annual conference
NAMI NH 2024 Virtual Annual Conference
2024 Annual Conference Recordings
2024 NAMI NH Annual Conference – Keynote presentation featuring Dr. Xavier Amador, LEAP Institute.
Research on the prevalence, etiology, and clinical significance of poor insight of persons with serious mental illness will be presented. Evidence that poor insight is a symptom of these disorders rather than denial will be discussed. Strategies for helping such persons will be summarized.
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So good evening, and welcome to the 2024 Nami, New Hampshire Annual Conference, cultivating hope and celebrating everyday heroes.
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Thank you for joining us. If you’re new to Nami, New Hampshire, we are so glad you are here. If you’re a longtime member of the Nami New Hampshire family, thank you for coming back.
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Nominee. New Hampshire is a grassroots organization that provides support education and advocacy to individuals and their families. Impacted by mental illness and suicide. In the Granite State.
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We do this by offering a variety of programs and events, including today’s conference.
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My name’s Michelle Watson, and I’ll be one of your co-hosts for the conference along with my coworker, Karen Prevay.
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If you have any technical difficulties, please reach out to Emily on the number on the screen.
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All conference presentations are in Zoom Webinar, and this is a new platform for us. This is Zoom Events. So this part of the little difficulties tonight.
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there will not be an option to turn on your camera or your microphones, and you may have noticed we’ve also turned off the chat feature, because that sometimes becomes pretty distracting. We do have, however, welcome questions in the QA. And we’ll do our best to get to all of them.
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We’d like to express our thanks to our generous and support of sponsors who helped make today’s conference available free of charge
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for those of you are here tonight and stuck with us so far, we will be entering you automatically into a drawing for one of Dr. Amador’s books.
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You have your choice of one of his books, and the winner will be notified later this week.
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So now I’d like to introduce Naomi, New Hampshire’s executive director, Susan Stearns, who will get things started for us this evening, Susan.
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Thank you, Michelle.
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Welcome everyone. It’s truly my pleasure to be here with you this evening as we kick off our annual conference.
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and it’s my pleasure to have the opportunity to introduce tonight’s keynote presentation.
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Our speaker this evening is Dr. Jave Amador.
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He is an internationally renowned clinical psychologist author and leader in his field.
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His books published clinical research, worldwide speaking tours and extensive work in schizophrenia, bipolar, and other disorders have been translated into 30 languages.
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He is also the CEO of the Henry Amador Center on Anna Sonosha.
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and the founder of the Leap Institute.
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Dr. Amador is a visiting professor of Psychology at the State University of New York.
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and over the course of 2 decades he has served as Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology at Columbia University.
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and Director of Psychology at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
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His expertise has been called upon by government industry and the broadcast and print media where he has appeared as a frequent expert for Cnn. ABC. News, Nbc. News, Nbc’s The Today show
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Fox News, Channel, Cbs. 60 min. The New York Times, Washington Post.
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U.S.A. Today.
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Cosmo, Wall Street Journal, and many other national and international news outlets.
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Like many of us.
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Dr. Amador is also a family caregiver.
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caring for 2 close relatives living with serious mental illness.
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It is truly my pleasure to welcome you here today to our annual conference. Dr. Hamada.
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Thank you, Susan. I’m very glad to be here
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and thank you, everybody. I’m sorry we’re starting a little bit late, but we had some technical difficulties. I really wish I was there in person. I love New Hampshire, and I love Nami. Nami is my second family.
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I’ve been a member of Naami for
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35 years, I think
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35, 36 years.
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so we have a lot in common, I am sure. So where I’m gonna start is
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really where
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the title of my stock. My talk brings us.
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which is
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this statement. I’m not sick. I don’t need help. Which I’ve heard from family members suffering from serious mental illness, and I’ve heard from really countless patients I’ve worked with over the years. I’m a clinical psychologist.
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conducted a lot of research. I still do clinical work
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with individuals suffering from serious mental illnesses, and also
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with their families as well as as well as with
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healthcare professionals. But the focus here is to give you a sense of the problem when somebody says
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somebody with schizophrenia or bipolar related disorder says.
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I don’t need your help. There’s nothing wrong with me. Leave me alone.
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So I want to really focus primarily
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this this evening on
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on what the nature of that problem is. You know what is causing it.
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and and then give you a preview of how we best can engage and help people. The way I’m gonna do that is to bring you to the beginning of the story, which is where I started in in terms of encountering this problem. This is a picture of my brother Henry and me. I’m the little guy behind the car, pretending to drive, and Henry, 8 years older than me, is looking through the window, and I don’t know if you can see the smiles in our faces, but they’re not just for the camera we really loved being with each other.
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We had immigrated from Cuba. We landed penniless, fatherless. Our father was lost in the Revolution, and Henry was, was much more than an older brother. He was my best friend. He was a father figure. Even
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so I want you to imagine
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in your mind’s eye.
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20 years after this picture was taken.
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and I was a 21 year old college student living in New York.
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and Henry was 29 years old, and living with my our mother and our stepfather. My mother remarried. A wonderful, wonderful man, who we called Dad
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Henry calls me in New York, where I was attending college studying to be to get an undergraduate degree in psychology, and I picked up the phone and Henry from Arizona, from our parents’ house.
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said, Come home quick.
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I killed Dad
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and hung up the phone.
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I didn’t think for a moment. He had hurt our father much less killed him.
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But it took me about an hour to get him back on the phone, and what became readily apparent to me was that he was suffering from psychosis. He had the delusion that he was playing the guitar, and that his guitar playing had killed our father. It was this very bizarre delusion.
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He was hearing voices. He was hearing the voices of the devil. He had other delusional ideas about our mother abusing him, which were things that had never happened.
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I flew home, and in our blended family. Excuse me, Dr. Amador, I thought it was just me, but I just got a text from somebody who said they couldn’t see your slides.
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Oh, goodness! I’m sharing the screen.
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Let’s see.
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Let me try again.
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Share, screen.
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share that screen
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and start the slideshow from the start.
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Can you see the slide?
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I don’t see it. Does anybody else on the panel see it?
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No, I’m afraid not.
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How about now?
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Here we go. Oh, fantastic! Yay, thank you for stopping me. My goodness, we’ve had our share of technical difficulties tonight. Alright! Well, I’m I’m caught up in the slides. You didn’t miss much, miss the title slide. So this is Henry and me the picture I was telling you. I’m showing you earlier trying to show you. So I I rush home to Arizona.
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and Henry’s in his in his bedroom, hold up feeling really depressed and suicidal, because he was convinced, because of his delusion, that he killed our father.
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and I was in the living room with with my brothers and step brothers and sisters.
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and one by one they pointed at me and said, You go help, Henry, you go deal with Henry is the word they used actually, because you’re the psychologist.
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which was absurd. I was 21. I was undergraduate. I think the reason they selected me was because really what this picture that you’re looking at represents. We were very close. We were. We were quite literally each other’s best friends, even though there was this 8 year age difference. So I went, and I talked to Henry, and I said to him, a lot of the things I’m saying to all of you. You’re hearing voices. You’ve got these ideas that just aren’t true. You didn’t kill dad. Mom didn’t abuse you
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tried to get him to get help. I tried for a week to get him to go to the hospital. I tried all kinds of things, and, including Mom’s, been through so much. She lost our our birth, father. She lost our stepfather. Now, Dad, you know, do it for her. Do it for me, you know. He just didn’t want to go.
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I eventually called the police
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because he was talking about suicide because of his delusion that he had killed our father.
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Our step, Dad.
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The the police ended up being great. I met him out. Front explained the situation. They were really kind and and compassionate. He gets to the hospital, he gets antipsychotic medication, and from my perspective and our whole family. He got well. The voices disappeared, the delusions disappeared. It was fantastic. Now this is way back in 1,981,
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so we had longer hospitalizations than we than we get today.
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At the end of that one month hospitalization. He’s sitting at the table with his psychiatrist and his nurse and social worker and me. I was the family representative.
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and it was explained to Henry and me that he had schizophrenia
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and needed to take the antipsychotic medication for the rest of his life, he said, I understand
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I can do that. Don’t worry.
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So everything’s good. Right. We go home.
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Mom makes dinner. Henry retreats into his bedroom. He’s he’s alone in there.
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and I’m doing the dishes, and I go to throw something out in the trash bin under the sink. And what do you think I found there?
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I bet most of you know
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I found that bottle of antipsychotic medication
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which which it’s so
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wonderfully brought him back to us.
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So I went, and I took the bottle out of the trash, and brandishing the bottle, I went, knocked on his door, and opened his bedroom door and said, What the heck are you doing, you? You said you would take this medication. You needed it. You have schizophrenia.
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And he said, I don’t have schizophrenia. There’s nothing wrong with me. I needed it back then, but I don’t. I don’t know, I said. Henry back then was 5 h ago.
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and he said, Well, I’m better now. I don’t need it.
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That started a 5 year period where our relationship
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went to hell in a hand basket, because I kept telling him he was ill. I kept telling him he needed to take these pills.
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and he kept saying there was nothing wrong with him. This picture represents what our relationship looked like.
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Henry running away from me, running away from other family members, running away from mental healthcare professionals that wanted to help him, at times running away from police
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during the seven-year period he was in the hospital about 4 times a year, on average. Usually involuntarily
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he dropped out of school, couldn’t work, didn’t have friends or a girlfriend that he desperately wanted to have a girlfriend again. He didn’t.
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He was homeless for a while
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now, during the same 7 year period.
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I was learning to become. I was in training to become a clinical psychologist.
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and I was on my internship year, the the very last year of my training before my doctorate and I was working on an inpatient psychiatric unit. And there was this woman, just like my brother saying all the same things I’d heard 7 years before, and and during the 7 years
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I was trying to convince him he was ill, and and frankly arguing with him often
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all the same things. I don’t need your help. I don’t belong in the hospital, you know, etc.
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I was very frustrated after my first interview with her, and I went and talked with my supervisor because I was in training.
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and as I’m telling him the same story I’m telling you. He puts his hands up and says, Javier, stop talking, so I stop talking. He says you don’t understand. I don’t mean you should stop talking right now, I mean, stop talking to her, start listening to her.
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Ask her what she wants, ask her what her goals are. Ask her what she thinks.
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The problems are not what we think. We think she’s got
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schizophrenia. We think you know. Her problem is, she needs to take medication. She doesn’t think those things go find out what she wants.
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So I went back out and I talked to her.
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and everything turned around.
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First question I asked her was, you know. What do you want? And the first thing she said.
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and you’re not going to be surprised by this, as I want to get the hell out of the hospital.
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and I said, Well, I think I can work with you. I can help you to get out.
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It will involve taking medication, she said, well, I don’t need the medication.
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and rather than argue with her, I said, well, I can understand.
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What you’re saying. You don’t need the medication.
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But you do want to get out of the hospital, and that is one way we can get you out. We ended up partnering on that, so she agreed to take the medication, not because she had an illness, but because she wanted to get out of the hospital.
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and a light bulb went off in my head. Really, literally, I had an epiphany that I had been doing things wrong with my brother for 7 years.
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Again, that this picture depicts
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and I I called him up. I was in New York still, he was an Arizona still living with Mom.
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and I got him on the phone, and I, said, Henry, I’m sorry for all the times I told you you were mentally ill. I’ll never do it again.
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I kept that promise. I never again told my brother he had a mental illness.
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Then I said.
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I’m sorry for all the times I told you you needed to take medication.
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and I’ll never do that again.
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I kept that promise
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within 6 months of this change in me, not in him. My
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switching
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from trying to convince him and educate him to listening and working with his goals.
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we were able to negotiate a deal where he would accept a long-acting, injectable medication.
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He stayed on an antipsychotic medication given by injection once a month
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for the rest of his life.
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He died tragically, being being a good Samaritan, actually in a car. Accident wasn’t his fault. But for those 18 years after this
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change in the way I talked to him he stayed in treatment. He got 2 volunteer jobs. He had a girlfriend. He went to a clubhouse, where he would, as he put it, spend time with those really nice, mentally ill people. He never saw himself as somebody who was mentally ill
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and importantly, at least, it was very important to me. We got our relationship back.
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That’s a picture of Henry and me, and you can tell by the way we’re holding each other and
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smiling at each other, that the the trust and the love was back. That’s me on the left with the Jerry Seinfeld haircut, and that’s Henry on the right.
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So we got our friendship back. Our relationship back. Our family was healed, and he got into recovery. I asked him. In the last year of his life I happened to have this conversation I’m going to share with you.
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I asked him. Henry, do you think you have schizophrenia?
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And he laughed and said, No, you know I don’t. I don’t have schizophrenia.
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because, remember, I told him I’d stop telling him he had schizophrenia, so he maybe he forgot that I thought he did. I don’t know, he says. No, I don’t have schizophrenia. And then I asked the 1 million dollar question, I said.
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Well, why are you taking these injections every month?
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You know it’s anticodonic medication. Why are you doing that?
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And he said, well.
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I do it for you
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and for Mom and Pops.
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Mom and Pops were Betty and James. They they
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ran. The the Halfway House is what we called it back then that he lived in the supported living arrangement.
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So what was my brother’s answer? He was on medication for almost 20 years.
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not because he thought he had a problem, not because he thought he had mental illness. He was on medication for relationships.
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for 3 important relationships in his life. And that’s gonna be the theme of the solution I’m going to be introducing you to. But before I do, let’s talk about how the media covers people like my brother. Too often we hear stories of crimes
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rather than stories of recovery. And here’s one such story. This is a picture of Margaret, Mary Ray and her children.
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You probably don’t remember who Margaret, Mary Ray, but many of you will remember her
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as David Letterman’s
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stalker.
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She was criminalized. She was arrested
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repeatedly because she would show up in the Celebrity late-night talk, show Host House because she had a delusion that she was married to him. She was absolutely certain that David Letterman was her husband.
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Just no matter how many times the police picked her up, no matter how how many times she was convicted of violating, restraining orders. Criminal, trespassing. She never understood. She never came to believe that
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she would never. She had never been married to to David Letterman.
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She ultimately died from her illness, and what I’m referring to is suicide, the suicide rate in in people with disorders like Margaret Mary had she had schizoaffective disorder, but also in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder runs about 10%
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the mortality rate is higher than most forms of cancer. We’re talking one out one out of 10 people will die from suicide. One of the biggest predictors
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not being in treatment.
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so being in treatment, has personally and professionally been such an important goal
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in my work and in my life.
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So I have a question for all of you.
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Denial of illness impairs common sense, judgment about the need for treatment and the services surrounding treatment. Would you agree with that?
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Since I can’t see you, I am, though, going to ask you to raise your hand and look around the room. Do most people agree, most of you.
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that if you’re you’re in denial of having an illness.
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it’s going to impair your your judgment about the need for treatment.
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Okay.
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I don’t agree.
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If
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I take my brother’s perspective.
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If I take Margaret Mary’s perspective, the story I just told you roughly, 6 million Americans with serious mental illnesses, with
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the schizophrenia, spectrum illnesses. So bipolar schizoaffective, delusional disorder schizophrenia, those are the disorders. I’m focusing on if I take their perspective. It’s common sense to refuse. Treatment
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doesn’t make sense to take treatment.
