Study, Study, Study

By Debra Hoppe

The 3^rd part of our series is the need to study your mental illness.  It is important to find out what you are dealing with such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or depression.  The only way to learn about them is to study.

I access the library at work because it has a vast array of information.  It eases my tension when I can look at the bookshelf and pick out any book I want and study my heart out.  I don’t have to return it at any set time.  I can just study anytime I want to at any speed I can handle.  No worries.

There is also a huge amount of emphasis on the internet.  I found this resource to be never ending.  You can log on to www.namimt.org to find out more about bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depression and the list goes on.  My coworker, Quentin Schroeter, has videos online to help people understand their conditions. (Here's one where Quentin discusses psychosis.) I have found that a person with a mental illness can alleviate their stress by reading and understanding their condition.  I know it worked for me.  I read about bipolar disorder and it helped me to understand more about myself and it helped me to get out of my funk.  It might not be that simple for some people but at least you can try to read something even if it is a pamphlet.  Knowledge is knowledge no matter where it comes from.

Another way to gain an understanding of your condition is to attend a NAMI conference.  There they offer a wide range of information and have a great line up of guest speakers that have so much to say about different things.  I have gone to 2 conferences and brought back many things from both of them.  I heard Kevin Hines tell about jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge and surviving the fall.  I went to a Peer to Peer class where I got to tell a brief description of my story and boy did it feel good to get that off of my chest.  You see there is a place to learn if you just look for it.

Just remember that no matter what your situation is or what you may be going through you are never too old to learn.  I am 51 years old and am still learning about myself.  I don’t like what my bipolar disorder does to me some days but I do understand it more everyday because I study about it on a regular basis.  I not only do the studying but my family does as well.  Get people involved in your life because you will benefit from the outcome. 

Thanks for your time and I hope you have a nice day.  Stay tuned for the 4^th part of the series I will give you some hints on what websites may be beneficial to you.  See you later. 

Finding the Right Therapist

By Debra Hoppe

The second part in our series is Finding the Right Therapist.  This is no easy task.  It takes a great deal of thought and understanding of yourself and your needs.  The way that I found a therapist was again through the Center for Mental Health in Helena, Montana. 

The gal that I was paired up with is a good listener and a very compassionate person.  She has a wonderful attitude and a great sense of caring.  Those are the qualities you look for in a therapist.  You also want to have them understand your personal needs so you can have a good relationship with them. 

Patience is another thing that you need.  Finding just the right therapist takes time and effort.  It may take more than one therapist to find the right balance of understanding and knowledge.  It took three therapists for me before I found the perfect person for my needs.

Another thing to remember is if he/she caring enough to tell you when you need help or what you need in your life to be successful.  I know the therapist I have is a compassionate person and a good listener.  She is new to me so I am just getting to know how competent she is.  She is a very good match for me because she listens to me and helps me through the hard times.

I just had a hard time and I needed help to figure out what to do next.  She helped me through this rough patch because she understood what I was doing wrong in my life and was able to help me to become a better person.  It took guts to work through my bipolar disorder and diabetes, but she managed to fulfill her job description and now I am not going through as much of a crisis.

What a wonderful feeling to know you have a supportive team out there helping you not only through the hard times but through the good times as well.  Everyone keep up the hard work and remember that a good therapist is hard to come by but finding the right one is worth the effort.

NOTE FROM NAMI Montana: It is also important to ensure that your therapist is using an evidence-based type of therapy for your condition such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression or dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) for borderline personality disorder.

Essential Elements of a Mental Illness Recovery Plan

By Debra Hoppe

v  Obtain a psychiatrist.

A person with mental illness needs to obtain a psychiatrist in order to plan some sort of recovery.  One way to do that is to talk to a psychiatrist and ask them how to get started in your recovery.  The psychiatrist should ask you some questions and come up with some sort of solution to your recovery need.  It may take more than one visit so be patient and you may find yourself pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

v  Obtain a therapist.

You also need a therapist to assist you in your recovery needs.  A therapist will help you learn more about yourself and try to figure out the best solution for your care.  They will ask you important questions so you need to be thorough and honest so they can get the full picture to help the process along.

v  Study, Study, Study!

Study all you can about your condition be it bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or depression.  A person needs to have the knowledge to understand how to get the treatment they need for their recovery.  Study from the library at NAMI-MT (National Alliance on Mental Illness) at 616 Helena Ave. Ste 218, Helena, MT 59601 or go to a library near you.  You will find that your care will go much farther if you have the knowledge to back up your healthcare team.

v  Go online.

The internet is one of the best ways to find information so a person can grow in their recovery.  NAMI-MT has a website address at www.namimt.org.  There you will find a whole host of links that will assist you in following a specific type of care.  You can also find our blog so you can interact with the folks at NAMI-MT and find new ways to learn about recovery.  A person can also learn about the classes that are available in your area.

v  Join a group. 

