The Montgomery County Forensic Coalition Will Be Featured November 9

NAMI PA Montgomery County has taken a strong interest in The Stepping Up Initiative, a national effort to

decrease the number of persons with mental illness who are incarcerated. The Montgomery County Forensic

Coalition has formed three work groups to address issues of Data Collection (Carol Caruso, NAMI PA Mont-

gomery County), Diversion (Stephanie Landes, Montgomery County Adult Probation) and Re-Entry (Kathie

Mitchell, Community Advocates of Montgomery County). Come and hear about the Forensic Coalition and up-

dates on the efforts of the workgroups.

Date: Wednesday November 9th

Time: 7 PM – 8:30 PM

Location: 100 W. Main Street, Suite 204

Lansdale, PA

This event is free and open to the public; however an RSVP is appreciated by Nov 7th: 215-361-7784. Light

refreshments will be served.

Mark your calendar for our Annual Holiday Party on Wednesday December 14th!

To be held in our Lansdale office—free of charge and all are invited!

montco memo Montgomery County, PA November 2016 Volume XXXVI Issue 3

New Executive Director Selected

After an extensive search, NAMI of PA Montgomery County is delighted to

announce that Abby Grasso, M.S.W. has been selected as our Executive Director.

Carol Caruso, current Executive Director,

will be retiring at the end of this year.

Abby brings energy and expertise, as

well as a dedication to our Mission and

those individuals and families who we

serve in Montgomery County. With over

15 years working in the mental health

field, Abby believes in people first. She

is creative and inspires others to become

involved. As a strong leader and commu-

nity advocate, Abby embodies the values,

principles and practices at the heart of our

work. Abby assumed this role on Octo-

ber 24, 2016 and will transition into this

position with assistance from the leader-

ship of the current Executive Director,

Carol Caruso.

Our mission to improve the quality of

life for those affected by mental illness through support, education and advocacy

is needed now more than ever. We are confident that in Abby Grasso we have

found the right leader to guide us towards a brighter tomorrow for those who

struggle with mental illness and their families.

Calendar 2

Focus Group Participants Needed

2

Message from Our President 3

Message from Our Executive Director

3

Mental Health Parity a Serious Issue

4

Antidepressant Drugs Ineffective for Children, Teens

5

Family Members Needed for Committees

5

Suicide Prevention Training 6

Community Stamps Out Stig-ma of Mental Illness

6

Diabetes Linked to Risk of MH Hospitalization

6

How Peers “Connect” with Individuals

7

Tributes and Donations 7

Also in This Issue

November 2016 Page 2

montco memo Volume XXXVI Issue 3

the montco memo is published monthly by

NAMI of PENNSYLVANIA

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Board of Directors

President Neen Davis First Vice-President Dawn Hogan Second Vice President Dave Davis Secretary Beth Milton Treasurer Stephen Nelson

Victoria Bright Lauren Centola Armand DiYenno Rhea Fernandes Tricia Malott Donna McNelis Jerry Rudakevich Mike Solomon

Executive Director Carol Caruso Editor Beulah Saideman Co-Editor Mary Schuck Editor Emeritus Maryella D. Hitt Office Manager Debra Herbut Bookkeeper Kelly DiBetta Walk Manager Danielle Blanchard

Support Group Facilitators Coordinator Carol Caruso

Abington Presbyterian Church Joan Kozlowski Corinne Smith

Lansdale Rich Kelble Anne Magowan

Lower Providence Presbyterian Church Neen Davis Sue Soriano

Pottstown Nina & Alan McDaniel

NAMI of PA Montgomery County

100 W. Main Street Suite 204

Lansdale, PA 19446 Phone: 215-361-7784 FAX: 215-361-7786

Email: nami-montcopa@verizon.net Web page: www.namimontcopa.org

Letters to the Editor and other articles and contributions are welcome. Send them

to the NAMI Office or by Email to brsaideman@comcast.net

by the 15th of the preceding month

NAMI of Pennsylvania Montgomery County is an approved Donor Choice Agency of the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and

Southern New Jersey

United Way Agency Code # 5076

Calendar

Nov. 1 Dec. 6

Lansdale Family Support Group at St. John’s United Church of Christ, Main Street and Richardson Avenue, Lansdale. First Tuesday, 7:00 PM.