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Let me let me bring this point home a little bit further.
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Raise your hand. If you inject yourself with insulin.
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knowing for certain you do not have diabetes. Raise your hand and look around the room, see if anybody’s raising their hands.
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even though I unfortunately can’t see you. I know that there’s probably no one raising their hands. Why wouldn’t you inject yourself with insulin? It could hurt you, it could even kill you. And most important, you don’t need it.
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That’s what we’re up against. But are we dealing with denial in most cases. And I’m going to show you some research in just a moment. We’re dealing with a symptom called anisnosia. It’s a neurocognitive symptom. It’s a symptom of these brain disorders.
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Anasognosia was first described in 1919
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by the neurologist Babinsky. He’s the same neurologist that discovered the Babinsky reflex and and newborn infants
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and anastagnosia. What he described were people who had neurological
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damage to the brain.
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for example, resulting in paralysis on one side of the body hemipresis, it’s called.
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And yet they were completely unaware that they were paralyzed.
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I’ve actually, I did a year-long neurology rotation
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in my training years.
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And I evaluated people like this. And and I’ll never forget this one man
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who who I knew, was paralyzed on one side of his body.
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and I was evaluating whether he was aware of it or not, and I asked him, Can you move your arm? He said, Yeah, no problem.
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I asked him to move his arm. It didn’t move.
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and I said.
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You know, why didn’t you move your arm? And he got a little upset with me. He said. I did move my arm.
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I said, well, you weren’t looking. Look at your arm with me and move it again. Yeah, he can’t move it. So now I’m educating him, aren’t I? I’m showing him. He’s got a problem with movement in his arm. He’s got a paralysis.
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Instead of learning that he got angry paranoid, and and accused me of putting something in the IV. In his other arm
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to paralyze his arm.
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so he he did not understand. He did not see it, and then he confabulated. And I’m going to talk just a little bit more about that just a moment.
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If you come away from this talk that I’m giving
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convinced that
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what you’re seeing in your loved ones. Or if you’re professional, what you’re seeing in your patients or clients is anaesthosia.
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It is really helpful to be able to pronounce it so. This is a trick that I use
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a woman named Ann Nose Egg.
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and she’s nosy nosya
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Anna Signosia
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on the count of 3. Would you all say it together?
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One.
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2, 3, Anosegnosia?
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I hope you did it
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because it’s really worth learning how to pronounce this. If you want to talk about
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what what I’m going to be talking about and what I hope you’ll learn today.
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So let me give you an example
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of
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anesignosia and a neurological patient. This is a study I did with my colleagues at Hillside Hospital in Queens, New York, and we looked at neurological patients. So I’m not talking about mental illness right now.
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and we looked at people with lesions in the frontal lobes of the brain damaged the frontal lobes. Why were we interested in that
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because the classic descriptions in neurology did not include the frontal lobes producing anisognosia. But we thought frontal lobes might be involved because we see frontal lobe dysfunction
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in serious mental illness.
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So here’s the task. We asked. This man.
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can you draw this clock? A scale of one to 7
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7 is a perfect copy. One is a terrible copy.
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How do you think you’ll do? This is part of a standard neuropsychological test battery.
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He looks at the clock and he says 7, I’ll have no problem. I can do it right. Most of you would say 6 or 7
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and indicate the right time. No problem.
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This is what he drew.
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Did he have a problem?
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Obviously.
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but it wasn’t obvious to him.
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I asked him on that same scale of one to 7. How did you do. And he said 7. But he did a perfect copy.
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So even when faced with.
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but I think is irrefutable evidence that he’s got a neurological symptom here. It’s called a construction apraxia.
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Even when he’s faced with that proof.
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he didn’t learn that he had this neurological symptom. So I pointed to the 12 inside that rough circle. I asked him what number that was. He said 12,
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and I started pointing to the 4 12 s. Outside. And you know, one after another I asked him what number, and he says, 1212, 12.
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You’d think he might learn at that point
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that he has a problem. Instead, he got very flustered, angry, and pushed the paper away, and said, That’s not my drawing. What are you doing?
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Became fearful, if not paranoid. Thought that I’d switch the drawing on him. What is that?
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That’s a confabulation. What’s a confabulation? Our brain is basically making up stories
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to fill in gaps in our memories and perceptions.
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so he knew he could draw that clock
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right. That’s what he remembered about himself. That’s his perception of what he could do.
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But when he was faced with his drawing, he confabulated and said, it must not be my drawing.
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and I see this. I saw this in my brother. I’ve seen this in many people, many patients I’ve worked with over the years. When asked, for example, why are you in the hospital? And they give me all kinds of
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ideas that make no sense their confabulations.
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So
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I said, I would talk about some research that will hopefully help you understand
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the nature of Anesthosia in in these disorders, these psychiatric disorders.
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And I’ll so I’ll just start with where I started in my career, and in 1,990 my colleagues, and I, at Condi University in New York.
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published a review of the literature looking at
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the research that had been done.
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And basically there was only about a dozen studies today. There are over 300 studies of this problem. So we’ve learned a tremendous amount. And I’m going to give you some of the high notes.
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some of the headlines.
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but one of the things that we did after we
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reviewed the literature as we made a proposal to the field to our scientific colleagues.
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hey? When we see frontal lobe, dysfunction
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and schizophrenia, bipolar, schizophactive disorder.
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Maybe these are the same people who don’t have awareness
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who we typically, say, are in denial. But maybe they’re actually people who are having unawareness because of frontal lobe dysfunction.
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Well, colleagues from around the world immediately tested this hypothesis.
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and all of these studies listed here, and if I listed all the studies in literature, I’d have 4 more slides, so I’m not going to do that.
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But these were the early studies from 93 to 2,004
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finding strong, moderate to strong correlations between executive or frontal lobe, dysfunction
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and poor insight.
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not understanding that they have mental illness.
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So this is evidence of how the brain is working, how it’s functioning, and when there’s hypo frontality, the frontal lobes are not functioning up to speed up the par.
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These are the same people who tend to say I’m not sick. I don’t need help, and you can’t convince them, and you can’t educate them.
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Now, that’s how the brain is functioning.
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how it’s working, what about
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how the brain looks?
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Does the brain look different, and people who have insight
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compared to those who don’t.
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Well, here’s 20 studies
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that compared the brains of people with schizophrenia
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who had awareness, who would say, yes, I have schizophrenia
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to compare them to people who
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patients who said, I, I don’t have a problem like my brother. I don’t have any mental health issues. I certainly don’t have schizophrenia.
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All of these studies found significant differences between those 2 groups
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in one or more brain structures. The brain structures were almost overwhelmingly in the frontal cortex of the brain, just like we hypothesize.
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and the prefrontal cortex
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also relevant to our to our theory, to our our hypothesis.
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3 of these studies
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included patients who had never been treated with medication. Now, why is this of interest to me?
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These. It shows that these brain differences did not result from medication. Medication wasn’t causing things like.
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and this is among the findings.
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Reduce gray matter
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in the frontal cortex or the prefrontal cortex
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other kinds of of brain differences in in terms of how the frontal lobes look.
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The other thing is about these 3 studies is these are all first episode patients very first psychotic episode.
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So these brain differences between patients who are aware, compared to patients who did not have awareness that they had an illness
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were present from the very beginning. Age 18, in early twenties.
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So it so it
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the the brain differences we’re finding in terms of how the brain’s functioning, and how the brain looks
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are from the very beginning, and and continue throughout the the course of the illness.
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So one more study.
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Back in 1990 my colleagues and I were asked to run a field trial. It was a big study all over the United States, 5 different sites, over 500 patients, and we were the New York
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Columbia University site.
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and we were able to put together an evaluation of awareness of mental illness. I’m just going to show you results from schizophrenia
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subjects in the study. But
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I’ll just share with you that we saw very similar results in schizoaffective disorder patients
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and people with bipolar disorder who had psychotic symptoms. That’s what we were particularly interested in. And by, like psych psychotic symptoms I’m talking about.
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Like my brother had hallucinations, hearing voices, seeing things that aren’t there, for example, and delusions like his delusion that he had killed our father. So psychotic disorder patients. I’m just gonna show you the schizophrenia results. But again, I’m asking you to remember, we found very similar results in the other patients who had psychosis.
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What we found is that
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60% had
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serious problems with being aware that they had the diagnosis
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of schizophrenia or these other disorders. This finding has been replicated a couple 100 times now.
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roughly.
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50 to 60% of people with these illnesses at any given time you ask them will tell you they don’t have a mental illness.
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Only about 40%
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are are generally aware that they have a diagnosis.
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so that’s a finding that’s been very well replicated. Another finding related to this
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is that people have looked at Anisognosia over time
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so over a two-year period, and have found that even when successfully treated with with medicines.
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that the Anesthagnosia, in most of the patients in these studies
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stayed poor.
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So just like my brother.
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20 years on medication lose nations, delusions gone, treatments working. The Anastosia was still there. And that’s not every. That’s not everybody. Some people do develop awareness, insight
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with treatment, but the majority don’t. Which?
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What does that suggest? It sounds like bad news right? Well, actually, the good news is, it tells me we’ve got to approach
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people with the symptom
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really differently. And I’m going to give you a bit of information on on how different it is. You have a clue because you saw what I did with my brother, and you heard what I did.
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That’s a big part of how
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our communication and our approach to people with this problem
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needs to happen.
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But one more finding from from the study. We were the first to look at awareness of symptoms. How aware were the the subjects in our study of the symptoms they had, and we found all kinds of problems with illness, awareness.
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unawareness of delusions of disordered speech, thought, disorder, the person’s rambling, circumstantial, difficult to understand, unawareness that hallucinations were actually false perceptions. And then we have 3 negative symptoms listed here. Flat affect that inability to express emotion.
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Anhedonia, a sociality. So what’s the headline? I want you to take away from this
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on the left here. The pie chart.
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50 to 60% of people at any given time
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with these illnesses don’t know they have the illness. And then, importantly, it’s not just unawareness of the stigmatizing
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mental health condition, its unawareness of the signs and symptoms
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that make up
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that diagnosis. So all kinds of problems with awareness.
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So
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many of you haven’t heard of this before. And if any of you are in the field like, I am psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, case managers. You might not have heard of this. And yet it’s in our Dsm, it’s in our diagnostic manual that all you know of of us professionals in the field use.
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So in the schizophrenia another psychotic disorders. Section well, let me just tell you, in the Dsm. 4, which was published 22 years before the book I’m gonna tell you about right now.
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I was co-chair of that revision, and together with my my co-chair, we put together a panel of experts and reviewed the literature.
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and what we ended up putting in the DSM. 4 TR. For those of you who are in the field
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very similar to what you’re going to see now in the Dsm. 5, the Dsm. 5 is stronger, though
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when it comes to the the question of whether we’re encountering denial
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or stubbornness, or someone just being difficult when they tell us they’re not, they’re not ill, or if we’re encountering
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a neurocognitive symptom of the brain disorder called anisognosia.
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So here’s what it says. Unawareness of illness is typically a symptom.
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It’s not a coping strategy, like denial.
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It is comparable to what we see in neurological deficits following all kinds of brain damage
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termed
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anaesignosia Anna Signosia.
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It includes unawareness of symptoms that Researcher just showed you, and may be present through the entire course of the illness, so that stability of anesia and how it’s resistant to treatment.
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But I was just discussing it a few moments ago.
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It’s also common in schizoaffective disorder. We also know from other research.
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It’s a different part of the of the Dsm.
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That we see anesthesia and bipolar disorder with psychosis. During the manic episode, patients tend to be unaware that they have mental illness during the depressive episode that Anosia seems to remit a bit
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along with the other manic symptoms. So it’s a little bit different in bipolar disorder. It’s more episodic. The anosynosia.
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and it predicts all kinds of negative outcomes. This symptom of anastagnosi is the most common predictor of somebody who will refuse treatment
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or drop out of treatment.
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The most common predictor of non adherence to treatment. It predicts all kinds of other negative outcomes, like higher relapse rates like what was happening with my brother, more involuntary treatments.
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poor psychosocial functioning. So inability to work, form intimate relationships go go to school.
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It also results in an aggression. In many people, not physical aggression, not violence, but people getting angry a lot.
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and that makes sense. If everyone around me.
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Thanks. I’ve got schizophrenia, and I know for certain I do not.
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I’m going to start getting upset. I’m going to start getting pardon. The expression pissed off at my mom, my dad, my brother
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friends and family and the doctors, and maybe even the police officers or crisis team people who keep picking me up and telling me I need to get help.
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I’m gonna start to get upset.
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This symptom is also a predictor of a poor course of illness, measured it in in a wide range of ways.
373
00:35:24.280 –> 00:35:27.759
So let me shift gears and let me talk about treatment for a minute.
374
00:35:28.340 –> 00:35:32.789
What do you suppose the problem is with oral antipsychotic medications?
375
00:35:33.210 –> 00:35:35.200
I think the biggest problem
376
00:35:35.550 –> 00:35:44.620
with the medications you take by mouth the oral medications is that people either refuse to take them, or they stop taking them without telling anyone.
377
00:35:44.920 –> 00:35:49.070
And that’s what my brother did remember. He he threw the medication in the garbage. Can.
378
00:35:49.200 –> 00:35:52.260
He? Didn’t announce it. He didn’t tell us. We just.
379
00:35:52.290 –> 00:35:54.250
you know, got lucky and discovered it.
380
00:35:54.690 –> 00:35:55.550
Erm.
381
00:35:56.280 –> 00:36:01.409
Not that it changed much because I argued with them quite a bit after that, instead of taking a different tact.
382
00:36:04.040 –> 00:36:08.860
But the big problem and the research confirms my personal experience. This study.
383
00:36:09.510 –> 00:36:14.820
which is just representative of many studies that find almost identical results.
384
00:36:14.950 –> 00:36:23.949
This study found 50 to 75, a half to 3 quarters of the patients in their study didn’t take medication at all, or just took a little bit
385
00:36:24.280 –> 00:36:30.699
sub therapeutically 50 to 75. This is the standard finding 50 at least.
386
00:36:30.950 –> 00:36:33.190
This study looked at people over time
387
00:36:33.940 –> 00:36:40.179
within 7 to 10 days, 7 to 10 days of starting treatment with an antipsychotic medication.
388
00:36:40.330 –> 00:36:46.249
25% of the patients. And these were schizophrenia people with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.
389
00:36:46.580 –> 00:36:52.920
25% were non-compliant had stopped taking the medication. After just 7 to 10 days half.
390
00:36:53.300 –> 00:36:58.169
We’re off after only a year, and 75% were off
391
00:36:58.240 –> 00:36:59.650
after 2 years.
392
00:36:59.940 –> 00:37:03.730
So this is a huge problem. I know many of you in the room
393
00:37:03.820 –> 00:37:05.160
are personally
394
00:37:06.170 –> 00:37:08.640
dealing with this this really
395
00:37:08.770 –> 00:37:11.719
frightening problem of having a loved one
396
00:37:11.790 –> 00:37:17.819
who who has benefited from medication, or might benefit from medication if they haven’t been on it.
