November 2000

Ninety-six participants, speakers and staff came together for our Fall Institute on Navigating the Legal System Successfully, September 30, at the Blowing Rock Assembly Grounds. Participant evaluations were very enthusiastic, praising the facilities, the food, and—-especially—-the programs.

The day began with a very moving introduction by NAMI High Country co-president Helga Wilson, followed by a gracious welcome from the mayor of Blowing Rock, J.B. Lawrence.

The first plenary presentation, by Professor Mark Botts of the Institute of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill, covered Confidentiality Rules. Participants praised his thorough, very clear presentation. One evaluation saluted Mr. Botts’ "outstanding knowledge of legalities" and the "reasonable discussion of the practical consequences" of our confidentiality laws. There remain "glitches." The best way to involve families in treatment planning and implementation is through the client’s consent to release otherwise confidential information. Other avenues covered by Mr. Botts include special provisions for the client’s next of kin or health care agent.

The plenary session on the Risks for Nonprofits, featured Robert L. Guthrie, President/CEO of the Asura insurance agency in Research Triangle Park and an attorney and insurance agent. Called in one evaluation a "great presenter," Mr. Guthrie used specific examples of how legal liability can arise for volunteer organizations, reviewed the concepts of negligence and damages, and offered tips on how to reduce the risks of lawsuits. A participant described this as "vital information."

Enforcing Client Rights was the plenary by Charlotte F. Jordan, Branch Head for Advocacy & Client Rights at the Division of MH/DD/SAS. This session was far more interactive, with audience members firing questions and raising concerns almost from the moment Ms. Jordan started. A participant commented, "it is heartening to know that finally the Mental Health Division is addressing the needs of our consumers."

Ms. Jordan and Ms. Susan Mills, her colleague at the Advocacy & Client Rights branch, conscientiously noted the concerns raised by the participants and will be following through.

Enthusiastic evaluations of our workshop presenters were also in evidence: Susan Hartley (Estate Planning) was described as "well organized and concise." A participant said that "excellent information [came] from Nancy Rivenbark," who presented on Guardianships and Alternatives. Laura Yates (Programs for Prisoners with Mental Illness) was described as an "impassioned speaker [and] fabulous advocate." Finally, an evaluation confessed that its writer "loved Christine Heinberg," who spoke on Parent Advocacy at the IEP Meeting.

A great Fall Institute! Our thanks to NAMI High Country for a wonderful job of hosting, and for being smart enough to live in a beautiful part of North Carolina!

Several affiliates participated during Mental Illness Awareness Week this year, in efforts to raise public awareness of mental illness, its treatments, and of NAMI.

NAMI Durham arranged to have mail cancelled by hand on October 2 with NAMI’s MIAW logo, when requested, at one Durham post office. NAMI Durham members also distributed posters with local contact information and encouraged churches to include information on mental illness in their service bulletins and newsletters.

NAMI Guilford held a special program featuring a panel presentation by family members during MIA Week. The 11th Annual Legislative Breakfast was held by NAMI Wilmington, where local awards were presented. The members of NAMI Charlotte held a MIA Week luncheon to publicize their affiliate to the community. NAMI Moore County held their fifth annual Candlelight Vigil and program. NAMI Moore County members also placed posters, flyers and other promotional information throughout the county.

NAMI Wake County members handed out packets containing a NAMI North Carolina Helpline card incased in a refrigerator magnet, an affiliate brochure, fact sheets about mental illness, and a religious outreach brochure, to about 400 participants in the 12th Annual Thad and Alice Eure Walk for Hope in Raleigh. NAMI Wake County laid the groundwork for this event a number of years ago by entering the Walk with a handful of volunteers who raised a few hundred dollars. This year, NAMI Wake County was awarded a prime booth location in the area where the crowd funneled for the celebratory lunch, for distribution of their material. This year’s team of 12 raised about $2000 for research on mental illness.

Current NAMI memberships will expire in January, 2001.