Nov. 7 Dec. 5

NAMI Connection is a peer-run support group for individuals living with mental illness, which meets the first Monday of every month, except holidays, at 6:15 PM. William Jeanes Memorial Library, 4051 Joshua Rd, Lafayette Hill, PA

Nov. 7 Dec. 5

Pottstown Family Support Group, 1st Monday at Creative Health Services, Consumers Library, 11 Robinson Court,, 7-8:30PM.

Nov. 7 Dec. 5

Lower Providence Family Support Group, Lower Providence Presbyterian Church, 3050 Ridge Pike, Eagleville, Room 205. 7 PM. First Monday except on holidays.

Nov. 9 Dec. 14

Monthly Information Meeting, NAMI Office, 100 W. Main St., Suite 204, Lansdale, PA, 7:00 to 8:30 PM.

Nov. 10 Dec. 8

Glenside Family Support Group, Abington Presbyterian Church, 1082 Old York Road, Abington — 2nd Thursday, 7:30 PM.

Nov. 17 Dec. 15

Montgomery County CSP (Community Support Program). 3rd Thursday, 12-2:30 PM, Montgomery County Library, 1001 Powell St., Norristown

Nov. 17 Dec. 15

Board of Director’s Meeting, 3rd Thursday, Lansdale Office, 6:30 PM.

A Note About Our Meetings

Although some of our meetings are held at religious institutions, they are non-denominational and open to people of all beliefs.

Focus Group Participants Needed!

We are currently seeking family members of adults (16+) with a mental ill-

ness diagnosis who utilize home or community services to participate in focus

groups we are holding on Wednesday November 9th. Temple University and

NAMI PA Montgomery County are working with national partners to improve

the way our state and county decide if adults with mental illness are getting ef-

fective, high quality services provided to your loved ones. We want to learn

about what is most important to you when considering quality of the services

provided to your loved ones. Come and share your story and your voice!

Wednesday, November 9th from 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM (lunch included) OR

Wednesday November 9th from 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM (dinner included)

The Focus Groups are sponsored by the Research and Training Center on

Outcome Measures, Institute on Community Integration, University of Minne-

sota.

Participation is free, however an RSVP is required. Please call 215-361-

7784 by November 4th to register.

November 2016 Page 3

montco memo Volume XXXVI Issue 3

Message from Our President Dear Friends of NAMI MONTCO-

I hope all of you are enjoying the cooler weather, changing

color of the leaves and shift from baseball to football! Just as the

season brings changes, we at NAMI of PA Montgomery County

are experiencing some changes as well.

Our newly hired Executive Director came onboard October

24th. Abby Grasso brings with her energy and experience that

will continue NAMI MONTCO on its path of supporting those

with a serious mental illness and their families. The Board of

Directors welcomes Abby and we invite you to attend our many

programs so you have the opportunity to meet her yourself.

Carol Caruso, our outgoing Executive Director, will be retir-

ing at the end of this year. Carol’s dedication and commitment

to this affiliate, and those with a serious mental illness and their

families, has been exceptional. A reception, held in Carol’s hon-

or, was held at Cedarbrook Country Club on October 20th.Those

who attended represented a cross-section of Carol’s commit-

ment to serving the mental health community. There will be

more details and photographs in next month’s newsletter!

