DBSA Jackson TN's "A Better Tomorrow" support group

Hello everyone! 

We have had some exciting and fun times with our group!  Everyone brings something unique to our group that makes each meeting special.  For that my friends, we thank you!

If you are looking for a Support Group in the Jackson TN area, you don't need to look any further!
Our Meetings are held every Monday from 6:30-8:00pm at the Life Church campus off of Hwy. 18 headed toward Bolivar, TN.  The entrance to the church is off of Benson Rd on the left.

We would love to have you! 
~A.W.

"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great."

~Zig Ziglar

A little bit about us

As the new Facilitators for Jackson’s DBSA support group called “A Better Tomorrow”, we extend a warm welcome to join us on Monday evenings from 6:30-8:00 pm.  We are a husband/wife team who come to you with humble, compassionate, understanding hearts as we, too, deal with these illnesses first hand.  Even after 10 years of marriage, there is still so much to learn.  In order to lead a healthier life, it is important to build a strong support team.  This includes family and friends, so we encourage everyone who has a desire to come. 

We host the group out of The Life Church located at 780 Bolivar Hwy., Jackson, TN 38301.  The church is directly off of Hwy 18 as you drive towards Bolivar.  Turn left onto Benson Ln in order to access the entrance.

A few of our main goals are to provide:

·        a positive community for those diagnosed and family/friends who are interested in learning more

·        a safe, healthy, positive environment for wellness and growth

·        literature and useful information regarding depression and/or bipolar along with other associated symptoms

We are an adult, peer led support group who are not doctors.  Therefore, we do not diagnosis, treat, or counsel.  We encourage each other and share our experiences to create a positive, safe community.  Since, we are an adult group anyone under the age of 18 years is discouraged due to the content of topics.  If a parent is interested and would like to meet with us concerning a child, we would be willing to set up a private meeting. 

New Things

I have desperately needed to update our blog site.  Some incredible changes have been in the works and we are now at a place to inform the world!

First and foremost, I would like to say a huge thank you to Steve.  He built this community from the ground up.  With nothing but a desire to heal and to surround himself with others who understood his pain, he began the arduous process of starting a DBSA chapter here in Jackson.  His driving, passionate commitment over the past 13 years, including serving 2 years as the DBSA State President for Tennessee, has undoubtedly touched numerous lives of those afflicted with Depression and/or Bipolar disorders.  Today we stand on solid ground as DBSA’s “A Better Tomorrow” support group. 

Steve has decided to take a much needed sabbatical as president.  Don’t be fooled though, he is still very active with us and resides as a board member.  Steve’s gracious heart continues to aid us as we work through the big transition.  So, with the “extra” time he now has, his main focus is his family and finishing his second book “A Brand New Day: My Story of Success and Sanity.”  His first book “The Two Agreements: A Good News Story for Our Time” is available for purchase!

After months of discussion, my husband and I (with me dragging my feet) took the plunge to relieve Steve of his duties and honor him with much needed rest.  So, here we are, your new Co-facilitators.  Please hang in there with us as we are still learning the ropes.  

Group Meetings: are hosted inside The Life Church building off of Hwy. 18 

the meetings begin at 6:30pm and last until 8:00pm

You don't need to bring anything!  If you need any further assistance, call (731) 215-7200.  

(disclaimer: we are not affiliated with the church; they have been gracious enough for us to meet there)

Family and Friends: are welcome to come along with you or even by themselves.  These meetings are open to the public, but remain confidential.  The more educated everyone is, there is greater potential for healing and wellness.  We can speak from first hand experience, I promise!  Our greatest offering is to help provide information, support, and love as we all continue living with our illnesses.

DBSA:  stands for Depression Bipolar Support Alliance.  Our group focuses on Mood disorders as the primary diagnosis, but understand there are co-occurring illnesses that come attached.  For example, I am diagnosed with Bipolar II and ADD...our goal is to provide a safe place for you to come, to meet with people who understand, and hopefully, encourage you along your path.

Lastly,  it may take you months to get up the courage to come.  The unknown can be scary to face.  Fear of knowing someone, or not knowing anyone is intimidating.  I guarantee you aren't the only one.  I held out for 3 months!  So, when you are ready, we are here.  

