Grace Notes - September 2006

Grace Notes - September 2006
By Barbara Grace

What a fantastic organization NAMI is! And now we have our own chapter here in the Barrington Area! What an accomplishment and how lucky we are to have the board members who have spearheaded this development! And how lucky I feel to have been asked by several board members to write a regular column in the newsletter. I thought I would use this first column to introduce myself so that you know just who it is that is offering information, help, observations, and recommendations to you each month.

My name is Dr. Barbara Grace and I live and work in Barrington. I am a clinical psychologist who specializes in family issues, and I am the mother of a 44 year old consumer who lives with me. As you are all aware – it is quite a ride! Wherever you have been in your journey with your loved one, I have been there too, both from a wife/mother/parent’s point of view and from a professional point of view. As a wife and mother I had to figure this out for myself personally, and professionally I counsel parents of children with many types of special needs. I was married for 30 years, have been a parent for 45 years, divorced for 16, and been a psychologist since 1979.

In this column I plan to address issues we have all faced or are facing such as: behavioral management, self care, interfacing with the mental health system, choosing a psychiatrist, parenting, emancipation, and many other topics. I welcome suggestions from you and would love to have you email me about topics that you would like me to write about. Requests can be about children, adolescents, adults, spouses – any one who is a member of your family. My email address is BarbaraRoseGrace@AOL.com (This will change shortly as I am changing to Comcast – but I will notify you)

Tip for the month: Have you told your loved one how special they are to you and how much you love them? Your loved one is not their disease, they are a person struggling to make sense out of their world and how to get their needs met, just like you. Love, forgiveness, and compassion are what we all need on an emotional and spiritual level in order to feel a sense of wellbeing, acceptance about life, and happiness. It takes very special relatives to provide this to someone who is struggling with the ups and downs of a mental health problem. That’s why God gives every consumer with special needs relatives who have special abilities. God Bless!

Next month’s column will address handling serious crisis situations and I will also be writing “Emergency Procedures” for inclusion on the NAMI Barrington website. I welcome all feedback about this column and am really looking forward to my association with NAMI Barrington – and all of you!

Don’t ever give up!!

Wishing you love, patience, and persistence,

Dr. Grace