Mental Health Parity. Passed the Senate but was prevented from a vote in the House when it was held in the insurance committee by its chair Representative Jerry Dockham. Senator Leslie Winner fought for the bill to the very end, even attempting to attach the parity bill to another insurance bill. We owe Senator Winner a great debt. Because of her efforts, supporters in the House and Senate, and the great work of grassroots and constituent supports, mental health parity became a statewide issue and raised the awareness of policy makers and the public to the needs of people with mental illness. We have learned a great deal from this process and will return next session smarter and stronger.

Mental Illness Awareness (MIA)

Week Highlights

NAMI Guilford County presented Balancing Act, in Greensboro, to a crowd of 275, of which at least a third was non-white, meeting a goal of outreach to the black community. Seventeen new members, including six consumers, joined following the performance.

NAMI Guilford conducted a program that granted continuing education credits by Greensboro AHEC, where 55 people learned about schizophrenia. Displays were set up in 11 libraries and a series of public presentations were given. NAMI Guilford also provided a Help Book to each of those libraries. "Activities were more varied, and involved a lot more people in getting it done," said Elaine Purpel, referring to MIA Week. "It is a sign that the affiliate is growing and becoming a more effective organization." NAMI Guilford is certainly growing with more than 140 members.

NAMI Wilmington held its 9th annual Breakfast October 6 with 83 in attendance. Liston G. Edwards, Director of Cherry Hospital, spoke on the mental health system rends for the 21st century. Frances Weller, television news personality, acted as mistress of ceremonies for the breakfast.

Faydene Corbett received NAMI Wilmington's Member of the Year award; Laura Willis, director of Ocean House Clubhouse, received the Professional of the Year award; Charles W. Riesz of the Wilmington Star-News, received the Media award; and First Presbyterian Church received the Community Service award.

NAMI Charlotte held a luncheon with 102 attending, where administrators from public and private programs joined with families and consumers. Steven Lorimer, Pastor of St. Luke's Lutheran Church, was recognized for his service to people with mental illness. He also stepped in as speaker when the guest of honor was unable to attend. Three county commissioners presented a proclamation in honor of MIA Week. One consumer, a master level guitarist, provided entertainment. Selling NARSAD cards and the sponsorship of tables for the event netted $1000 for NAMI Charlotte.

NAMI Moore County drew a crowd of over 100 at their 3rd annual Candleight Vigil, held in the chapel of Community Presbyterian Church. Two consumers told their personal stories about living with mental illness and stressed that treatment works. NAMI North Carolina Executive Director Beth Melcher spoke of the challenge to get NAMI's new services out to the community. Two of those services, the Family-to-Family Education Course and the Young Families Mentoring program were described by Linda Evans and Ethel "Dee" DiGregorio. Beth Melcher described the event as a wonderfully inspirational program adding that the Area Program was strongly represented in the evening's festivities.

NAMI Wake County entered a team of a dozen members in the Thad and Alice Eure Walk for Hope on October 11, where 3000 walkers raised $275,000 this year to be used for mental illness research within North Carolina. NAMI Wake Countydistributed brochures and posters at the Walk for Hope, as well as to 17 Wake County libraries, and a number of churches and stores.

NAMI Cumberland County held its 4th Candlelight Vigil with rain forcing the services into the Rusk Chapel of First Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville. Dick Foy and Elsie Bullard gave testimonials about their experiences with mental illnesss. The Sunflower, a choir composed of consumers who also have developmental disabilities, sang and Bert Esworthy presented facts on mental illness and stigma. Although the crowd was smaller than usual because of the rain, 45 people attended, many of whom were not NAMI members. Bert compared the Candlelight Vigil to the September golf tournament, where most of the golfers were not members, but the tournament raised money for NAMI Cumberland. Bert commented, "At least we are doing yearly activities that get name recognition. As time passes, it will grow and grow and grow. It normalizes the illness in people's minds to have something like a golf tournament. We will mainstream mental illness."

NAMI Western Carolina asked area churches to light candles on October 4; some of those churches presented sermons on mental illness. Tracy Mixson, who chaired MIA Week for NAMI Western Carolina, appeared on a talk show with a psychiatrist and said it was a privilege to be able to be on the show.

A one-mile walk, "Walk a Mile in Our Shoes," was held with 40 participants, including NAMI members, Blue Ridge Center staff and consumers. Blue Ridge Center provided T-shirts printed with Blue Ridge and NAMI Western Carolina logos for the walkers. NAMI Western Carolina honored businesses, organizations and individuals who had been supportive of NAMI. The Advocate of the Year award went to Asheville Citizen Times. Editorials and feature stories about mental illness appeared in the newspaper. Local book stores provided displays for the week's events.

From the President...

The Goodnight

by Louis Simpson

He stood still by her bed

Watching his daughter breathe,

The dark and silver head,

The fingers curled beneath,

And thought: Though she may have

Intelligence and charm

And luck, they will not save

Her life from every harm.

