Housing for mentally ill, police training among NAMI's plans
Mental Health group discusses 2007 goals
Housing for mentally ill, police
Training among NAMI’s plans
With photos of Judith Krall, president of NAMI, and the Dunrovin General Store, where patients in the Dunrovin Project are expected to receive jobs as part of a special rehabilitation program by NAMI for brain-damaged individuals.
BILL LINDAU
SPECIAL TO THE INDEPENDENT
Around 800 Moore County residents have been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders and brain illnesses, an officer with the local National Alliance on Mentally Illness. Many of them do not receive the institutional care that would be better suited for them; their families have the burden of looking out for some. Even worse, others are homeless, and a few have even had themselves jailed for petty crimes in order to have a roof over their heads in cold weather, NAMI said.
NAMI of Moore County has announced some ambitious plans to help their clients. This includes a housing project geared to assist patients in living on their own; a program helping law-enforcement officials to learn better ways to handle mentally disturbed individuals; a program to help military veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and a special family education program for relatives of mentally disturbed individuals.
NAMI has celebrated its 10th anniversary this year as one of the biggest champion of the mentally ill in the area. A visit from movie star Patty Duke in October highlighted the activities that would help raise funds to increase public awareness of the plight of those afflicted with psychiatric disorders, physical brain damage and similar conditions. Early in December NAMI celebrated the holidays and the end of the year with a dinner dance at the Southern Pines Elks Lodge. It was also Mental Health Awareness Week.
NAMI of Moore County has a major objective in mind for the immediate future: To lobby the North Carolina State Legislature to pass a law mandating that mental illness receive parity with other afflictions in the health insurance industry, said Judith Krall, president of NAMI of Moore County.
"Forty-two other states have it. All federal employees have it," Krall said. "The average Joe doesn't have it."
Patty Duke, who talked about her struggle with bipolar disorder throughout her adult life, said lobbying for more health insurance coverage for mental disorders has been one of her own objectives.
"We have a lot of things going on in 2007," Krall added.
The first of these things NAMI-MC plans to get under way is the Family to Family Awareness Program. It's a series of 12 weekly classes "structured to help family members understand and support their mentally ill relative while maintaining their own well-being." The first session takes place Jan. 10, and all sessions are free.
This program is geared to family members of close relatives who suffer from such disorders as major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and so-called schizoaffective disorder, panic and obsessive-compulsive disorders and borderline personality disorders.
NAMI-MC has offered two numbers to register or find out more about this program: 295-1150 and 295-2053. The latter number is also listed as the local help line.
NAMI-MC, a non-profit organization based in Pinehurst, offers an annual family membership of $35. This includes membership in NAMI-Moore County, NAMI-North Carolina and the national organization of NAMI. NAMI-MC has an open meeting the first Monday of every month, 7-9 p.m. The group does not meet in July, September or October, and NAMI recommends calling first. These meetings take place at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, in Room A of the Conference Center.
NAMI-MC is a registered 501c3 charity and receives funding mostly from individual and corporate contributions. One of the many ways it raises money is through a deal with a local gift shop. Wednesday, Dec. 13 was declared a designated shopping day at Vermont Treasures LLC of Southern Pines. Registered shoppers were entitled to receive a 10 percent credit for store purchases as charitable donations from Vermont Treasures to NAMI-MC.
The Dunrovin housing project
The Dunrovin residential community just off U.S. 1 south of Vass includes the Dunrovin Country Store and two homes on the property to for three people apiece, said Marianne Kernan, vice-president of NAMI-MC. It is supported through the Dunrovin Community Foundation, LLC, a non-profit organization.
The residents of these homes will be have a residential and rehabilitation program to assist them, NAMI says. Each individual will have his or her own private bedroom on one of the two houses. The two homes are 1,000 and 1,500 square feet, according to NAMI. Plans are also in the works for a clubhouse, recreational areas, places to paint, play music and do other activities, Kernan said.
“I found the property last March,” Kernan said. “And I had to get the support of the Sandhills Mental Health Center, the state and the bank.”
“Our objective is to provide them places to live, job skills and social skills. They’ll have an opportunity for education. They’ll have recreational opportunities. We hope to have a music lab, a place where they can paint. Many of them are very creative.”
