Skip to main content

Peer Program/Mental Health Day at the Capitol

I participated in two events this week: 1) Fulton County, Georgia Commissioner's meeting and 2) Mental Health Day at the Capitol orchestrated by Behavioral Health Services Coalition.

I spoke at the Commissioner's meeting yesterday to advocate in favor of the Peer Program at South Fulton Mental Health Center in East Point, Georgia. The county wants to close the Peer Program, and myself and other peers spoke against this consideration.

Today, I attended Mental Health Day at the Capitol and distributed business cards to introduce my non-profit organization, Embracing My Mind, Inc. The program discussed advance directives, Georgia's budget, children and adolescents with mental health concerns, a personal story, and an overview of Olmstead.

Advance Directives are plans for consumers in the event they cannot make decisions on their own, it is kind of like a crisis plan that describes medications desired to get well again, and who may make decisions on behalf of the consumer.

A statistic I remember about children and adolescents with mental health concerns is the average age of onset is 14. This does not surprise me, in fact, I thought the age would be younger.

Overall, I enjoyed the program and networking. Also, my groups are going very well.

To my new followers (anyone who started following this blog since January 2010) I am glad that we found each other, I hope you learn something new about schizophrenia and if you have any questions related to it feel free to ask me. I appreciate all of my readers, thank you!

To learn more about schizophrenia visit Embracing My Mind, Inc., NAMI, Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia (Canada).
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Great work your doing. I just started a blog about my struggle with schizophrenia, you should visit it and tell me what you think. dustindemoss.com
March 12, 2010 at 5:56 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

by A Guest Blogger: For Addicts, Recovery Means Creating a New Life

If you’re struggling to maintain your sobriety, you aren’t alone. There are millions of fighters just like you working toward reclaiming their lives from drugs and alcohol. There are a few common traits that many successful recovering addicts share. Keep reading to find out what they are and how you can follow in their footsteps. They establish new patterns You can’t continue to live your life the same was you did when you were using. You must change and adapt to your newfound sobriety. Consider a career change; many recovering addicts find they have more success by starting their own business. One career that is easy to enter is dog walking. As a dog walker , you’ll reap many rewards including getting to spend time with dogs, which can actually boost your recovery efforts and stave off depression. Dogs have been used as part of a treatment plan for users as young as 11 and come with the added benefit of helping you stay physically active. Plus, being with
2 comments
Read more

No, Please, That's Not Me

Prior to my diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia I did some things that I am not proud of. Now that I look back on things I blame my illness for my poor judgment. I am by no means condoning the behavior I carried out, and will share with you here. I will provide a few instances where my behavior was unlike me and caused an uproar. This post shows how schizophrenia affects other people. This post is for the family members and friends of people with schizophrenia, or showing bizarre behaviors. First, I asked my mother permission to give my friend a statue that was in my mother's house. My mother agreed to give my friend the statue, however, I took her permission a step further to get rid of what she had at my discretion. At the time I did not live with my mother who was away on a business trip. My mother buys and sells things so she had a lot of collectibles, antiques, and other interesting stuff. While my friend and me were in my mother's house my friend saw a lot of stuff that s
5 comments
Read more

What Is Remission?

Remission is the absence of symptoms for at least six months with the support of medication. In other words, a doctor who has never seen you before may not diagnose you as a person with schizophrenia anymore. Remission is also high functioning in several aspects of life, living independently, goinig to school or to work, and socializing with other people. However, this does not mean the patient is cured or the illness has went away, the illness is still present, however, under control. Remission is achieved with the assistance of medication. "Published studies suggest that 10% to 20% of people with schizophrenia have remission of their illness as they get older, 20% get worse, but in a large majority (60% to 70%), the course of illness remains relatively unchanged." To reach remission it is recommended that you aim for a stress-free environment. Therefore, do things to relieve stress such as journaling, exercising, talking to friends, listening to or creating music, making a
9 comments
Read more