Family to Family Classes to Start

Family-to-Family, a series of 12 weekly classes structured to help you understand and support individuals with mental disorders while maintaining your own well being, will soon begin.

These NAMI classes are for family members, partners and friends of individuals with serious mental illness. "This course is a wonderful experience," said one student. "It balances basic education and skills-training with emotional support, self care and empowerment."

There is no cost to participate in a Family to Family class, you don't need to be a NAMI member, and it doesn't matter if you live in a particular chapter's area to attend a class. Just pick out a date and location that's convenient. Please note, however, that registration is necessary as class size is limited.

Barrington and Arlington Heights areas. Classes will begin in January and February. Please call 847-496-1415 now for information or to register.  

Elgin. Begins Saturday, February 11, 10:00a.m. - 12:30p.m. presented by NAMI Kane County North.   At Provena St. Joseph Hospital, Lower Level (St. Mary's Room), 77 N. Airlite St., Elgin. Free. Registration required. Contact Laurie Huske at (847) 695-7957 or lauriehuske@wowway.com or Lachell Jeffries at (224) 325-8838.

Evanston. Begins Saturday, February 4, 9 - 11:30 a.m., presented by NAMI CCNS at the Evanston Civic Center. Free, but registration required - call 847-716-2252.

Northfield. Begins Wednesday, March 7, 7 - 9:30 p.m., presented by NAMI CCNS at New Trier Northfield High School. Free, but registration required - call 847-716-2252.

NAMI Basics Begins in February

NAMI Basics is a new education program for parents and other caregivers of children and adolescents living with mental illnesses.

The course consists of six classes that meet weekly for two and half hours per class. They are led by two facilitators who themselves have had the experience of having a young child or adolescent live with the symptoms of mental illness. "Parents play a critical role in treatment and recovery of the children they love."

NAMI Barrington Area will offer Basics for the first time in February. We are finalizing dates and a location in the northwest suburbs now. Please call 847-496-1415 for information or to register.

December Events

Thursday, December 1, 12:00p.m. - 1:00p.m. The Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Mental Health hosts Sleigh-driving Safety Course (Family driven care for the holidays). These educational calls are offered to all parents in Illinois who have a child with an emotional and/or behavioral concern. The calls focus on giving parents information they need to advocate for and support their children. Toll free: (800) 260-0712 Participant Access Code: 120964. For questions, please call (618) 838-9382.

Saturday, December 3, 3:00 - 4:30p.m. NAMI Barrington Area will host a Tai Chi Demonstration. Attendees will have an opportunity to observe and participate in Tai Chi - a moving meditation - a health promoting exercise and stress reliever for both body and mind. Ms. Jean Latz Griffin will discuss how to use Tai Chi to reduce stress, increase energy and improve balance and wellness. All are invited to attend. Light refreshments will be served. At the Taoist Tai Chi Society of the USA, 332 E. Golf Road, Arlington Heights. No charge - no reservation needed. Questions call 847-734-6044.

Sunday, December 4 at 2p.m. The Arlington Heights Young Adult Depression Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) will meet at the Corner Bakery for their monthly Snack & Yack. PARENTS will have their own facilitated group at the same location and time but at separate tables. For details about either group, contact Leah at mrsn@comcast.net or 847-541-7754.

Wednesday, December 14, 7:00p.m. NAMI Barrington Area board meeting in the Kildeer Village Hall, 21911 Quentin Road, Kildeer. Drop in and learn what's going on in the chapter!

Saturday, December 17 at 2pm. The Arlington Heights Young Adult Depression Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) will meet to make/bake/decorate holiday cookies for a local mental health clinic. PARENTS will have their own facilitated group at the same location and time but in a separate room.  For details, contact Leah at mrsn@comcast.net or 847-541-7754.

Sunday, December 18. NAMI CCNS Sundays at One social group (for adults 20 and up) will hold their holiday party. Call Chris Jordan at 847-220-0199 for information and location.