Residents of the Dunrovin community must be residents of Moore County or have family members who have resided in Moore County for at least 12 months. They must be at least 18 years old, have a diagnosis of mental illness, not be physically aggressive or verbally abusive and not currently abusing alcohol or illegal drugs. They must be willing to participate in a daily, structured program. There will be a professional staff of therapists around at all times, Kernan said.
Profits from the Dunrovin Country Store will help pay the mortgage on these properties, Kernan said. She says the store will open in February, and the residents are expected to move in in June 2007.
Crisis Intervention Training
Through CIT (Crisis Intervention Training), law enforcement officials should learn how to deal with situations involving mentally disturbed individuals.
“We’re hoping to bring police and the mental health center together,” Krall says. “It’s very important that the police know how to treat somebody who’s mentally unbalanced.
Under CIT, police officers voluntarily undergo 40 hours of training in mental illness and the local mental health system, NAMI says. The training is free of charge from the mental health community.
CIT has been implemented in cities such as Columbus, Ohio and Memphis, Tenn. The Memphis Police Department developed an early form of CIT in 1988. NAMI reported the following results in the years Memphis’s police officers have undergone CIT, police have made fewer arrests and use of force against mentally ill persons; patient violence and the use of restraints in the emergency room have decreased; officers are better trained and educated in verbal de-escalation techniques; there have been fewer arrests for so-called victimless crimes and it has saved the city a great deal of money.
“University of Tennessee studies have shown that the CIT program has resulted in a decrease in arrest rates for the mentally ill, an impressive rate of diversion into the health care system and a resulting low rate of mental illness in our jails,” NAMI reported.
Veterans’ issues
A program for patients suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) should hopefully be in place in 2007, Krall says. Countless military veterans of the Vietnam War, the others preceding it and now the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from it. It was formerly known as “shell shock” and “combat fatigue”.
Krall said she met quite a few ailing veterans during a gathering of the homeless in Washington, D.C.
“We were in the homeless coalition and the vets were there, wandering in the streets, living in the Salvation Army (shelter),” Krall said.
“The ones that I knew were so ill they couldn’t come unless they were bussed.”
“We have a lot of things going on in 2007,” Krall said.
“Most people don’t know about mental illness. We do.”
Housing for mentally ill, police
Training among NAMI’s plans
With photos of Judith Krall, president of NAMI, and the Dunrovin General Store, where patients in the Dunrovin Project are expected to receive jobs as part of a special rehabilitation program by NAMI for brain-damaged individuals.
BILL LINDAU
SPECIAL TO THE INDEPENDENT
Around 800 Moore County residents have been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders and brain illnesses, an officer with the local National Alliance on Mentally Illness. Many of them do not receive the institutional care that would be better suited for them; their families have the burden of looking out for some. Even worse, others are homeless, and a few have even had themselves jailed for petty crimes in order to have a roof over their heads in cold weather, NAMI said.
NAMI of Moore County has announced some ambitious plans to help their clients. This includes a housing project geared to assist patients in living on their own; a program helping law-enforcement officials to learn better ways to handle mentally disturbed individuals; a program to help military veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and a special family education program for relatives of mentally disturbed individuals.
NAMI has celebrated its 10th anniversary this year as one of the biggest champion of the mentally ill in the area. A visit from movie star Patty Duke in October highlighted the activities that would help raise funds to increase public awareness of the plight of those afflicted with psychiatric disorders, physical brain damage and similar conditions. Early in December NAMI celebrated the holidays and the end of the year with a dinner dance at the Southern Pines Elks Lodge. It was also Mental Health Awareness Week.
NAMI of Moore County has a major objective in mind for the immediate future: To lobby the North Carolina State Legislature to pass a law mandating that mental illness receive parity with other afflictions in the health insurance industry, said Judith Krall, president of NAMI of Moore County.
"Forty-two other states have it. All federal employees have it," Krall said. "The average Joe doesn't have it."
Patty Duke, who talked about her struggle with bipolar disorder throughout her adult life, said lobbying for more health insurance coverage for mental disorders has been one of her own objectives.
"We have a lot of things going on in 2007," Krall added.
The first of these things NAMI-MC plans to get under way is the Family to Family Awareness Program. It's a series of 12 weekly classes "structured to help family members understand and support their mentally ill relative while maintaining their own well-being." The first session takes place Jan. 10, and all sessions are free.
