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NAMI Contra Costa December 2016 1
Contra Costa’s Voice on Mental Illness July 2014 61714 1200P
The NAMI Contra Costa Newsletter is available on the web at: www.namicontracosta.org Email: [email protected] Phone Number 24/7: (925) 465-3864 Office Number: (925) 942-0767 If Your Family Faces The Challenge of Serious Mental Illness . . . E mail: [email protected] and 5150crisis.com
December 2016 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
GENERAL MEETING
Please See The Notice On Page 5
Speaker: Will Taylor
And A Real Contra Costa
MIXER
Please see page 4, column 1 Location:
John Muir Hospital Concord Campus 2540 East Street
Concord Open To The Public- Free Admission
CONGRATULATIONS!
WILL TAYLOR’S
FIRST YEAR
Will Taylor, NAMI Con-tra Costa’s Executive Director started that job just one year ago. A lot has happened during that year. Under Will’s direction, NAMI CC funded the new pro-gram, NAMI Basics. The critical fundraiser, the Crab Feed, was a great success . The same can be said for the NAMI In Motion fund-raiser. The first two sessions of NAMI Basics have already been completed. Will has been the face of NAMI CC through out the county. fostering positive relationships.
SAVE THE DATE
Sunday, March 5 5:00 to 8:30 pm
Dinner at 6:00 pm $65 per person
$600 for a table of 10
Location: Center Concord
5298 Clayton Road Concord
Reservations: namicontgracosta.org
925-289 9859
NAMI Contra Costa December 2016 2
NAMI-CC Care and Support Groups Central Contra Costa County
3rd Monday of Each Month, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., John Muir Medical Center , 1601 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek Campus, downstairs in the Epstein Conference Room. Park in the FREE public garage on the La Casa Via side of the hospital. The group is facilitated by Sharon Madison and Bob Thigpen. Email: [email protected], or call: (925) 256-9640, (925) 676-5771.
Open Our Hearts
Family Member Support Group
For family members of adults with mental illness.
No Meeting In October, 2016 Will Meet in November 4th Monday of Each Month 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Temple Isaiah
945 Risa Road, Lafayette (In The Talmud Torah Center, Room E204)
Call Karen at (925) 945-7272 or email at [email protected]
www.openourhearts.net
NAMI Contra Costa Writers’ Group All writing levels welcomed. 1st Tuesday of Each Month
10:30 a.m. to 12:00 Noon Rainbow Center-2118 Willow Pass Road, Concord
Roberto Roman 925-957 5105
Margaret Netherby, facilitator, [email protected].
Support Group for Parents of Adult Children with Mental Illness
Meets the 2nd Sunday 2-3:30 pm
San Ramon Valley United Methodist Church 902 Danville Blvd., Alamo, CA 94507
Karen Scalzi: (925) 820-7495 or [email protected]
Marilyn Clarke: (925) 837-5243 Office: (925) 837-5243
NEW HOPE SUPPORT GROUP
Offering support, education and resources to parents, caregivers of children, teens and young adults diagnosed with a mood disor-
der. Meets the 2nd Monday of Each Month Lafayette/Orinda Presbyterian Church
49 Knox Drive, Room 204, in Lafayette 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Christina Mellin 925-899 0862
NAMI CC Mandarin Program
Family Support Group
3rd Saturday of every month
Time– 10:00 to 12:00 Noon
Location: DCBC 2278 Camino Ramon, San Ramon
Contacts: Gloria 925-487 8288 Shelly: 925-238 6286
Family to Family Friends Group For Family to Family Graduates
4th Thursday of the Month 7:00 pm
Hillcrest Church Room 7
404 Gregory Lane, Pleasant Hill Contact: Baika Pratt 510-407 7910
NAMI West County Support Group 2nd Wednesday Each Month 6:30—8:00 pm
Richmond Medical Center of Kaiser 901 Nevin Avenue– 3rd Floor Room 317 Conference Rm 1
Richmond Contact Dr. Sumchai 510-237 9277 or E mail: [email protected]
NAMI SPANISH LANGUAGE FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP—PITTSBURG
1st Thursday each month 7:00-8:30 pm
Faith Based-ALL Creeds Welcome! Church of the Living God 1125 Harbor St. Pittsburg
Veronica: 925-250 4032
defamiliaafamilia@namicontracosta
NAMI Contra Costa December 2016 3
NAMI Contra Costa
National Alliance on Mental Illness