January Events

Dates and times to be finalized. Family to Family in Barrington and Arlington Heights areas. Please call 847-496-1415 now for information or to register.

Sunday, January 8 at 2 pm. The Arlington Heights Young Adult Depression Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) will meet at the Corner Bakery for their monthly Snack & Yack. PARENTS will have their own facilitated group at the same location and time but at separate tables. For details about either group, contact Leah at mrsn@comcast.net or 847-541-7754.

Saturday, January 21 at 2 pm. The Arlington Heights Young Adult Depression Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) will meet for a Monopoly, Clue, Scrabble Tournament. PARENTS will have their own facilitated group at the same location and time but in a separate place. For location and details about either group, contact Leah at mrsn@comcast.net or 847-541-7754.

Sunday, January 22, 2012, 1:00 p.m. NAMI NWS and NAMI BA invite all those working on mental health recovery to join the Fun at One Recreation Group for lunch at the Barnaby's Family Inn in Arlington Hts. at 933 W. Rand Road. Then those who want to bowl will head over to Arlington Lanes Bowling at 3435 N. Kennicott Rd. (near Dundee and Kennicott). February's outing is still in the planning. Please call Dawn at 847-471-4888 for more information or email naminwsub@aol.com

Wednesday, January 25, 6:45 p.m. NAMI Northwest Suburban will hold their Annual Meeting at Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health, 3350 Salt Creek Lane, Suite 114, Arlington Hts. Board Directors for the new year will be elected and members will vote on the 2012 Budget. Our guest speaker for the evening will be Dr. Joseph Novak, Director of Northwest Community Hospital Mental Health Network. For more information, please call 847-899-0195 or email naminwsub@aol.com.

You may find that a support group can be very helpful, especially if you, a partner, friend or family member is going through a crisis. A very large number of groups meet in our area for consumers as well as family members and friends.  

We would also like to invite you to the groups hosted by our own chapter, NAMI Barrington Area. This month we will offer a NAMI Connection group for consumers and a family support group every Thursday at Northwest Community Hospital at 7 p.m. (call Nora at 847-899- -6264 for more information), a NAMI PACT group for parents the first and third Friday of the month, also at Northwest Community (call Toni at 847-804-2088 weeknights), and a new family support group in Lake Villa the third Tuesday of each month, 7 p.m., at the Lake Villa Assessor's Office, 37850 North Route 59. Email tonihoy@comcast.net or helmick6@comcast.net for information. 

Wonderful News!

Supplemental Human Services Appropriations Bill Passes

More $$ for Mental Health Programs

Legislative Alert by Hugh Brady

Excellent, Excellent News!!

Late Tuesday, November 29, the Illinois General Assembly passed a supplemental human services appropriations bill that provides some extra funding for mental health programs - enough perhaps to remove Illinois from its number one position on the recently published NAMI list of state worst offenders in mental health budget cuts.

There's enough funding to keep state mental hospitals open through June; the inadvertently misappropriated $30 million has been returned to community mental health services; and much more. A tremendous victory made possible by the hundreds and hundreds of NAMI members who contacted their state legislators!

Learn more about this achievement.

In the Trench

Christmas in the Conference Room - by Toni Hoy

It was Christmas, 2008. As my husband, children, and I passed heaping dishes of delicious food around the table, we laughed and shared stories as we did every Christmas. Afterwards, we passed out packages and ooh'd and ah'd over every gift. I was enjoying being with my family so much that I almost forgot that we were sitting around a conference room table in a mental health residential center...

Read the December In the Trench

Good News from Mt Prospect

Housing Update by Hugh Brady

By a 5-0 vote on Tuesday, November 15, the Mt Prospect Village Board gave final approval to a joint project to build a 39 unit permanent supportive housing apartment building for individuals with mental illness.

With Mt Prospect's final approval completed, the next steps for the Daveri Development Group and the Kenneth Young Center are a real estate closing, and then to hire a construction company, get building permits and start building! Daveri believes that actual construction will begin in February or March, 2012, with the building open for tenants about a year after that.

