NAMIWalks on Saturday May 14th was
an AMAZING DAY!! The skies stayed
clear well after the Walk! We strutted with
the Quaker City Mummers, decorated
parasols, designed kids’ masks for the Kids
Parade, and even decorated bandanas for
the four-legged Walkers! THANK YOU to
the Walk Planning Committee, the Board
of Directors, the office staff, volunteers,
the Quaker City Mummers, Elle Gyandoh
& Band, and most especially our
wonderful wonderful sponsors and
generous donors and participants – this day
could not have happened without you. We
not only made goal, but surpassed it!!!
SUCCESS!!
Awards Announced at Annual Membership Meeting
65 members attended the
Annual Membership Meeting
on May 11th in King of Prus-
sia, where the following
awards were presented:
Maryella Hitt Advocacy
Award: Neen Davis
Peg Cochran Volunteer
Award: Marianne
Donahue
Glenn Koons Recovery
Award: JB Brooks
Criminal Justice Award:
Michelle Monzo
montco memo Montgomery County, PA June 2016 Volume XXXV Issue 10
Also in This Issue
Calendar 2
Message from Our Executive Director
3
Laugh Out Loud for Mental Health Rights a Big Success
3
Using Health Care Funds to Find Housing for Homeless
4
6 Awful Lies Mental Illness Told Me
5
Announcing our new website! www.namimontcopa.org
6
MONTCO Peer Support Groups
6
Pictures from NAMIWalks 7
Tributes and Donations 7
NAMIWalks 2016 a Huge Success!
L to R: Deputy Secretary of Mental Health Dennis Marion; Neen Davis, 2016 Maryella Hitt Advocacy Award recipient; and Carol Caruso at our Annual Membership Meeting and Awards Dinner on May 11th.
June 2016 Page 2
montco memo Volume XXXV Issue 10
the montco memo is published monthly by
NAMI of PENNSYLVANIA
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Board of Directors
President Beth Milton First Vice-President Dawn Hogan Second Vice President Dave Davis Secretary Lauren Centola Treasurer Stephen Nelson Past President Neen Davis
Victoria Bright Armand DiYenno Rhea Fernandes Precious Graham Laura Longstreet Tricia Malott Donna McNelis Jerry Rudakevich Mike Solomon
Executive Director Carol Caruso Editor Beulah Saideman Co-Editor Mary Schuck Editor Emeritus Maryella D. Hitt Office Manager Debra Herbut Bookkeeper Jane Polto Walk Manager Danielle Blanchard
Support Group Facilitators Coordinator Carol Caruso
Abington Presbyterian Church Joan Kozlowski Corinne Smith
Lansdale Rich Kelble Anne Magowan
Lower Providence Presbyterian Church Neen Davis Sue Soriano
Pottstown Nina & Alan McDaniel
NAMI of PA Montgomery County
100 W. Main Street Suite 204
Lansdale, PA 19446 Phone: 215-361-7784 FAX: 215-361-7786
Email: [email protected] Web page: www.namimontcopa.org
Letters to the Editor and other articles and contributions are welcome. Send them
to the NAMI Office or by Email to [email protected]
by the 15th of the preceding month.
NAMI of Pennsylvania Montgomery County is an approved Donor Choice Agency of the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and
Southern New Jersey
United Way Agency Code # 5076
Calendar
Peer Support June 9 July 7 June 7 July 5
June 6 June 27
June 9/23 July 14/28
Hearing Voices Support Groups “Taking Back Our Power” for both adults and young people, are for people who hear, see or sense things that other people don’t, and want to learn and grow together. They are run by Creating Increased Connections (CIC). See the schedule on Page 6. For more information on Voices, call CIC (David, Mary or Mike) at 484-681-9432.
Voices Learning Community meets the 2nd Thursday of every month 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM — Creating Increased Connec-tions Office, 18 E. 4th Street, Bridgeport. Voices Family Support Group meets the 1st Tuesday of every month 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM — Creating Increased Connections Office, 18 E. 4th Street, Bridgeport.
WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plans) is a way to plan and monitor what you need to do to stay both mentally and physically healthy. Also run by CIC. See schedule on Page 6. For more in-formation call 484-681-9432.
NAMI Connection Groups are peer run support groups for individuals living with mental illness. See Page 6 for schedule. The July group will meet Mon. June 27th due to the holiday.
New Directions Bipolar & Depression Support Group, 2nd & 4th Thursday, 10:00 AM, Giant Food Store, 315 York Rd, Willow Grove
June 6 July—no meeting
Pottstown Family Support Group, 1st Monday at Creative Health Services, Consumers Library, 11 Robinson Court,, 7-8:30PM. No July meeting.
June 6 July—no meeting
Lower Providence Family Support Group, Lower Providence Presbyterian Church, 3050 Ridge Pike, Eagleville, Room 205. 7 PM. First Monday except on holidays. No July meeting.
June 7 July 5
Lansdale Family Support Group at St. John’s United Church of Christ, Main Street and Richardson Avenue, Lansdale. First Tuesday, 7:00 PM.
June 7/21 July 5/19
New Directions Bipolar & Depression Support Groups (2) one for Consumers & one for Family/Caregivers — 1st & 3rd Tuesday, Abington Presbyterian Church, 1082 Old York Road, Abington — 7:30 PM. Call 215-659-2366.
June 9 July 14
Glenside Family Support Group, Abington Presbyterian Church, 1082 Old York Road, Abington — 2nd Thursday, 7:30 PM.
June 16 July 21
Montgomery County CSP (Community Support Program), 3rd Thursday,12-2:30 PM, Montgomery County Library, 1001 Powell St., Norristown.
June 16 July 21
Board of Director’s Meeting, 3rd Thursday, Lansdale Office, 6:30 PM.
A Note About Our Meetings
Although some of our meetings are held at religious institutions, they are non-denominational and open to people of all beliefs.
June 2016 Page 3
montco memo Volume XXXV Issue 10
Laugh Out Loud for Mental Health a Big Success
Message from Our Executive Director
May was Mental Health Month and we had a very
busy time, loaded with activity. Some of the high-
lights were:
Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day, involv-
ing distribution of materials to many Montgomery
County School Districts
Annual Membership Meeting and Awards Dinner,
featuring keynote speaker Dennis Marion, Deputy
Secretary for Mental Health in Pennsylvania.
9th Annual Greater Philadelphia NAMIWalk, fea-
turing the Quaker City Mummers and 1200
participants
Interview on WPHL TV’s In Focus with Jennifer
Lewis-Hall
Resource table and Staff in-service- Graterford
Prison
Resource table—Pottstown FARM
We look forward to celebrating July as Minority
Mental Health Month. Stay tuned for upcoming
announcements and events!
Carol Caruso
On April 16, Laugh Out Loud for Mental Health,
an effort of mhc (Mental Health Consultants) presented a
dinner and comedy show highlighting persons with the lived
experience of mental illness as the comedians. Beneficiaries of
proceeds raised by the event were NAMI PA Montgomery
County and the Mental Health Association of Southeastern
Pennsylvania.
Four individuals, trained as stand-up comics by David
Granier, gave their routines to a very appreciative audience
of 175.
Laugh Out Loud will now train four local individuals
in stand-up comedy to continue presenting such performances
around the region and raising awareness about mental illness.
Thank you to mhc for your support.
Fall Family to Family Classes
We are currently firming up the fall class schedule of our Family to Family Educational Program.
Family to Family is a free 12-session course that meets one night per week, from 6:30 to 9 PM. The
course is for family members and caretakers of adults (18 and older) living with a mental illness. We
are hoping to schedule classes in Norristown and Lansdale, and the classes will most likely be on
Tuesday evenings. All instruction and materials are free of charge; however, you must register and
attend all classes. For more information and to register please call 215-361-7784.
June 2016 Page 4
montco memo Volume XXXV Issue 10
By Usha Lee McFarling, STAT, May 13, 2016
LOS ANGELES — The job sounds impossible: solve the health
care crisis in the massive and desperately sick homeless popula-
tion of Skid Row, which sprawls across dozens of blocks just
south of downtown.