OFFICERS:
Charles Madison, President
(925) 256-9640 [email protected] Douglas Dunn 1st Vice President [email protected]
Yan Bennis, 2nd Vice President [email protected]
Mark Cohen, Secretary
[email protected] David Kahler, Treasurer (925) 676-5771 [email protected] BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Kay Derrico Barbara Scott Susan Horrocks Phil Belisle Al Farmer Gene Schulting Shelly Ji Don Green
Executive Director: Will Taylor [email protected]
925-289 9859
COMMITTEES:
Don Green Criminal Justice
Shelly Ji Mandarin Groups
Susan Horrocks Membership
David Kahler Publishing Veronica McManus F 2 F Spanish
Barbara Scott Nominating Committee
Nancy Seibert Family-to-Family
Clare Beckner Database
Richard Derrico Behavioral Health Court
Gigi Crowder FaithNet Coordinator
Gene Schulting Internal Auditor
Kay Derrico Outreach Committee
Steve Sullivan Librarian
Douglas Dunn Political Advocacy
Newsletter Group
Fran Martin Peggy Luna Dick Owens David Kahler Karin Baker Greg Beckner Rich and Yvonne DeAndre
Email: [email protected] Website: www.namicontracosta.org Phone: (925) 676 5771
103016 Sa 451PXXXX
PRESIDENT’S COLUMN By Charles Madison
NAMI Contra Costa Mission Statement
Our Mission is to Provide Support, Outreach, Educa-tion and Advocacy to Fam-
WE NEED YOU ALL TO ATTEND THE LAST COM-MUNITY FORUM. The last Forum is on Thursday December 1st from 3 pm to 6 pm at the Ambrose Commu-nity Center in Bay Point. NAMI CC has for years supported families, their loved ones as a safety net, providing help, understanding and hope at no cost to those that attend our programs. We need all the family members and their loved ones to rally and attend these community forums in order to let the County know that we need their support so we can expand our programs throughout the County. Hereto-fore, we have always relied on volunteers and will continue to do so. However, if we are to expand our outreach, we are going to need to hire some additional people. The new personnel would assist us in managing the expansion of our present programs to the East and West part of our County that are so under severed. They will enable us take a serious look at programs for mentoring and to bringing pro-grams to our High School age population. So I urge all of you to attend, please show up and speak up for NAMI CC Program Support. Just showing up will provide support
so please put it on your schedule. We should also remind the County of the need for hous-ing for those living with a mental illness and that we need their sup-port to keep the Knightsen Farm project alive. We had great participa-tion on the last Forum in Pleasant Hill and we need the same at Bay Point. Dr. Diwadkar’s presen-tation titled “Why we are using brain imaging in Psychiatry” was very interesting and provided a lot of discussion. At our General Meeting on Thursday December 15th, Will Taylor, our Executive Direc-tor, will provide a NAMI CC year end summary and future plans for our affiliate. This will be a brief presentation to be followed by a mixer so we get the opportunity to visit and share with each other. Let others know and bring a friend(s). We look forward to seeing you there. The very best to all and remem-
ber that everyone counts and a
Very Happy Thanksgiving to All.
Charles
NAMI Contra Costa December 2016 4
FAMILY ADVOCATE
Bob Thigpen 925-957 5139
Bob Thigpen is the County’s Family Advocate. You can talk with him at the
Crash Course which is every Wednesday night
(925-676- 5771) crashcoursehelp2aol.com
Adult Wellness Cities Antioch * Conord * San Pablo Open Monday-Friday 8:00AM-4:30PM
FREE Services &Opportunities
www.riinternational.com 1. Improve your Mental Health and Overall Wellness 2. Establish a 6 Month Partner-
ship and a Plan with your Coach 3. Attend the following Courses: W.R.A.P. WELL 9. Dimensions of Wellness Facing Up to Health 4. Identify your Symptoms, Trig-gers, Supporters, Strengths, Needs, and Goals. 5. Grow and Overcome your Challenges in a Safe Recovery Environment Supported by Peers
Call 925-494-4008 For Information
Get Involved With NAMI
DO YOUR PART
Here’s how you can volunteer to help.