Read more about this step forward

Finding Purpose After Living with Delusion

From the New York Times

Doctors generally consider the delusional beliefs of schizophrenia to be just that, and any attempt to indulge them to be an exercise in reckless collusion that could make matters worse.

Yet people who have had such experiences often disagree, arguing that delusions have their origin not solely in the illness, but also in fears, longings and psychological wounds that, once understood, can help people sustain recovery after they receive treatment.

Here's a very interesting story about people with schizophrenia who live successful lives yet try to act -for the good- on the underlying meanings that may be behind their delusions.

Read the story

Gratitude, Thyroid and Depression

Research Update by Hugh Brady

Two articles in the November 22 Science section of the New York Times caught my eye.

The first discusses recent research linking major depression, bipolar and other mood disorders to low levels of the hormone produced in the thyroid gland. Fixing the thyroid problem often leads to "improvements in mood, memory and cognition."

The second looks at a number of different studies of gratitude and the beneficial effects that attitude has. One asked a research group keep "gratitude diaries" while the control group did not.  

Learn more about these studies 

Treatment Linked to Decreased Violence

by Hugh Brady

A very interesting study recently published by Steven Segal of the University of California looks at some of the social and demographic factors that influence the differing homicide rates from state to state.   Not surprisingly, he found that factors such as substance abuse, the proportion of young males in the population and poverty rates were the most significant predictors of homicide rates.

But the most interesting findings were the factors that were close behind, and they all had to do with the state's mental health system: The weaker the mental health system, the fewer psychiatric beds and the narrower the civil commitment laws, the higher the murder rate.

Read more about the study  

The Living Room Offers Alternative to ER

Turning Point BHCC in Skokie and The Josselyn Center in Northfield have each opened a "Living Room," a comfortable, non-clinical space staffed with trained peer counselors to provide crisis intervention, counseling and mentoring with support from a nurse, program staff and an emergency team.

It's an alternative in some cases for a mental health emergency room visit.

Visit their website for more information, locations and phones.

The Man Who Shot at the White House

From the President's Desk - by Joseph M. Jason

You've probably read the news reports: "A man who shot an assault rifle at the White House is one of only a handful of people ever accused of trying to assassinate the president, and if the past is any guide he could spend many years in prison or a mental hospital if convicted," says an article in the November 21 Washington Post.

While nobody can condone shooting at the White House, we hope that Mr. Ortega-Hernandez gets the mental health treatment that he needs. NAMI believes that offenses committed by someone suffering from a serious mental illness need treatment, not do not punishment. A prison is never an optimal therapeutic setting.

Read more in From the President's Desk for December

Thresholds (for rehabilitation help and housing) 

New Foundation Center (for rehabilitation help and housing)
Community links from the New Foundation Center    

Choices in Recovery website -information and support for schizophrenia, schizoaffective and bipolar disorder

Depression and Bipolar Support AllianceAlliance to End Homelessness in Cook County newsletter
St_Hubert_Job_Ministry
Government Benefits portal
Social Security Administration 
Social Security and Disability Resource Center
Veterans Administration 
National Association of Anorexia Nervosa & Associated Disorders 

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention 
American Association of Suicidology 

OCD Chicago for help with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
RX for Illinois or Partnership for Prescription Assistance for help with prescription drug costs.
Health & Human Services Healthcare.gov website
Hospice & Palliative Care of Northeastern Illinois: 847-381-5599

NAMI Help Line (agency referrals): 800-950-NAMI (6264)
The DMH Warm Line offers peer support to mental health consumers and families (MF 8-5) 866-359-7953

Clinical Research Opportunities 

Clinical research often presents people with renewed hope and may provide medical and psychiatric evaluations along with medication at no cost.  Hospitals that offer regular programs include:

Alexian Brothers Center for Psychiatric Research  847-230-3591  Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health, 847-952-7460 x7475

The Center for Cognitive Medicine 312-355-5549

NU Schizophrenia Research Group 312-695-8643 or email