Marc Trotz readily admits he’s daunted. “I don’t feel success-
ful any day I come to work,” he said.
But as director of Los Angeles County’s new Housing for
Health initiative, Trotz is trying to make a dent, starting with the
estimated 2,000 people on Skid Row who have no shelter aside
from tents, boxes, or cars. His office is located in this sprawling
neighborhood of extreme poverty, so Trotz works amid the shan-
ties and tents, the stench a daily reminder of how much work he
has yet to do.
His partner in this mission: Dr. Mitch Katz, who directs the
county’s Department of Health Services. Trotz and Katz had suc-
cess addressing a homeless crisis in San Francisco earlier this
decade by moving people into permanent housing and connecting
them with support services.
Now, they’re trying a similar tactic in LA.
It’s a bold approach: They’re using health care
dollars not just for blood tests and antiviral medi-
cations, but also to pay for housing for the sickest
residents of Skid Row. The idea is to first give the
homeless a stable place to live, then gradually treat
their medical and mental health needs — instead of
waiting for them to quit drugs and clean up before
settling them into an apartment.
National experts applaud the strategy: “We
think it’s absolutely essential,” said Matthew
Doherty, executive director of the United States
Interagency Council on Homelessness. “People
cannot address their [health and addiction] challenges when they
are struggling with homelessness every day and every night.”
So far, the county has allocated nearly $60 million in health
funding for new housing. Officials look for available units across
the county, typically in affordable housing developments. Resi-
dents generally pay 30 percent of their income, however low that
may be.
The county is also stepping up its health outreach. It moved a
clinic to Skid Row, and Trotz has organized battalions of health
workers from public agencies and nonprofits to canvas the region,
in an initiative called C3 for County+City+Community.
Four teams — each made up of nurses, mental health and sub-
stance abuse experts, and homeless advocates — return day after
day to their assigned sectors of Skid Row so they get to know the
residents and gain their trust. Previous outreach efforts have been
too scattershot, Trotz said.
“We can’t just be wandering around with two people and a
couple of backpacks,” he said. “You can’t just say, ‘Hey, how are
you doing?’ and hand out some socks.”
Outreach workers often find that offering medical help is the
best way to engage people living on the streets, who are often
suspicious of strangers.
“They have a gaping wound. We have a nurse who can help,”
said Sara Shortt, who runs the program from a vibrant, renovated
storefront on Skid Row. “A random window opens and they’re
ready for detox — maybe it’s that their tent got stolen for the sev-
enth time. Because we’re there, we can be around when that win-
dow opens.”
In its first four months, the team has assigned 184 people to
permanent housing, including many who suffer from chronic kid-
ney and pulmonary disease, HIV, heart failure, and cirrhosis. Of-
ficials say they are likely to reach and perhaps even top their goal
of housing 250 people in the first year.
They hope to get nearly 2,000 people — nearly all of Skid
Row’s unsheltered — into permanent housing within four years.
City and county leaders are now scrambling to find more mon-
ey to expand this program and others; they recently proposed a
new tax on LA’s wealthiest residents. It’s estimated it will cost
nearly $2 billion to provide housing for the city’s 26,000 home-
less residents. Add Los Angeles county residents to that total and
the homeless population for the region
stands at nearly 50,000.
“If I could wave a magic wand, eve-
ryone over the age of 60 who was home-
less would be housed,” said Dr. Susan
Partovi, who walks a sector with the
outreach teams and staffs two clinics on
Skid Row. “Housing is the cure for
homelessness. It’s also the cure for a
homeless person with diabetes, with
drug addiction or hypertension. It’s the
first cure.”
The “housing first” approach worked for T.D. Osborne. When
he moved to LA from Seattle in the ’80s, he had a stable job with
Amtrak, working in the dining cars. But a cocaine addiction led
him to lose everything: his job, his wife, his home. Osborne alter-
nated between shelters and the homes of friends for years. He
found an apartment through the Skid Row Housing Trust in 2004
and finally became clean in 2010.