Group therapy will encourage a person to grow and conquer their fears about recovery.  Fears are a scary thing that can be managed by a group setting.  It may take more time than a person is willing to allow.  The outcome will be overwhelming but will also be rewarding as well.

v  Don’t give up! 

Consistency with your recovery is important because it helps a person to be healthy and eventually be confident about the type of care they are receiving.  Consistency also gives a person the right to say yes or no about the type of care.  In this day and age, a person needs to be careful in handling their care as to not be influenced by the people around you.  Only you know what your body needs and know how you feel so don’t give up!

v  Take your meds. 

This is one of the most important things that cannot be overlooked because the health of a person depends on taking your meds.  Some of the side effects can be experienced if you don’t take your meds.  For bipolar disorder, a person can go from one episode to another.  An episode is where you experience mania one day and depression another day.  This can be a terrifying problem.  That is why it is important to take you medication.

v  Keep busy. 

Idol minds are not a person’s friend.  It breeds unwanted behaviors and danger.  The unwanted behaviors may be alcoholism, drug use or even incarceration.  No one wants to have a bad behavior experience.  Take up a hobby or go for a walk.  Mindfulness exercises are a great way to alleviate the pressures of everyday stress.  A mindfulness exercise may include deep breathing or a brisk walk in the park or watching a squirrel jump by as you fish in a nearby lake or stream.  What fun it would be to see a bald eagle on a boat trip in the Gates of the Mountains on the Missouri river north of Helena.

v  Get involved in your community.

Take the initiative to learn all you can about your local, state and federal government.  The outcome will be an experience you can treasure the rest of your life.  A person can be positive about the people they elect or vote them out of office and take charge of their countries future.  It takes a person that can feel good about themselves and that is why getting involved would be a great choice.  Feel in charge of your life by getting involved.

v  Have faith. 

Faith is important to have so a person can feel complete.  All of the previous accomplishments can be done individually but faith should be an important part of the process.  Faith believes in something that you can’t see.  A person can feel the love but can they see it?  You have to decide something like that for yourself.  A person can love in all types of ways.  Faith helps a person understand right from wrong, between good and bad.  Faith can come as a comfort in a person’s life.  It does to me.

v  Don’t judge! 

Stigma is a negative attitude.  It hurts people to the point of possible suicide.  It is embarrassing and hurtful.  A person will feel better about themselves if you don’t judge and that is a good feeling for all.

v  Spend time with friends or family. 

Friends and family should be the type of support group that is helpful to the recovery plan.  Encouragement can be the thing a person needs to become more healthy and happy.  Having a support group helps a person to grow so they can be an important part of their community, state or nation.

This twelve step recovery plan has helped me in my life and maybe it will help you as well.  I hope you learned how to take some positive steps on how to plan your life as a healthy individual.  Thank you for your time and I hope to be teaching you more about how to plan your recovery.

Fight Mental Illness Thursday: Ask Republicans for their Healthcare Plan

NAMI Montana friends,

Thursday June 14th is the second Thursday of the month.  That means it's Fight Mental Illness Thursday.  This month we're asking Montanans to contact the Montana Republican Party and ask them for details on their alternative to healthcare reform.  Please give them a call at (406) 442-6469 or send them a message on their website, http://www.mtgop.org/index.php/get-involved/contact-us.html.

Thanks for all your help!  Here's a fuller description of why we're asking them for these details.

Thanks,
Matt

Need for Specifics on Republicans’ Alternative to Healthcare Reform

The primary season is over. The hard-line Republicans and Democrats now know who they are going to vote for and the battle for independent voters is just beginning.  NAMI Montana has leaders and members of both political stripes with plenty falling somewhere in between. The same can be said of all of the one-in-five Montana families that are impacted by serious mental illnesses.

Republicans could finish this election season in control of the presidency, two-thirds of Montana’s congressional delegation, the Governor’s office, the Attorney General’s office, the Insurance Commissioner’s office, the Secretary of State’s office and both branches of the Montana Legislature. In layman’s terms, the Republicans have the opportunity to take the keys and get behind the wheel of both the federal and state governments. 

If the Republicans get this opportunity, one of their main priorities will be erasing the Democrats’ efforts to rework the nation’s healthcare system. The candidates’ primary talking points have left little doubt about what they will oppose, but Montanans need to know more about what these candidates would like our healthcare system to look like and how they plan to make that vision happen. Montana voters have seen some generalities, but we need to see the specifics.

If you want to accomplish tort reform, what does that look like? If you want to open Montana’s insurance market up to out-of-state companies, will the State Auditor police those contracts or should it be strictly buyer-beware? Will there be protections to ensure that insurance companies don’t refuse to cover people with medical issues or histories of having medical issues? What options will be available to Montana families that cannot afford private insurance due economic circumstances or health issues that priced them out of the market?