397
00:37:17.850 –> 00:37:19.699
but want nothing to do with it
398
00:37:20.870 –> 00:37:26.479
when we’re successful at offering treatment. And I’m going to get to to that just a few moments.
399
00:37:26.520 –> 00:37:34.869
Long acting treatments are indicated. That’s my personal experience. That that’s what happened with my brother. He didn’t miss an injection for 18 years.
400
00:37:34.990 –> 00:37:43.870
This study found that 50% of of the patients who are on on pills and and tablets on oral medication stopped
401
00:37:44.400 –> 00:37:48.870
during the course of the study they stopped taking the medication only 17%
402
00:37:49.010 –> 00:37:51.249
on the long acting injections
403
00:37:51.310 –> 00:37:58.419
which are which are well, I’ll tell you how often they’re given in just a moment. Only 17. Flip. Those numbers around
404
00:37:58.770 –> 00:38:05.100
50 on the pills and capsules. Stunnit only 53%
405
00:38:05.550 –> 00:38:09.020
on the long hacking injectables stayed on the medication.
406
00:38:09.100 –> 00:38:18.600
So these are not different medications. It’s just they’re given the same medications given in different ways by mouth or by injection. So why, this big difference? Here’s what I think
407
00:38:19.010 –> 00:38:22.769
when I have anosignosia. If I have Anosignosia
408
00:38:22.830 –> 00:38:29.330
and I have to put a pill in my mouth once, maybe twice, or even 3 times a day, put pills in my mouth
409
00:38:29.520 –> 00:38:33.270
that represent everybody’s opinion that I have a mental illness.
410
00:38:33.620 –> 00:38:36.680
I’m going to eventually get resistant and stop taking it.
411
00:38:37.140 –> 00:38:39.549
whereas with long acting injectables
412
00:38:39.670 –> 00:38:56.920
it’s a social interaction. I’m not alone in the bathroom taking a pill or flushing a pill down the toilet. I’m going to an appointment. I’m meeting with the receptionist that maybe I have a good relationship with. I’m meeting with the nurse or the PA who’s going to give me the injection, and I only am doing that 12 times a year, or 4 times a year.
413
00:38:56.980 –> 00:39:05.589
So these injections are given, so many of them once a month, and there’s one, and they’ll soon be more than one given only once every 3 months.
414
00:39:05.640 –> 00:39:14.059
So I think that’s why we get this superior adherence, compliance with with medication when it’s a long acting, injectable
415
00:39:14.470 –> 00:39:17.370
common sense. Reasons, I think, are.
416
00:39:17.400 –> 00:39:19.449
But we see this difference
417
00:39:19.900 –> 00:39:30.240
is that with long, like the injectables. It’s a smoke detector. We know when someone is stop taking the medication. We don’t have to look under a mattress in a toilet or in the trash can
418
00:39:30.510 –> 00:39:33.750
for a pill bottle. We know, because they’ve missed the appointment.
419
00:39:33.840 –> 00:39:37.329
It also reduces tension. I don’t ever have to ask someone
420
00:39:37.530 –> 00:39:44.389
whether it’s my brother whether it’s a loved one or a patient of mine, I don’t have to ask them. Are you taking the medication
421
00:39:44.970 –> 00:39:47.409
and put them in a position if they’re not taking it.
422
00:39:47.620 –> 00:39:52.230
of of maybe wanting to lie to me and and and say they’re taking it when they’re not.
423
00:39:52.430 –> 00:39:59.049
because I know they’re on the medication, or if they miss the appointment, and I know they’re not on the medication, and when they’re not
424
00:39:59.120 –> 00:40:06.120
on the medication, when they miss an appointment. I can use my relationship and approaches like the leap approach I’m going to introduce you to
425
00:40:06.170 –> 00:40:09.509
to discuss that person’s reluctance to keep their appointment.
426
00:40:09.620 –> 00:40:17.079
I’m going to give you a website. And then at the end and at the at the website, we have free videos. And one of them is actually a phone call
427
00:40:17.110 –> 00:40:22.479
from a doctor to his patient who has just missed an appointment for a long acting infectable.
428
00:40:22.500 –> 00:40:28.110
and he’s using the leap approach to help this person decide to make a new appointment.
429
00:40:28.160 –> 00:40:31.740
So there’s other videos as well that I’ll I’ll I’ll
430
00:40:31.830 –> 00:40:33.309
introduce to you there.
431
00:40:35.070 –> 00:40:37.549
So awareness of illness and and and
432
00:40:37.590 –> 00:40:39.130
acceptance of treatment.
433
00:40:39.180 –> 00:40:44.669
Well, awareness of of being ill is the top predictor. What do you suppose the other top predictor is?
434
00:40:44.920 –> 00:40:54.889
If you look at the literature on therapeutic alliance with professionals and their clients. It turns out it’s a relationship. But this is also true of family members and friends.
435
00:40:54.920 –> 00:41:00.839
It’s a relationship that involves you listening to the person without judging them
436
00:41:01.130 –> 00:41:07.800
respecting their point of view, very active listening. So, for example, somebody says to me.
437
00:41:08.230 –> 00:41:18.480
I don’t have bipolar disorder. And my problem is, you know, I just need to get to Washington and join the President’s cabin Cabinet, because the person maybe has a grandiose delusion.
438
00:41:18.770 –> 00:41:24.670
Well, if I’m going to respect and not be judgmental, I need to actively listen and say something like this.
439
00:41:25.380 –> 00:41:30.480
So what I hear you saying is that the President needs you, and you need to go to Washington. Did I hear that? Right?
440
00:41:31.300 –> 00:41:37.520
And the person is probably going to say, Yeah, you heard me now. They may think, I believe, what they believe
441
00:41:37.670 –> 00:41:45.240
leap that leap, approach, and and and the kind of relationship you’re trying to build here that leads to acceptance of treatment
442
00:41:45.848 –> 00:41:51.420
is never dishonest. You never pretend you believe a delusion, but there are tools
443
00:41:51.460 –> 00:41:53.000
to
444
00:41:53.100 –> 00:41:54.480
deal with
445
00:41:54.500 –> 00:41:57.060
somebody, maybe misunderstanding and thinking
446
00:41:57.130 –> 00:42:02.529
that that you believe. Then, when you don’t, and I’ll be introducing you to those in just a few minutes.
447
00:42:02.820 –> 00:42:11.300
But non-judgmental, respectful communication, and the person I’m talking to knows I’d like to see them try some treatment.
448
00:42:11.720 –> 00:42:12.460
Right?
449
00:42:12.650 –> 00:42:15.890
Try treatment, not. You need treatment.
450
00:42:16.080 –> 00:42:27.860
As soon as I say, you need treatment. I’m getting into a I’m right. Your wrong argument with the person where I’m saying I’m right. You need medication. Yours mentally ill, and they’re saying, No, you’re wrong.
451
00:42:27.890 –> 00:42:35.159
Right? So words like, I like you to try it. I like to like you to give us a chance rather than I think you really need this.
452
00:42:35.180 –> 00:42:42.430
Usually the approach that that is part of the constellation of communication strategies
453
00:42:42.580 –> 00:42:50.019
that help people accept treatment even when they have an esignnosia, even when they don’t understand. They have mental illness.
454
00:42:50.590 –> 00:42:56.699
So let me summarize what I just talked about, which is a review of the Therapeutic Alliance literature just a.
455
00:42:56.770 –> 00:42:58.270
The the summary of it.
456
00:42:59.010 –> 00:43:08.870
So what do we know about anastagnosia and acceptance of treatment? We don’t win on the strength of our argument trying to prove to the person, give them the evidence that they have mental illness.
457
00:43:09.210 –> 00:43:12.900
We don’t win on that. We win on the strength of our relationship.
458
00:43:13.120 –> 00:43:20.289
the non-judgmental, respectful relationship, and the person knows we’d like them to give treatment a chance.
459
00:43:21.270 –> 00:43:22.930
So to summarize
460
00:43:23.160 –> 00:43:27.070
anastagnosia typically called poor insight. Sometimes it’s called denial
461
00:43:27.270 –> 00:43:33.729
into having a serious mental illness is a symptom of the brain disorder. It’s a neurocognitive symptom, it’s not denial.
462
00:43:34.030 –> 00:43:38.100
It tends to be stable over time in most people, not everybody.
463
00:43:38.300 –> 00:43:40.870
and tends to not improve a treatment.
464
00:43:41.130 –> 00:43:44.019
It is the top predictor of who doesn’t want treatment
465
00:43:44.160 –> 00:43:53.369
and who drops out, and it predicts all kinds of negative outcomes, like hospitalizations and voluntary hospitalizations, poor psych social functioning.
466
00:43:53.680 –> 00:44:00.000
And it’s just a barrier to helping people to creating an alliance with the person working together.
467
00:44:01.000 –> 00:44:11.619
So when we talk about anosignosia. How we talk about it really makes a difference in how we think about it. So I would encourage you to not say things like he does not accept.
468
00:44:12.450 –> 00:44:13.849
He has an illness.
469
00:44:14.000 –> 00:44:17.980
she refuses to acknowledge she has schizophrenia.
470
00:44:18.000 –> 00:44:22.270
Would you ever say that somebody refuses to stop hallucinating?
471
00:44:23.310 –> 00:44:30.790
No, because you know what’s not under control. Same thing with this awareness. Nobody’s refusing to acknowledge
472
00:44:31.040 –> 00:44:37.300
nobody’s denying. Nobody’s failing to admit like they really know. But they just won’t admit it
473
00:44:37.450 –> 00:44:41.390
won’t admit. And again, like they really do know they have
474
00:44:41.460 –> 00:44:49.160
schizoaffective disorder, but they just won’t admit it or refuses to admit. How can we talk about it, say things like
475
00:44:49.730 –> 00:44:52.829
she cannot comprehend. She has an illness.
476
00:44:53.040 –> 00:44:56.910
She’s intelligent, she’s bright, but she can’t comprehend this thing.
477
00:44:57.160 –> 00:45:05.120
He’s unaware that he has mental illness, unable to see or understand that the person has mental illness.
478
00:45:05.200 –> 00:45:08.000
and ideally, you’d say, has anosognosia
479
00:45:08.240 –> 00:45:09.560
for mental illness.
480
00:45:09.760 –> 00:45:11.330
So I’ve been talking a lot
481
00:45:11.550 –> 00:45:13.629
about this problem
482
00:45:13.690 –> 00:45:20.420
and how it predicts whether somebody will accept treatment or not. But let me give you a sense of how it feels
483
00:45:20.580 –> 00:45:31.860
to have this, and I need a volunteer, preferably somebody who’s married, but not necessarily. And currently working did I forget if we preselected someone or from if somebody’s going to volunteer randomly.
484
00:45:33.310 –> 00:45:34.290
Michelle.
485
00:45:34.680 –> 00:45:36.010
it’s me.
486
00:45:36.140 –> 00:45:40.580
Okay, are you my volunteer? I am, and I’m looking kind of dark on the screen here.
487
00:45:40.640 –> 00:45:45.273
Well, maybe you wanna be incognito. I don’t know. There you are
488
00:45:46.180 –> 00:45:51.540
now, Michelle, I forget. Do you have a partner? I do not. I am single.
489
00:45:51.570 –> 00:45:57.950
Okay. But and do you have children? Though I do. 3 beautiful grown children and a grandchild.
490
00:45:58.060 –> 00:46:01.966
Okay, so 3 children and a grandchild and
491
00:46:03.050 –> 00:46:05.429
how old are they? How old do you believe they are
492
00:46:05.610 –> 00:46:10.290
35, 33, 29, and a 2 year old. Grandson.
493
00:46:11.050 –> 00:46:11.950
Okay?
494
00:46:12.430 –> 00:46:15.430
And who’s what’s the first name of your supervisor at work?
495
00:46:15.710 –> 00:46:20.110
That’s Liz Liz. Okay, Liz Michelle, this is
496
00:46:20.150 –> 00:46:23.799
really awkward, and I want to apologize to you and
497
00:46:24.110 –> 00:46:26.819
and to everybody attending and and watching us.
498
00:46:28.510 –> 00:46:35.419
I need to take a few minutes out folks. Liz actually contacted me and and asked me to help you with something.
499
00:46:36.044 –> 00:46:39.759
It turns out that that those 3 children.
500
00:46:39.870 –> 00:46:43.349
the 35, 33, 29 year old, and the two-year-old
501
00:46:43.420 –> 00:46:45.820
grandchild do exist.
502
00:46:46.160 –> 00:46:48.910
But they’re not your children, and it’s not your grandchild.
503
00:46:49.140 –> 00:46:51.389
Their parents, John and Susan
504
00:46:51.560 –> 00:47:08.379
have been really concerned, because I understand you even tried to pick the grandchild up to Babysit. You’ve been contacting their children, their adult children, and there are restraining orders that I could email to you that indicate that
505
00:47:09.270 –> 00:47:15.603
you’re not only not their parent, and this little is it a little boy or a little girl. I forget
506
00:47:16.130 –> 00:47:17.719
you’re not this, little boys.
507
00:47:17.730 –> 00:47:18.830
grandmother.
508
00:47:19.440 –> 00:47:22.160
Would that convince you if I sent you?
509
00:47:22.990 –> 00:47:28.150
No, of course not. Right. Well, look! The the good news is we’ve been able to.
510
00:47:28.730 –> 00:47:30.350
Well, here’s some bad news.
511
00:47:30.560 –> 00:47:37.290
Liz has put you on a medical leave of absence. It’s not really bad news, because she cares deeply about you.
512
00:47:37.300 –> 00:47:39.599
But she can’t afford, you know.
513
00:47:40.090 –> 00:47:46.070
for the organization to have somebody who’s being arrested for stalking this family.
514
00:47:46.950 –> 00:47:47.790
Okay.
515
00:47:48.150 –> 00:47:51.860
I know this sounds funny to you, but it’s a really serious problem.
516
00:47:52.030 –> 00:48:00.919
and the good news is that she wants you to come back to work. She wants you to get evaluated and treated, and if if she can get a letter from a treating
517
00:48:01.507 –> 00:48:05.979
clinician that you’re accepting medication, that these delusions have
518
00:48:06.000 –> 00:48:12.800
resolved, you can come back to work. She’s also arranged, with my help for a crisis team
519
00:48:12.830 –> 00:48:15.589
to meet meet you outside, out front.
520
00:48:16.270 –> 00:48:18.110
Would you be willing to go and talk to them.
521
00:48:19.550 –> 00:48:36.500
I shouldn’t have to talk with them, because I don’t need help. I’m perfectly fine and capable of doing my job. Okay? Well, you don’t have to talk to them. You’re not a danger yourself or other. That’s that’s the report I got. You’re not threatening to hurt anybody or hurt yourself, so you certainly don’t have to talk with them.
522
00:48:36.520 –> 00:48:39.099
Can I ask you a question?
523
00:48:39.540 –> 00:48:40.400
Sure.
524
00:48:40.530 –> 00:48:42.780
when the conference is over, where do you go?
525
00:48:44.629 –> 00:49:05.299
Okay. And do you live there by yourself? I do. Yeah. And do you ever have this little boy over that you think is your grandson? Yeah. And I’m babysitting him on Thursday. Yeah. Well, that’s gotta stop. And we’ve we’ve heard that there’s actually been charges of abduction of kidnapping.