The 5th Annual Benefit for the Brain takes place Wednesday,

November 16th at the Philadelphia Marriott West at 6:00pm. If

you haven’t yet reserved your ticket, or sponsored the event, the

deadline is November 7th. This year’s benefit recognizes two

leaders in behavioral health: Charles P. O’Brien, M.D., Ph.D.

and Sandra Bloom, M.D. Dr. O’Brien is receiving the Scientific

Research Award in Substance Use Disorder and Dr. Bloom is

receiving the Impact Award for the development of the Sanctu-

ary Model. We look forward to you joining us on this very spe-

cial evening.

I always close my letters with encouraging you to become a

member of this amazing affiliate. If you are already a member,

thank you. If you are not a member, please consider joining.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Wishing you a Happy Fall season and looking forward to

seeing you at our many programs-

Neen Davis President, NAMI of PA Montgomery County

As I wind down my days as Executive Director of NAMI

PA Montgomery County, I cannot help but reminisce over the

past and the pioneer days of a fledgling affiliate. It took the

courage of many to stand up for their and their loved ones

rights to proper care in the community as well as being treated

with respect and dignity. My mentors taught me well by their

excellent examples of tolerating nothing less than adequate and

appropriate treatment when needed, where needed and for as

long as needed. Moving forward we should expect nothing less

and we should especially advocate in two areas: early interven-

tion, and those who are chronically ill and are homeless or

incarcerated.

Last year at this time we presented two programs on the

first of these, First Episode Psychosis. These programs were

from the University of Pennsylvania and are starting to spread

into neighboring southeastern PA counties as well as across the

state. We like to think that we played some part in advocating

for their expanded use. This month our program will be on

reducing incarceration of persons living with mental illness,

and will feature the Montgomery County Forensic Coalition

and chairs of the three workgroups (Diversion, Data and Re-

entry) to talk about The Stepping Up Program and Montgom-

ery Counties’ Mapping of the flow of activity from jail diver-

sion to incarceration to re-entry into the community. If you are

concerned about incarceration of a loved one with mental ill-

ness, you will not want to miss this presentation.

We will also be hosting two focus groups this month on

community integration of persons with mental illness, as well

as suicide prevention training. Please also note the opportuni-

ties for committee involvement—we need the family voice

heard!

There is always a lot to do, and always volunteers needed

to make recovery and the prospect of a full life in the commu-

nity possible for persons with mental illness. We need your

help! As always, thank you for all that you do on behalf of per-

sons with mental illness and their families!

Carol Caruso

Message from Our Executive Director

November 2016 Page 4

montco memo Volume XXXVI Issue 3

Kenneth L. Davis Forbes October 7, 2016

As a psychiatrist who has spent much of my career research-

ing schizophrenia and other mental disorders, I am acutely aware

of a major flaw in our health system: the need for behavioral

health care far outweighs its availability, in part because our sys-

tem does not value or pay for it on par with medical and surgical

care. While this failure is understandable–it is difficult to opera-

tionalize and quantify measures of behavioral health parity with-

in the existing health care reimbursement system, which is fun-

damentally based on a cost-of-care frame-

work for physical health conditions–the

consequences to individuals and society

are devastating.

Because behavioral health services are

undervalued, resources too often are insuf-

ficient to reach mentally ill people who

desperately need therapeutic intervention.

This predicament can have a far-reaching

impact, because mentally ill people by

themselves frequently are unable to seek

treatment for physical ailments. A down-

ward spiral can accelerate quickly, as a

person in need of help becomes vulnerable to falling through the

holes of our social service safety net into a cycle of helplessness.

Consider the example of a mentally ill person suffering from

diabetes who does not receive proper care for his mental health

problems and therefore is unable to obtain and take the insulin he

needs. He ends up at the hospital emergency department, is ad-

mitted as an inpatient, and then is released, only to be readmitted

within a matter of months.

Such failures are extremely costly to society. A chronically

homeless person cycling through hospital emergency depart-

ments, inpatient beds, psychiatric institutions, detox programs,

halfway houses and, perhaps, jail costs taxpayers about $40,000

per year. Of the more than half a million people who are home-

less on a given night, 83,000 are chronically homeless, according

to the latest Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress.