1. Attend the Community Forum, DEC. 1, 2016 3-6 PM Ambrose Community Center, 3105 Willow Pass Road, Bay Point, CA 94565 YOUR ATTENDANCE IS VITAL! We must all come and make known NAMI-CC’s need for MHSA funding to fund and expand our programs. With your help NAMI is much more likely to receive this much needed funding. 2. Hand out materials on Mental Health at School Attendance Meetings (SARB). For more info contact Susan Norwick Horrocks, [email protected] 3. Distribute NAMI Flyers to local doctors, hospitals and Mental Health Agencies. For more infor-mation: Contact [email protected] 4. Set up NAMI materials and literature at our monthly General Meetings. Contact [email protected] 5. Write articles for our newslet-ter. Contact Dave Kahler [email protected] 6.Volunteer to reopen our of-fice. Recruit, train, organize and supervise office volunteers. All this is under the direction of our ED. Contact [email protected]. 7.Help us get started with a high school education pro-gram. Contact: [email protected]
8. We need a Volunteer Coordina-tor for NAMI Contra Costa. Contact: [email protected] For more information: Contact: [email protected]
Peer-to-Peer 2017 Class Scheduled
What: A free, recovery-focused, educational program for adults who wish to establish and maintain wellness in response to mental health challenges. When: Weekly, for 10 weeks, Tuesdays, February 7 through Tuesday, April 11. Where: Antioch Wellness Cen-ter, 3711 Lone Tree Way, Antioch For information or preregistra-tion (required): contact Kristen Visbal [email protected] Leave a message with your contact information at 925-942-0767
Thank You! Our Pampered Chef Fundraiser for NAMI in Motion was a huge success! We have received a check from Pampered Chef for $477.64. We earned 15% from Pampered Chef and another 10% from our Pampered Chef Director and supporter, Shelley Valett. An enormous thank you goes to Shelley for staging a terrific cooking demon-stration and party. You too can host a Pampered Chef Party/Cooking Class! Contact: Shelley 510-290 2508 www.paperedchef.bizshelleyvalett
If you want to host a party for NAMI-CC.
SOCIAL MEDIA
NAMI needs a volunteer who has expertise with the social media to help us do outreach and attract people in need to the NAMI meetings and workshops. Contact: [email protected]
NAMI Contra Costa December 2016 5
NAMI Basics Launched
NAMI Basics a free education-al support and resource class for parents of children and adolescents with mental health issues, was suc-cessfully launched this year with two classes, one in Concord and one in Pittsburg. The class format is pat-terned on the evidenced based Fam-ily to Family course, the 12-week, NAMI signature program that edu-cates and supports family members who have adult, mentally ill loved ones. The next NAMI Basics class is scheduled for six, Saturday morn-ings, 9:00-11:30 a.m., February 25 through April 1, 2017, Concord. For more details and to register, contact: Nancy at [email protected].
NAMI Contra Costa NAMI CC Warm Line
Warm Line volunteers take phone calls to help people obtain information about NAMI services and other mental health services in Contra Costa County. Each month, the Warm Line receives between 25 and 40 calls. Peggy Luna, the only volunteer for many years, was joined about two years ago by volunteers Karen Cohen, Gloria Davidson, Mae Bra-gen, and Kay Derrico. If you wish to speak with a Warm Line volun-teer, call 925-942-0767. Are you interested in becoming a Warm Line volunteer? Leave a message at the Warm Line number and you will be contacted.
Celebrate the Holidays with a:
NAMI Contra Costa
MIXER!!!
December 15th At 7PM (Doors open at 6:30 pm for NAMI Information table)
Featuring a Presentation from the Executive Director of
NAMI Contra Costa:
Will Taylor
Happy Holidays
Concord Campus of John Muir Medical Center
Through the main doors, first hall to the left. 2540 East Street at Almond, Concord
Refreshments & Door Prizes
Www.namicontracosta.org 925-942 0767
WARM CLOTHES
Winter is here and Vic Montoya is again asking for warm clothes for those consumers that show up at the hospital with none. Bring them to any NAMI meeting including the Crash Course which is EVERY Wednesday night.
