NAMI National Convention Registration Now Open

Register today for the 2012 NAMI National Convention in Seattle, June 27-30, 2012 at the
Seattle Sheraton Hotel, 1400 6th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101

Our 2012 convention theme, Think, Learn and Live: Wellness, Resiliency and Recovery, highlights this year’s focus on developing effective programs and resources to increase resiliency and advance recovery.

Registration includes all sessions, networking opportunities, special events and social functions.

For more convention information and to register, go to www.nami.org/convention

Record year of suicides at Lewis-McChord

Joint Base Lewis-McChord saw more suicides in 2011 than any previous year.

The Associated Press

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. —

Joint Base Lewis-McChord saw more suicides in 2011 than any previous year.

Twelve suicides were recorded at the base this past year. That’s up from nine in 2010 and nine in 2009, The Tacoma News Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/uLSTPU).

Army I Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield says the total could grow as the Army completes investigations ahead of its annual suicide report next month.

“We take suicide very seriously,” Dangerfield said. “We’re going to continue to push the envelope to make sure soldiers get the resiliency training they need.”

The toll at Lewis-McChord rose despite new efforts to counsel soldiers when they come home from war, including the creation of a suicide-prevention office.

Leaders at the base established plans to help soldiers readjust to stateside life as major homecomings took place in the summer of 2010.

In early 2011, Madigan Army Medical Center reported a rising number of soldiers and military family members seeking behavioral health services, a trend officers interpreted as a sign that people were becoming more open about asking for help.

Lewis-McChord’s surge in suicides followed its busiest year of combat deployments. More than 18,000 soldiers from the base served in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009-10.

The base is also larger than ever, with some 34,000 soldiers stationed there, up from 19,000 before the war in Iraq started.

The numbers here shadow an Armywide trend that has seen more soldiers taking their own lives since 2005.

The most public suicide involving a Lewis-McChord soldier this year took place in April, when medic Sgt. David Stewart killed himself and his wife on Interstate 5 south of Tumwater. Their son was later found dead in their Spanaway home.

—

Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com

NAMI Eastside Educational Forum – February 21, 2012

“Bipolar Disorder In Youth – How The Family Can Help”

Guest Speaker:
Stefanie Hlastala, Ph.D.

Dr. Hlastala is an Assistant Professor at UWMC and was an Attending Psychologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Currently, she has a private practice in Woodinville, WA.

In 2005 Dr. Hlastala received a prestigious Patient-Oriented Career Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health. As part of this award, she developed and tested a psychotherapy for adolescents with bipolar disorder called Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy.
In this presentation Dr. Hlastala will be talking about the description, prevalence and treatment of bipolar disorder in children, adolescents and young adults with a focus on how parents and family members can help youth affected by bipolar disorder.

Join us! This event is FREE and open to EVERYONE!

Date:
Tuesday, February 21, 2012, 7 PM – 9 PM

Location:
Evergreen Hospital, Suite Tan 100,
12303 NE 130th Lane,
Kirkland, WA 98034

PHONE: 425-885-NAMI (6264)
WEB: WWW.NAMI-EASTSIDE.ORG
E-MAIL: INFO@NAMI-EASTSIDE.ORG

The March Forum topic at Evergreen Hospital will be on  ”Suicide Prevention” with guest speaker Kelly McDonald, MHP Tuesday, March 20, 2012.

10th NAMI Eastside Annual Meeting

Evergreen Hospital, Tan Room 101
Kirkland, WA

Saturday, January 28, 2012
9:30 AM – 11:30 AM

NAMI of Clallam County
PO Box 3416 · Sequim, WA 98382

Our beloved Arlene Engel passed away on Christmas Day at the age of 91. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Clallam County is honoring her memory and her decades of tireless work on behalf of the mentally ill and their families.

Please join us for warm rememberings of our good friend on Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 2 pm at the Faith Lutheran, her church, at 382 W. Cedar in Sequim, WA.

The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, memorial donations be made to NAMI of Clallam County to continue her work in advocating, caring for, and educating all those who have been touched by mental illness.  Join the NAMI family to celebrate this remarkable woman.

February 4th, a Saturday, at 2 p.m
Faith Lutheran Church
382 W Cedar,  Sequim, WA

Mental Health Advocates Help Win Increases for Key Programs

Omnibus Includes Funding Increases for Block Grants, Prevention Programs

Congress passed a bill that funds the government for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2012 in mid-December.  The omnibus funding bill, H.R. 2055, averted another shutdown crisis and included important increases for mental health and addiction services, as well as increases for biomedical research.

HR 2055 provides a nearly $40 million increase for the Mental Health Block Grant, the first funding increase for the Block Grant in close to a decade.  The bill also provides close to a $20 million increase for the Substance Abuse Block Grant.  These increases are critical to the behavioral health community because they come at a time when states have cut back funding for mental health care by nearly $3.4 billion over the last 3 years.

The bill also provided a nominal increase for important research activities at the National Institutes of Health.  It is worth noting that key consumer programs such as the Consumer and Family Network Grants and the Consumer TA Centers were not cut, as well as trauma-related services for children.  The significant Prevention and Public Health Fund was also spared the budget-cutting scalpel.

The omnibus funding package passed the House by a vote of 296-121, with 149 Democrats and 147 Republicans supporting the measure (35 Democrats and 86 Republicans opposed it), while the Senate passed the omnibus by a vote of 67-32.  Signed into law on Dec 23, P.L. 112-74.

PRESENTS AN EDUCATIONAL FORUM ON

“COGNITIVE CHALLENGES

RELATED TO SCHIZOPHRENIA”

Guests: Allen Radant, MD and Tae Suh

Date: Tuesday, November15, 2011, 7 PM – 9 PM

Location: Evergreen Hospital, Suite Tan 100,

12303 NE 130th Lane,

Kirkland, WA 98034

Dr. Allen Radant, MD is an Associate Professor at UWMC and a staff psychiatrist at the Seattle VA Hospital.  Dr. Radant will discuss the subtle difficulties that patients with schizophrenia have with perceiving very simple stimuli such as sounds.  He will also discuss memory and thinking abnormalities and how genes relate to these perceptual problems and schizophrenia.

Our consumer presenter, Tae Suh, will talk about how in recovery we can strengthen our mental, emotional, spiritual and physical aspects of our life despite living with the challenges of mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction.

Join us!

This event is FREE and open to EVERYONE