That subset of the homeless population costs taxpayers $3.3

billion a year. Separately, the cost of healthcare for those suffer-

ing from substance abuse is $11 billion, as calculated by the Na-

tional Institute on Drug Abuse. The terrible human cost adds

further urgency to the need to address this problem, particularly

since the suicide rate in the United States is at a 30-year high.

A recent survey from the National Association of Mental

Illness that analyzed 84 insurance plans in 15 states found that a

patient attempting to obtain mental health services was twice as

likely to be denied coverage by a private insurer as a patient

seeking medical or surgical care.

The Mental Health Parity Act of 2008, however, requires

insurers offering behavioral care to cover it as generously as

physical care. This means insurers are forbidden from requiring

members to obtain extra authorizations for behavioral therapy,

while co-pays and deductibles are to be no higher than those for

medical benefits.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 extended the law beyond

insurance plans for employers with more than 50 employees to

plans in the Health Insurance Marketplace that cover individuals.

Enforcement is spread across the Department of Health and Hu-

man Services, the Department of Labor, the Department of

Treasury and state insurance commissioners, depending upon the

type of health insurance plan; it has

been spotty at best.

Only a few states, notably New

York and California, have prosecuted

insurers that have failed to comply

with the law. It is time for tougher en-

forcement by all regulators, for insur-

ers to comply with parity requirements,

and for our entire payment system to

recognize that health encompasses

both mental and physical well-being.

Enforcement of mental health pari-

ty means creating measurements of

equivalency for mental and physical health services. This is not

easy because they are vastly different in nature, but it must be

done.

Consider that a doctor visit for a sore throat will take about

20 minutes; the internist can see three patients over the course of

an hour, billing each one for services. In contrast, a psychiatrist

must discover a behavioral health problem that may not be as

apparent as a physical ailment, through a diagnostic interview; he

must develop a treatment plan that addresses mental health,

physical health and, often, social determinants of health; and

engage in treatment with the patient, which can take months until

lasting benefits are achieved.

Behavioral health care by its very nature is far more time-

consuming than most physical care. However, practitioners are

not compensated for their time, but rather for each visit with a

patient. The field of psychiatry needs to reframe its work in

terms of “procedures” that can then be valued in terms equivalent

to the work of other doctors.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kennethdavis/2016/10/07/the-need-

for-mental-health-parity/

Mental Health Parity Is a Serious Issue

I am acutely aware of a major flaw

in our health system: the need for

behavioral health care far

outweighs its availability, in part

because our system does not val-

ue or pay for it on par with medical

and surgical care.

November 2016 Page 5

montco memo Volume XXXVI Issue 3

Antidepressant Drugs Are Ineffective for Children and Teens Suffering Major Depression, A New Study Says

By Nicole Lyn Pesce, New York Daily News, June 8, 2016

Most drugs treating kids and teens suffering major depres-

sion are majorly ineffective -- and even dangerous.

A new Lancet study released Wednesday night analyzed 34

trials for 14 antidepressants involving 5,260 patients ages 9 to

18. It found that only one drug - fluoxetine, better known by the

brand names Prozac and Sarafem - relieved severe depression

symptoms better than the sugar-pill placebo. Worse, the kids

taking venlafaxine (also known by brand names Effexor, Lan-

vexin, Viepax and Trevilor) actually showed an increased risk of

suicidal thoughts and attempts.

“When considering the risk–benefit profile of antidepres-

sants in the acute treatment of major depressive disorder, these

drugs do not seem to offer a clear advantage for children and

adolescents,” concludes the report. “Fluoxetine is probably the

best option to consider when a pharmacological treatment is

indicated.”

Medicating children and adolescents suffering depressive

disorder has long been controversial. The Food and Drug Ad-

ministration even slapped a black box warning - its strictest -

against the use of antidepressants in young people up to age 24

in 2004 over concerns about increased risk of suicides - alt-

hough no children in the FDA’s sweep actually killed them-

selves.