All NAMI North Carolina affiliates are currently collecting membership dues for 2001. By paying dues at the affiliate level, you also become a member of NAMI at the state and national level, too.

Please contact your affiliate leaders for the membership renewal process now. Don’t let your valuable NAMI membership expire!

The news that Laurie Flynn has plans to resign as national executive director of NAMI effective at the end of the year was recently announced by NAMI president, Jackie Shannon. I think her words are useful and instructive; as we look back we appreciate how far NAMI has come and how much has been accomplished on Laurie’s watch.

Statement of

Jacqueline M. Shannon, President, Board of Directors,

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)
October 17, 2000

After 16 years of exemplary service to people with severe mental illnesses and their families, Laurie Flynn has announced to the NAMI board that she intends to resign as NAMI’s executive director, effective December 31, 2000.

With profound regret and with appreciation for her significant contributions to our movement, the board has accepted Laurie’s desire to focus her considerable talents elsewhere and is establishing a search committee for a new executive director.

When Laurie first arrived as executive director, NAMI was a small group of grassroots advocates scattered throughout the country, virtually unknown on Capitol Hill and policy circles. With fewer than 500 affiliates and a national professional staff of only four, NAMI found in Laurie the skills to grow the organization and effectively articulate the vision of its founders. Anyone who has ever been in an auditorium when Laurie has taken the podium knows the keen intelligence and passion she has given to the nation’s voice on mental illness. Today, with more than 210,000 members, 1200 affiliates and a national staff of more than 60 persons, NAMI has fulfilled the wisdom of those who selected Laurie to lead us.

Laurie Flynn helped to inspire and lead the movement that has changed the way America thinks and talks about people with mental illnesses. Under her stewardship, NAMI has been steadfast in pursuing a public policy and program agenda that has immeasurably improved the lives of people with biological brain disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and severe anxiety disorders.

Laurie’s contributions to NAMI and the field of mental health care reform over the years have been truly remarkable. I know that all NAMI members and friends will join me in thanking her for her extraordinary service and wishing her great success in future endeavors.

The following suggestions were made during a workshop at our spring conference. Over 30 people participated in a brainstorming session on ways we can reach out to young families. We hope you find these ideas helpful as you encounter young families. We will print the remaining ideas in a later issue.

2. Get young families in touch with each other. Keep a phone list of other young families who are willing to speak by phone. Get permission to pass their name and number on to others.

3. Give out the NAMI North Carolina Helpline (1-800-451-9682) number.

4. Leave fliers, Helpline cards, brochures, etc., at the YMCA, schools, public libraries, doctors' offices, anywhere families will see them and you can get permission to do so.

5. Leave information with the youth librarian at your public library.

6. Visit/leave information with CAP (Community Alternative Program) workers.

7. Speak to parent groups like the PTA about warning signs of mental illness in children.

8. Educate school personnel—-superintendents, school board, guidance counselors, teachers—-about brain disorders/mental illness in children. NAMI North Carolina has an excellent 2-hour program already being presented across the state. Help us get on the agenda in your area schools.

9. Pair a teen (with a brain disorder) with an adult with a brain disorder (who is doing well). The adult becomes a mentor to the adolescent and offers encouragement and hope.

10. Speak to community groups about our kids, any chance you get.

11. Get guest speakers from successful family advocate and young family groups. Ask them to tell their stories.

12. Do radio and television interviews promoting services for children and support for families.

13. Do a Needs Assessment questionnaire to be filled out by young families, which will give an idea of what their needs are.

14. Host an ECAC (Exceptional Children's Assistance Center) workshop. This group has been around for a while and its people are experts on school issues. Phone ECAC at 1-800-962-6817. ECAC has parent coaches, who can clarify the confusing IEP process, and a lot of free material, a lending library, and newsletter.

15. Offer teacher training with credit after school hours (7 - 9 PM). It worked in Union County!

16. Remember private schools in your outreach to professionals.

17. Help educators interpret classroom behaviors as symptoms of a brain disorder. For example, irritability (more often than sadness) is a sign of depression in children.

