FORT BEND NEWS - NAMI Fort Bend

FORT BEND NEWS
A grassroots coalition of families, consumers, and friends . . .
September – October 2012
Inside This Issue
Programs
September – October 2012
___________________________________________________________________
1
Programs: September - October
1
Education and Support
1
Wellness & Feeling Better
2
President's Message
2
from memoir; Little Girl Lost
3
article; Texas Hospital Association
4
Hope Springs Eternal Creative Art Show
Program:
5
Housing for NAMI Fort Bend mentally ill
6
Information
Basics needs assistance, food, employment, education and
community health clinic
7
Map and Meeting Details
Program location:
Editor: Mary Ann Watson
Photos: Barbara Stringer, Lee Wang, Bev Davis
Wellness & Feeling Better
→ 1: Start Moving
Regular exercise will help most of us feel better. You
can start with a regular walk to a local store or
around the block, then increase how frequently and
how far you can walk.
→ 2: Eat Better
Eat the right amount of healthy food. It doesn't
mean giving up all desserts; it means thinking about
what you eat; less fat, sodium and fewer calories.
→ 3: Sleep Regularly
Regular sleep is essential to a person's health and
well-being.
→ 4: See Your Doctor Every Year
In addition to visiting your psychiatrist, it is
important to visit a primary care doctor every year
to monitor your overall health.
Total wellness is an essential goal of the mental
health recovery plan. Top causes of death among
people living with serious mental health conditions
include: heart disease, diabetes, respiratory disease,
and infectious disease.
Choices in Recovery, 2012 Volume 9
September 6th
Program:
MAXIMUS
Assist Medicare and Medicaid recipients in locating doctors and
health plans. They also help with workforce solutions.
October 4th
Sheena Abraham, Second Mile Mission
Time & Place: 7:00 – 8:30 PM at the First United Methodist Church of
Missouri City, Fellowship Hall, located at 3900 Lexington Boulevard,
Missouri City TX 77459. First United is located at Lexington Blvd. and FM
1092 (Murphy Road). Enter the Fellowship Hall from the Lexington Blvd.
entrance. Programs are open to the public: family members, friends,
clients / consumers.
*****
Education and Support
Education - We are all excited to announce that our fall Family-toFamily class has begun. We are fulfilling the NAMI mandate to educate.
Class began August 20 and will continue until November.
This fall the NAMI Family-to-Family course celebrates its 19th year in the
field. To date, 200,000 family members have graduated, and the project
is constantly expanding across the nation. NAMI's family education
program is the first in this century to reach out to thousands of family
members on a continuing basis, the first to fully acknowledge the trauma
and heroism in their lives, the first to lead family caregivers through pain
and stigma to emotional understanding, clinical insight, healing and
action. The goals of this peer program are radical; they go far beyond the
traditional curriculum of illness information and behavioral training.
Although the course is rich in clinical detail, our primary mission in
education involves orchestrating a transformation from personal
devastation to action and power.
I think the above paragraph says it all. We can be people of action and
power in changing our community to better serve our family members.
Let's make that difference!!
Support - Support groups continue for those in need of HOPE on the
2nd and 4th Thursday of each month. We cannot wave the magic wand
and make it all go away but we can offer hope and support for ourselves
and our loved ones. Even if your loved one is in "recovery" at this time,
come and offer hope to others.
Pat Sumner, Vice President and
Coordinator of Education and Support
PAGE 2
NAMI FORT BEND
Excerpt from memoir Little Girl Lost, by
Leisha Joseph, pp. 73-74, Doubleday Dell
Publishing Group, Inc.
". . .It was in New York where Mama found a psychiatrist
who had finally diagnosed her correctly. She suffered
from
a
manic-depressive
disorder,
a
debilitating
combination of prolonged, euphoric, emotional highs,
which are often accompanied by wild spending sprees,
and long stretches of deep, dark depression. It is much
like riding an emotional roller coaster through life, and
you always knew that every few months, that great big
old hill would be coming up again. When we learned the
symptoms, we wondered how so many other doctors had
missed it. For the first time, Mama was responding well,
really
well,
to
a
drug.
