the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) was unaware. Questions such as Why Northwest and why now? remain unanswered. We all probably agree that hospital services should be reserved for individuals who are psychotic and no community services have helped. Unfortunately, Georgia has long opened its hospitals to those who were less ill, and often the hospitals became their initial entry into the state s mental health services. DBHDD wants to correct this by introducing more effective community based programs around the state. No one finds fault with this idea; however, many advocates state DBHDD is moving so fast that may result in many people having no services when they need it the most. DBHDD continues to state that Northwest will remain open until new community services are operational and the June 30 closure date remains on schedule. As this newsletter is being written, employees are leaving Northwest. There has to be a point of no return where the hospital must shut down because of staff shortages. What are the new services for adult mental health? Rome is slated to get an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team. Ten professionals make up the team and will serve 100 clients. The model they follow calls for a paced ramp up of services 4-6 clients a month. At this rate it will take over a year to reach its potential. Highland Rivers is on tap to open a 16-bed crisis stabilization unit in Rome by June 30. The unit may require remodeling and surely will need staffing. There are also plans to open 35 acute care beds in hospitals in Region 1 run by four private hospitals. You may have read that Floyd Medical Center is being considered as one. There are many questions galore about the operation of these beds and to what level of psychiatric care they will be able to provide. In addition to these three additions, other new or enhanced programs are to be introduced so as to reduce the need for state run hospitals. One wonders what they will look like and when they are to be in the field. This means that there are many, many loose ends to tie up before locking the doors at Northwest. It seems that just about every one sees the gaps, but no one has jumped in front of the train to stop it or slow it down for a year. In the meantime, taxpayers money is being spent to honor existing construction contracts at Northwest, contract with ACT teams, remodel or lease property in the community, and hiring personnel for the new positions. While this is ongoing, who is looking after the patients at Northwest? Oh, by the way there is not a single word in the Department of Justice settlement stating that the hospital(s) must close. Why the rush? You know the answer budget. Disabilities Services Ombudsman. The last newsletter mentioned Jewel Norman leaving her ombudsman job. That was in August. The job remains vacant. Last fall, we asked for NAMI Rome people to contact the governor to fill the position. The ombudsman works for the governor and reports issues with mental health and other services. One of her primary tasks was to track deaths in hospitals (50 occurred in FY 2010). Who is minding the store in her absence? This independent oversight must be reestablished. Region 1 Summit. Seventy mental health providers, law enforcement, judicial, government leaders, advocates, etc., met on February 15 in Rome. The purpose of the summit is to identify strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in mental health services in the 31-counties that make up DBHDD Region 1.

4 We are also Facebook. Click on and search NAMI Rome. We will try to post news on it, sign up as a friend, and you may comment too. They broke into groups and came up with four work areas for future meetings. The next meeting will be held on March 22 in Cumming. Mental Health Courts. Governor Deal spoke of creating more mental health courts in his inaugural address. This is a positive move. Time will tell if one gets created in our judicial circuit. It will take voices of advocates to move it forward. Be that voice! Need Help in a Crisis? Call the statewide Crisis and Access Line. They have counselors to handle calls and can even dispatch a mobile crisis team Membership Support Rome has a new psychiatrist. Dr. John Bekley sees adult mental health patients in the Floyd Outpatient Center in Armuchee. Dr. Bekley is from Ohio where he worked in community mental health and is very familiar with NAMI. Check our website for the latest information Join NAMI Annual dues have increased to $35 a year per household. Open Door Membership remains $3.00. You may join or renew online ( or pay Margaret Flowers at a monthly meeting. You may also mail a check to NAMI-Rome 3 Central Plaza, Box 317 Rome, GA NAMI-Rome Officers Annual elections are heal yearly in March. As you see from the list of officers below, Jim and Peggy s terms are up. Staggered terms will add to continuity among board members. Pres Jim Moore (1 year) VP Joyce VanLeuven (2 years) Sec Peggy Reiners (1 year) Treas Margaret Flowers (2 years) NAMI Rome s bylaws permit nine affiliate members to comprise the board. The board includes the four elected positions, the immediate past president, and up to and including four at large members who are appointed by the board. Generally, these four board members will fulfill the following duties. o Education Bonnie Moore o Support Vacant o Advocacy Vacant o Membership Services Linda Langley TREATMENT WORKS IF YOU CAN GET IT! DONATIONS Pine Ridge Apartments is looking for donations of toiletries for their weekly bingo game. They also keep a food pantry for their residents.

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