This program is geared to family members of close relatives who suffer from such disorders as major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and so-called schizoaffective disorder, panic and obsessive-compulsive disorders and borderline personality disorders.
NAMI-MC has offered two numbers to register or find out more about this program: 295-1150 and 295-2053. The latter number is also listed as the local help line.
NAMI-MC, a non-profit organization based in Pinehurst, offers an annual family membership of $35. This includes membership in NAMI-Moore County, NAMI-North Carolina and the national organization of NAMI. NAMI-MC has an open meeting the first Monday of every month, 7-9 p.m. The group does not meet in July, September or October, and NAMI recommends calling first. These meetings take place at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, in Room A of the Conference Center.
NAMI-MC is a registered 501c3 charity and receives funding mostly from individual and corporate contributions. One of the many ways it raises money is through a deal with a local gift shop. Wednesday, Dec. 13 was declared a designated shopping day at Vermont Treasures LLC of Southern Pines. Registered shoppers were entitled to receive a 10 percent credit for store purchases as charitable donations from Vermont Treasures to NAMI-MC.
The Dunrovin housing project
The Dunrovin residential community just off U.S. 1 south of Vass includes the Dunrovin Country Store and two homes on the property to for three people apiece, said Marianne Kernan, vice-president of NAMI-MC. It is supported through the Dunrovin Community Foundation, LLC, a non-profit organization.
The residents of these homes will be have a residential and rehabilitation program to assist them, NAMI says. Each individual will have his or her own private bedroom on one of the two houses. The two homes are 1,000 and 1,500 square feet, according to NAMI. Plans are also in the works for a clubhouse, recreational areas, places to paint, play music and do other activities, Kernan said.
“I found the property last March,” Kernan said. “And I had to get the support of the Sandhills Mental Health Center, the state and the bank.”
“Our objective is to provide them places to live, job skills and social skills. They’ll have an opportunity for education. They’ll have recreational opportunities. We hope to have a music lab, a place where they can paint. Many of them are very creative.”
Residents of the Dunrovin community must be residents of Moore County or have family members who have resided in Moore County for at least 12 months. They must be at least 18 years old, have a diagnosis of mental illness, not be physically aggressive or verbally abusive and not currently abusing alcohol or illegal drugs. They must be willing to participate in a daily, structured program. There will be a professional staff of therapists around at all times, Kernan said.
Profits from the Dunrovin Country Store will help pay the mortgage on these properties, Kernan said. She says the store will open in February, and the residents are expected to move in in June 2007.
Crisis Intervention Training
Through CIT (Crisis Intervention Training), law enforcement officials should learn how to deal with situations involving mentally disturbed individuals.
“We’re hoping to bring police and the mental health center together,” Krall says. “It’s very important that the police know how to treat somebody who’s mentally unbalanced.
Under CIT, police officers voluntarily undergo 40 hours of training in mental illness and the local mental health system, NAMI says. The training is free of charge from the mental health community.
CIT has been implemented in cities such as Columbus, Ohio and Memphis, Tenn. The Memphis Police Department developed an early form of CIT in 1988. NAMI reported the following results in the years Memphis’s police officers have undergone CIT, police have made fewer arrests and use of force against mentally ill persons; patient violence and the use of restraints in the emergency room have decreased; officers are better trained and educated in verbal de-escalation techniques; there have been fewer arrests for so-called victimless crimes and it has saved the city a great deal of money.
“University of Tennessee studies have shown that the CIT program has resulted in a decrease in arrest rates for the mentally ill, an impressive rate of diversion into the health care system and a resulting low rate of mental illness in our jails,” NAMI reported.
Veterans’ issues
A program for patients suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) should hopefully be in place in 2007, Krall says. Countless military veterans of the Vietnam War, the others preceding it and now the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from it. It was formerly known as “shell shock” and “combat fatigue”.
Krall said she met quite a few ailing veterans during a gathering of the homeless in Washington, D.C.
“We were in the homeless coalition and the vets were there, wandering in the streets, living in the Salvation Army (shelter),” Krall said.
“The ones that I knew were so ill they couldn’t come unless they were bussed.”
“We have a lot of things going on in 2007,” Krall said.
“Most people don’t know about mental illness. We do.”
posted by Bill Lindau @ 7:55 AM
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