Lithium
controlled
President’s Message
After a summer respite, I hope to
see a big turnout at our program on
September 6, 2012. Your support
is important not only to receive
information from the speaker at our
programs, but your input, questions
and sharing of your own experiences are valuable to
others. Please feel free to invite family members,
friends, or anyone you know who may benefit from
our programs.
There are many changes coming forth at NAMI Fort
Bend. A full report will be given in the NovemberDecember newsletter.
Barbara Stegmann
Mama's
disorder, leveling unstable emotional peaks and valleys
into a peaceful plain, leaving her calm and in control.
At first we were skeptical. After all, we had seen
*****
brief periods of remission only to watch Mama fall harder
Crossroads Villas Groundbreaking
Ceremony
than the time before. But this time she didn't resort to
(see related story on page 5)
her old patterns. She was trying hard to join in family life
and she seemed to grow steadily better. Soon she was
able to take on small tasks around the house, such as
washing dishes, and later, grocery shopping. Mama said
it was in the grocery line that she realized she was
getting better. A magazine caught her eye, and for the
first time in years, she found herself wanting to read a
story promoted on the cover.
But a decade of electric shock treatments that
jarred her brain and prolonged use of heavy medication
had left Mama permanently frail and obliterated most of
her memories. Each of us had issues to work through
with
Mama,
but
we
couldn't
because
she
didn't
remember any of the things she had done. My heart
cried for her as she struggled to salvage bits and pieces
from the past. Whenever some harsh deed flashed back
to her, she would sit and cry and apologize over and
over again.
We understood that what happened to her, to all
of us, was not her fault. Just as no one would
purposely choose cancer, Mama didn't choose
mental illness. But because this illness causes
unacceptable behavior, those who suffer from it
don't get the compassion that cancer victims [or
other
severe
illnesses] get. Instead, they
often
receive harsh judgment from those who confuse
mental illness with character flaws…"
NAMI FORT BEND
PAGE 3
Houston Chronicle
Saturday, July 21, 2012
by Patricia Kilday Hart
It should come as no surprise that only half
pretends they don't exist? They don't. They
of mentally ill Texans are insured. After all,
are in our ERs and our jails.
you've got to be able to hold down a fulltime job to get insurance, and that's not
likely if you're psychotic.
According
Department
to
the
of
story,
State
"The
Health
Texas
Services
estimates that in the last quarter of 2010,
So what happens when mentally ill Texans
almost 10,000 people were on waiting lists
need medical care?
for services at community mental health
Consider the cover story in the Texas
Hospital
Association's
recent
magazine
[May/June 2012], headlined "Nowhere else
to go: Texas's under-funded mental health
system
shifts
a
costly
burden
to
centers. Mild mental illness left untreated
will eventually become so acute that law
enforcement and urgent care providers
become involved. In other words, if mental
health patients fall through a hole in the
safety net, they don't go away - they are
emergency rooms."
just more likely to land in a squad car that
The story contains hair-raising real-life
brings them to an ER."
stories about ER staffs juggling mental
health breakdowns while providing medical
care
to
patients
undergoing
Shorter lifelines
life-
Life without health insurance takes its toll:
threatening medical crises. It's a two-
According to the Hogg Foundation, Texans
pronged problem: The mentally ill end up
with
in the ER because they have nowhere else
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have a
to go when they have mental health
life expectancy 30 years shorter than the
breakdowns. And likely to be uninsured,
general population. Nationally, the severely
they have nowhere else to go for medical
mentally ill have a 25-year decline in life
care.
expectancy.
Poor use of funding
Meanwhile, the bills for all of us stack up,
Texas ranks 50th among U.S. states in
the
money
it
budgets
for
mental
health services, a policy that leads to
wild inefficiencies. Mentally ill folks can be
serious
mental
illnesses
like
since we know that hospitals shift costs to
paying patients. Saying that the poor
should just go to ERs for [mental] health
care is a "let-them-eat-cake" policy.
treated in a community-based clinic for an
The Texas Legislature has a dismal record,
average cost of $12 a day, versus $986 for
adopting budgets that bring death early to
a trip to the emergency room.
the mentally ill.
