National Alliance on Mental Illness

BOARD OF DIRECTORS2016-2017

Executive Committee:James Walsh-President

Joan Elder- 1st Vice PresidentEleanor Rohling-Secretary

Joel Willis- TreasurerDavid Young- At LargeNick Snead-At LargeSue Guffey-Ex-Officio

Board Members:Linda Cates

Dr. Army DanielsRobin DeMonia

Loy DimoffEmilia GonzalezMarian HarperLyle HedrickWanda Laird

Virginia MajorsDr. Jerlyn McCleodMari McPhersonDr. Anne PenneySherryl TreslarRuthie WarrenTaylor Wesley

Lifetime Members:Rogene ParrisAnnie SaylorAnn Denbo

Sylvia Richey

Staff:Kim Wolfe- Executive Director

Ethel Green-Assistant Exec. DirectorRoxann Becker-Financial/Office Assistant

William Luckie-BookkeeperChristin Haynes-Walks Manager

Inside This Issue...• Hill Day• Letter from the President• New Commissioner • Advocacy Update• Funding for Ending the Silence

FIND HELP. FIND HOPE.VOLUME 6, ISSUE 2 • AUGUST 2017

• Recap Photos• Dates to Remember• NIMH Article

Washington, D.C. – More than two dozen representatives of NAMI Alabama met June 28 with members of Congress and their staffs to advocate for better mental health care.

The Alabama group was part of a national effort that involved more than 1,000 NAMI advocates from across the country. “Hill Day” was part of NAMI’s 2017 national convention in Washington, D.C.

“It was powerful to see bus after bus arrive at the U.S. Capitol, all of them filled with people who are passionate about making a difference for people with mental illness,” said Jimmy Walsh, president of NAMI Alabama’s board. “The impact was stunning and hopefully got the attention of our representatives in Washington.”

Alabama’s group visited with Sen. Luther Strange, Rep. Terri Sewell, and Rep. Gary Palmer, and met with Rep. Bradley Byrne’s legislative director, Mitch Relfe, and Sen. Richard Shelby’s legislative assistant, Clay Armentrout.

NAMI advocates from across the country urged their members of Congress to protect mental health coverage, provide funding for mental health, and decriminalize mental illness, to name just a few issues on the agenda.

In addition to providing factual information on the issues, NAMI Alabama members including Christi Collins, Helena Doering and Scott Elder shared personal stories about their own experiences with mental illness.

Before teams headed out to the Capitol, they heard from Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican; Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat; and NAMI Chief Executive Officer Mary Giliberti about the importance of mental health advocacy.

Alabama’s executive director, Kimberly Wolfe, led Alabama’s contingent in Washington and stressed the importance of face-to-face meetings with representatives. But she said Hill Day is just a small part of successful advocacy, and NAMI Alabama members don’t have to go to the Capitol to play a critical role.

“You can make calls, send emails or use social media to communicate with our representatives without ever leaving Ala-bama,” she said. “The most important thing is to let our members of Congress know that we are paying attention, that we care about mental health and that they need to care, too.”

The annual NAMI elections were held in July. The grassroots was asked to consider and decide upon candidates for five available director seats and one bylaws amendment. A vote weighted quorum of 236 was needed to certify the election and we met and exceeded that with a vote of 672.

From L to R: Susan Baty-Pierce, Rickey Hatcher, Doug Collinsworth, Representative Gary Palmer, Jimmy Walsh, Robin DeMonia, Judge Alan King, Christi Collins, Helena Doering and Joy Doering

NATIONALINSTITUTE OF

MENTAL HEALTH PARTNER

NAMI Alabama joins 1,000 advocates on Capitol Hill By Robin DeMonia

Letter from the PresidentAs we approach our annual meeting in late August, I approach the end of my term as President of NAMI Alabama. I am grate-ful to all of our members who have worked so hard on behalf of NAMI to assist our own members and many more citizens of Alabama who face difficulty every day living with mental illness. Our members are among the best people I have ever known, and our mission is important to all. Thank you so much for all that you have done for others.