NAMI Contra Costa December 2016 6
Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory,
Madness, and Family Secrets
by Luke Dittrich · Hardcover: 464 pages · Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (August 9, 2016) · Language: English · ISBN-10: 0812992733 · ISBN-13: 978-0812992731 Review by Mark Cohen
“Henry’s life never progressed
beyond the day in 1953 when Dr.
William Beecher Scoville, my
grandfather, removed some small
but important pieces of Henry’s
brain.” This is the hook that the
author, Luke Dittrich, uses to grab
the reader’s attention.
While the story is woven around
the relationship between prominent
neurosurgeon Scoville and Henry
Gustave Molaison (the real name of
Patient H. M. as he became known
to the medical community), it co-
vers our country’s history of treat-
ment for severe mental disorders
from its beginning into modern
times with emphasis on psychosur-
gery and its rise in popularity in the
mid twentieth century, even though,
as the author reminds us, “The early
history of neurosurgery is written in
skulls, not words,” as is evidenced
on anthropological autopsy of skulls
with burr holes, some up to ten
thousand years old.
It is also the story of the way we
produce memories and the means by
which the self is created.
From antiquity Medicine has fol-
lowed the doctrine of above all else
“Abstain from doing harm. . .” And
in the words of the author “that
principle has guided the care and
treatment of our most mysterious
and delicate organ. Protect it when
possible, keep it clean, don’t muck
about inside. That was the status
quo for thousands of years. Until
suddenly it wasn’t.”
The story of Phineas Gage was
pivotal. In 1848 an accident with a
tamping iron made Phineas Gage
history's most famous brain-injury
survivor. The tamping iron—43
inches long, 1.25 inches in diame-
ter and weighing 13.25 pounds—
shot skyward, penetrated Gage’s
left cheek, ripped into his brain and
exited through his skull, landing
several dozen feet away. He
seemed unaffected. However,
Gage’s friends found him “no long-
er Gage,” The balance between his
“intellectual faculties and animal
propensities” seemed gone.
Thus the idea was planted that
severe mood and psychotic disor-
ders might be treated by removing
certain parts of the brain without
dire consequences. In the late nine-
teenth century, Dr. Gottlieb Burck-
hardt, a Swiss psychiatrist, per-
formed the first modern neurosur-
gical attacks on mental illness. In
the1930s a Portuguese neuroanato-
mist named Egas Moniz cut on a
specific part of the brain: the
frontal lobes. The first leucotomy,
on U.S. soil, was performed in
1936. The surgeries seemed to
make the patients less troubled and
more manageable.
By the mid twentieth century
conditions were untenable in state
asylums. They were seriously over-
crowded, which, with bad housing
facilities, made it extremely diffi-
cult to render the best of service to
our mentally ill patients. That ser-
vice included electro, fever, and
insulin shock therapies. Hypother-
mia, hyperpyrexia, isolation and
other questionable therapies were
also used. These measures failed to
adequately reduce the numbers of
inmates or make them more man-
ageable by insufficient staff. A
“coordinated program of neurosur-
gery” might offer a solution.
The author’s “grandfather and
the other neurosurgeons would
begin operating on patients at all
Connecticut asylums, public and
private, at least twice a week. Asy-
lum personnel, overseen by re-
searchers from Yale, would mean-
while keep tabs on the patients’
postoperative progress. Connecticut
thus becomes the first state to un-
dertake a scientific, controlled study
and practice of the brain operation
known as prefrontal lobotomy.”
By 1953, psychosurgery, despite
its drawbacks, was well received by
the medical community in general
and by psychiatry particularly. It
was at this time that Henry (twenty-
seven) came to Dr. Scoville for
help. Even though Henry took mas-
sive doses of powerful, brain-
dampening epilepsy medicines he
was still seizing several times a day,
sometimes falling to the ground,
sometimes just falling silent. The
author informs us of a possible sce-
nario: “What would happen if, ra-
ther than performing his limbic lo-
botomies only on the mentally ill,
he (Dr. Scoville) began performing
them on perfectly sane people who
suffered only from epilepsy? It was
an open question, one awaiting an
answer. Or, at least, a patient. Lack-
ing a specific target in a specific
hemisphere of Henry’s medial tem-
poral lobes, my grandfather had
decided to destroy both.