The lives of children are

Dangerous to their parents

With fire, water, air,

And other accidents;

And some, for a child's sake,

Anticipating doom,

Empty the world to make

The world safe as a room....

A man who cannot stand

Children's perilous play,

With lifted voice and hand

Drives the children away.

Out of sight, out of reach,

The tumbling children pass;

He sits on an empty beach,

Holding an empty glass.

Who said that tenderness

Will turn the heart to stone?

May I endure her weakness

As I endure my own.

Better to say goodnight

To breathing flesh and blood

Each night as though the night

Were always only good.

Like this daddy, I dearly loved my young son and wished to make the world safe for him. But the night was NOT "only good," and when he was 20, it came crashing down on him in the nightmare of schizophrenia.

While my son was preschool age, I shelved my own vocational dreams and stayed at home with him and his siblings to assure he had a good start and knew he was loved. When my son was so hurt by this terrible disease, I wanted to hold him again and protect him and "kiss him to make it better." But the grown-up Paul would not let me--in fact, he turned on me and blamed me for his illness and for "incarcerating" him in the hospital.

My response was to throw myself into volunteer activities, advocacy for Paul and others like him. If I couldn't make things better for Paul, perhaps I could help someone else's son with mental illness. This outlet for my pent-up emotions and energies saved me, I am sure, from the depression experienced by so many family members of persons with mental illness.

But I am quite aware that my response may not be an option for other mothers and dads faced with similar situations. Professional responsibilities or home-care for a loved son or daughter limit time available for volunteering.

May I suggest another way, one that has been taken by my husband. Howard finds the time demands on his life are too great to permit him to be an active volunteer, so he gets great pleasure in sending a check to do his part. Money or service--two ways to love our son.

You probably guessed you would get an appeal from me to respond to the NAMI NC annual fund drive. What else can a girl do after serving as Chair of the Development (read that "Fundraising") Committee last year? And last year you NAMI NC members responded magnificently to the 1:1 challenge gift--over $600,000 was raised!

With that money we've started some exciting new programs, such as special training in advocacy for identified affiliate leaders; young family mentor program; religious outreach; and an innovative grant program for affiliates. The affiliate grant program, alone, offers $30,000 to enable affiliates to pursue their own projects.

We vigorously met the challenge of the matching grant last year and went over the top! This year our challenge is different--and maybe even harder--to avoid slipping back to "business as usual" by sending a routine check or none at all, now that our contribution is not matched. Last year the percentage of NAMI NC members who were also donors was nearly 50%. This year let's top that--and let's grow our membership so we have more donors as well. We need to raise $83,000 in gifts of under $1,000 from rank and file NAMI members.

It's great to have an active advisory board finding donors who will give $1,000 or more, but it is you moms and dads who love your kids and you siblings and you children that form the backbone of this organization who must respond as well to this challenge.

Remember only four years ago, when NAMI NC was almost bankrupt, not knowing how we could pay Beth Melcher, our new Executive Director? We've come a long way, a way that we're very proud of. Let's be sure we stay up here at the top!

-Shirley Strobel

Take A Chance! Life Plan Trust Raffle!

Tickets are $5.00 each, or 6 for $25.00.

Prizes include 2 round trip airfares on Midway; a weekend in the Virginia countryside; an evening at the Fearrington House Restaurant and Inn; abstract oil painting by a local artist; a handmade double wedding ring quilt.

Deadline is December 15; drawing is December 16.

For tickets, call Ricky Terry at 1-800-662-8706.

NAMI North Carolina

Spring Conference

April 9 and 10, 1999

Holiday Inn

Research Triangle Park

Reserve the date; plan to attend!

Young Family Network Report

We are currently reviving and expanding what was once called the CAN Network. This network consisted of people across the state willing to provide phone support to young families in crisis. It is our goal to have one network contact per affiliate for young families. The new name will be The Young Families Network.

The reason for this action is the increase in Helpline calls from young families. It is good news that there is an increase in awareness that children and adolescents do have mental illness. It is also good to know people recognize that NAMI can help. However, we need more people who are willing to reach out to families who call. The state office can send out information and offer support. But callers often need someone who has "been there" to listen to them and offer continued encouragement. We also need these young families to join our affiliates. We agree with NAMI that these young families are the future of our organization.

Most of you know Diane Weaver from NAMI Four Seasons. Diane, a NAMI NC board member and the parent of a child with a brain disorder, is a strong advocate for children with special needs. We asked Diane for suggestions affiliates could use in welcoming these young families. We will highlight these tips over the next few issues of Clippings. Diane offers insight into what these families face. She also reminds us of how much we have to offer others.