We have had an incredible year, but so much remains to be done. As you may recall, major effort went into preparing a Sum-mit to support our legislative effort for mandatory Crisis Intervention Training (CIT). My mantra was to “aim high,” and we greatly exceeded that admonition. We had over 400 registered attendees, and every speaker we sought from around the country delivered a great message. We had a significant number of legislators and law enforcement officers in attendance, and we could never have expected the program to go better. As a result of that effort and much more advocacy work done by our members, and the coalition support of many other advocacy groups in Alabama, the governor signed a joint legislative resolution calling for expanded CIT throughout the state and requiring mandatory initial training at the police academy. We also gained a seat at the table to assist in planning the development of curriculum for the future. Only a short time ago, we were beating the bushes look-ing for attendees at CIT classes, and now we cannot provide enough training seats for the demand. Recently, we received a letter from the Madison County Sheriff extolling the virtues of CIT. Shortly thereafter, we also learned that two members of a SWAT team in Madison County had expressed anger over not having been invited to attend our CIT training. It is incredibly hard to believe that we have reached that point. Most significantly, however, after recent training in Montgomery, we were called by one of the trainees who encountered a mental health crisis situation only two weeks after CIT graduation. He reported that the situation involved a knife and had been handled safely for all as a result of the training he had received. Several CIT trainees have contacted us after their training in an effort to help us continue to raise awareness and to continue the fine training that we have been able to provide with AUM around the state.

Another goal of the Summit was to increase funding for community mental health during the legislative session for 2017. We were encouraged greatly during the budgetary hearings when several legislative members stated that the time for dealing with mental health was “now.” Nevertheless, as usually occurs at the end of the session, the reality of significant needs balanced against the determination of legislators never to raise taxes combined to prevent additional funding. Our effort will continue this year because we have no choice.

As you all know by now, Governor Kay Ivey has recently named a new mental health commissioner, Lynn Beshear, who is well known to many of our members. She previously served as Executive Director of Envision 2020 in Montgomery, and has forged a number of successful efforts to support the fight for effective community mental health. It should excite you to know that at her swearing in, the Commissioner held up a NAMI Walks Alabama t-shirt. We hope to see her wearing one very soon.Our committees have worked very hard this year. Our Walk Committee headed by Robin DeMonia, and our new Walk Man-ager, Christin Haynes, are working very hard and will be pushing you really hard to help us bring in the funding that we are capable of raising for our NAMI AL efforts. NAMI AL , all of us, does not exist to raise funds, but our activities cost money, and without it, our activities can be curtailed. Good employees are incredibly important as well, and they should be fairly compensated for their dedication. We have a Walk Committee, and a Walk Manager to help guide our efforts, but all of us have a responsibility to help, both by giving of your talents and funds, and actively raising money from family, friends, employers, businesses and health care providers you use, and any business you can point out to our Committee and Walk Manager. This is important. Please do not wait for others to do your part; make every effort to make our NAMI Walks your priority. That goes double if you are a member of an Affiliate that has chosen not to participate in helping to fund the resources that are also devoted to activities in YOUR Affiliate area. WE are all in this together, and if we chose to let other people and other Affiliates do our job to help us, we will all be sorely disappointed in the end when funds run short. This effort is not difficult, and the funds you raise are shared with your Affiliate. All you have to do is ask people. If you feel uncomfortable asking, pass that name

on to the Committee so they can ask. If WE, and I mean all of us, do not work to increase our funding so that we can increase our work, how can we ask our Legislature to increase funding for community mental health? NAMI AL means working together for the common good. Please join in, and do your very best to help everyone else. The Walk

is just around the corner in September. Nick Snead has been very strong in leading the Advocacy Committee, and tireless in his efforts to rally our

troops. Of course, Joan Elder has been extraordinarily busy helping me as First Vice President, and also as head of the Education Committee. Our educational efforts must continue to grow. We simply cannot ask people to wait for training when they need it during crisis, and we must reach a point where our Signature Programs are within reasonable driving distance to those in need at the

time of their need, not weeks later. It is bad enough to have to wait an extended period for our loved ones to get access to a bed. We have to do better; we can do better.