526
00:49:05.500 –> 00:49:08.979
Do you contact the 3 children? You believe you have?
527
00:49:09.050 –> 00:49:12.585
Of course I was contacting them yesterday.
528
00:49:13.230 –> 00:49:20.079
and as a result they were going to call the police, but working together with Liz and me, they decided to hold off.
529
00:49:20.160 –> 00:49:23.670
So you go home after this conference. Are you gonna call any of them?
530
00:49:24.230 –> 00:49:27.710
Yeah. Cause I need to verify. I
531
00:49:27.970 –> 00:49:37.740
maybe somebody said something to them. It doesn’t make sense to you. It makes sense to the rest of us. So what’s gonna happen
532
00:49:37.940 –> 00:49:39.779
when you when you contact
533
00:49:40.070 –> 00:49:44.179
one of them, your son, the the man you believe is your son
534
00:49:44.240 –> 00:49:48.519
is. You get arrested, the police show up, and they take you into custody.
535
00:49:48.560 –> 00:49:50.349
and you’re brought before a judge.
536
00:49:50.500 –> 00:49:52.110
and I’m the judge right now.
537
00:49:52.580 –> 00:50:07.599
Miss Wagner, I’m I’m sorry to see you here. I have here on the bench a number of restraining orders. I see a charge of of a violation or restraining order being in communication with somebody that you’re not supposed to be in communication with. Now I’ve got. I got a choice for you.
538
00:50:08.280 –> 00:50:10.400
We can arrange you, and you can go to trial.
539
00:50:10.860 –> 00:50:15.390
or we have a pre trial, mental health diversion program.
540
00:50:15.780 –> 00:50:22.220
You agree to go get treatment. And I understand your supervisor at work. Her name is Liz wants the same thing.
541
00:50:22.460 –> 00:50:30.770
You go and you get treatment, and I get positive reports over the next 6 months we can dismiss all these charges. So what do you want to do? You want to go to trial
542
00:50:30.980 –> 00:50:32.889
or to the treatment we’re offering.
543
00:50:33.750 –> 00:50:39.370
I don’t like either of those options, because I haven’t done anything wrong, and I need to work.
544
00:50:39.380 –> 00:50:45.170
I know, ma’am, but I have a I’m the judge still, ma’am, I have a full docket. You need to make a decision treatment or trial.
545
00:50:47.450 –> 00:50:49.330
I guess I’ll do treatment.
546
00:50:49.590 –> 00:50:50.840
Okay, so
547
00:50:51.000 –> 00:50:53.990
you’re transported to a psych er
548
00:50:54.040 –> 00:50:57.479
the psychiatrist evaluates you and offers you an admission.
549
00:50:57.570 –> 00:51:03.090
She says to you, you know, I’d like you to come upstairs. We understand you’re having a lot of problems with
550
00:51:03.110 –> 00:51:10.239
with law enforcement. And there’s these restraining orders against you to keep you away from these 3 young people. And
551
00:51:10.630 –> 00:51:12.460
and this little boy.
552
00:51:12.680 –> 00:51:14.799
would you be willing to go up to the psych unit?
553
00:51:15.970 –> 00:51:19.550
You’re not a danger to yourself or other man. We can’t hold you against your will.
554
00:51:20.880 –> 00:51:21.990
Nothing.
555
00:51:23.090 –> 00:51:24.680
I don’t want to.
556
00:51:24.720 –> 00:51:26.770
Okay, we’re not sure, too.
557
00:51:26.930 –> 00:51:33.210
All right. So we’re going to sign you out against medical advice. We wish you the best of luck. That’s what the psychiatrist says.
558
00:51:33.470 –> 00:51:36.259
You go out front. Do you call or text
559
00:51:36.310 –> 00:51:42.839
any of these 3 young adults you told us about. Guess what happens. What do you think happens?
560
00:51:43.320 –> 00:51:44.940
The police show up again.
561
00:51:45.270 –> 00:51:53.559
They pick you up because you have violated a restraining order. This goes on for a whole year. Every time you try to see
562
00:51:53.660 –> 00:51:57.680
the little boy you think is your grandson, or these 3 young adults
563
00:51:57.810 –> 00:52:14.059
who, you believe are your children every time you make any attempt to contact them or to see them you’re arrested. You’re brought back into court. Maybe you get trial. Maybe you get probation that requires mental health treatment. Do you think, after a year of those experiences, you’d finally understand?
564
00:52:14.210 –> 00:52:16.639
These are not your kids. That is not your grandson.
565
00:52:17.060 –> 00:52:19.380
What about 5? What about 5 years
566
00:52:20.130 –> 00:52:20.940
now?
567
00:52:21.230 –> 00:52:24.439
That’s what it’s like to have, Anna signosa
568
00:52:24.890 –> 00:52:32.779
right? The belief is as rock solid is your truth, your belief. These are your 3 adult children, and this is your beautiful little grandson.
569
00:52:32.910 –> 00:52:43.429
you know. That’s true. No amount of evidence, no amount of consequences, is going to change your mind. That’s what Anna Signosi is like. Now, I have one more question before I let you go. Could I?
570
00:52:44.230 –> 00:52:44.990
Yeah.
571
00:52:45.640 –> 00:52:49.079
any feelings as you imagine this happening to you.
572
00:52:49.240 –> 00:52:50.499
Did you have any fun?
573
00:52:50.940 –> 00:53:00.530
It’s an awful feeling, and it feels like a conspiracy. That’s what it would feel like to me is that people were conspiring, and I would want to
574
00:53:00.840 –> 00:53:05.689
go to as many people as I could and talk with them to find out what was going on.
575
00:53:06.160 –> 00:53:28.159
Okay, so it was awful and and sounds like you thought it was a conspiracy. So you got kind of paranoid. Imagine 5 years going by a little 2 year old grandson is 7 years old, and you’ve never seen him. How do you think you’d feel? I feel like I’ve been ripped off like something. I’ve been taken away from me, and just incredibly sad and angry.
576
00:53:28.290 –> 00:53:32.099
hurt, sad and angry and hurt and ripped off.
577
00:53:33.250 –> 00:53:34.930
These are my.
578
00:53:35.380 –> 00:53:43.239
the feelings I I hear from people thousands of people now that I’ve worked with who have antisypnosia, that they are
579
00:53:43.370 –> 00:53:46.430
by far some of the loneliest people I’ve ever met.
580
00:53:46.710 –> 00:53:49.870
because family friends, doctors.
581
00:53:49.880 –> 00:53:53.759
crisis teams, law enforcement. Everybody’s telling them their truth
582
00:53:54.100 –> 00:53:55.380
is delusion.
583
00:53:56.281 –> 00:54:05.559
Like I was doing in this role play and for everybody. This was a role play. Michelle does have 3 children and a beautiful little grandson.
584
00:54:05.600 –> 00:54:16.959
and I hope you’ll go give him a big hug and a kiss when you get home when you see him on Thursday. Alright! Alright! Thank you, all of us. Now I really appreciate it.
585
00:54:17.170 –> 00:54:21.030
Thank you. Dr. You are released, man, you’re very welcome.
586
00:54:21.200 –> 00:54:22.179
Take care.
587
00:54:23.010 –> 00:54:29.660
So when we’re trying to help someone, let’s say Michelle really was somebody who had delusions.
588
00:54:30.123 –> 00:54:33.349
The the case manager, the doctor, the parent
589
00:54:33.640 –> 00:54:46.589
social worker that we know best for the experts we’ve got information she needs like I was role playing. That doesn’t work. There’s no collaboration. She knows her truth for reality. We think it’s delusion.
590
00:54:46.750 –> 00:54:49.729
so we can’t expect her to be grateful
591
00:54:49.980 –> 00:54:51.489
for the diagnosis.
592
00:54:51.580 –> 00:54:52.950
receptive
593
00:54:52.980 –> 00:55:01.409
or adherent, you know. Accept treatment. Stay in treatment. Go to treatment. It’s not. It’s irrational for me to expect that
594
00:55:01.470 –> 00:55:04.770
what I can expect and should expect. Look, I got some of the feelings
595
00:55:04.860 –> 00:55:08.979
Michelle talked about feeling paranoid, sad, angry, hurt.
596
00:55:09.020 –> 00:55:13.649
Look at this. Feelings on the slide, frustration, anger, hostility, fear.
597
00:55:13.890 –> 00:55:15.190
suspicion.
598
00:55:15.230 –> 00:55:16.620
loneliness.
599
00:55:16.650 –> 00:55:18.629
depression, and isolation.
600
00:55:18.760 –> 00:55:30.299
These are the feelings that we see over and over again, and people suffering from anesthosia. We can also expect the person to refuse treatment or pretended to be in treatment when they’re not be secretive about it.
601
00:55:30.980 –> 00:55:32.770
This is the nature of the problem.
602
00:55:32.820 –> 00:55:36.600
So how do we resolve it? I’m going to tie this up in the next 3 min, 5 min.
603
00:55:37.221 –> 00:55:39.540
The leap approach came out of a
604
00:55:39.610 –> 00:55:49.490
inpatient psychotherapy study that Aaron T. Beck, who’s the father of cognitive psychology that Dr. Beck and I received a grant for
605
00:55:49.570 –> 00:55:56.520
and from that inpatient program I pulled out 7 tools which I’m going to review in just a moment
606
00:55:56.660 –> 00:56:04.290
the the leap approach was selected by Samhsa for their family toolkit. And it’s focused on developing relationships
607
00:56:04.320 –> 00:56:06.859
that result in acceptance of treatment
608
00:56:06.880 –> 00:56:09.209
and the services surrounding treatment.
609
00:56:09.530 –> 00:56:21.480
So here’s an overview of the tools you reflect back without judgment reactions or contradictions. So if Michelle said to me, tells me her story, let’s say I’m her probation officer because she’s keeps getting arrested.
610
00:56:21.570 –> 00:56:32.159
and she tells me her story. I’d reflect it back. So, Michelle, what you’re telling me is when you went to that Nami, New Hampshire Conference that doctor took away your your whole family. Is that right? Did I understand that correctly?
611
00:56:32.500 –> 00:56:35.670
Yes, she would almost certainly say right.
612
00:56:36.341 –> 00:56:41.759
Then I express empathy. You told me it. It made you feel really sad and angry and hurt.
613
00:56:41.810 –> 00:56:44.440
Did I get that right? And she’s gonna probably say yes.
614
00:56:44.550 –> 00:56:53.269
and then I’ll normalize the feeling by saying, you know, I’d feel the same way now. She might think I agree with her. I’m gonna show you how to deal with that in just a moment.
615
00:56:53.660 –> 00:56:59.999
We focus on areas where we can agree. I abandoned my goal of trying to convince her that she’s got an illness
616
00:57:00.100 –> 00:57:06.729
so we could agree on staying out of jail, getting her job back, convincing Liz that she can come back to work.
617
00:57:07.447 –> 00:57:15.160
We can agree on her not getting arrested anymore. And we partner on those goals that we can agree on
618
00:57:15.280 –> 00:57:16.090
right
619
00:57:16.270 –> 00:57:21.099
not argue about whether or not she has 3 kids and a grandson.
620
00:57:21.410 –> 00:57:31.510
I delay giving hurtful and contrary opinions. So as I’m listening and empathizing, she may say so. Do you believe that these are my kids, and that’s my grandson. I might try to delay if I can.
621
00:57:31.610 –> 00:57:33.620
I here’s how what it sound like.
622
00:57:33.998 –> 00:57:40.479
Michelle, I promise I’m gonna answer your question about about the the 3 kids you’re telling me about, and the grandson
623
00:57:40.660 –> 00:57:43.480
before I do. Can you tell me more about how you ended up
624
00:57:43.670 –> 00:57:48.459
working with me in this clinic. Would that be okay? Can you tell me more? So it’s just a
625
00:57:48.610 –> 00:57:50.020
a request.
626
00:57:50.450 –> 00:57:51.850
really a permit.
627
00:57:52.420 –> 00:58:02.469
You’re asking permission to hold off and answering the question. Now, if she says No, I want to know, we give our opinion with humility, and in a way that respects the person’s perspective
628
00:58:02.550 –> 00:58:14.479
in the leap approach we call it the 3. As we apologize, we acknowledge our fallibility. We, we ask the person to agree to disagree, so if she asked me, do you believe these are my kids, Dr. Amador?
629
00:58:14.580 –> 00:58:19.359
I’d say, you know you’ve asked me several times I’ve I’ve been delaying. Thank you for letting me delay.
630
00:58:19.520 –> 00:58:21.190
I’m sorry.
631
00:58:21.230 –> 00:58:25.779
That’s the apology. I could be wrong. That’s acknowledging my fallibility.
632
00:58:26.010 –> 00:58:38.949
and I I guess I don’t see that they are your kids, and and I am really sorry, and I hope you don’t have to argue about it. That’s an example of how you give your opinion with the leap approach. And then we apologize for
633
00:58:38.980 –> 00:58:43.720
acts and interactions that felt hurtful, disrespectful, or frustrating.
634
00:58:44.470 –> 00:58:59.930
This is just like learning a new language. You can go to our website and and and look at free videos and practice with each other role, play difficult conversations that you’re that you’re anticipating having with a loved one. Or if you’re a professional with a client.
635
00:59:00.210 –> 00:59:09.699
I’m going to end on Jen guidelines. You absorb what you’ve heard by active, reflective listening, you emotionally connect through empathy and apologies
636
00:59:09.910 –> 00:59:12.030
when you’ve been hurtful to the person.
637
00:59:12.210 –> 00:59:31.030
and then you can. Problem solve. But first you kind of really absorb and emotionally connect before you can find areas of agree and partner on them. You use each of these tools as you need them. It’s not like you. Listen first, then you empathize, then you agree? Then, you partner, it sounds like steps, but really there’s 7 tools in a tool belt.
638
00:59:31.120 –> 00:59:34.550
You may start with giving your opinion in that humble way I described.
639
00:59:34.840 –> 00:59:36.530
If I’m working with Michelle.
640
00:59:36.570 –> 00:59:51.150
I may start right off with an opinion. She asked me. Well, before we start dramatur, I want to know if you believe me. Well, I’m really sorry, and I could be wrong. I guess I don’t. It’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s just. I don’t see the same thing you see, about these these 3
641
00:59:51.400 –> 00:59:53.559
adults in this little boy.
642
00:59:53.800 –> 01:00:01.139
I wish I did see it the same way, because I don’t want to argue with you, so I might lead with my opinion. Use each of the tools as you need them.
643
01:00:01.410 –> 01:00:22.139
So thank you for bearing with us for the delay, and for allowing me to go a little bit longer. If you have a phone, you can just take a picture or hold your camera up to the that square, that QR code that’ll take you right to leap, institute.org, or you can type it out. Why am I telling you about that. We’re not selling anything there.
644
01:00:22.140 –> 01:00:38.230
There’s a resources tab and free videos. So there’s a video I told you about already. There’s another video where a young woman finds medication in the garbage can and goes and talks to her husband about it. We show her using the usual approach, and then we show her using the leap approach.
