PRESIDENT’S NOTES

   Today is Saturday, July 17, and our Board of Directors met this morning, so I have fresh news about discussions we had and

decisions that were made.

   The Fairhope support group is now being run as a Connections group, which is only for consumers.  Please attend as you wish and experience the difference that a structured group process provides.  We have had very positive feedback. 

   As a result, we need to start a family support group on the Eastern Shore as well.  Some of the participants in the last F2F class had been interested in having one, so it is just a matter of moving this along. 

   The Board also decided that instead of our original plan to switch our monthly meetings from Foley to Daphne in alteration, we will work toward making our monthly Foley meeting another family support group meeting.  We will then arrange for quarterly business and educational meetings (6:30 – 7p – business, 7 – 8:30 or 9p - educational) to be held at the Baldwin County Mental Health Center Auditorium in Fairhope.  This way we can take our time and arrange for in-depth presentations on topics that will be important to

consumers, family members, and professionals alike.

   We are sorry for all of the changes.  We are truly trying to meet the needs of many and simplify the amount of work involved at the same time.

    Keep in mind that these changes (other than the Fairhope Connections group) are not yet in effect.  Jan has two excellent programs planned for our Foley meetings in July and August.  In  September we will meet in Foley for Elections and a general meeting at which I expect that Christi and I will share what we learned at the National Convention.

   One topic that would be excellent for a quarterly presentation is something many of us struggle with, ourselves, with family members and/or with clients, and is little understood:  Anosognosia.  There was a workshop on this topic at the National Convention.  We spent the first 5 minutes learning how to pronounce it:  an – o(long) – sog(like fog) – nos(long O) – ia(ee – ah).  Got that?  Christi and I keep practicing to make sure we remember how to say it.  Anosognosia is the phenomenon that is present primarily in schizophrenia and bipolar illnesses, as well as some other neurological conditions (such as following strokes), where the individual cannot (often or

continually) recognize that they are ill or have lost functioning.  It appears to be caused by a frontal lobe defect.  No matter the biology, it causes huge problems in getting people treatment and  tremendous heartache and frustration for family members and providers.  I would also like to see comprehensive (probably panel) presentations on each of the major mental illnesses so that knowledge and

updates are available to all.

   Subsequent to these changes and in an effort to simplify our efforts, we will be asking for approval of two changes in our by-laws:

Article VI – Meetings, Section 1 currently reads:

   “Regular meetings of the membership of the organization shall be held monthly at a time and place to be determined  by the Board.” 

 We will be asking for this to change to read:

  “Regular meetings of the membership of the organization shall be held at least quarterly at a time and place to be determined by the

            Board.”

Article XII – Amendments, Section 2 currently reads:

   “When a change to these by-laws is scheduled to be considered by the membership, a notice informing the membership of the

            upcoming distribution of the proposed change will be printed in the newsletter one month prior to the meeting when copies of 

            the proposed change will occur.  A copy of the proposed change shall be furnished   to each

            member of the organization at the monthly meeting held in the month prior  to the meeting

            scheduled for voting on the change.”

 We will be asking for this to change to read:

   “When a change to these by-laws is scheduled to be presented to the membership for a  vote,

           a notice informing the membership of the proposed change(s) and  the date of the vote will

ANNOUNCEMENTS (cont.)

 

Government Center in Mobile from October 18 through November 5, 2010.  Information about the exhibit is available at www.suitcaseexhibit.org.  If you have internet capacity, go there to learn more.  It is haunting.  The exhibit is the result of the discovery of hundreds of suitcases brought by patients admitted/committed to Willard Asylum (later Willard Psychiatric Center) in Willard, NY, most never touched after the patient’s arrival.  The contents show their lives before their illnesses:  their jobs, families, activities.  Photos show them driving, writing, traveling the world.

Would you like to have a Family Support Group available to you?

These will be forming in Foley and Daphne this fall, meeting only once a month.  If you would like to volunteer to work together with a few other people at one of these locations in order to make this happen, please let Lynn know.  The responsibilities would be simply to commit to attending regularly along with the others who have volunteered for the first 4 months, and then to make sure that at least two “facilitators” would be there each subsequent month.  We will arrange for the meeting rooms and provide you with a comfortable structure for the meetings.

Did you know?

Alabama had more representatives attending the NAMI National Convention that every state except Virginia and Maryland (a hop-skip-and-jump from DC)!

NAMI Alabama’s Yearly Conference

This is usually held in August but will be September 23 – 25 instead this year.  Members of NAMI Baldwin County can attend nearly for free.  All NAMI members in Alabama who live over 100 miles away have their hotel rooms paid for and get mileage reimbursement.  There is no fee for the conference for members.  A buffet breakfast is supplied by the hotel and box lunches are provided by NAMI Alabama at no cost.  Dinners are on our own.  Consider going!

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