The Beginnings ~ (the first post by a new blogger, Amber Wilsey. Best wishes, Amber!)

The Beginnings of a New You

You learn a great deal about yourself after a life changing event or series of events. Perhaps, I should change that to “you can learn” instead of “you learn”.  Knowledge and wisdom come with a price tag. We never know what the price costs us. Regardless the cost, it seems as though it depends on you to see beyond the pain to a place where you are stronger, wiser.  People who are burdened by mood disorders are affected differently than those who don’t suffer from such illnesses. Not only is the pain deeper, lasts longer, much more intense, it also takes us repeated tries to move forward, to see the light.

This can be especially true of the initial diagnosis.  There are those of us who feel a sense of relief when the diagnosis is delivered.  It is almost like the stars align into patterns that reveal constellations.  A life of seemingly random events, moods, lifestyle are now given a name; a world once lived in chaos is now an explained, real illness which can be managed and actively treated.  For some of us, it is the opposite.  The diagnosis is a brutal awakening to a life of chaos.  Despite the unquestionable, undeniable evidence that supports the illness, the label of the diagnosis is gut wrenching and painful.  The awakening process is just the beginning into a brand new world.

DBSA Quarterly Chapter Award -- DBSA Jackson wins DBSA chapter award, announced in national Chapter Manage Leadership Link newsletter today!

Chapter Spotlight: DBSA Welcomes a New Chapter and Congratulates Our 3rd Quarter Award Winners! Congratulations to the winners of the third quarterly Chapter Spotlight awards of 2014! DBSA Jackson (TN) Last month the VA contacted DBSA Tennessee to speak at a VA Summit about DBSA's presence as a resource for the veterans and their families across Tennessee. Leader Steve Brannon spoke before an audience of 150 attendees. "It was a great opportunity for networking with many other not-for-profit organizations in meeting the leaders of the mental health service in the local Memphis VA medical center," Steve said.  Steve also spoke about the work of DBSA in an article on depression and suicide prevention in The Jackson Sun. (Read the article that includes discussion of the value of support groups and Robin Williams death at bit.ly/1rb4se3  .) Hello everyone, I want to pass along the good news.  Peacefulness, Steve

Inspirational photos and thoughts by Jennifer Dochod part of series

DBSA Jackson -- Bill Proposals in Washington that will impact you the consumer

Hello everyone,

Larry Drain, DBSA Tennessee Legislative Liaison, returned from Washington this week. He sends the following information to educate us. He does not intend for it to replace our personal education on these matters.

Peacefulness,

Steve

             Comparison of Murphy and Barber Mental Health Proposals

New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services   May 8, 2014

 