645
01:00:38.350 –> 01:00:44.779
There’s another video offering long acting, injectable medication. So there’s a number of different videos. There’s a Tedx talk
646
01:00:44.870 –> 01:00:46.090
that I gave
647
01:00:46.150 –> 01:00:49.829
that we’ve gotten a lot of feedback. It’s gotten
648
01:00:49.860 –> 01:00:57.859
close to a million views. And we got a lot of feedback that’s really helped people understand and and develop empathy and compassion
649
01:00:58.000 –> 01:01:00.139
for their patients or their loved ones.
650
01:01:00.410 –> 01:01:07.810
So again, thank you so much for sticking with us. And and again I apologize for the going a little bit late.
651
01:01:08.160 –> 01:01:09.110
Thank you.
652
01:01:12.450 –> 01:01:14.807
Thank you so much, Dr. Amador.
653
01:01:15.580 –> 01:01:17.890
You know I saw you present
654
01:01:18.470 –> 01:01:27.679
now, me Vermont, this fall and go through that role play, and it’s just as emotional, if not even more at this time, because
655
01:01:27.850 –> 01:01:28.590
yo
656
01:01:28.840 –> 01:01:31.950
not only is Michelle a coworker, she’s a good friend.
657
01:01:32.020 –> 01:01:39.759
Liz is also my supervisor, and it’s you know it. It really puts you in that person’s
658
01:01:40.294 –> 01:01:55.230
position to and to empathize with someone that was my goal that we have the experience. I mean, it’s so lonely when you have endosignosia. It’s really a lonely place to be so. Thank you for the feedback. I appreciate it.
659
01:01:56.052 –> 01:01:59.927
So we do have a few questions coming in right now. And
660
01:02:00.950 –> 01:02:05.899
I I didn’t get a chance to ask you if you want me to read them to you if you want to go through them.
661
01:02:06.508 –> 01:02:11.239
What’s the best process for you? Oh, why don’t you read them to me that’d be okay.
662
01:02:11.460 –> 01:02:15.760
So how? How do you approach those who are moderately aware
663
01:02:16.130 –> 01:02:21.070
of their diagnosis and how to identify identify them?
664
01:02:21.840 –> 01:02:41.160
If they’re moderately aware I would still stay, kind of refrain from trying to educate them about the symptoms or the parts of their illness. They don’t understand, cause that if they don’t understand it. Then why try and educate instead, really focus on listening and understanding what they do know?
665
01:02:41.660 –> 01:02:45.469
And and frankly, the leap approach is more about behavior.
666
01:02:45.680 –> 01:02:49.690
influencing behavior, not influencing attitudes.
667
01:02:49.700 –> 01:02:51.099
So really
668
01:02:51.110 –> 01:03:09.160
listening, being empathic and and trying to see if the person can agree with you that treatment is is useful to them or is worth a try. And that’s what you work on together. That’s what you partner on together. So, rather than educating, listen and empathize and and find a path forward together.
669
01:03:09.450 –> 01:03:10.559
That makes sense.
670
01:03:11.620 –> 01:03:12.590
Thank you.
671
01:03:13.840 –> 01:03:16.040
Let’s see, would it be.
672
01:03:16.140 –> 01:03:24.289
would it be inappropriate to offer therapy resources for someone who is having these experiences to deal with their emotional
673
01:03:24.750 –> 01:03:28.069
toll of people not validating their experience.
674
01:03:28.480 –> 01:03:32.550
I offer therapy all the time. I highly recommend it.
675
01:03:32.962 –> 01:03:43.910
You know again, these are people who are often traumatized and and lonely and sad. And if you imagine that really happened to Michelle, she talked about feeling paranoid and awful and angry hurt.
676
01:03:44.320 –> 01:03:55.740
What better reason to see a therapist than to to get somebody to to help you with all those feelings? And then there’s also cognitive therapy for psychosis.
677
01:03:55.990 –> 01:04:04.409
So even without medication, you can work on those symptoms of hearing voices or having delusions through talking therapy, through psychotherapy.
678
01:04:06.090 –> 01:04:07.299
Great. Thank you.
679
01:04:09.410 –> 01:04:10.200
oops!
680
01:04:12.020 –> 01:04:17.290
Why do you think so many mental health professionals are unaware of this condition?
681
01:04:17.580 –> 01:04:22.929
Because there’s a natural, great question. There’s 2 reasons. There’s natural gap between science and practice.
682
01:04:22.980 –> 01:04:35.429
Research gets published in journals all Us. Science nerds read it, and we publish, and we talk to each other, and we write grants. And it it just there’s a gap between that science. Get it filtering down.
683
01:04:36.087 –> 01:04:59.369
That’s one reason, unless it’s drug companies. Because then there’s multi 1 billion dollar industry. And you know, and I, I think it’s fantastic. They have the resources to educate. So they that gap is much smaller when there’s advances in drug treatments. But you know, for behavioral treatments and and things like anosignosia, that research kinda gets stranded into journals. So that’s one of the reasons the other reason is.
684
01:04:59.490 –> 01:05:05.160
people just intuitively think the person must be in denial if they don’t think they have an illness.
685
01:05:05.190 –> 01:05:09.830
and so there’s a rush to judgment, and then we closed off our our mind to it.
686
01:05:10.070 –> 01:05:13.870
So I think those are the 2 reasons, a gap between research and practice.
687
01:05:13.930 –> 01:05:16.800
and a rush to judgment that this is denial.
688
01:05:18.800 –> 01:05:19.480
Accept.
689
01:05:20.088 –> 01:05:27.619
I see a number of people raise their hands. If you could put your question in the QA that would be very helpful. Thank you.
690
01:05:29.650 –> 01:05:31.399
see? Next it would be it.
691
01:05:31.970 –> 01:05:38.760
It would be a good gateway to therapy without focusing on the delusions. I guess that’s a statement.
692
01:05:38.900 –> 01:05:39.630
Yeah.
693
01:05:40.700 –> 01:05:44.290
yeah, absolutely. It’s a way to engage people in in therapy. Yeah.
694
01:05:45.910 –> 01:05:51.090
has it ever been your experience that folks become aware of their illness at some point.
695
01:05:51.150 –> 01:05:53.183
absolutely absolutely.
696
01:05:54.220 –> 01:06:01.420
there’s a couple of caveats. One is just generally about 15% of people do develop awareness.
697
01:06:01.430 –> 01:06:04.320
So Anna synosia tends to be pretty
698
01:06:04.340 –> 01:06:10.259
kind of semi-permanent, and most people, but about 15% do. And then there’s another.
699
01:06:10.450 –> 01:06:19.639
a set of research findings that long-term stable treatment with a long-acting injectable is associated with increased awareness, increased insight.
700
01:06:19.970 –> 01:06:26.859
And then there’s another. There’s only only 2 studies I’m aware of, so that we really need more, but that closer
701
01:06:26.890 –> 01:06:29.280
has been associated with an increase
702
01:06:29.300 –> 01:06:32.630
in a remission of anesignosia and increase
703
01:06:32.790 –> 01:06:35.990
and awareness. So some people naturally
704
01:06:36.220 –> 01:06:38.529
do develop awareness with treatment.
705
01:06:38.860 –> 01:06:42.739
but only a minority, and then lawn
706
01:06:42.750 –> 01:06:56.560
acting therapies, you know. Long acting, injectable therapies for 2 years or longer is associated with increased awareness. And then there’s at least one oral medication, Clausorill. That seems we think it’s early findings
707
01:06:56.580 –> 01:06:58.190
may increase in sight.
708
01:07:00.060 –> 01:07:00.890
Thank you.
709
01:07:01.710 –> 01:07:10.750
Let’s see, do you have suggestions on how to combat the loneliness. My family member living with Anna Signosia, has
710
01:07:11.010 –> 01:07:28.690
talk and listen, and and and be curious, and ask questions, and if the person doesn’t talk much, but they’re they’re a texture. I can’t believe I’m saying this, because when my kids were teenagers I used to hate all the texting, but send them a text, you know. Do you want to come out for dinner if you’re living in the same house, miss? You
711
01:07:29.593 –> 01:07:31.120
but but
712
01:07:31.490 –> 01:07:41.670
you know I I guess I would need to know, needing to know more about the situation. But there are a number of different things you could. You could try also taking the person out for a walk.
713
01:07:42.208 –> 01:07:49.929
You know. Would you help me with the groceries just engaging the person, not letting them stay alone in their room all the time. Lonely.
714
01:07:51.330 –> 01:07:53.649
That’s so lonely for the family members, too.
715
01:07:53.700 –> 01:08:01.945
It is. We can burn out. We need support. Go to Nami support groups. I did. It helped me a lot.
716
01:08:02.920 –> 01:08:11.960
We we know we have a lot of support group leaders on tonight as well as participants. One of the meetings was supposed to happen tonight, and
717
01:08:12.180 –> 01:08:16.610
they canceled the meeting so the participants could join us. Live tonight.
718
01:08:17.189 –> 01:08:17.960
Am.
719
01:08:18.800 –> 01:08:29.369
do you have any trials with folks who have bipolar. I’m really struggling, my whole family struggling to support my sister. The strategy strategy seem very practical, though.
720
01:08:29.729 –> 01:08:43.870
Yeah, no, this. We’ve studied the leap approach with people with bipolar disorder, and it’s very relevant and and very helpful. Generally, not obviously not always and and look what person doesn’t want to feel, heard
721
01:08:44.029 –> 01:08:45.330
and understood
722
01:08:45.490 –> 01:08:56.490
and empathized with. And the thing is when when I feel listened to and empathized with and I feel understood. I’m now going to become more interested in your opinions.
723
01:08:57.210 –> 01:09:06.430
You know there’s there’s a an ancient Roman poet who said, we are interested in others only when they are first interested in us.
724
01:09:07.430 –> 01:09:08.390
So
725
01:09:08.529 –> 01:09:09.319
yeah.
726
01:09:11.109 –> 01:09:16.960
and so this one kind of leads a little bit into that. And this is a statement. But
727
01:09:17.020 –> 01:09:19.419
maybe some suggestions that you might have.
728
01:09:19.490 –> 01:09:23.870
My adult daughter refuses to have any contact with me for 7 years.
729
01:09:24.461 –> 01:09:28.160
So suggestions on maybe how to start that conversation.
730
01:09:28.600 –> 01:09:31.260
Let me text my assistant because
731
01:09:32.109 –> 01:09:34.640
I got the time wrong.
732
01:09:34.899 –> 01:09:42.579
and I’m going to answer that question with it. With the talking about text. I can’t think
733
01:09:51.160 –> 01:09:51.950
schedule
734
01:09:57.112 –> 01:10:08.970
I apologize for doing that. But I I did have an appointment 5 min ago. But since we started late I wanted to give you guys the time. But it’s okay, there’s a family I’ve worked with a lot, and we just had a 25 min catch up. So
735
01:10:09.240 –> 01:10:10.490
I’m not.
736
01:10:10.970 –> 01:10:13.253
I’m not leaving them in the lurch.
737
01:10:14.610 –> 01:10:18.414
So the question was about estrangement right? And
738
01:10:19.214 –> 01:10:23.779
if you think you know why your loved one is angry and upset with you.
739
01:10:24.020 –> 01:10:33.480
then if, if, for example, it was in my case years of saying you have a mental illness or calling a mobile crisis team or an involuntary treatment.
740
01:10:33.760 –> 01:10:45.449
I would just preemptively apologize for that, just like I did with my brother when I called him up, and I said, I’m sorry for all the times I told you you were mentally ill. I’m gonna stop doing that. I never had to tell me at a mental illness again.
741
01:10:45.910 –> 01:10:53.470
even though I offered him a long acting injectable, and he said, Why do you need it? Why don’t I need it? I said, Oh, I don’t want to get into that. I just would like you to do it.
742
01:10:55.130 –> 01:10:58.900
So apologize for what you think they’re angry with you about.
743
01:10:58.980 –> 01:11:04.010
and if you feel comfortable, say, you know, I’ll try my best never to do it again.
744
01:11:04.580 –> 01:11:06.179
Say something like that.
745
01:11:06.847 –> 01:11:18.640
So that’s the apology tool in the heap approach. I mean, it’s really important to apologize for things like involuntary treatments, or for arguments about whether or not the person has mental illness.
746
01:11:20.000 –> 01:11:20.830
Thank you.
747
01:11:22.830 –> 01:11:27.244
we have a whole list. So I’m not sure we’re gonna be able to make all of them.
748
01:11:27.510 –> 01:11:33.317
they keep coming in. But well, you you tell me when it’s time to cut off.
749
01:11:33.990 –> 01:11:41.090
Let’s go for another 8 min until half past the hour. Would that be okay? That’s perfectly great. Thank you so much. Thank you.
750
01:11:41.597 –> 01:11:49.120
My loved ones. Provider has never suggested a long acting injectable. What’s the best way to get the provider to agree to talk?
751
01:11:49.200 –> 01:11:51.700
It’s for that’s frustrating for me, because
752
01:11:52.365 –> 01:11:55.100
the best way in my experience.
753
01:11:55.210 –> 01:12:01.050
If you, if you can talk to the provider, and if the provider says Oh, I don’t have a hipaa release, I can’t talk to you.
754
01:12:01.240 –> 01:12:05.229
Many of you may know this, but I think it’s worth saying out loud again.
755
01:12:05.620 –> 01:12:11.652
Remind the provider. Well, I know you can’t talk to me, but I. You can listen
756
01:12:12.140 –> 01:12:22.860
and kind of share something with you, my son. My daughter has a long history of throwing away medication, of stopping the medication. Can you please think about a long acting injectable.
757
01:12:23.260 –> 01:12:24.940
So if they’re taking.
758
01:12:25.020 –> 01:12:29.509
you know, there’s a dozen oral medications that come in long acting form.
759
01:12:29.580 –> 01:12:38.459
So look it up online. And if you know that your loved one’s on one of those medications that’s oral that comes in long acting, say, Hey, could you offer the long acting form.
760
01:12:38.969 –> 01:12:43.159
Because, you know, she has this history of not taking the medication.
761
01:12:43.960 –> 01:12:49.709
So make sure that your that provider knows if there’s that history, because all they’re doing then is a band aid
762
01:12:49.900 –> 01:12:53.880
by by writing a prescription for pills. It’s not gonna help.
763
01:12:56.300 –> 01:12:57.180
Thank you.
764
01:12:57.730 –> 01:13:04.579
This one’s a comment I do appreciate so much the information around the language not being about denial
765
01:13:04.620 –> 01:13:08.200
as though it’s a conscious choice rather than a symptom.
766
01:13:08.540 –> 01:13:09.739
So thank you.
767
01:13:11.370 –> 01:13:12.180
Let’s see
768
01:13:13.540 –> 01:13:22.610
what are your thoughts on letting individuals experience slash, suffer consequences of anosignosia versus rescuing them?
769
01:13:23.140 –> 01:13:29.559
I do not believe in letting people hit rock bottom. It doesn’t result in awareness.
770
01:13:29.890 –> 01:13:38.160
and people with the illnesses we’ve been talking about tonight are very vulnerable people. So my
771
01:13:38.290 –> 01:13:42.409
my strongly held belief is, if we can provide.