Do our legislators believe the mentally ill
will somehow vanish if the state budget
H
Ho
op
pe
eS
Sp
prriin
ng
gss E
Ette
errn
na
all C
Crre
ea
attiiv
ve
eA
Arrtt S
Sh
ho
ow
w
Extraordinary talent was exhibited at the "Hope Springs Eternal"
creative art show held at NAMI Fort Bend. Accepted medium were:
painting, collages, sculpture, photographs, drawings, poetry/writing,
quilting, needlework, crocheting, jewelry and handcrafted items.
"Roses"
in acrylics by Sam Tarner
"Fade to Black"
a poem by Aaron Hobart
Book jacket by Erik Wolbrueck
THE POWER OF WATER
EITHER THIS CUP IS HALF FULL OR
HALF EMPTY
IF IT'S HALF FULL THEN I HAVE PLENTY
BUT IF IT'S HALF EMPTY THEN MY MIND
WILL TEMPT ME
TO FILL UP MY CUP,
WHEN I KNOW IT'S ENOUGH,
CUZ' IF I LAY DOWN I WILL SOON GET UP
TO STAND OVER THE PORCELAIN
THRONE,
FRUSTRATED AND DISTRESSED,
THAT MAYBE MORE ALWAYS MEANT LESS
THAT MAYBE A CHEVY HAS THE SAME
PURPOSE AS A BENTLEY,
THAT MAYBE HALF FULL IS THE SAME AS
HALF EMPTY.
Crosses by Eric Sumner
"Knees Bent" and "The Empty Camp"
poems by Tim Stringer
BY MEB
NAMI FORT BEND
PAGE 5
C
CR
RO
OS
SS
SR
RO
OA
AD
DS
SV
VIIL
LL
LA
AS
S
New Community - New Future
Crossroads Villas Board of Directors
Larry Davis, Chairman
Amanda Darr
Shena Timberlake
J. C. Whitten
A history making celebration took place at Texana Center on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, when the
groundbreaking ceremony was held for Crossroads Villas, a 14 unit one-bedroom apartment complex in
Rosenberg for low-income people with chronic mental illness who are in stable condition with no criminal
history. The HUD 811 program allows persons with disabilities to live as independently as possible in the
community by increasing the supply of rental housing with supportive services.
Crossroads Villas was named because of Rosenberg's traditional tie to the railroad, as the crossroads for
the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe and the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio railroads, and also
because the future apartment residents will have reached a point of decision or critical juncture in their
life - a crossroad - and are ready to begin a new and independent life.
Larry Davis, past president of NAMI Fort Bend, serves as chairman of Crossroads Villas. He has diligently
pursued housing for the mentally ill and was instrumental in helping to obtain the $1.5 million award
from HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) for Texana Center in February of 2009.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, Larry extended thanks to the entire Texana Board of Directors, the
Crossroads Villas Board, and City of Rosenberg past-mayor, Joe Gurecky, for helping to make this
important project come to fruition. Larry expressed many of our own feelings by saying "that Crossroads
Villas will provide homes for our heroes they can be safe in, be proud of, and can afford. This is so
important to every individual, but it is critical to the recovery of those who suffer from mental illness and
fight every day to have a sense of normalcy and purpose in their lives."
Dianne Wilson welcomed everyone, Mayor Vincent
Morales emceed the event and Crossroads Villas
Board of Directors, Larry Davis, Amanda Darr,
Shena Timberlake and J.C. Whitten, together with
Mark Musemeche, MG Architects and Grant Cook,
Cook Construction broke ground on the project.
They were then joined by the Texana Board of
Trustees. A small reception followed the ceremony.