“I had to give up 100 percent of everything — cocaine, drink-
ing,” he said. “That would have been hard on the streets.”
He’s since been successfully treated for a goiter and and other
health issues. “Having housing made it easier to get to the ap-
pointments I needed, to get blood work,” he said.
Osborne, 57, is now working with one of Shortt’s teams,
reaching out to others who have similar stories. “I understand the
addiction part,” he said. “I understand the hopelessness. Even
when you start receiving help, it takes a while. It’s not easy.”
https://www.statnews.com/2016/05/13/homeless-housing-skid-
row/?s_campaign=stat:rss
A Bold Bet in LA: Using Health Care Funds to Find Housing for the Homeless
They’re using health care dollars not just for blood tests and antiviral medica-tions, but also to pay for housing for the sickest resi-dents of Skid Row. The idea is to first give the homeless a stable place to live, then gradually treat their medical and mental health needs...
June 2016 Page 5
montco memo Volume XXXV Issue 10
6 Totally Awful Lies That Mental Illness Told Me By Sam Dylan Finch, Ravishly, March 11, 2016
For a long time, I believed that my mental illness was my own
doing. Back when I was dealing with a depressive episode, one of
my partners told me, “Sam, you have to remember that not every-
thing you think is true.”
Simple, but it was a real revelation for me. Sometimes with bipo-
lar disorder, it’s incredibly hard to distinguish between your own
voice and the fears, trauma, and outright lies that run on a loop in the
back of your head.
I liken my experiences with mental illness to being in line at a
grocery store: I’ve placed everything on the belt and, while the cash-
ier is ringing everything up, some . . . jerk is placing random items
on the belt when I'm not looking. In other words, someone pulled
one over on us.
Not to be outdone, I’ve compiled this list of some of the worst
lies mental illness has ever told me. Because while it might be in my
cart, I’m sure . . . not buying it.
1. You just aren’t an ambitious person.
For the longest time, as I struggled under the weight of my de-
pression, I watched my friends and peers excel in their passions and/
or careers. I was amazed with how driven they were, and wondered
how they seemed to have it all.
Then I looked at myself, floundering. And I thought, “I’m just
not driven like they are. I’m not ambitious. It’s not who I am.” What
I wish had occurred to me then was that when you’re struggling with
mental illness, every bit of your resources goes towards your own
survival.
As I began to get the help I needed, I was able to start setting
goals for myself and enjoying the pursuit of those goals. As it turns
out, my “ambition” or work ethic wasn’t the problem — it was a
psychiatric disability.
2. This is the way things will always be.
I can only speak for myself in this instance — I won’t assume to
know anyone else’s situation. But when mental illness tells me that I
somehow have the ability to know the future and that the future is
entirely dismal, I’ve learned to be a little more skeptical.
The reality is that I know nothing about the future with any cer-
tainty. I remember where I was just a few years ago, desperately
suicidal and lost, feeling that there was nothing ahead of me that was
worth holding on for. And then I look at where I am now, doing
meaningful work and surrounded by a beautiful community that
cares for me, and I can’t believe how wrong I was about my future.
I said that my future was empty. I believed that with everything
in my being. But it couldn’t be more full, more vibrant, more ful-
filling.
3. You are unlovable.
I have stayed in relationships that hurt me on every conceivable
level because I honestly believed that I was unlovable. I thought that
any person who loved me in spite of my illness was some kind of
heroic savior to whom I owed my life.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. The truth is that we all have
endured some kind of trauma. We all bring “baggage” to a relation-
ship — some more than others — because we have all lived, we’ve
all been hurt, we’ve all been broken.
Those experiences are not flaws that make us unworthy of love
— they are experiences that have shaped who we are. And the peo-
ple who truly love us for us will know that mental illness is not a
character flaw, but a struggle that makes us so very human. The folks
who can’t understand that aren’t proof that we’re unworthy. It simp-
ly means that they aren’t ready to be a part of our journey.