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We already miss Wanda Laird, our former Executive Director who retired following the Summit. We have since welcomed Kim-berly Wolfe and her family into ours, and she is quickly establishing herself as a fine new Executive Director. She had big shoes to fill, but she is working very hard and effectively to fill them. A brief story about Kim to let you know she is up to the job: Kim, Nick, and I went to Representative Mike Ball’s office in an effort to shore up his support and that of others for the CIT bill. We knew that Mike was not happy, but were uncertain how the meeting would go. As we entered his office, Kim noticed that Mike was replacing a violin in its case behind his desk. She commented on the violin and Mike pulled it back out saying that, “When I play it, it’s a fiddle.” Kim answered that she too played, so Mike handed his violin to Kim and said he would get his mandolin and they could play a duet. As their song wound its way into a beautiful duet, I stood motionless and grinning, knowing that our successful meeting was over. Kim had triumphed. I know we will have many more success stories like that in the future. If you have not already met her, please try to do so during the annual meeting. I think she is the right person at the right time.

Naming members is always difficult because I have left out so many important names. The most important of you are those who have taken time to spend helping your own family member or strangers you have not known until you received a distress call and chose to help. I could not be more proud to have worked with an organization like this, and trust me, I don’t intend to stop doing that yet. But, it is time for new leadership, and time for younger folks to step up and move this organization forward. We have much to do, but we have great people to do it. I look forward to the challenge, and to coming along for the ride.

Jimmy Walsh

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Lynn Beshear Selected As New Commissioner

NAMI Alabama congratulates Lynn Beshear on being appointed as the state’s com-missioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health. We have worked with Lynn Beshear in her role at Envision 2020, and we look forward to working with her at the department to promote best practices and adequate funding for mental health services.

One in five people experience mental illness in any given year. In Alabama, a cumula-tive loss of mental health funding has led to a serious crisis in care. Failing to treat mental illness in a timely, appropriate manner harms individuals, their families, their communities and our state as a whole. We are pleased to partner with Commissioner Beshear to identify solutions for improved mental health services that will greatly ben-efit our state as well as people with mental illness.

Advocacy Update: Progress Past and Progress Future

2017 has been a banner policy year for NAMI Alabama. We have moved forward in life-saving ways.

Our major advance was the passage and signing by Governor Ivey of House Joint Resolution (HJR) 267. The resolution recognizes officially the major role that police play in responding to mental health crisis. It encourages all police forces in the state to “to develop and implement the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training concept within their jurisdictions to help de-escalate and resolve mental health crisis conflicts.” We are moving towards a better model of policing in Alabama, one that recognizes mental illness as illnesses and one that will protect both people in crisis and the police who are called on to intervene. We thank Rep. Mike Ball for moving the resolution and his invaluable help creating a broad coalition of support.

We have made practical advances on the ground too that echo the legislative advance of HJR 267. This year NAMI Alabama and local NAMI affiliates have worked with community partners, particularly Auburn University in Montgomery, to provide Crisis Intervention Team training to police in Madison, Morgan, Limestone, Houston, Shelby and other counties. Our streets are getting safer, safer for people with mental illnesses and safer for police. But there remains much to be done. The number of inpatient hospital beds remains woefully short, and the Department of Mental Health still operates on a cripplingly inadequate budget. There is still not enough room in the inpatient facilities for the people in need of treat-ment. Police training is only one piece of the puzzle. Without proper medical and psychological attention, we, our family members, and

our friends risk falling through the same cracks and spinning through the same revolving doors that have existed for years in Alabama.

And so this becomes our challenge ahead. We have worked tirelessly to restore the Department of Mental Health budget to pre-recession levels. We will continue this work into the 2018 legislative season. To do this we need everybody. We need all the voices of NAMI Alabama sounding together to let our lawmakers know that inaction and

neglect are inacceptable. We need members across the state to tell their stories.

The Advocacy Committee will be working closely with the state office and our local affiliates to continue the fight for better services. We look forward to working with you to help create the mental health care system that the people of Alabama need and deserve. Thank you all for the contri-

butions you’ve made this year to these efforts. We appreciate everything you do to make things better.