But despite the FDA warning, the use of antidepressants

among U.S. and U.K. children and teenagers up to age 19 has

continued to increase. Yet no one has cross-examined the pub-

lished and unpublished trials of how many of these drugs affect

children, until this report.

Researchers warn that they are just scratching the surface,

however, since the lack of individual-level data from trials

makes it difficult to get accurate estimates of just how these

drugs affect patients, and how many become suicidal.

“Delay in implementing responsible data sharing policies

has negative consequences for medical research and patient out-

comes, as demonstrated by this study,” wrote lead author Dr.

Andrea Cipriani at the University of Oxford in the report.

His analysis of the 34 trials compared the effects of 14 anti-

depressants in young people with major depression up to the end

of May 2015, including the drugs amitriptyline, citalopram,

clomipramine, desipramine, duloxetine, escitalopram, fluoxe-

tine, imipramine, mirtazapine, nefazodone, nortriptyline, parox-

etine, sertraline and venlafaxine. His team ranked the drugs by

how well they treated depressive symptoms, whether discontin-

uing the drug caused adverse side effects, and whether the drugs

were associated with suicidal thoughts and attempts.

The results? Only fluoxetine (Prozac, Sarafam) showed ben-

efits that outweighed the risks. Nortriptyline was less effective

than seven other antidepressants and the placebo. Imipramine,

venlafaxine and duloxetine were the least tolerable, with many

patients discontinuing them. And most troubling, venlafaxine

was linked with increased suicidal thoughts or attempts com-

pared with the placebo and five other antidepressants.

But the authors warn that this doesn’t paint a full picture,

since a lack of reliable data did not allow them to fully assess

the risk of suicidality for all drugs. That’s partly because 65% of

the trials they reviewed were funded by pharmaceutical compa-

nies, so almost one third were rated as high risk of bias, and

another 59% were rated moderate risk of bias. So those reports

could have overestimated how well their drugs worked, and

minimized the side effects.

Dr. Jon Jureidini at the University of Adelaide in Australia

warned that many more suicidal events might have come to light

if the individual patient data had been available. “The effect of

misreporting is that antidepressants, possibly including fluoxe-

tine, are likely to be more dangerous and less effective treat-

ments than has been previously recognized,” he wrote, “so there

is little reason to think that any antidepressant is better than

nothing for young people.”

The authors suggest that for now, parents and medical profes-

sionals monitor children and adolescents taking antidepressants

closely, regardless of the drug chosen.

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/antidepressants-

don-kids-teens-depression-article-1.2666298

Family Members Needed for the Following Committees:

Community Advisory Committee – Meets on the 2nd Tuesday

at the Human Services Building, 10 AM to Noon. Lunch is pro-

vided.

SOC- System of Care, for Children and Youth BH Services

CSP- Community Support Program- 3rd Thursday at Norris-

town Library, Noon to 2:30 PM. Lunch Provided.

Suicide Prevention

Forensic Coalition – quarterly at MCES, Tuesdays from 12-1:30

PM. Lunch provided.

For more information or to volunteer for one of these commit-

tees, please call Carol Caruso at 215-361-7784.

Research News You Can Use

November 2016 Page 6

montco memo Volume XXXVI Issue 3

Mental Health Weekly, August 1, 2016

Young people with diabetes were four times more likely to be

hospitalized for mental health or substance use treatment in 2014

than were young adults without the disease, according to a recent

study by researchers at the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) that

shines a harsh light on the psychological toll the disease can take

on this group, Kaiser Health News reported..

1,000 young adults aged 19 through 25 who had diabetes, 37

were hospitalized for mental health/substance use, compared to

nine young adults without diabetes. The study also found the in-

cidence of such hospitalizations is on the rise for these patients.

The 2014 rate was 68 percent higher than two years earlier,

when the number of mental health/substance use hospitalizations

per 1,000 for that group was 22.