PAGE 6
NAMI FORT BEND
Information
TELEPHONE NUMBERS AND WEBSITES
AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) Intergroup Association
24 hour help line: 713-686-6300
Advocacy Inc. 713-974-7691 or www.advocacyinc.org
or [email protected]
Attention Deficit Disorders Association Southern Region:
www.adda-sr.org or 281-897-0982
PLEASE REMEMBER NAMI FORT BEND WHEN YOU
SHOP: The following grocers will make a donation
to NAMI Fort Bend if you do the following:
KROGER – Present this NAMI barcode to your
cashier at any Kroger checkout. Once a card is
scanned with the barcode it will be active for the
remainder of the program year.
Borderline Personality Disorder National Education Alliance:
www.borderlinepersonalitydisorder.com
Brain & Behavior Foundation (formerly NARSAD)
bbrfoundation.org
DARS (Department of Assistive & Rehabilitative Services)
281-342-5685, Rosenberg office
DBSA (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance)
713-600-1131 or www.dbsahouston.org
Fort Bend locations:
3900 Lexington Blvd. Missouri City 281-499-3502
Gathering Place – 5310 South Willow, Houston 77035
713-729-3799
RANDALLS - Specify charity number 1132 NAMI Fort
Bend for your Remarkable Card at check-out one
time. This will register 1132 for use with your
Remarkable Card for future purchases at all store
locations.
NAMI Fort Bend
New Membership and Renewal Form
Housing Authority of the City of Rosenberg: 281-342-1456
Lawyers Care Fort Bend – 281-325-1015, affiliate of the Fort
Bend Bar Association
Meds (free) for the Financially Challenged:
1-800-762-4636 or www.phrma.org/pap/
MCOT (Mobile Crisis Outreach Team) 1-800-633-5686
MHA (Mental Health of America) of Fort Bend County
281-207-2480
Needs Ministry - East Fort Bend: 281-261-1006
Names_______________________________________
______________________________________________
Address_______________________________________
______________________________________________
State____________ Zip______________
Home phone______________________________
Schizophrenia Digest: www.schizophreniadigest.com
Second Mile Mission Center – 281-261-9199
504 FM 1092 Suite I, Stafford 77477
St. Joseph Clubhouse – 713-523-5958
3307 Austin St., Houston TX 77004
TEXANA Center (MHMR): crisis hotline 1-800-633-5686
Sugar Land: 281-276-4400 Rosenberg: 281-342-6384
NAMI Fort Bend: 281-494-5193 or
website: [email protected]
NAMI Metropolitan Houston: 713-970-4419 or
website: www.namimetrohouston.org
NAMI National Alliance on Mental Illness:
800-950-6264 or www.nami.org
Work phone ______________________________
Email address______________________________
Membership type:
__ Individual / Family ($35.)
__ Clients / Limited Income ($5.)
__ Donation
__ Fort Bend newsletter only
$____________
$____________
$____________
(no charge)
Make check payable to NAMI Fort Bend and
mail to: NAMI Fort Bend
P. O. Box 1223
Sugar Land TX 77487-1223
NAMI FORT BEND
PAGE 7
For your calendar:
Public meetings - 1st Thursday of the month, 7:00 PM, Fellowship Hall
Location: First United Methodist Church Missouri City
3900 Lexington Boulevard, Missouri City TX 77459
Lexington at FM 1092 (Murphy Road)
Support groups - 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month, 7:00 PM
Location: St. Laurence Catholic Church, Social Concerns Workroom
3100 Sweetwater Boulevard, Sugar Land TX 77479
NAMI Fort Bend
Officers
Board Members
_____________________________________________________________________________
Barbara Stegmann – President
Pat Sumner – Vice President
Jorge Alonso – Treasurer
Polly Sunderland – Interim Secretary
Mark Johnson – Past President
Reach us at: 281-494-5193
Bonnie Ackerman
Gail Best
Steve Hobart
Doris Osei
Lee Wang
email: [email protected]
PAGE 8
NAMI FORT BEND
Fort Bend
P. O. Box 1223
Sugar Land TX 77487-1223
Upcoming Public Programs at NAMI Fort Bend
September 6, 2012
Program:
MAXIMUS
October 4, 2012
Program:
Sheena Abraham, Second Mile Mission
Crisis hotline number: 1-800-633-5686
NAMI Fort Bend thanks TEXANA Center for printing this newsletter