By Nick Snead

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Tipper Gore Funds National Expansion of National Alliance on Mental Illness’ Flagship Teen Program

Ending the Silence program helps end stigma on mental health issues

Arlington, Virginia—June 26, 2017—Today, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) announced the nationwide expansion of their flagship teen program, Ending the Silence, due to a generous gift from Former Second Lady of the United States, Tipper Gore. The announcement comes as more than 1,600 mental health advocates from across the country head to Washington, DC this week for NAMI’s National Convention, which will be held June 28th – July 1st.

The $1 million gift will enable NAMI affiliates throughout the country to adopt the early intervention program so that more middle school and high school students will have access to the program that is designed to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness and help young people get the treatment they need.

One-half of all chronic mental illness begins by the age of 14, and according to a recent study, 13.6 percent of boys and 36.1 percent of girls experience depression by age 17. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for ages 10 to 14 and the second for ages 15 to 24.

“Mrs. Gore is a woman of extraordinary insight, courage and compassion whose advocacy has been devoted especially to chil-dren and families. She has given hope to millions of Americans and with her support, NAMI will continue these efforts with a new generation of middle and high school students,” said NAMI CEO, Mary Giliberti.

“I’ve worked for decades to help Americans with mental illness, and I am thrilled to be working with NAMI to end the silence and help our children understand they are not alone, and to learn how to ask for the help they need,” said Mrs. Tipper Gore. “Mental illness is a public health crisis in the United States. Too many people—especially young adults—live undiagnosed, untreated, and unable to reach their full potential. Armed with knowledge and understanding, and having open and honest communications can help everyone know there is no shame in needing help. It is empowering to ask for help.”

NAMI Ending the Silence is a 50-minute early intervention program that engages youth in a discussion about mental health. Teens learn to recognize early warning signs of mental health conditions and what to do if they or someone they know is showing these signs. They can ask questions of family members and individuals experiencing mental health conditions. The chance to hear di-rectly from a young adult with a mental health condition dispels myths and stereotypes, instills a message of hope and recovery and encourages teens to reduce stigma. By engaging teens in discussions about mental health conditions with their peers, youth who may be experiencing mental health issues can realize they’re not alone.

Tipper Gore has dedicated her life to giving voice to parents, children and families. She served as Mental Health Policy Advisor to President Clinton, and convened the first-ever White House Conference on Mental Health in 1999. She was instrumental in passing the Mental Health Parity Act in 1996, which helped end the disparity in treating people with physical injuries and mental illnesses. In 1990, she founded Tennessee Voices for Children, a coalition to promote services for children and youth with behav-ioral, emotional, substance abuse, or other mental health challenges.

David Thames and Mark Prescott presented at the AIR Conference for the IOOV presentation.

Commissioner Beshear proudly holds up a NAMI Walks T-shirt to show her support

of NAMI Alabama.

Ethel Green and Kim Wolfe with Captain Gayle Atchison and Sheriff Derrick Cunningham of the

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office

Kim Wolfe, NAMI Executive Director with husband Hunter Wolfe at Hill Day

NAMI Alabama took time to see Representative Terry Sewell during Hill Day.

From L to R: Judge Alan King, Christi Collins, Robin DeMonia, Representative Terry Sewell,

Susan Baty-Pierce, Joy Doering and Jim Walsh

Lois Herndon representing NAMI Alabama through Sharing Hope

Walks Manager, Christin Haynes, represented NAMI Alabama at the Wharf “Share

Night” in Montgomery.

Christi Collins (NAMI Baldwin), second from right, represented the Alabama Peer Specialist Association at the Children’s Mental

Illness Week Proclamation Signing with Governor Ivey on May 3rd at the Capitol.