House and Senate Mental Health Bills	Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2013 H.R.3717 (Murphy)	Strengthening Mental Health in Our Communities Act of 2014 (Barber)
Stated Purpose	To make available needed psychiatric, psychological, and supportive services for individuals diagnosed with mental illness and families in mental health crisis, and for other purposes.	To improve the responsiveness, coordination, accountability, accessibility, and integration of person-centered behavioral health services to provide  timely and appropriate help to individuals, families, and communities; to reduce mental health crises, homelessness, and incarceration by strengthening community based services, including early intervention, outreach, engagement, prevention, crisis support, rehabilitation and peer-run services to ensure access to evidence-based and emerging best practices based on the values and principles of trauma-informed care and mental health recovery, delivered in a culturally and linguistically competent manner; to advance the principles of the ADA that support people to fully participate in the most integrated settings within their chosen communities; to develop an integrated behavioral health workforce through improved training and education, recruitment, and retention; to increase mental health awareness and reduce stigma and discrimination through mental health training, education, and literacy; and to ensure the full implementation and enforcement of mental health parity for all Americans.
Creates Higher Level Federal Mental Health Administrator	Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders within the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) whose duties would include the establishment of a National Mental Health Policy Laboratory to identify and implement policy changes and to disseminate information about evidence-based practices  and an Interagency Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee, which would include representatives from various federal agencies	Creates White House Office of Mental Health Policy which will monitor and recommend changes to federal mental health policy; develop and annually update and submit to Congress a National Strategy for Mental Health to make recommendations around ·       performance-based program and budget priorities, improved coordination among Federal, state, local and tribal governments and others including adults and children with serious mental illnesses ·       strategic research, innovation, and demonstration agenda; ·       strategies' to promote community integration consistent with the ADA and Olmstead requirements; to enhance prevention and early intervention services for children  and adolescents with mental illness; ·       ways to promote the expansion of Medicaid -financed intensive community-based services such as supported housing, assertive community treatment (ACT), mobile crisis, supported employment, and peer-support services and Medicare-financed psychiatric rehabilitation, assertive community treatment (ACT), and intensive case management. make recommendations regarding Federal mental health services funding; coordinate the mental health services provided by Federal departments and agencies and coordinate Federal interagency mental health services; develop and annually update a summary of research findings about advances related to causes, prevention, treatment, early screening, diagnosis or rule out, intervention, and access to services and supports for individuals with serious mental illness and children and adolescents
SAMHSA	Removes or restricts numerous SAMHSA functions: Moves numerous duties to the Assistant Secretary, including oversight over the Center for Mental Health Services, over the administration of $400+ million community mental health block grant program, which would only be given to states that advance court ordered treatment, notably outpatient commitment (AOT).   Cuts SAMHSA Projects of Regional and National Significance (a category that includes consumer and family support technical assistance centers and statewide networks) in half and requires them to be submitted to Congressional committees. Prohibits SAMHSA from hosting or sponsoring any conference without giving at least 90 days' notice to congressional committees. Terminates SAMHSA funding for any program not authorized or required by statute.	Reauthorizes major SAMHSA programs and services through FY 2019 for community-based mental health services, while putting in place new oversight and reporting requirements to ensure programs deliver measurable outcomes for the individuals and families.    Does not include any conditional connection between state block grant approvals and the presence or strengthening of court ordered treatment including outpatient commitment (AOT) while requiring annual reports on how block grant funded programs met their proposed goals and objectives
Sharing Patient Information	Requires that caregivers are treated as the individual's personal representative who can give and get protected health information, even without the individual's consent, when the individual's service provider believes it is necessary "in order to protect the individual's health, safety, or welfare or the safety of one or more other individuals." Allows an educational agency or institution to disclose individual's educational records to caregivers.	No mention.
Extends or preserves  Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement for various programs and same day services or medications	Allows states the option to use Medicaid to fund inpatient psychiatric hospital services and psychiatric residential treatment facility services for individuals between the ages of 21-65 if such facilities demonstrate an average stay of less than 30 days. Allows for same day behavioral health and primary care services Maintains in law that Medicare Part D will cover anti-psychotic and anti-depressant  medications	Does not expand Medicaid reimbursement for inpatient psychiatric care to individuals between the ages of 21-65; HHS will grant funding to state mental health agencies to develop and administer a web-based acute psychiatric bed registry Extends Medicaid Home and Community-based Services to include youth in need of services provided in psychiatric residential treatment facilities Provides for Medicare reimbursement for marriage and family therapist services Maintains in law that Medicare Part D will cover anti-psychotic and anti-depressant  medications Provides grants to state mental health agencies to develop and administer a web-based acute psychiatric bed registry Allows for same day behavioral health and primary care services Requires HHS to issue a final rule on Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) plans by January 1, 2015.
Extends coverage for psychiatric services		Eliminates 190-day lifetime limit on inpatient psychiatric care services Requires a federal study to detail enforcements in implementing the federal mental health parity act and to describe federal and state government efforts to ensure compliance with the parity act.