4. You will only be happy if you “get rid of” your illness.
I used to think that I would only be happy if I came as close to
being “neurotypical” as possible. I thought that I needed to be cured
to live a whole, fulfilling life (which is one of the downsides of the
medicalization of our struggles, but that’s a story for another day).
What I’ve learned is that recovery is not about eliminating my
mental illness. For me, it’s been coexisting with it, adapting in the
face of its challenges, and understanding how to ride the waves as
they come. My recovery has been about turning down the volume so
that it’s no longer ear-shatteringly loud and senseless. Recovery is
taking the unbearable sounds and quieting them into music.
5. Your struggles are all your fault.
For a long time, I believed that my mental illness was my own
doing. I believed that if I had chosen differently, the outcome would
have somehow been better — maybe I wouldn’t be bipolar, anxious,
agoraphobic, messy, broken.
It’s harder to be honest and say, “It’s a complex combination of
biological, sociological, and psychological factors that I will proba-
bly never understand in my lifetime.” It’s harder to accept that some
trauma may be inevitable or out of our control. It’s harder to accept
that society conditions us to feel like we are at fault for our own ill-
ness.
But it starts with realizing that regardless of how we arrived
where we are, we can begin to practice compassion – compassion for
ourselves, compassion for what we’ve been through, compassion for
all the difficult choices we made to survive.
6. You won’t live past age 18.
Or 19… 20… 21… 22… 23… 24...And yet, my birthday rolls
around every year, and I spend a good portion of my day in tears
because I can’t believe that I’m still here. Not only am I grateful that
I’m here, but I’m grateful for the person I’ve become — someone
who wouldn’t be who he is without the struggle it took to get here.
By no means has this been an easy road. And some days — when
my anxiety is so raw that I can’t leave my apartment, or when I’m
wide awake at three in the morning, convinced that I’m total human
garbage — I really wish that the journey had been easier rather than
longer.
But I can honestly say that of any lie mental illness has ever
whispered into my ear, this is the one that I’m most grateful to be
wrong about.
http://www.ravishly.com/2016/04/05/6-totally-awful-lies-mental-
illness-told-me?
utm_source=goodmenproject.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_ca
mpaign=pubexchange_article
Research News You Can Use
Montgomery County Peer Support Groups
NAMI Connection
1st Monday, June 6th at 6:15 PM at William Jeanes Memor ial
Library, 4051 Joshua Rd, Lafayette Hill, PA. JULY’S meeting
will be held on June 27th due to the July 4th holiday.
Monday
VOICES – Pottstown 12:00 – 1:30 PM, Trinity Reformed
Church of Christ, 60 N. Hanover Street, Pottstown
WRAP – Bryn Mawr 12:00 – 1:30 PM, Ludington Library,
5 S. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Bryn Mawr
VOICES – Norristown 3:00 – 4:30 PM, Friends Meeting
House, 20 E. Jacoby Street, Norristown
VOICES-Young People - Lower Merion 4:30 - 6:00 PM,
The Middleton Center, Rm 203, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church,
625 Montgomery Avenue, Bryn Mawr
VOICES – Willow Grove 7:00 – 8:30 PM, Giant Food Store
(Use entrance near Café) 2nd Floor Meeting Room, 315 York Rd,
Willow Grove
Tuesday
WRAP – Pottstown 2:00 to 3:30 PM, Tr inity Reformed
Church of Christ, 60 N. Hanover St, Pottstown
VOICES - Lansdale 4:30 - 6:00 PM, Lansdale Public Library,
301 Vine Street, Lansdale
VOICES Young People – Hatboro 7:00 – 8:30 PM, Braccia
Complex, 1st Floor (across from Dance Arts), 2935 Byberry Road,
Hatboro
Wednesday
WRAP – Roslyn 1:00—2:30 PM, Faith Community Church,
1200 Easton Road, Roslyn
WRAP - Lansdale 3:00 - 4:30 PM, Lansdale Public Library,
301 Vine Street, Lansdale
VOICES – Lower Merion 3:30 – 5:00 PM, The Middleton
Center, Rm 203, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 625
Montgomery Avenue, Bryn Mawr
WRAP – Norristown 6:00 – 7:30 PM, HopeWorx, 1210
Stanbridge St, Suite 300, Norristown
Thursday
WRAP - Norristown 10:30 - 12:00 PM, Friends Meeting
House, 20 E. Jacoby Street, Norristown Dual Recovery Anonymous (DRA) - 6:00 – 6:45 PM,
Women’s Village of Hope, 807 Lawn Avenue, Sellersville
June 2016 Page 6
montco memo Volume XXXV Issue 10
Update on July Support Group Schedule
Our support groups that meet on the first Monday of the month will not meet on July 4th. Note that our
NAMI Connection Peer Support Group, held at William Jeanes Memorial Library in Lafayette Hill, will meet
on June 27 instead of a July meeting. Both our Pottstown and Lower Providence/Eagleville Family/Caregiver
Support Groups are canceled for July.