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SeptemberNational Recovery Month & National Suicide Prevention Month

September 9-15National Suicide Prevention Week

September 23NAMIWalks Alabama - Wynton Blount Cultural Park,

Montgomery

OctoberADHD Awareness Month, Substance Abuse Prevention Month, and National Disability

Employment Awareness Month

October 1-7Mental Illness Awareness Week and

Mental Health Awareness Week

October 20-22Connection Training, Drury Inn, Montgomery

JanuaryJanuary TBA

Mental Health Summit

February

February 16-17Leadership Training, Drury Inn, Montgomery

Feb 23-Mar 2National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

MarchNational Disabilities Awareness Month

March 12-18National Brain Awareness Week

AprilNational Minority Mental Health Awareness Month,

Alcohol Awareness Month and Autism Awareness Month

April 2-8National Public Health Week

MayNational Mental Health Month

May 10National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day

May 13-19National Substance Abuse Prevention Week

May 16-22Mental Health Awareness Week

June

June 27- 30NAMI Convention, New Orleans, LA

August

August 23-25NAMI Alabama Annual Meeting, Drury Inn,

Montgomery

Remember!Dates to2017-2018

31ST ANNUAL MEETINGEDUCATE, EMPOWER, ENGAGE

August 24-26, 2017Drury Inn and Suites

1124 Eastern BoulevardMontgomery, Alabama

AGENDA

Thursday, August 24

3:00 p.m. Registration Opens3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Executive Committee Meeting3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Board of Directors’ Meeting4:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Break 4:45 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. Affiliate Presidents’ Meeting6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. NAMIWalks Alabama Kickoff Meeting Dinner (on your own)

Friday, August 25

8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. Opening of Annual Meeting Welcome: Kim Wolfe, Executive Director and Jimmy Walsh, President8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. How to Convince Someone to Get Treatment: The Tough First Step Presenter: Dr. Mark Komrad 9:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. Coffee Break and Voting for Members 9:45 a.m.-10:30 a.m. “Ask the Doctor” Presenter: Dr. Mark Komrad 10:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m. In Our Own Voice: Christi Collins and Beverly Parker11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Panel Discussion: Community Care Concepts Panel Members: Corporal Cedric Leonard, Dr. Jim Dill, Sue Guffey, Andrew Guffey, 12:15 p.m.-1:15 p.m. Lunch1:15 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Evidence Based Suicide Prevention Presenter: Jennifer Daiber 2:00 p.m. -2:30 p.m. Board Elections Close and Coffee Break2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Crisis Intervention Training Presenter: Linda Wright 3:30 p.m.-4:00 p.m. Presentation of Annual Awards4:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Announcement of Newly Elected Board Members4:30 p.m. Adjourn for the Day (Dinner on your own/Baseball Game)

*All attendees are invited to join us for “Mental Health Awareness Night” on Friday night at the Montgomery Biscuits Riverwalk Stadium in downtown Montgomery at 7:00 p.m. All are encouraged to where green for mental health awareness. The baseball game will include a spectacular fireworks show at the end of the evening!

Saturday, August 26

9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. Board Meeting and Election of Officers (2017-2018) Circuit Court Outreach Presentation Presenter: Emilia Gonzalez 10:00 a.m.–11:15 a.m. NAMI Alabama Membership Business Meeting Legislative Update Presenter: Graham Champion, Chairman, Public Strategies, LLC Advocacy Update Presenter: Nick Snead, NAMI Huntsville and Advocacy Committee Chairman RESPECT Institute Presenter: Joel Slack Mental Health Summit Presenter: Jimmy Walsh, NAMI President, 2016-2017 Announcements (introduction of 2017-2018 officers) 11:15 a.m. Close of 31st Annual Meeting

Special thanks to our sponsors….Alabama Department of Mental Health

Crossbridge Behavioral HealthAffiliate of Baptist Medical Center South

Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & JohnsonScott Willet, Director of Healthcare Policy and Advocacy

Dr. Komrad will be joining us as our KeyNote speaker on Friday, August 25th at the 31st NAMI Alabama Annual Meeting in Montgomery. He will be answering multiple questions you may have during the “Ask the Doctor” segment so please come prepared to be involved in the segment. We have included his biography below for you to find out more about him.