772
01:13:42.890 –> 01:13:48.650
you know, shelter and food and and some basic stability. We must do that
773
01:13:49.920 –> 01:13:52.580
other consequences.
774
01:13:52.900 –> 01:13:57.030
It’s hard to know, you know. Given how broad the question is
775
01:13:57.595 –> 01:14:04.569
but if you’re thinking about letting the person suffer negative consequences because they’ll learn they have
776
01:14:04.980 –> 01:14:06.260
mental illness.
777
01:14:06.550 –> 01:14:12.919
Then you probably haven’t really followed what I’ve been talking about tonight because they’re not going to learn.
778
01:14:13.240 –> 01:14:20.860
no matter what the negative consequences are. Remember, with my role, play with Michelle. If if she really was delusional and had anesthesia.
779
01:14:20.890 –> 01:14:26.729
She had lots of opportunities to learn. She was getting arrested. She was put on medical leave of absence, and she didn’t learn.
780
01:14:26.810 –> 01:14:39.039
you know, all the negative consequences didn’t make a difference, so I don’t believe in the negative consequences, and I believe very strongly. We need to offer food and shelter, you know, housing and and basic necessities. If we can
781
01:14:40.560 –> 01:14:42.220
thank you, ars one.
782
01:14:43.410 –> 01:14:48.930
how do you cross over from reflective listening to actually getting them to agree to help.
783
01:14:49.780 –> 01:14:53.880
Yeah, that’s a great question. Well, let me start with just
784
01:14:54.080 –> 01:15:12.810
statement again about why reflective listening is so powerful. The person feels heard and validated. Then they can start to collaborate with you. You can say, Hey, can we agree on some things? I mean, I’ll even take a piece of paper out and write it down. Can we agree that you want a job? Is that something you you want? Can we agree? You want to stay out of the hospital.
785
01:15:13.000 –> 01:15:23.100
you know. Maybe find 2 or 3 things, and then say, I’d like to work with you on that. Would you be willing to to do that staying out of the hospital. Well, what would it take? Well, you’re not gonna like my answer.
786
01:15:23.390 –> 01:15:27.429
I’m sorry. I think this I could be wrong. There’s my opinion, right? The opinion tool.
787
01:15:28.580 –> 01:15:32.759
I think when you have been on medication, you tend to stay out of the hospital.
788
01:15:33.270 –> 01:15:38.320
so I think it’s worth a try, maybe just for 3 months. And and and you pick short periods of time.
789
01:15:38.470 –> 01:15:45.069
And let’s see if that helps you. So that’s just one quick example of how you’d go from empathic listening
790
01:15:45.280 –> 01:15:47.090
reflectively to
791
01:15:47.450 –> 01:15:53.239
problem solving with the person finding, you know, pointing out, hey? It seems like we agree on this thing
792
01:15:53.320 –> 01:15:55.769
in my example. Staying out of the hospital.
793
01:15:56.000 –> 01:16:01.057
I have an idea. Can I share it with you? Leap is also about asking permission to give your opinion.
794
01:16:01.560 –> 01:16:06.900
and then you give your opinion. I’m sorry I could be wrong, but I think if you take the medication you’ll stay out of the hospital.
795
01:16:07.050 –> 01:16:08.519
What do you think I’m Mel.
796
01:16:09.430 –> 01:16:29.970
you know. I’ll answer the question if you want me to, but I think what’s more important right now is what we’re talking about staying out of the hospital. Would that be all right if I answer that question later. There’s the delay tactic. So the the conversation is one where we’re being humble and validating the person’s experience. But we’re giving our opinion. But in this very soft way.
797
01:16:31.320 –> 01:16:33.290
thank you. Great suggestions.
798
01:16:33.500 –> 01:16:34.480
Thank you
799
01:16:34.640 –> 01:16:43.750
my family members very sad about having to be on medication with an anti-depressant help, even though they are on an antipsychotic.
800
01:16:45.297 –> 01:16:56.410
I’ll do the amount of medical doctor disclaimer first, but then I’m gonna answer the question. Anyway. antidepressant may help a lot, but if if your loved one has.
801
01:16:56.560 –> 01:17:16.509
like a schizo affective, bipolar component. It can be tricky because you don’t. Wanna but you can do it. So I would definitely talk to her doctor about it, but also cognitive behavioral therapy is proven to be as effective for depression as anti depressant medication.
802
01:17:16.660 –> 01:17:28.669
So if the doctor is not comfortable with the antidepressant medication. If you can convince your loved one to to see a therapist, and it’s very problem solving oriented, it’s it’s it’s really
803
01:17:28.690 –> 01:17:36.459
Cbt kind to behavioral therapy is very practical. It’s not about going back and looking at your childhood and and trauma as you experienced
804
01:17:38.883 –> 01:17:43.440
so short short answer is yes to medication. But if medication is not an option
805
01:17:43.470 –> 01:17:49.899
based on the the treating doctor’s opinion, then how about cognitive behavioral therapy?
806
01:17:50.730 –> 01:17:51.420
Great.
807
01:17:52.660 –> 01:18:05.080
my 28 for just one more, one more. Yep, that’s why I just took a look. My 28 year old has had multiple concussions and is now showing signs of anti, but will not accept help.
808
01:18:05.320 –> 01:18:10.659
He had a conspiracy issue very issue beforehand. What can I do?
809
01:18:12.500 –> 01:18:23.019
Go to our website and look at the videos on leap and and just give it a give it a try. One thing I often say to families, how long have you been trying to convince your loved one? They need help.
810
01:18:23.240 –> 01:18:28.820
and if they tell me 6 months or 6 years, whatever I then ask the question, has it worked?
811
01:18:30.030 –> 01:18:31.589
And if they say No.
812
01:18:32.000 –> 01:18:38.630
I’ve it hasn’t worked, and I think the person asking this question might say no trying to convince him hasn’t worked.
813
01:18:39.080 –> 01:18:40.580
Then
814
01:18:40.960 –> 01:18:44.459
I remind them of Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity
815
01:18:44.830 –> 01:18:49.030
doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.
816
01:18:49.210 –> 01:18:52.790
So if you’re in that place, might maybe try something different.
817
01:18:52.890 –> 01:18:55.800
Go to the website, look at the free videos.
818
01:18:56.281 –> 01:19:02.770
There are free chapters at the Nami National website. I I donated 5 chapters for my book
819
01:19:02.930 –> 01:19:10.380
on leap, so you can start to learn leap by going to Nami National and and searching for the name of my book. Yeah, I’m not sick. I don’t need help. Book.
820
01:19:11.890 –> 01:19:19.409
I could say you could also buy the book. But I’m not here to sell books. So that’s not it. There’s free resources. There’s free ways to get the information. Okay.
821
01:19:20.150 –> 01:19:25.979
great. Thank you. We do have one person, lucky person tonight that’ll win one of your books for free.
822
01:19:26.330 –> 01:19:45.070
So I really do want to thank you. I thank you for being so persistent in trying to join us tonight. We know so many people were looking forward to it. And it was. It was a great presentation with all of you. We’d really love to have been there. But thank you for inviting me.
823
01:19:45.350 –> 01:19:47.460
You’re quite welcome. Have a good night.
824
01:19:47.520 –> 01:19:48.649
Good night, guys.
825
01:19:54.210 –> 01:20:03.990
Okay, so thank you all for again for hanging on. And you know, helping us deal with these technical challenges.
826
01:20:04.730 –> 01:20:10.179
I want to make sure that you are aware that we have a virtual expo center.
827
01:20:10.570 –> 01:20:12.920
that’s available through the lobby.
828
01:20:13.750 –> 01:20:15.003
You can
829
01:20:16.120 –> 01:20:28.539
go in and check out. It’s just like if you were in person at a conference, and you go up to different resource tables tomorrow between 12 and one. Many of those booths will be staffed, so please make sure you check them out.
830
01:20:28.840 –> 01:20:32.629
There are files that you can download from tonight.
831
01:20:32.830 –> 01:20:36.789
And in the lobby there’s also a Booth for that
832
01:20:36.890 –> 01:20:39.269
as well as from this session.
833
01:20:40.050 –> 01:20:42.990
So wanna make sure you check all of that stuff out.
834
01:20:44.315 –> 01:20:51.700
Please keep in mind that there will be an evaluation that’ll come at the end of tomorrow after the conference is over.
835
01:20:51.710 –> 01:20:56.620
We appreciate all of your feedback on this session and the conference as a whole.
836
01:20:56.750 –> 01:21:05.089
If you need a certificate of attendance. After you fill out that evaluation you will be able to download directly from there.
837
01:21:06.187 –> 01:21:10.120
Tonight was recorded, as all of our sessions will be, and
838
01:21:10.160 –> 01:21:18.760
hopefully, by the end of the week they will be posted in the lobby here, and then also we will be posting them on the Nami, New Hampshire, Youtube Channel.
839
01:21:19.650 –> 01:21:28.240
So tomorrow morning, please join us at 9 Am. We have Susan Stearns who you met earlier tonight our executive director
840
01:21:28.260 –> 01:21:38.129
and Lori Weaver, who’s the Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, and they’re going to provide Updates on the state of mental health here in New Hampshire.
841
01:21:38.290 –> 01:21:45.780
So we look forward to seeing you all tomorrow morning and throughout the day tomorrow, and have a great rest of your evening. Thank you.
Featuring:
Lori Weaver, Commissioner, NH DHHS
Susan Stearns, Executive Director, NAMI NH
Join this session as NAMI NH’s Executive Director Susan Stearns officially opens the conference for the day. She will provide NAMI NH updates and introduce Lori Weaver, Commissioner, NH Department of Health and Human Services. Commissioner Weaver will discuss the state of NH’s mental health system.
Sponsored by Johnson & Johnson
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00:00:00.060 –> 00:00:17.280
So good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 2024 Nami, New Hampshire Annual Conference, cultivating hope, celebrating our everyday heroes. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for those that came back from last night’s keynote session with Dr. Javier Amador.
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The recording for that, and all of our sessions will be available here in the lobby later this week.
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As well as on the naming New Hampshire Youtube Channel.
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If you’re new to Nami, New Hampshire, we are so glad that you are here. If you’re a long time member of the Nami, New Hampshire family. Thank you for coming back.
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Nominee. New Hampshire is a grassroots organization that provides support, education and advocacy to individuals and their families impacted by mental illness and suicide. In the Granite State.
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We do this by offering a variety of programs and events, including today’s conference.
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I’m Michelle Watson. I’ll be one of your co-host for today, along with my coworker, Karen Prevay. We have an amazing committee of staff and volunteers who we wanted to recognize for all their valuable contributions to the conference.
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In addition to our planning committee, we have to thank our development team, our communications
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folks and our technology folks. We really couldn’t do this without everybody.
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Today’s presentations are in Zoom Webinar. There is not an option to turn on your camera or your microphones. We welcome questions in the QA. And we’ll do our best to get to all of them.
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You may have also noticed that we’ve turned off the chat feature because it can often be distracting.
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We’d like to express our sincerest gratitude to our sponsors who help make today’s conference free of charge. Our hope sponsor is Johnson and Johnson, and you will hear a few words from word Bennett. Healthcare policy and advocacy director later in this session.
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So now I have the privilege of introducing Nami, New Hampshire’s executive director, Susan Stearns, who will get started this morning.
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Susan.
15
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Thank you, Michelle.
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and welcome everyone.
17
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We are truly pleased to be able to kick off. Today’s full day of conference sessions. With a conversation with Commissioner Lori weaver
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and just a little bit of as I thought about how things have changed in the past year. Last year, when I introduced her. She was the Interim Commissioner. So this year we are really pleased to welcome the Commissioner Lori Weaver.
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She is the Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.
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with more than 25 years of experience with Dhs and a strong focus on working collaboratively across all levels and functions, other State agencies and external partners. Commissioner Weaver has demonstrated leadership and success in achieving shared organizational goals and objectives
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prior to assuming the Commissioner role. She served as Deputy Commissioner for 3 years, overseeing several policy areas and all Dhs operations.
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Previously she held the position of Associate Commissioner of Operations overseeing all operational aspects of the State’s largest department
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00:03:18.060 –> 00:03:27.630
during her tenure with Dhs Commissioner Weaver has also served as the director of Organizational Development Services and the Director of Training Services.
24
00:03:27.760 –> 00:03:37.290
She initially joined Dhs as the training administrator for the Dhs division of children, youth and families, a role she filled for 10 years
25
00:03:37.660 –> 00:03:49.019
prior to joining Dhhs Commissioner weaver worked for several nonprofit agencies and served as the director of residential services for Children and youth in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
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Commissioner Weaver received a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of New Hampshire, and a Master’s degree in Human Service Administration. From Antioch
27
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she has received a degree certificate in organizational development from Antioch, and achieved 64 credits towards a master’s of counseling.
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Good morning, and welcome, Commissioner Weaver. It’s a real pleasure to have you here. Good morning, and thank you. Thank you for inviting me back again, for for this year I’m I’m very happy to be asked to be back and to be with you here today.
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It is true. A year ago I was interim Commissioner, I think, for a total of it’s been 15 months now that I’ve been in a Commissioner capacity, whether it’s been interim or or full term. I think that the interim doesn’t really matter. You’re still doing the job, and and there’s a lot of work to be done, so glad to have a term and a and a and a vision moving forward. As Susan mentioned.
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00:04:44.730 –> 00:05:02.230
I’m the Commissioner of a department whose primary focus is helping others. And I’ve been with the Department since 2,002, and all of those different roles, and prior to that, but pretty much all that, to say that my entire career has been dedicated to helping others, whether it’s in a direct care, capacity.
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00:05:02.400 –> 00:05:16.639
clinical capacity, or, as in now, in a leadership capacity. And I I consider that a privilege and an honor to be in this role as difficult and challenging as the role is. I take it very seriously, and I’m honored to be in the role.
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15 months ago we were in knee deep with planning and implementing improvements for the mental health system, which is what Susan really asked me to focus on with you this morning.
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and and, you know, assessing the current state of New Hampshire’s mental health system is really a matter of perspective. The 10 Year Plan launched a period in which the State delivered unprecedented resources to expand the ability, availability, and types of mental health services that our residents need.
34
00:05:43.330 –> 00:06:01.680
So we think about from a bigger perspective. It’s easy to see from a larger perspective that the system is in a better place than it was years ago, and I am really proud of what we’ve accomplished in the last several years. However, I I can’t stand before you today and say that we’re completely satisfied, or that I’m completely satisfied.
35
00:06:01.850 –> 00:06:14.299
you know, because those of you on the ground, on the front lines and living rooms and emergency rooms across the State. It’s clear that there’s work still to be done to build a system that helps people in the moment that they need it.
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the moment that they need it.
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And we know that needs are only increasing nationally the demand for mental health services on the rise as a department we must continue to act with the urgency to build a system that can anticipate tomorrow’s challenges while addressing today’s needs.