We are excited to announce our newly designed website located at a new URL: http://www.namimontcopa.org/
We hope you like our new look!
June 2016 Page 7
montco memo Volume XXXV Issue 10
The Tribute Fund is a good way to mark anniversaries, weddings and other special occasions, and to express sympathy for the
loss of a loved one. We will send a note of appreciation to anyone you designate. Send your check to NAMI of Pennsylvania, Mont-
gomery County office, 100 W. Main Street, Suite 204, Lansdale, PA 19446. When designating NAMI in an obituary notice, please
specify NAMI of Pennsylvania Montgomery County.
In memory of James P McCauley: Mary Dunn Carol Heffner Mary Madden
Mary Oehler Mary Purol Phyllis Taggant
Tzine Weinberg
Individual Donations: Beth Adams Margaret Costello Mary Ellen Falk
Adrienne Foster Joanne Hill Geraldine Lowe
Harriton High School Catherine Keim Richard Kelble
Anthony Malloy Mary Patricia Malott Jacqueline Megraw
Lena Delphine Onsongo Rosemary Pedley Quaker Chemical Corporation
Mary Schuck Joseph Thomas
Tributes and Other Contributions
Pictures from NAMIWalks 2016
The Quaker City Mummers prepare to welcome back the 2016 Greater Philadelphia NAMIWalkers as they return from the 5 K Walk around the campus of Montgomery County Community College.
1,200 participants helped to raise awareness and fight the stigma associated with mental illness at the 9
th
Annual Greater Philadelphia NAMIWalk on May 14th
.
PENNSYLVANIA MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Dues are for one year and are Tax Deductible. Donations are welcome and are also Tax Deductible.
(Please print clearly)
NAME__________________________________________________________________________________
STREET ________________________________________________________________________________
CITY_______________________________________STATE_____ZIP______________________________
PHONE (H)__________________________________(C)_________________________________________
E-mail __________________________________________________________________________________
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What is the best way for us to contact you? Phone ______ Email ______ Snail Mail ______
Make check payable and return to: NAMI of Pennsylvania Montgomery County
100 W. Main Street, Suite 204
Lansdale, PA 19446
Or join or renew on our website: http://www.namimontcopa.org/join/
Double or triple the impact of your donation at no additional cost! Please check with your employer’s Human Resources Department to
see if your donation can be matched through a company matching gift program.
NAMI of Pennsylvania Montgomery County is also an approved United Way Donor Choice Agency - Code #5076.
NAMI of Pennsylvania Montgomery County is open to all individuals subscribing to its purpose. All members receive NAMI newsletters and are automatically affiliated with NAMI PA and
the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). NAMI is a non-profit organization under Section 501(c)3 and all dues and donations are tax-deductible. Official registration and financial
information of NAMI PA Montgomery County may be obtained from the PA Department of State by calling toll free within PA 1.800.732.0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.
The official registration and financial information of NAMI PA Montgomery County can be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free within Pennsylvania:
1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.
PENNSYLVANIA
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
100 W. Main Street, Suite 204
Lansdale, PA 19446