These are politically-loaded questions, but the answers are critical to the lives of every Montanan who will come in contact, either personally or through a loved one, with our state’s medical system. The Democrats’ healthcare reform efforts have given us a good idea where they stand on these issues. Montana’s Republican Party and its candidates need to formalize their vision for our healthcare system so Montana’s voters can use that information to determine which candidates to support this fall. Healthcare is too big of an issue for us to wait until after the election to find out the specifics of each party’s agenda.

An Issue of Serious Concern

NAMI Montana received this email and thought it should be shared. The email's author is quietly becoming one of the state's leading advocates for Montanans who live with mental illness who are incarcerated.

NAMI Montana, 

I must express some serious concerns about MSH forensic patients appearing before the parole board. No one on the parole board has experience or knowledge about mental illness and the success with medications, etc. I just got off the phone with a mother who is extremely upset that the parole board ordered a pre-release placement, where her son will not get the necessary mental health treatment. The treatment team had recommended a placement at a mental health center group home in Missoula. I have sat in on many parole board hearings where the parole board members intimidate and challenge a person on a GBMI commitment who is left speechless, anxious and shattered after the hearing. The parole board members are familiar with dealing with criminals, not persons who were determined to be Guilty but Mentally Ill.

I would like to see some changes with the governor’s appointments to the parole board. At least two members need to be familiar and comfortable with mental illnesses; either persons in recovery, family members, sympathetic providers, someone from NAMI—anyone who can provide knowledgeable and persuasive input regarding mental illness and how people can recover.

Thanks.

Janette Reget, LCSW

Fight Mental Illness Thursday - Service Dogs for Injured Soldiers

NAMI Friends,

Every second Thursday of the month is “Fight Mental Illness” Thursday. After fighting for children’s crisis services at the state-level last month, this month we’re moving to the federal level and fighting so soldiers with severe post-traumatic stress and/or mild traumatic brain injuries can access service dogs. Specifically, we’re asking supporters to sign this web petition, http://www.change.org/petitions/secretary-of-the-army-john-mchugh-change-the-army-s-restrictive-policy-on-service-dogs, asking the Secretary of the Army to change the Army’s service dog policy to make it clear that: (1) service dogs are not a treatment of last resort, (2) soldiers with service dogs will have housing accommodations where they can use their service dog, and (3) that the service dog accreditation standard be broadened to include other reputable service dog training organizations.

If you don’t feel comfortable signing a web petition, you can all the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army at 703-545-0672 and ask to leave a message requesting that the Secretary of the Army change the policy.  The Secretary of the Army probably doesn’t get a lot of call in requests, so you’ll have to be patient with the staff.

Here's an article from the Billings Gazette that describes why we're asking you to get involved in this fight. http://billingsgazette.com/article_ba319e78-23f6-5971-a4f1-c560b58c4cf5.html

Thanks for your help!

Matt

Matt Kuntz

Executive Director

NAMI Montana

Fight Mental Illness Thursday - Kids' Crisis Services

NAMI Montana is excited to announce that the second Thursday of each month will be Fight Mental Illness Thursday. On Fight Mental Illness Thursday, we’re asking Montanans to make one phone call or email to support the fight against mental illness.

On Thursday April 12^th, we’re asking as many Montanans as possible to call into Governor Schweitzer’s office or send them an electronic message asking Governor Schweitzer to develop a plan to increase access to mental health crisis services for Montana’s children. Suicide is a major problem in this state and we desperately need services for Montanans younger than 18 who are actively suicidal.

Please take a few minutes and make your voice heard by calling Governor Schweitzer at (406) 444-3111 or sending him an electronic message through this link http://governor.mt.gov/contact/commentsform.asp. Montana.

Please share this blog post on facebook, Twitter, by email, Google +, or whatever to help other support the fight against suicide in Montana. We can make a difference for families in need.

Answers to a few questions about this call-in (email-in):

First, what’s so important about this Thursday?

We’re starting Fight Mental Illness Thursdays on the second Thursday of each month as a way of making it very easy for people across Montana to make mental illness advocacy a part of their monthly routine. There will always be a need for phone trees and other ways of getting people involved for targeted calls for committee hearings, etc. But we’re trying this as a way of getting a larger amount of people involved as consistent voices in the fight against serious mental illness.

The lack of children’s mental health crisis services in this state is one of the most critical weaknesses in Montana’s mental illness treatment system. Our families of children in mental health crisis are desperate for some kind of help. The serious nature of that need, especially in relation to Montana’s consistently high suicide rates, led NAMI Montana to choose it as the topic of our first Fight Mental Illness Thursday.

Second, why have people call Governor Schweitzer’s office even though he’s term-limited out?

This is a great question. The next governor and Legislature will definitely have their collective ears bent on this issue after the election and throughout the legislative session. The question is what can we do to give these critical services the best chance possible of ending up in the next governor’s budget that is proposed to the Legislature.

The Governor just released a major plan for a long-term fix for the administrative pension program. We'd love to have his team apply a similar process to children's crisis services.

The worst that he can tell us is “no.” NAMI Montana thinks that it’s worth a shot. There’s too much at stake not to try.