No other age group showed such high rates of hospitalization

for mental health or substance use, according to the study.

The rate for children up to age 18 with diabetes was second

highest, at 21 per 1,000 in 2014. One possible contributor to the

rise in hospitalizations may be the health law, which permitted

young people to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they

turn 26, said Amanda Frost, a senior researcher at the HCCI, who

worked on the recently published study. HCCI researchers will

examine the trend more closely in future work, she said.

Research Links Diabetes to Risk of MH Hospitalization in Young Adults

Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Training November 29th

Montgomery County Suicide Prevention Taskforce Presents

Q.P.R. Gatekeeper Training, Ask a Question, Save a Life. This

training will be held on Tuesday, November 29, 2016, in our

NAMI Montgomery County Office at 100 W. Main Street, Suite

204, Lansdale, PA 19446.

QPR stands for Question, Persuade and Refer — 3 simple

steps that anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide. This

Gatekeeper Training prepares attendees to:

Recognize the warning signs of suicide

Ask someone about suicidal thoughts

Offer and connect to help

People who can be trained as Gatekeepers include: parents

friends, neighbors, teachers, ministers, doctors, nurses, office

supervisors, squad leaders, foremen, police officers, advisors,

caseworkers, firefighters and many others who are strategically

positioned to recognize and refer someone at risk of suicide.

This training is free and open to the public; RSVP appreciated

by November 23. Please call 215-361-7784.

Community Stamps Out Stigma Surrounding Mental Illness

By Brittani Moncrease, Time Warner Cable, October 2, 2016

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Kim and Linda are both survivors. For

years, they have battled mental illness.

"I know because I've been there. I know what it's like. I know

that desperation, that loneliness, that anguish," said Kim Taro,

Sunrise Wellness Center Director.

Both women are sharing their stories to help break the stigma

surrounding mental illness.

"I believe that stigma is just another form of bullying and you

know how we all feel about bullying. It's not a nice thing," said

Linda Terry-Thomas, Mental Health Awareness Advocate.

"We have so many people. Probably all of us knows someone

with a mental illness. Some of us may have it. We have it in our

own families," said Ilona Horvath, Church and Society Ministry

Chairperson.

According to the Mental Health Association of the Southern

Tier, one in four American families are affected by mental illness

each year.

"Those are the ones we know about. It doesn't include people

who hide these things because they're afraid people are going to

look down on them and may not go to get help," said Horvath.

Organizers say when people hide, it often leads to other seri-

ous problems.

"Addiction is a part of it. When people self-medicate, when

people are so lost, they don't know where to get help. They're

afraid to tell anybody. They get involved in addictive drugs and

alcohol," said Horvath.

Addictions these groups want to prevent.

They say they want people to know that mental illness is not a

bad thing and people can overcome it.

"Recovery is possible. I'm evidence that people can get bet-

ter," said Taro.

"If we are just able to come out with it and be straight forward

about it, it will only start to make more sense. We are only as sick

as the secrets we keep," said Terry-Thomas.

Showing that stigma is shame and shame causes silence and

silence hurts all.

November 2016 Page 7

montco memo Volume XXXVI Issue 3

Tributes and Other Contributions

The Tribute Fund is a good way to mark anniversaries, weddings and other special occasions, and to express sympathy for the

loss of a loved one. We will send a note of appreciation to anyone you designate. Send your check to NAMI of Pennsylvania Mont-

gomery County, 100 W. Main Street, Suite 204, Lansdale, PA 19446. When designating NAMI in an obituary notice, please specify

NAMI of Pennsylvania Montgomery County.

In Tribute:

In memory of Jordan Delp David and Michelle King

Carl and Jean Moyer,

Individual Donations

Amanda Bechtel William and Gerda Bruce

Jeffrey and Theresa Haverson Sharon E. Lanning

St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church Diane Wenzel

How Peers “Connect” with Individuals

Lori Ashcraft, PhD, INAPS co-director and a respected expert

on the work of peers, explains this complicated interaction and

illustrates some of the ways that peer-to-peer interactions differ

from traditional clinician/patient interactions.