This decision was the riskiest
possible one for Henry. Whatever
the functions of the medial temporal
lobe structures were—and, again,
nobody at the time had any idea
what they did—my grandfather
would be eliminating them.
After years of straddling the line
between medical practice and medi-
cal research in the back wards of
asylums, of attempting to both cure
insanity and gain an understanding
of various brain structures, he was
about to perform one of his medical
temporal lobotomies on a man who
was not mentally ill at all, whose
NAMI Contra Costa December 2016 7
NAMI CONTRA COSTA
DONATIONS
only dysfunction was epilepsy.”
The surgery was successful in
stopping the seizures but the side
effects made him the most studied
“human research subject in histo-
ry.” After this surgery Henry was
unable to imprint memories1. He
was always living in the present.
Henry’s almost complete lack of
episodic memories is difficult to
relate to. We are a storytelling spe-
cies, and we spend a great deal of
our time stringing the facts of our
pasts into narratives in the present.
“Henry, when he engaged in intro-
spection, was sometimes anguished
by his absent past, by his muddled
present, by his unimaginable future.
In the end, this is the difference
between Henry and us: Henry could
no longer hold on to the present,
could no longer make new memo-
ries, which meant that he could no
longer tell or even understand sto-
ries, at least ones that lasted more
than a few moments. We can. And
we can do more than that, too. We
can alter stories. . . Sometimes the
things we discover in the present
change, irrevocably, our under-
standing of the past, adding new
perspective, calling into question
old interpretations.
It is impossible for anyone to
ever know what it was really like to
inhabit Henry's mind and to live in
Henry's world. There is no evi-
dence, however, to support the con-
clusion that it was anything like
nirvana.
In 1977, the National Commis-
sion for the Protection of Human
Subjects of Biomedical and Behav-
ioral Research, rather than declare
that psychosurgery should be
banned, "determined unanimously
that there are circumstances under
which psychosurgical procedures
may be appropriately performed"
and that "psychosurgery should not
be prohibited." Psychosurgery is
rarely resorted to today.
The book, itself, reads like a
Shakespearian tragedy full of
arrogance, hubris, and mendaci-
ty. In summary, this history
chronicles another of the “fads
and fallacies in the name of sci-
ence.” We need to be ever vigi-
lant about the lure of an easy fix.
And above all we must remem-
ber that “a mind is a terrible
thing to waste.”
URGENT CRAB FEED SPONSORS NEEDED
We need sponsors for our Crab Feed. Do you work for a company that might be willing to be a sponsor? It never hurts to ask! Sponsorships range from $500. to $10,000. We need our members to make personal connections to local businesses and organizations. We need large and small raffle items for the Crab Feed Fundraiser. It’s easy to ask your local grocer and merchants for gift certificates.
In The Memory Of:
William K. Waters
From: C. and E. Cofer
Donation
Sam and Samia Koussa
Donation
Richard and Laurie Morrison
Donation
Gurcharan Singh Dhaliwal
NAMI Contra Costa December 2016 8
NAMI Contra Costa P.O Box 21247 Concord, CA
94521
Phone: (925) 465-3864 Email: [email protected]
Stamp
APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP NAMI CONTRA COSTA
Make check payable to NAMI Contra Costa Complete this information and please return to:
Treasurer
NAMI Contra Costa P.O. Box 21247
Concord, CA 94521 Name _______________________________________ Address ______________________ City _________________ Zip ___________ Phone _________________ Cell ___________ Email Address: _____________________________ _________________________________________________
DONATION FORM
Amount ___________ Mail to:
Treasurer, NAMI Contra Costa P.O. Box 21247, Concord, CA 94521
Note: Tax ID #68-0209474
(No goods or services have been received from the following donor or donors)
Name ____________________________________ Address __________________________________ City _________________ Zip ________________ Phone ________________ Cell _______________ Email Address ____________________________
3rd Monday Support Group December 19, 2016 7:00 p.m.
John Muir Medical Center Walnut Creek
Epstein Meeting Room Basement Area (See page 2)
Email: [email protected]
To:
From: