Save the Date
Ongoing
March 5th Potluck Meeting
Criminal Justice in Yolo County
This month's potluck meeting focuses on the criminal justice system in Yolo County with the following guest panel:
- Davis Police Lt. Tom Waltz - Yolo County's Crisis Response Team of law enforcement and mental health professionals.
- Deputy Public Defender Bret Bandley - Introduction to involuntary holds, conservatorships and some issues in criminal justice
- Sadie Shen, MFT, Turning Point Community Services - Laura's Law in Yolo County
We meet Wednesday, March 5, 2014, from 6:30--9:00 p.m. at the Church of St. Martin Social Hall, 640 Hawthorn Lane in Davis. Hawthorn is off Sycamore Lane, just north of Russell Blvd. Participation is free.
The potluck dinner begins at 6:30, and the program begins at 7:00. Please bring a dish to share if you can, but you are welcome if you can't. Last names beginning with A-H please bring a salad, I-P a dessert, and Q-Z a main dish.
Free Recovery Education Course
Peer to Peer
Open Enrollment Spring 2014
Enrollment begins for the Spring 2014 Peer to Peer course, a free 10 week Recovery Education course for people with a serious mental illness. The course is led by a team of trained mentors, who themselves have a mental illness and are now able to teach coping strategies to others. The program’s recovery-oriented philosophy embraces individual empowerment and family / peer support. Information taught during the course includes: developing a personal relapse prevention plan, the biological basis of mental illness, personal and interpersonal awareness, coping skills, information on addictions, basic self-care, and enhancement of personal activity and functioning.
Classes meet Thursdays, April 3 to June 5 from 1pm - 3pm. Registration is required as class size is limited. For information or to register, leave a voicemail at (530) 756-8181 or send email to
friends@namiyolo.org. More information is available at
www.namiyolo.org/peer/
Here's what one participant and former NAMI-Yolo mentor had to say about Peer to Peer:
- Peer to Peer is such an important program. I wouldn't be the man I am today without it. Before I took the course in 2006 I was aimless, living with my parents, jobless, and I was struggling with my depression. I have since graduated from UC Davis with Honors, become closer with my family than ever before, developed healthy and lasting relationships, and have established a strong support system to help with my illness. I never would have dreamed any of this was possible eight years ago before I became involved with Peer to Peer. It truly is a miraculous program.
Bikes for Wellness
Such a Deal!
Thanks to a Davis Community Meals program, Bikes for Wellness, Yolo County adults with mental illness can apply for bicycles for transportation and recreation. People are asked to contribute $25 to receive a refurbished used bike, a helmet and a bike lock.
Bike donations as well as help repairing bikes are welcomed. If interested, please contact Marilyn at 668-7981.
Act Now!
Prevent Restrictions on
Medicare Psychiatric Medications
Many of you know that the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a rule that would remove protected class status for antipsychotic and antidepressant prescription drugs from the Medicare Part D program. This is extremely concerning to NAMI and its members. Limiting access to medications for people who live with mental illness threatens treatment and lives.
Medicare Part D Plans have historically been required to include on their preferred drug lists all or almost all psychiatric medications because personal choice and clinician's judgment are important in decisions about what medications are taken.
The proposed rule would limit the availability of anti-depressant medications in 2015 and limit the availability of anti-psychotic medications in 2016.
Read more about the proposed rule.
Please join NAMI members across the county who are protesting this proposed rule. There are two ways you can add your voice.
- Sign NAMI's online petition to Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius to protect access to psychiatric medications in Medicare Part D.
- Add your comments on the Regulations.gov website. There is no requirement for name or email address. Your comments can be submitted anonymously. Write your own comments or use a subset of NAMI California’s model comments. There is a limit on the number of characters that can be submitted (about 5000 or so). If you plan to use NAMI California’s model, be aware that it far exceeds the character limit. Advice is to use a subset or only 1-2 of the comments. Click on the button that says "Comment now!" and follow the instructions. Comments on the proposed rule are due by Friday, March 7, 2014
Yolo County Mental Health News
Mental Health Director Appointed
Karen Larsen has been appointed to the Yolo County Mental Health Director position. Before accepting this position, she was the Behavioral Health Director for Communicare Health Centers in Yolo County where she has worked for the past 15 years. Her planned start date is March 3.
Pat Williams Dinner
Good Times!
The Pat Williams Mental Health Dinner, an annual NAMI-Yolo event since 1979, was a successful gathering on Thursday, February 27th, with almost 200 people in attendance, enjoying speakers Jessica Cruz and Steven Kite from NAMI California and food catered by the Buckhorn Steakhouse. Awards were presented to Josh Pozun and Gabriel Lockshin for their participation in the Crisis Intervention Trainings. Melissa Lyans presented Heidi Bekebrede with the "William Albrecht Mental Health Educator Award" and June Forbes, a founding member of NAMI-Yolo, received the Mental Health Community Service Award. Thank you NAMI-Yolo members and volunteers who made this event possible.
Friendship Line
1-800-971-0016
The Friendship Line is a free 24 hour non-crisis support telephone service with counseling, support, reassurance and information. sponsored by the Institute on Aging and the Yolo County Department of Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Call-in Service: Confidential telephone discussions are for people:
- Over age 60 who may be lonely, isolated, grieving, depressed, anxious or suicidal.
- Caregivers
- Younger, disabled adults.
Although the focus is on older adults and caregivers, the service is also available to younger disabled adults and could be a real resource in helping people with psychiatric disabilities and their caregivers get support and direction.
CommuniCare Behavioral Health Services
For Adults, Families and Children
Take a look at CommuniCare's Behavioral Health Services in Yolo County which include Substance Abuse Recovery, a Dual Diagnosis Program, & Integrated Behavioral Health programs for adults and a variety of other behavioral services for families and teens including cognitive behavioral therapy. Most services are offered on a sliding scale.
Here's a
compact list of CommuniCare programs and descriptions. For more information, contact CommuniCare Health Centers Behavioral Health Program: (916) 403-2970 or (530) 668-2400 or
visit their website.
HIPAA Hurdles
New Federal Guidance
An
interesting piece (Feb. 27, 2014) from the
Treatment Advocacy Center highlights the US Department of Health and Human Services new guidelines released this week intended to clarify when providers may share information related to a patient’s mental health with family members and others.
Most families who have dealt with serious mental illness are familiar with the hurdles this act and its rule can present when trying to get treatment for a loved one. ERs, hospitals, doctors, nurses and just about everyone else in the treatment stream routinely withhold critical health information on the basis of HIPAA.
(The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) created a national standard for the protection of certain types of health care information. The US Department of Health and Human Services issued a “Privacy Rule” in 2002 to implement the requirements of HIPAA.)
A House subcommittee hearing last spring examined whether HIPAA prevents people with severe mental illness from receiving timely and effective treatment and puts the public at risk as a result.
Testimony made it clear that HIPAA is being widely “misinterpreted and over-interpreted” to create hurdles not authorized by the law. Representative Tim Murphy (R-Pennsylvania) subsequently included clarifications to HIPAA’s use in his "
Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act," now pending in Congress.
The new Federal Guidance appears to address some of the over-reaching that Murphy’s bill addresses. Among other points, the new clarifications address when HIPAA permits health care providers to communicate with families.
While this guidance does not change the law, it provides a great tool for families and caregivers by undercutting some of the roadblocks health providers use to withhold information from families dealing with psychiatric crisis. See:
HIPAA Privacy Rule and Sharing Information Related to Mental Health