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So
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I am going to give a little bit of an overview of the state of the of mental health system in terms of some accomplishments that we’ve had, and I’m gonna share a slideshow in a minute. But I just wanted to say that without your help
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00:06:46.640 –> 00:06:57.699
we weren’t, wouldn’t be able to make the changes that we we’ve made. We’re halfway through the State’s Mental Health Plan, the 10 Year Plan and our progress and implementation provides a good, pretty good lens of where our system is at
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for those of you that may not be familiar with the plan, or have seen it or want to look at the plan. It is on our website under the hot topics under Dhjs. I think you can also Google, New Hampshire’s tenure Mental Health plan, too, and you will find it.
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Well, new Hampshire is not immune to national trends. We’ve been able to make some significant gains in each of the core goals outlined in our plan. We are well ahead of the national curve with our rapid response access point, which was launched in 2,022. Many of you know rapid response as a statewide integrated crisis system, 24, 7, 365 supporting children, youth, adults and families and emotional stress.
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In less than 2 years we have about a hundred skilled, compassionate, and skilled workers for our rapid response. And those 100 workers over the last 2 years have provided hope
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more than 40,000 times to New Hampshire residents. So it’s one example of how the 10 year. Mental Health Plan has made access to behavior health easier for residents.
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So I just want to take a moment to share rather than a word dump on you all of the pieces here. I’m gonna share with you.
46
00:08:05.770 –> 00:08:07.449
Think I’m gonna share with you
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some of that some of that work.
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00:08:17.080 –> 00:08:20.759
So, Susan, do you see the slide itself?
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00:08:21.680 –> 00:08:22.790
I do now.
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Okay, so just the slide.
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So I wanted to just moving along to the to the next slide. A little bit is is to highlight our web, 2 slides highlighting some of the accomplishments. So first one is our what is commonly known as our trek program. Some people might hear the acronym. It’s the transitional residential, enhanced care coordination. That is a program really looking at a lot of our folks coming out of psychiatric care out of residential care and then trying to
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assimilate back into the community. We’ve got currently 172 use as of the end of last year. Enrolled in that program.
53
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we’ve launched our critical time intervention program. Cti, for adults transitioning to the community with more than 100 people graduated in the very first year. And so we’ve taken that program, stood it up. And now it’s in in operational load, and we’re looking to get that number up from 100 from where we were last year. We’ve developed a certification program for peers and crisis workers. We have a cohort of 24 that’s about to receive their first certification.
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Last summer we launched the strongest grant and public awareness campaign in partnership with Nami, and with many of you, I’m sure, that are joining us today. We also launched with, some of you may not know this, but it has been launched. We have a children’s behavioral health resource center website. So I’m just gonna take a moment here to plug that
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we have resources. We have systems. Sometimes they’re really hard to navigate. So we worked with you and H. To say, Hey, can you help make this easier for the folks and the families that are going to be going in and finding out where the resources and how do they? How do they navigate that system? So that website is you also find that link to that website on our website
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00:10:05.150 –> 00:10:09.219
and our behavioral health section. And that’s relatively new.
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We have a juvenile justice transformation in the first. We launched this a couple of years ago, but a couple of years out, we’re looking at about a 50
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00:10:20.480 –> 00:10:43.059
decrease. And how many of our kids are court involved at this point. So that’s pretty significant where we are streamlining and creating an assessment that’s really strength and neat space for some of these youth and diverting them from getting into the court system, and instead being able to stay out of the system and still get services and supports our fast forward program, which is like our wraparound program with youth. We had
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00:10:43.359 –> 00:10:58.400
families in 2019, about 100 families when we launched it. We’re up to 520 families in 2023. That’s pretty significant. The good and the bad is that, you know, trying to keep up with with the pace of that and providing the resources, but very pleased. At 520 youth
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within that fast forward program we also have peer support services. And that’s right. Now we have 60 youth involved that are providing peer support
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for many other youth.
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We have 20 specialty residential beds that we have stood up for complex physical and behavioral health needs.
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Last year I talked about solution health with you, and at that point probably have didn’t have as much information as we have now, but suffice it to say, we know that we’re going to be bringing in about 120 beds, but we’re also going to be offering specialty services that we don’t currently have in state things like eating disorders, partial hospitalization programs.
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Solution, health is targeted to break ground this summer. And start building, and I think opening in the beginning of 2,026
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and of course there, there wouldn’t be. You have to mention the investment and Medicaid reimbursement rates. That was pretty historical getting that increase and its impact on our on our providers.
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I couldn’t talk about the mental health
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system really without talking about Mission 0. And I don’t know. I think most people
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know what mission 0 is, but I know there are folks that don’t know what that is. Last year we launched missing 0, which is our department’s commitment to say 0. We want our mission is 0. People on the wait list for services, and that’s what we have put boots to the ground on over the last 10 months. And so Susan
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has been, and her team has been instrumental in working with the Department. The New Hampshire Hospital Association has been instrumental in working with us, and I’ll tell you that we work at multiple layers. So there’s a leadership steering committee layer. But there’s also boots on the ground
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so collaboratively. You know, we we as the department, we’re responsible for the Drf system, the designated receiving facility system. So in managing that. So one of the ways that we said, we’re gonna achieve missions here, we have to be working together to bust down these barriers, these systems barriers. And believe me, there’s there’s quite a few of them.
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and we can’t do it alone. It can’t just be the state. So I I’m I’m really proud to say that 10 months later we’ve actually moved the needle on mission 0. I want to share a little bit more detail on that. But Mission 0 breaks down into this next slide here, and I think I might have shared this as a handout. We basically looked at last year, what are 6 strategic
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initiatives that we could take that would have some immediate impact immediate being anywhere from 6 months to to let’s just say 18 months on impacting that. Wait list. So you have 6 things here that are on this slide. But really, I want to bring your attention to start with is Number 3, which is our care traffic control. That is, basically it. It sounds like a funny term, but it’s actually a term where we are working together
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to navigate and look at what is the the need and what is the level of resource currently available, not just New Hampshire Hospital, but with all of our hospitals that have Dr. Beds, all of our other providers that may have them. How do we collectively say, Okay, every single day. This is who we have for need. This is what we have for resources. And how do we create that movement. So we have emergency room physicians, nurses engaging daily. They have daily huddles
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with New Hampshire Hospital and looking at that, and I will tell you as of yesterday afternoon.
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Our queue was 7 for folks sitting in in emergency departments. So if you’ve been paying attention to those numbers, you’ll know that that’s pretty a significant drop from where we were like even a month ago. And so we launched care traffic control in January, and we launched it. A soft launch in January of.
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So there was a lot of work happening before that. So it’s not to say that we weren’t doing, but officially launched it in January, and I think we’re starting to see some of the impacts of that. The children’s wait list was down to 7 yesterday, and that was up as as high as 1314 last week. So we’re we’re seeing a little bit of that that impact and more to come on that. But we’re very excited about that. But what are other things that would
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potentially help get us to 0 is if we look at number one and number 2 expansion of the certified community behavior health clinics really looking at primary integrated care right out from the start, so that that we’re not going right into crisis. But we’re looking at prevention. We’re looking at intervention.
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the crisis bed stabilization, the community crisis stabilization is really diverting from the emergency level of care. Can we provide some community crisis stabilization care, that is, before they’re getting to the to the Ed. We have 2
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pilots that are going to be standing up this summer. We’ve been working with our community partners of community mail health centers to get those stood up. And we’re very excited about that coming on board. So if you think about again, that could potentially have an impact on it, I mentioned Number 4, which is the expansion and the Drf. Beds we have.
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Dartmouth is actually adding 5 additional beds this September, I believe, will be coming online, so we will be expanding that capacity. But I will also share with you that we did announce yesterday. The Department did announce that we are bringing 12 beds back online at New Hampshire Hospital from our E unit so all of the units have a letter name to them we have. Ef unit we’re opening up e unit with 12 beds as of April first, no joke, all serious. 12 beds coming online.
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With an additional 6 beds coming online by May seventeenth. So we’ll be looking at increasing Drf. Beds by 18
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beds on May seventeenth. And then we’re going to bring the remaining beds, which I think are around 15 to 18 additional beds throughout this calendar year for an enhanced hospital, bringing it to full capacity. And then also we’ll have the the Dartmouth beds coming online. So I think when we think about. Are we making a difference with diversion from to the Ed? I think we’re seeing a little bit of that. But now we’re also building capacity. Should we need it? To have those resources available?
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But we also have 5 and 6, which is really about, you know, being able to come out of that high level acuity care, and stepping down into least restrictive settings and less level of care, working on setting up those resources we have, we do have some facilities that are going to be opening up to be able to
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Have folks step down into that level of care. We have some here with Nfi stepping up with our path program here on campus and taking additional folks as well as Nfi is opening some programs up in Newport, some homes and houses as well, so that will relieve a little bit of space for folks to to step down to
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and our landlord incentives is really
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really working with our population in terms of folks that that are having challenges, that you know, you finally get housing. We don’t want it to be at risk to be at loss. So really working with individuals and with the landlords to be able to work through the challenging times as they arrive, so that losing housing is doesn’t become
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another added stressor.
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So that is our mission 0 summary. When we look at the overlay of our mental health.
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a 10 year mental health plan.
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I would think about the alignment. The big blue bubbles and circles are really the basic tenets of the 10 Year Plan and then we have within that nestled in there our 6 initiatives that that are aligned with that.
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So what’s gonna happen next? There’s still a lot of work to be done when we look ahead of 24 I mentioned, we have the the behavioral health clinics coming online in 24. We know that we need more than the pilots that we’re standing up. We have to really work with our providers in the community to make sure that they continue to have the ability in the capacity to stand those clinics up. Looking at our rapid response and creating some location based rapid response in addition to the mobile crisis
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that we offer housing and the residential treatment offer options that I’ve mentioned.
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and really coordinating care to make sure people get the right care right level of care at the right time, and that people aren’t lingering in in a in a spot where they don’t necessarily it’s not the most appropriate level of treatment, and obviously working with our our staff and really building some pipelines and getting some workforce training, but also in terms of creating some additional workforce.
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So there’s a lot of stuff going on. I think. Susan would agree. We we we
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spend a lot of time together every given week working on these things. And there’ll be more to come. But I I wanted to be able to provide a a level of, we are making progress. I do wanna share. I think I’m gonna stop sharing just for a moment. Here.
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I know we are gonna take questions.
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but just to wrap up. I I know this is a lot that I’ve shared in a short period of time, and I would say to you, it’s okay if you don’t remember all of it. However, if you do remember anything from what I’ve shared, please let it be that we’re working hard to make the changes, to really improve our system, to bust down those system barriers make a difference, and to meet the mental health needs as they arise in our State, and that we can’t do it without all of you. Here
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you really envision a system that anticipates at people’s needs and works in harmony to provide those needs, because that’s what you all deserve here in in New Hampshire.
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So thank you for allowing me to come back and join you. And and I hope you enjoy the conference. It sounds like it’s gonna be great.
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Thank you, Commissioner. And I I do wanna say that
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I do believe we are in the midst of systems transformation. And we are really grateful for your leadership in this process, and grateful for how you have included the voice of people with lived experience and help to inform this work. Going forward, as you know, all of us here now in New Hampshire do this work because it’s chosen us, because how these the issues, mental illness, suicide or Co. Occurring substance use disorder have touched our lives personally.
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So truly, I’m grateful for you being here today. I think we do have a question in the chat, Michelle.
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We do sorry I was putting a comment in for people to start? Putting in some questions in the QA.
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The question we have right now is, how can we make sure that the community. Mental Health Center clients keep their Medicaid benefits. Many of them lost. Many lost them after the Covid expansion ended.
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Yeah, so that’s a great question. Something that the Department has been working with all of unwind and making sure that folks have the appropriate insurance coverage, whether it’s Medicaid or something else other coverage. So we are actively working with not only those that are receiving services, but with our community mental health centers as well to look at what are ways that we can make sure that folks get covered, whether it’s Medicaid and or another insurance, because we don’t.
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We don’t want people to not be without services, and we also don’t want to put an unfairly tax to community center service with not being able to provide or to be able to sustain providing that service. So we’re very laser focused on that. I think more to come on that. But just to say that the department is spending a lot of time and meeting meeting with folks and meeting with Behavioral Health Association and be talking about just about exactly that.
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Thank you so much.
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And, Commissioner, you mentioned the word unwind. Do you want to tell people what that refers to? Not sure. Everyone knows I know right. The lingo and all of the of those things. So unwind really is the is the term for going back. And when we had Covid there was no the eligibility. Requirements were not not what they typically are, so that there was a higher threshold. For who could qualify for medicine?
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Once Covid was over, it was okay States, you need to go back to your regular eligibility process. So what the state of New Hampshire did is we got a jump start? We actually started before a lot of other States. We started a year before a lot of other States did to be able to slowly and methodically be able to go through and make sure that folks were able to become eligible again if they were not going to be deemed eligible.
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Sometimes this has to do with people not being aware us not being able to reach people. So there was a large outreach effort to be able to say, Make sure that you fill out your paper because we didn’t want to just have people off off of Medicaid because they didn’t fill out their paperwork. So we’ve done a tremendous outreach effort. We have a call center. We are back to our levels of what we were pre covid pretty much for
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for our Medicaid enrollment. But what we do is for the folks that necessarily may not be qualifying for Medicaid doing that warm hand hold? To what kind of insurance can they be eligible for, and or we have folks that we we took our most complex residents and did them last. So I think you know
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the folks that we have left to look at are very
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few and far between. But we haven’t really made this effort to say like, Oh, you’re you’re just off. If if somebody hasn’t done their paperwork, we’re reaching out and making sure. So this that unwind is the national term that’s used for it. But it’s really looking at who you have on eligibility, who you have on your Medicaid roles
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and are they eligible as we know it, for their rules?
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Thank you for that explanation. We have a couple of more questions coming in.
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So are we working with public schools to develop awareness of programs and resources and developing emotional intelligence and awareness within the curriculum.
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You know, it’s interesting. Cause I I’m not responsible for the DOE side of of what gets sent curriculum, but what what we can do and what we are doing as as a department, and I don’t. Wanna I don’t wanna talk jargon, but jargon is that we are making sure that schools have the resources and are able to build Medicaid for supports that they are giving for behavioral health in schools. That’s super important, because we know that that’s where the bulk of kids are spending their time.
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We are able to work with schools and talk with schools, but we don’t have any authority over their curriculum. So yes, we will influence that and speak about that. But I don’t have any authority to do that. But what I do have the authority to do is to make sure the schools have the capacity to continue to add and build to their behavioral health resources within the schools. And we’re actually applying for a additional grant to get some more money to be able to do that. We’re in the process of applying right now.
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That’s great. Thank you.
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Next, as a parent of an adult son, I’m trying to look to his future.
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How do I know if our son will have.
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will have to pay back his Medicaid benefits if he inherits some money at the time of my death.
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Nothing.
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That’s something you can answer.
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I mean, it’s definitely I understand the question. I don’t know if I if I can specifically say, you know, give you a technical answer. I I think what I would say is, whoever does have that question to please reach out to us at the Department. If you want to call our Medicaid director, or you want to call me or reach me offline. We could probably work with you through that through that question a little bit more detail.
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and folks could also contact our information resource line as well result when navigating some systems. I’m not to say that they that you, you, your department, wouldn’t have all the answers, but I just want to add that that is a resource for folks as well.