Protection and Advocacy Programs for Individuals with Mental Illness	Cuts funding from $35 million to $5 million (85% reduction). Prohibits lobbying or retaining a lobbyist to influence Prohibits "systemic" lawsuits, including class actions, limiting them to bringing individual cases involving abuse or neglect. P&As would also be prohibited from "counseling an individual with a serious mental illness who lacks insight into their condition on refusing medical treatment or acting against the wishes of such individual's caregiver."	Reauthorizes and maintains current program
Programs to aid  students with behavioral health conditions, their families, their schools and communities	Reauthorizes and revises a grant program to enhance services for students with mental health or substance use disorders at institutions of higher education. Requires the Secretary Calls for a national awareness campaign to reduce stigma among college students, to provide information on how to assist students demonstrating signs of a serious mental illness and on the importance of seeking mental health treatment.	Calls for a national media campaign to reduce the stigma associated with mental illnesses that focused especially on individuals between the ages of 16-24. Increases funding for the Safe Schools-Healthy Students program, for increased access to school employment mental health professionals, for comprehensive staff development for school and community service personnel working in the schools and for mental health training for children, parents and family members Funds grants to assist local communities and schools in applying a public health approach to mental health services both in schools and in the community that provide comprehensive, age-appropriate services and supports, be linguistically and culturally appropriate, be trauma-informed, and incorporate age appropriate strategies of positive behavioral interventions and supports. Requires an independent evaluation concerning the use of mental health services for children, including the use of psychotropic medications
Criminal Justice programs	Reauthorizes Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act funding law enforcement training, jail diversion, correctional mental health and substance use treatment, discharge planning, and community reentry programs; expands supports for veteran's treatment courts and veteran's outreach programs. Requires the collection and sharing of data about homicides, law enforcement officers or individuals killed by law enforcement involving people with mental illnesses Gathers data around the cost of federal, state or local imprisonment for persons with serious mental illnesses Continues funding for Correctional Facility Grants enhance correctional facilities capacities to identify and treat  mental health and substance abuse related conditions, to implement, and enhance appropriate post-release transition plans, that encourages alternatives to solitary confinement and segregated housing housing; and provides mental health training to COs.	Includes same provisions and add grants to improve responses to 'high utilizers' of emergency, housing, judicial, corrections, and law enforcement services by funding up to 6 demonstrations that will:   involve multidisciplinary teams that implement and coordinate community based crisis responses and long term plans; promote training of criminal justice, mental health, substance abuse, emergency room, healthcare, law enforcement, corrections, and housing personnel;   support alternatives to hospital and jail admissions; and develop protocols and systems among law enforcement, mental health, substance abuse, housing, corrections, and emergency medical service operations.
Suicide Prevention	Reauthorizes and revises the Suicide Prevention Technical Assistance Center). Reauthorizes a program of grants for the development of state or tribal youth suicide early intervention and prevention strategies.	Seems essentially the same
Children's Programs	Reauthorizes grants for community mental health services to children and restricts such funding to those that use evidence-based practices. Reauthorizes the National Child Traumatic Stress Network	Seems essentially the same
Veterans Programs	Awards funding for veteran peer to peer programs	Devotes a separate section that requires mental health assessments before enlistments or commissions to officer status, unlimited eligibility for mental healthcare for combat veterans, timelines to create integrated healthcare records for veterans and a pilot educational loan repayment program for VA psychiatrists; Improves collaboration between the VA and DOD; and increases the number of mental health professionals in the VA.
Workforce	Provides for training on youth suicide early intervention and prevention strategies and for a primary care physician training grant program.	Provides funding for scholarships and loan repayment funding to further develop the behavioral health workforce Provides funding to develop and share education and training to healthcare professionals on identifying, referring and treating individuals with serious mental illnesses Provides funding to enhance psychiatrist services in Indian health programs Adds occupational therapists to the list of "behavioral and mental health professionals" under the National Health Service Corps
Other Notable Provisions	Increases funding for the brain initiative at the National Institute of Mental Health. Advances grants to expand tele-psychiatry and primary care Evaluates the combined paperwork burden of certain community mental health centers as well as of certified federally qualified community mental health clinics. Creates incentives for meaningful use of certified electronic health records (EHR) technology Expand research on models like the Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode research project of the National Institute of Mental Health and the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study, as well as on the determinants of self and other directed violence and brain related research. Extends funding eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid Health Information technology to behavioral health providers	Emphasizes that research should further the prevention, early detection and treatment of serious mental illnesses   Encourages and provides new funding for collaborative and integrated behavioral and medical health services and for efforts to assess barriers to behavioral health integration Recommends that  technical assistance be provided to expand use of evidence based practices for the prevention and treatment of geriatric mental health disorders HHS can require hospitals that on multiple occasions do not demonstrate effective discharge planning processes to enter into a system improvement agreement Extends funding eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid Health Information technology to behavioral health providers