-Linda Swann

Would a Young Family Find Your Affiliate Welcoming?

pleasantly

(the answer might T surprise you)

As one of the few young family members in my area, I am often asked how an affiliate can prepare itself to include young families. I am amazed to find that knowlegeable, supportive members do not realize how much they already offer a family struggling with a childhood-onset brain disorder. The unique features of childhood-onset disorders are easy to learn, and ample resources are available by phone. Here are some tips:

1. Realize that your affiliate already has much to offer young families.
   1. You are perhaps the first people the parents have met who believe they did not cause the disorder. Well-meaning professionals, friends, and relatives have been bombarding these parents with advice, not realizing the child's disorder is biologically-based. NAMI affiliate members know that unsolicited parenting advice is inappropriate.
   2. Your example, empathy, and caring are healing for these distraught parents. Listen, affirm and support, as you would any newcomer.
   3. You understand the mental health system and SSI. These parents probably need guidance navigating the systems.
   4. You understand the need for persistence in pursuing the right mix of medications and dealing with side-effects. This is often a discouraging process for young families. Your longer-range perspective is valuable.
2. Don't worry about overwhelming or shocking young families with the symptoms or treatment issues of late-adolescent- or adult-onset disorders. These families probably have some stories that would curl your hair! Childhood-onset disorders are severe and continuous. The parents are already dealing with several of the following: impulsivity, continuous mixed mania, depression, suicidality, runaway attempts, psychoses, obsessions, tics, grandiosity, compulsions and rages.
3. Stock NAMI and NAMI NC brochures on childhood-onset disorders. These include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, behavioral disorders (ADHD, oppositional-defiant disorder, conduct disorder), Asperger Disorder and Tourette's Syndrome. Include information from these brochures or other reliable sources in every affiliate newsletter. An excellent reference is Harold S. Koplewicz's book, Its Nobody's Fault, available through NAMI, at your library, and at many book stores.

(This article will be continued in the next issue of Clippings.)

Congressional No Shows

NAMI North Carolina sent Candidates' Questionnaires to 10 Democrats, 11 Republicans, and 12 Libertarians running for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1998 North Carolina election. Only three responded: Sue Myrick in the 9th District, Cass Ballenger in the 10th District, and Mike Robinson in 5th District.

None of the three party's nominees running for U.S. Senate responded to the request for their positions on seven national issues related to mental illness.

Although the results of this first attempt at getting candidates to pay more attention to NAMI's issues are disappointing, you can see the replies from the candidates who did respond at our NAMI NC website under "newsroom," then "fact sheets." Copies of the replies were also distributed to each affiliate having a candidate who replied, 10 in all.

After the election is over, if your candidate or representative did not respond, you may want to contact them to let them know of your concern at their lack of interest in NAMI issues. And please thank those few who made the effort to respond.

This is especially true for the winners of the November election--let them know of your needs and interests early in the 106th Congress. They are more responsive to their constituents than the state or national NAMI office's staff.

www.naminc.org
(Our Face to the World)

NAMI North Carolina's website has a whole new look! Thanks to IBM Corp., Jerry Kirk, Robert George (and as always, our own Rich Greb), we are putting on our best face to the world. Because our website has new graphics, it is a little slower to open, but it is worth the wait.

How do people who don't read Clippings or belong to NAMI NC find us? The first thing a family or professional might do is enter a search containing the words mental illness. NAMI national pops up somewhere in the search. Once people contact the national website, they are directed to affiliates around the U.S. A link offers a route to NAMI North Carolina, and voila! We are in touch with each other.

If you wonder how NAMI North Carolina often responds to the media concerning subjects in the news, you may want to check out our news room, either by clicking on the box at our regular web address, or directly type in http://members.aol.com/namincnews. This page is maintained by Kerry Nesbit, our Public Relations Consultant.

There are lots of great features, including Clippings, chat-forum rooms, and links to NAMI national's medication and mental illness fact pages. Check it out!!!

Eighty-Five New Medications in Development

The U.S. system of new drug approvals is perhaps the most rigorous in the world. On average, it costs a company $500 million to get one new medicine from the laboratory to U.S. patients.

It takes on average 15 years for an experimental drug to travel from the lab to U.S. patients, according to the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, Tufts University. Only five in 5,000 compounds that enter preclinical testing make it to human testing. And only one of those five is approved for sale.

Today, there are more than 65 approved medications for various types of mental illness. (Pharmaceutical companies include Alzheimer's and other dementia disorders as mental illnesses.)

Drugs approved in the past two years include an extended-release form of an anti-depressant, which should help improve patient compliance; the first of a new class of anti-depressants that stimulate release not only of serotonin but of other depression-fighting chemicals; and two new schizophrenia drugs with fewer side effects, olanzapine (Zyprexa) and quetiapine (Seroquel).

There are 85 new medications in various phases of development in the category of brain disorders. Drugs in development include 23 for dementias such as Alzheimer's; 19 for substance abuse disorders; 18 for depression; 16 for anxiety disorders; 15 for schizophrenia; 4 for attention deficit disorder; 5 for eating disorders; and 2 for post traumatic stress disorder.