Recipient of NATIONAL EXEMPLARY PSYCHIATRIST AWARD from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Dr. Komrad is a psychiatrist on the clinical and teaching staff of Sheppard Pratt Hospital and the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland, and on the teaching faculty of Oceania University of Medicine in Samoa. For 25 years he has treated patients and advised people on how to convince an emotionally or behaviorally troubled loved-one to accept psychiatric evaluation and treatment. He has worked in both outpatient and inpatient settings, and has had extensive experience with the process of involuntary treatment of patients in emergency rooms and hospitals.

Dr. Komrad was an attending psychiatrist on the Treatment Resistant Psychotic Disorders Unit at Sheppard Pratt Hospital for 15 years, where he continues to train residents in psychotherapy and psychopharmacology and ran the Ethics Consultation Service and Hospital Ethics Committee for the Sheppard Pratt Health System

throughout Maryland for many years, where he is the “Ethicist-in-Residence.” He is also a member of the Ethics Committee of the American Psychi-atric Association, which oversees matters of ethics and ethical guidelines for this national and international organization of psychiatrists. He writes a regular column, “Practicing Ethically,” about ethics in psychiatry for The Maryland Psychiatrist for which he has won the Carol Davis Ethics Award (twice) from the American Psychiatric Association He also writes the “Ask the Doctor” column for the Maryland chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI). He has a private practice in general psychiatry with a special interest in treating mood disorders, personality disorders and schizophrenia. His technique is to combine psychopharmacology and psychotherapy, a combination treatment that has become increasingly rare in the contemporary managed-care environment. In particular, Dr. Komrad uses these techniques to help people with serious, major mental illness rehabilitate to a higher level of functioning. He often consults with colleagues on difficult cases.

He has lectured throughout the country on a variety of topics in psychiatry. Dr. Komrad also appears widely on TV and radio to discuss topics in psychiatry and teaches psychiatry to residents and primary care physicians. He has been the host of a nationally syndicated weekly radio talkshow about psychiatry, and was the psychiatrist on a medical talkshow that broadcast to over 40 million listeners around the world. He now appears regu-larly on National Public Radio (NPR). In addition, Dr. Komrad has served as consultant in the development of a major Hollywood film and a dramatic TV serial, both about psychiatrists, consulted on books and screenplays and even played the part of a psychiatrist in a movie– all in an attempt to create more accurate portrayals of psychiatrists and the mentally ill on TV and in the movies.

Dr. Komrad was elected by his peers to the prestigious American College of Psychiatrists, an organization of 750 psychiatric leaders who have “dem-onstrated outstanding competence and achieved national recognition.”” He was also designated a “Distinguished Fellow” of the American Psychiatric Association-- a special distinction, “for exceptional contributions to the community and the profession of psychiatry.” He was voted by professional peers and profiled as one of “Maryland’s Top Mental Health Practitioners” by the Baltimore Magazine and separately named as one of the “Top Doc-tors” by that publication. He was also awarded the “Mental Health Professional of the Year Award” in 2013 by the Baltimore chapter of NAMI. In 2014 he was recognized by the National Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) who elected him to their Target Zero-to-Thrive Hall of Fame.

NAMI (National Office) Election Results

The following five individuals were selected by the grassroots to serve on the 2017-2018 NAMI Board of Directors: 1. Adrienne Kennedy from Texas, second term 2. Jim Hayes from South Carolina, second term 3. Micah Pearson from New Mexico 4. Amanda Lipp from California 5. Carlos Larrauri from FloridaThe bylaws amendment, which was a proposal to change the name of the Consumer Council to Peer Leadership Council, passed with 94% of votes supporting change.

On the morning of July 1, your new NAMI Board met to choose its Executive Committee. The leadership of this year’s board is: • Steve Pitman (CA), President • Lacey Berumen (CO), 1st Vice President • Victoria Gonzalez (IL), 2nd Vice President • Adrienne Kennedy (TX), Secretary • Bob Spada (OH), Treasurer

We are currently requesting photos from your Affiliate’s work for use in the Annual Meeting slide show and also feature on the NAMI Alabama Facebook page during the year. Showcasing your work will allow others to learn from you, and that’s the best way we can grow together as an organization. Please send photos to kwolfe@namialabama.org. We cannot guarantee all photos will be included in slideshow or Facebook page but we will certainly try our best to feature everyone.

Mental Health and Substance Abuse Awareness Night at the Biscuits!Join NAMI Alabama on Friday, August 25th, for River Region College Night at 7:05 to support mental health and substance abuse aware-ness in the River Region.

The Montgomery Biscuits have teamed up with several organizations to promote the various mental health and substance abuse re-sources in the River Region and educate fans on making healthy choices in regards to their mental health. Use the promo code "STRIKE" when you purchase your tickets online to get $3 off. This offer applies to tickets purchased online for the

August 25th game ONLY.

Come out and wear green to support these local mental health groups making a difference in the River Region! GO BISCUITS! To purchase tickets visit www.milb.com and go to “Tickets & Promotions” tab for the August 25th home game.

NAMI Alabama Connection Group MeetingsNAMI BirminghamContact: Helena Doering, 205-215-5770, Helenadoering@gmail.com, David Thames Location: UAB, Center for Psychiatry Medicine, Second Floor, 1713 6th Ave S, Birmingham, AL Time: Tuesday, 5:00 p.m.

NAMI BirminghamContact: David D. Thames, 205-470-3509, davidtham737@gmail.com, Location: S. Highland Presbyterian Church, 2035 Highland Ave. S, Birmingham, ALTime: Tuesday, 2:00 p.m.

NAMI CentreContact: Paul and Suzanne Theis, 256-779-5794, ptconstruction@tds.net, Location: First Baptist Church Recreational Outreach Center, 300 East Chestnut Bypass, Centre, ALTime: 1st & 4th Thursday, 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.

NAMI Huntsville Contact: Nick Snead, 256-417-3830, nicknamihsv@gmail.comLocation: United Way Building, 701 Andrew Jackson Way, Huntsville, ALTime: Monday, 5:30 p.m.

NAMI Huntsville Contact: Mark Prescott, 256-777-6774, markpres@yahoo.comLocation: 2220 Windscape Dr, Windscape Apt Community Room, Athens, ALTime: 1st and 3rd Tuesday, 6:00 p.m.

NAMI MobileContact: Dee Jordan, mobiledeelight@gmail.com, or SOMI Club, 251-342-0261; Susan Baker, 251-599-3858Location: SOMI Club, 4351 Midmost Dr, Mobile, AL Time: 2nd and 4th Friday @ 9:30 am

NAMI ShelbyContact: Sherryl Treslar, sherryltreslar.nami@gmail.com or Phillip Swint, Shatorrie Williams, Location: Physicians Center, 1010 1st St, North, Suite 100, Alabaster, AL Time: 4th Tuesday, 6:00 pm

NAMI ShoalsContact: Vivian Bulls, 256-766-4740, vivianbulls76@gmail.comLocation: NAMI Shoals-Advocacy Education Support, 749 Thompson St, Ste A, Florence, AL Time: 2nd Tuesday, 7:00 p.m.

NAMI TuscaloosaContact: Helmi Henkin, hehenkin@crimson.edu 650-644-6375, Paul ElmoreLocation: Tuscaloosa Public Library, Rotary Room, Tuscaloosa, ALTime: 1st Tuesday, 7:30 pm

NAMI WiregrassContact: Tyler Kramer, 334-369-9148, Ppaw95@yahoo.comLocation: St Columba Church, 2734 West Main St, Dothan, ALTime: 3rd Mondays, 6:30 p.m.

NAMI Connection training coming up in October 20-22 at the Drury Inn in Montgomery. Please send applications or get in touch with me Beverly Parker at bevparker1502@gmail.com

We are in the process of developing more groups. Please contact your local affiliate or the state office at 334-396-4797 for more information.