18. Visit/speak to county commissioners and the local school board to raise awareness of kids' issues and needs of families.

19. Just LISTEN to young families. Avoid giving advice. Be confident they will work through difficult times and find ways to help their child.

NAMI has proposed model legislation called the Omnibus Mental Illness Recovery Act (OMIRA) to establish across the country a baseline of care and to spur a national movement toward improved care for individuals with mental illnesses.

NAMI North Carolina is working to implement the goals of OMIRA over the next five years OMIRA has eight sections and reflects a model system of care based on the most effective standards and programs demonstrated to empower individuals on the road to recovery.

What grade does North Carolina make?

The average NAMI North Carolina affiliate has doubled its membership in the last three years. Six of NAMI North Carolina's affiliates now have over 100 members. To grow, an affiliate must offer marketable services and advertise those services to the community. Team effort is the key to success.

Here is a list of common affiliate problems, and thoughts about solutions.

Either people have not heard about your affiliate, or your affiliate does not offer a marketable service to the community. Advertising is a must, and Family-to-Family and a good support group are services that will draw new people.

Either people do not like your meetings, or you did not give them a reason to come back. A personal invitation to become a member and an opportunity to be active will make them feel welcome. If there are no projects for new people, create some.

We are burned out..

Every active member should be looking for his or her own replacement. Delegating tasks to new people is a way of building new leaders. At the same time, you are offering the gift of involvement. Everyone wants to feel needed.

Hardly anyone is going to volunteer, but if you ask an individual to do a specific task, he/she will feel wanted, needed and valuable. Ask for an advertising chair person, and you may get a new president.

Of course no one wants to be president if that means being all things to all people. Train new leaders and involve them in the affiliate. When they are ready, presidents will finally say yes when asked to take over.

Actively seek new members in new places. Start a major advertising campaign. Move your meeting to a more central location. Ask people to join and make them welcome.

No one should be obliged to attend meetings. Nor should they have to feel a responsibility to continue leading an affiliate. Everyone has the right to retire. A social group on the weekend might be the need of this segment of your membership--a Saturday luncheon once a month, perhaps.

Survey affiliate members to find out when and where they would like to meet, and what kinds of meetings they want to have. If they don't want meetings, they might want some other role in the affiliate. Attendance is voluntary, so make it worthwhile.

Have you advertised your affiliate adequately to professionals? Do you have Family-to-Family? Do the professionals know what the course can do for their clients and their families? Talk to the mental health staff at an in-service meeting and get your members to advertise for your affiliate when they visit private practitioners.

 

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NAMI New Bern became NAMI North Carolina's newest affiliate in September. Sherry Springer is the President, and there is already an advertising committee and two people who will train in November to become teachers for the Family-to-Family Education Course. You can find more information at www.naminc.org. Click to the Bulletin Board.

NAMI North Carolina Spring Conference

NAMI North Carolina has enrolled in the "Boosters" Program of the BI-LO Food Stores chain, making it easy for those whom regularly shop at BI-LO to support us. Here’s how the program works. Sign up for a free BI-LO "bonuscard," if you don’t already have one, at any store’s customer service counter. Using your "bonuscard" will entitle you to extra savings on purchases, so is a smart thing to do anyway.

Call 1-877-4-BOOSTERS, toll-free (or 1-877-426-6783) to enroll in the Boosters program. NAMI North Carolina is Boosters Number 6440. When you call, you’ll need this Boosters Number and your "bonuscard" number. You can also enroll on-line at http://www.bi-lo.com.

Each time you shop and use your "bonuscard," your purchase is credited towards the NAMI North Carolina Boosters program. Each quarter NAMI North Carolina will get a portion of the funds BI-LO puts into the program; the more NAMI North Carolina shoppers spend, the higher our portion of the program.

We thank BI-LO for the opportunity to participate in this program, and encourage BI-LO shoppers to enroll.

Questions? Contact Paul Bamford at the NAMI North Carolina office.