“If I meet you and you’re a person who’s in trouble or crisis

due to a mental health problem, I know that if I get close to you

and I care about you, it’s going to hurt me because I’m going to

have to feel what you’re going through,” she says. “Now, right

there, the history of the clinical profession has created a firewall—

some call it professional distance, dual relationship, or another

term—with the purpose of protecting themselves as they move

forward with evaluating and treating an individual.”

“Peers don’t have that—they don’t use a firewall,” says Ash-

craft, noting that the peer’s objective isn’t to treat anything, but

instead to create a relationship and establish trust.”

“When a peer gets to that point—the point where it’s going to

hurt—there’s where the love and unconditional acceptance comes

in,” continues Ashcraft. “A trained peer says, ‘I’m going to go

ahead. I’m going to accept the pain that I’m going to feel when I

am with you. But, I’m not going to live at the level of that pain,

because if I do, I can’t be of service to you.”

“This is where peers are trained to ‘be in two places at once,”

Ashcraft explains. “So, on one level, as a peer is listening to and

feeling all of those things, on another level, he’s thinking, ‘I’ve

got to keep my head here, so I don’t get overwhelmed.’

This is where the love comes in, because when a peer makes

that commitment to love, fear diminishes. The peer decides, ‘I’m

gonna go for it here.’ At that point, the peer’s commitment is to

just be with you, completely present in your situation. They know

that they aren’t there to ask a lot of clever questions—that’s the

therapist’s job—or to fix you or to offer a lot of advice.”

“Instead, the peer’s job is to work with the person to go deeper

inside and learn more. The peer is looking to find and understand

the strengths that are within the person, then—amid the person’s

current crisis—to reflect those back in a positive way so that the

person can start finding himself again, and finding his own direc-

tion forward.”

“The goal is tapping into a person’s own powerful sense of self

determination,” Ashcraft says. But, she cautions, “The moment that

I step in or tell you what to do, I rob you of that power, which is

what you need most at that time.”

It’s Not Too Late for… Our 5th Annual Benefit for the Brain

November 16th

Dinner and Presentation of the Annual NAMI Pennsylvania Montgomery County

Scientific Research Award & Impact Award

Scientific Research Award Impact Award Charles P. O’Brien, MD, PhD Sandra L. Bloom, MD Philadelphia Marriott West 111 Crawford Avenue West Conshohocken, PA 19428

www.namimontcopa.org/BenefitfortheBrain Office: 215-361-7784

PENNSYLVANIA MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Dues are for one year and are Tax Deductible. Donations are welcome and are also Tax Deductible.

(Please print clearly)

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What is the best way for us to contact you? Phone ______ Email ______ Snail Mail ______

Make check payable and return to: NAMI of Pennsylvania Montgomery County

100 W. Main Street, Suite 204

Lansdale, PA 19446

Or join or renew on our website: http://www.namimontcopa.org/join/

Double or triple the impact of your donation at no additional cost! Please check with your employer’s Human Resources Department to

see if your donation can be matched through a company matching gift program.

NAMI of Pennsylvania Montgomery County is also an approved United Way Donor Choice Agency - Code #5076.

NAMI of Pennsylvania Montgomery County is open to all individuals subscribing to its purpose. All members receive NAMI newsletters and are automatically affiliated with NAMI PA and

the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). NAMI is a non-profit organization under Section 501(c)3 and all dues and donations are tax-deductible. Official registration and financial

information of NAMI PA Montgomery County may be obtained from the PA Department of State by calling toll free within PA 1.800.732.0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.

The official registration and financial information of NAMI PA Montgomery County can be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free within Pennsylvania:

1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.

PENNSYLVANIA

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

100 W. Main Street, Suite 204

Lansdale, PA 19446