NOTE: Please contact the facilitators as dates may be subject to change.April 25, 2017

The NIH NeuroBioBank: Addressing the Urgent Need for Brain Donation

July 7, 2017 • Science UpdateBy Dr. Diana Bianchi (NICHD Director), Dr. Joshua Gordon (NIMH Director), and Dr. Walter Koroshetz (NINDS Director)

When unraveling the complexities of neurological, neurodevelopmental, and neuropsychiatric disorders, there is no substitute for studying human brain tissue. Brain donation is critically important, now more than ever. The more brain tissue available for research, the faster science can advance toward a better understanding of how to prevent, diagnose, treat, and cure disorders of the human brain. The NIH NeuroBioBank is a central resource to coordinate brain donation and the distribution of tissue to qualified researchers. These efforts depend on the availability of post-mortem brain tissue. Yet, relative to donations of other organs for transplantation and research, brain donation is severely lagging, both from healthy people, from people with brain disease, and especially from children. Through partnerships with not-for-profit organizations like the Brain Donor Project , NIH aims to raise awareness about the importance of post-mortem brain donation and to simplify the process of becoming a donor.

In the past, brain tissue repositories funded by U.S. federal, private, and nonprofit institutions have been primarily disease-focused and somewhat limited in their distribution of tissues. In 2013, three NIH institutes came together to build a network of biorepositories to collect and distribute brain tissue to investigators across the country for research on a variety of brain disorders. The NIH NeuroBioBank was launched with support from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Na-tional Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The major goals of the NeuroBioBank are to enhance the distribution of high-quality, well-characterized human post-mortem brain tissue to investigators and to increase awareness of the value of brain donation among the public. The NeuroBioBank provides access to the collections of six partner sites, as well as additional resources to facilitate research studies, including donor medical records and clinical data sets (when available) and tissue quality metrics. Each NeuroBioBank site collects approximately 100 brains per year, offering researchers access to specimens across a broad range of diseases, and since 2014, the NeuroBioBank

has fulfilled more than 450 requests for tissue for research.

Each donated brain is a precious resource, with the potential to provide tissue to hundreds of investigators. At the same time, each donated brain is ultimately non-renewable, and more are needed to keep pace with opportunities for new studies. Indeed, there are several disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, myalgic encephalopathy/chronic fatigue syndrome, autism, and Down syndrome, for which there are vastly inadequate resources to meet the research demand. Access to brain tissue from healthy donors of all ages also remains a challenge, both for studies of normal brain structure and function and for use as controls in disease-focused research, where the ability to compare tissues from people with and without a disease is critically important.

Today, powerful new technologies allow researchers to examine molecular and micro-structural changes in psychiatric, neuro-developmental, and neuro-degenerative disorders that were previously undetectable, offering tremendous opportunities for research using human brain tissue. A study from Christopher Walsh’s laboratory at Harvard Medical School sequenced the full genome of individual neurons from postmortem brains and uncovered remarkable genetic variation from cell to cell. Neurons last for decades, and as their genes are repeatedly transcribed over time, they acquire changes called somatic mutations. Moreover, genes important for neuronal development and function appear to be most vulnerable to mutation. These findings have helped to propel further investigations to understand the impact of somatic mutations in human brain development, function, and disease. In other examples, scientists have used postmortem brain tissue to understand a genetic risk factor for schizophrenia and to show that military members exposed to blast injury exhibit a distinct pattern of scarring that could account the typical neuropsychiatric symptoms of traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. Other studies have demonstrated differences in the development of cells important for the formation of white matter in Down syndrome

Link to non-government website. For more information, click on Policies in our footer. and identified pathways involved in learning and memory in Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease , and have implicated brain structures such as the anterior cingulate cortex in autism spectrum disorders .

The prevalence of neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neurodevelopmental disorders continues to rise worldwide. These disorders can take a terrible toll on the quality and length of life for affected people and their families, but wide knowledge gaps continue to stand in the way of effective treatments. Research using human brain tissue has the potential to identify new disease pathways and targets for therapeutic intervention. To be successful, such studies will require large numbers of high-quality, well-characterized brain samples and associated clinical data from donors. If even 1% of Americans with and without brain disorders would donate their brains to research after death, this would revolutionize progress toward diagnosing, preventing, and curing brain disease as we know it. To learn more about brain tissue donation and how to become a donor, please visit the NeuroBioBank website .

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