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and I’ll put a plugin that they will actually be staffing a booth during lunchtime in our exhibit area. So a good time to go visit with them and talk with them live.
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and whoever put that question in it looks like one of our staff is thinking. That would actually be a really good topic for a future webinar here. So thanks for the idea as well.
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and an important issue that I know many of us parents of children with serious mental health challenges as well as other types of disabilities we have to be very conscious of as I as as we age and
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and life takes this natural course. So
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it’s a great topic for us to do more with.
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And Commissioner
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I wondered if you might want to speak a little bit to
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You know we’ve seen a lot in the media about Hampstead Hospital and struggles there. Actually it with one media source. I’ll be clear and
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can you speak a little bit to? You know the staff there. I know that they’re very dedicated and committed, and I know a lot of folks have really benefited for their children that benefited from the services at Hampstead Hospital, both recently and through the years it has been a valuable resource in our State. So I wonder if you want to give us a little oversight, a little overview of how how folks are doing at Hamps, Hamstead Hospital, and
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particularly the staff, who, we know, are
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really doing such great work. Yeah, no, it’s a it’s a great question. Your observation.
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I I will say this. I will start by saying, is that I I want to affirm everybody that the facility is safe. It is a facility that is safe and is providing good care, and it’s providing good care, because Susan is what you just said. We have some really tremendous staff there we have a dedicated team that are are providing around the clock. Care to some of our most
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complex youth that we have. It’s not an easy job.
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And there are times when it gets super intense. And you know, part of our job is the State is to be able to make sure to support our staff. Make sure that staff residents are safe and that staff are safe. And that’s what we’re laser focused on. But I will tell you we have 37 kiddos in there today. And I know that they’re all receiving the care that that they should be, and we did have a little bit of a I think a delay in some of our admissions, while some of
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This stuff was happening last week, but that has since it dropped with the wait list. And like I said, we’re up to 37, but
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got some really great people there, and I don’t want that to get lost in the sight of
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of what’s what’s been going on. It’s a psychiatric hospital. It’s the highest level of acute care that you can get. It’s challenging service. But we are safe, and it is a good service.
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Well, thank you, Commissioner, and for folks who haven’t ever been there, it is also beautiful
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facility, I mean, like it’s lovely. And I’m thinking another
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to do list for the team might be working with your team at Hampstead for maybe a virtual tour that we could have on our our website. So folks have a chance to sort of see it, because I think it’s it’s
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I I think you you wouldn’t understand if you have not been there, and I realize not everyone can tour a facility. So it’d be nice if we could offer that for families to see it.
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Sure I yes, we have a new CEO Justin Luisher who comes to us from
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Portsmouth Hospital? So I think he would be more than happy to be able to arrange for that to happen.
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Great! We’ll look forward to it.
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We got some more questions, Michelle.
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Oh, well, actually, I just copied the quest. The response into the chat from Nancy Finnell.
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she put in about the resources at the foundation for healthy communities around access to care for medicaid. So I just shared that in the chat.
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Did we have a question about training for staff?
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Cmhc, no. Did I miss that? Okay? I thought there was a workforce question. Yes, but now I don’t see it.
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I think it says I haven’t. Besides providing additional training. What efforts are being made to build the workforce
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to meet these goals.
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Okay.
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am I the only one that sees that question? Oh, maybe it’s in the chat in the chat, that’s it. I knew I saw it pop up. That’s why we’ll find it
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so. I would say that this is probably another webinar. You know I have. One of my staff is working. I I tasked her with
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going forth and finding out all of the workforce development issue initiatives that are happening throughout the State. And seeing how, and I will tell you that there is a plethora of them. So there’s a lot of good work happening. My concern is that it’s not connected or integrated to be able to
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to become internal, you know, systematized. So there’s a lot of work out there right now. I’ll give you some examples in in terms of workforce like, even with staffing at New Hampshire Hospital for nurses. That’s been one of the primary reasons it’s been hard to open up some of these units. One of the reasons we had to renovate, which is the other reason. But really working with schools where we are having a in a an agreement where they
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I I forget the technical term for it. But they basically get their schooling and as they’re getting their schooling, they’re actually doing some real time work. And then they’re working with us. After that. There are workforce bills happening in the legislature right now to be able to make some changes and and create some capacity.
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So there’s a lot happening. My concern is that it’s not going to be integrated or concerted enough to make a difference. So that’s what we’re trying to do as a department to bring attention to that, so that we can hang on to some of these gains. So I know that we work with a lot of our folks who come through our work employment programs as well, and making sure to divert them and offer them and make them aware of the opportunities that we have currently as well.
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not just with the Department. But I would say behavioral health in all areas across the State. So there’s quite a bit going on. And I think at some point it’d be great to have it all sort of put forth together, so that we could see what those pieces are.
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and that the other knows what the other is doing, which is probably my concern.
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Susan. I don’t know if you have anything to add on your end on that.
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I you know one of the things that always comes to mind. For me, Commissioner, is the our peer workforce, and I know there’s work afoot to really strengthen that peer support workforce. I don’t know if you wanna speak to that at all.
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terms of the certification
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process underway.
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Yeah, I I don’t. Yeah. I think I think I did mention that in in my slides. I think we have about 24 that are about to to go through that right now.
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I don’t have the the rest of that with me, but I think I think, coming from all angles, everything that we’re trying to do to be able to increase that capacity and provide opportunity and provide that certification.
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And there are a number of efforts underway in this legislative session around workforce development which nomine New Hampshire is indeed weighing in on and working with a broad coalition of partners around. These workforce bills. So that that is ongoing work, I think. We all know that
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we have to continue to encourage people to enter the field and provide ways to make it financially feasible, such as student loan repayment programs. But also, we need to be creative.
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In terms of, you know, maximizing the resources we have, looking at things like being able to join interstate compact. So we can have providers come in from other States. As well as you know, looking at.
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you know, opportunities like further developing our peers and also utilizing bachelors. Prepared folks more New Hampshire has not always in our mental health system, not always really done. Use bachelor prepared folks the way we we hear about in some of our sister States. So
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I think we I think we can. I think we’d be more creative, too.
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for sure, for sure we did have the reciprocity, and they recently did have some releasing of some of those restrictions as well, which opens up in terms of any state that you’re talking about.
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Yes, and if folks aren’t aware there is one left to do, and that is the social workers interstate compact, which is currently active in this session. So stay tuned. If you’re not signed up for a public policy alerts, go to our website, sign up, and you’ll hear every Friday about who you should contact and urge to.
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you know. Vote, vote a particular way on legislation. So
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we have a couple of more questions. I know you have a hard stop sooner. Can you speak to your thoughts on incorporating the voices of lived experience at Dhs?
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Well, you know, Susan mentioned I mean we and and I. I
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pardon me if I wasn’t clear enough, and a lot of our work with Mission 0 is is trying to include
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folks with lived experience as well. I think that’s something that you know, we have a couple of bigger initiatives right now that we’re also looking at. How do we do that? So what whatever the the topic is for for dhhs is that the the end consumer of of the service is is a part of working on that design and those improvements. So we’re that is sort of a model that we’re trying to emulate throughout the entire department.
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I think it’s obviously probably most obvious in some of our behavioral health work. But that is one of the values. I guess I would say that is important to us as an department. And the work that we do and the policies that we create in the programs that we have
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great. Thank you.
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And this is more of a statement about children. Children are the future workforce working with public schools is key to just stigmatize mental health and see it as something that affects everyone indirectly, if not directly.
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We all.
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we all believe, that know that completely
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sounds.
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That was the last one we had in the
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Q. And a.
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And if I could tag onto what you were talking about with that voice of lived experience, Commissioner. You know I am so conscious particularly as we’ve sort of seen. You know, this interplay between the 10 Year Mental Health Plan and the mission 0 initiative.
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I think back, you know we are. We’re in year 11 of emergency department boarding here in our State, and truly
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seeing some real progress at this time.
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but I I want to give full kudos to the countless folks who have in so many very public forums shared their deeply personal stories and that are often very painful.
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Around emergency department boarding to motivate our policy makers in in the Legislature to fully fund what we need to address this issue and as well as ha informing that 10 year Mental Health Plan and ultimately Mission 0. So kudos
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to all of the advocates and those who maybe didn’t anticipate they were going to become advocates, but we’re compelled to share their stories. So thank you.
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We can’t make the change around that voice, for sure. I think. You know.
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it’s excuse me, it’s hard sitting in this position where you know we’re working in challenging systems and bureaucratic systems. And you just want to make the change. You just want to make it happen right. And you hear the pain, and you want to be able to respond. So I mean, you know.
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the the key to that is all of our systems working together, and even that it’s super challenging. But if we don’t have the voice, that voice. It’s it’s
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it’s not gonna happen. We need that. So it’s critical.
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So, Commissioner.
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what? As we look towards the coming year, anything that we should be keeping our eyes on.
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Yes, but in particular.
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Well.
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there’s
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one of the things I talked a little bit, I think last year is I. I dubbed this thing called the roadmap which is really was really a strategic focus in disguise of the word roadmap
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and we use that a lot last year to include a lot of it. Things we’ve been talking about here today. But use that as our
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our talking points with our legislature with our stakeholders. These are the things that we’re hearing are important to the, to our constituents. We need these things. We we are working on formalizing. Now that I’ve named. Been named full time Commissioner for, and have a term of 4 years, or really looking out. What can we be doing in those 4 years, you know, when you sit in this driver seat here, it’s like.
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Okay, you got 4 years. And so 4 years is a lot of time, but it’s really not a lot of time. So what can we be? How can we keep the momentum and then even accelerate some. So for all of the populations that we serve
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here in the department, so you’ll be looking looking out. We’re gonna be reaching out to our stakeholders here coming up next month. The next couple of months to be able to get some input and feedback on what we’ve laid out working, including Nami, obviously as a major stakeholders, a lot of our providers, a lot of our families for folks receiving services as well as the legislature, because in this
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job you really, it’s really hard for the department to do anything without the legislature support. And we definitely want that because we want to be able to make some systems change lasting change, which is what we’re aiming for. So in our new plan, that’s going to be coming out, or I would say, beefed up or enhanced roadmap business plan that’s coming out. You’ll you’ll be able to see a lot more of what we’re focusing on, says, Well, what is the department doing? These are the things that we’re doing. And this is how we’re doing it. And then being able to solicit feedback from all of you. Of
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where do we need to course, correct? What do we need to continue to strengthen? What do we need to to to work on. So I think you’re going to be seeing that coming out in. Probably May. You’ll see that and working on that, and they’ll give a little bit more detail. I can’t really. Let’s get out of the bag too much before we release it, but it’s coming.
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Well, we’ll we’ll keep an eye out for it, and we will certainly make sure that we get word out when it’s available. So we look forward to seeing that that roadmap and wanna, thank you
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or your leadership.
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And your willingness to step in, I think
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during what pro I would think would have seemed a challenging time to take on the role. So we really look forward to our continued work with you and your team. And and truthfully.
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if if you need Nami, New Hampshire, the Nami, New Hampshire family, to make some noise
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or hold some people’s feet to the fire, always reach out. You know, we we definitely want to help with moving these initiatives forward and making sure that New Hampshire has the most has, is once again a leader in the nation in terms of its mental health system. So we we look forward to our continued partnership with you on all these endeavors.
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and I thank you, and I would say the same to you and ever and team that we couldn’t do this without you. So it’s we’ve we’ve been through a lot of work this last, this last year some good work, and it’s not been without pain. But we’ve made progress, and we’ve moved the needle, and we’re able to get to a better spot. So I want to continue that, even though it’s the most challenging work. If not now, when I’m committed to doing this work may not always be perfect, may not always be the right thing, but
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our values and I think our mission and vision are are aligned, and I’m I’m grateful for that. So thank you.
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Thank you.
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Thank you so much for your time this morning, Commissioner. I hope you can see the celebrations and the hearts and the the applause that you’re getting below. So thank you so much, and those are lovely, very, very affirming. I would love to go through my whole day having little hearts and hands, I’ll hold that image so it’s very good for the mind. So thank you, and I apologize. But thank you, and have a great conference.
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Thank you so much. Take care, bye, bye.
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So, folks, we’ve got a little more time here. I thought I would
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share just a little bit of nomine New Hampshire’s perspective, and then we’ll finish up with a few words from our hope sponsor at the at the end here. So, really grateful, the Commissioner was able to fit us in before she had to get the Governor and Council meeting this morning, and indeed we are seeing a lot of movement in our state.
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as I mentioned at the beginning. I I am thinking about today, Spot, back to last year, when I had this conversation with Commissioner Weaver and all of you, and
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indeed, last year we on that day we had 33 adults boarding, and 16 children boarding in emergency departments. The Commissioner mentioned today. She mentioned that there are 7 adults boarding. Those are 7 adults subject to an involuntary emergency admission petition. I I do want to be clear. There are another 4 adults waiting in county corrections, facilities, and 3 folks who are not subject to an Iea, so
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that involuntary admission but are are also waiting for bed. So we are seeing significant changes. In the numbers of adults boarding. And similarly, this year we have 7 children boarding as of late yesterday afternoon.
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So it it’s really hard. It’s a really hard process, the systems transformation. But I do believe we are seeing true movement forward. And
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with the the
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additional beds that are coming online with additional transitional housing, I think we’re gonna see that adult number shift even further. So stay tuned as we, and we will continue to report out those numbers on our social media. We do so every Tuesday and Thursday. So we will continue to do that and keep you apprised. As these efforts move forward.
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you know, in terms of this year, where we are over last year we certainly last year was one that we saw some real losses in our nomine New Hampshire family. We have folks who lost loved ones. Sudden unexpected losses to overdose deaths.
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suicides, and other unexpected losses, and then others that were known. That they were coming. But it’s still been a year that we have. We have lost some of our own and
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we know that there are many folks who experience such losses, and we try to be here and provide support for people as well as our own, naming New Hampshire family.
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One of the things that we really looked at here at Nami, New Hampshire, in the last year has been particularly
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you know we’ve always had folks. I don’t think any of us who are family members. Certainly don’t have an experience of someone in your life who maybe have a a co-occurring mental health and substance, use disorder and nominium has really started looking at how we can make sure we are best serving the needs of folks who come to us face facing struggles with those co-occurring disorders within their families.
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and and and naming it because, I think, while clearly always, those folks have come, and I availed themselves for support and education services and come out and advocated with us.
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We know that this
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siloing between mental illness and substance use disorder is ultimately.
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in some cases deadly for folks, and we need to make sure we break down those silos and ensure people can get the care they evidence based. Trauma informed care they need when and where they need it.
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So we we look forward to partnering with all of you as we continue that work. We continue to celebrate the one of the silver linings that Covid left us, with, which is a continued openness, and talking about mental illness, substance, use disorder, suicide in a way that we had not really seen prior to the pandemic. And again, I want to give a huge shout out for our youth.
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And are the young adults amongst us. They are absolutely leading the way in terms of making sure that these issues don’t go back into the shadows. Our connect youth leaders continue to inspire me, as do our connect young adult leaders and our folks who are volunteering with our ending the silent speakers program in the in the school system. We.
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we, our young people, give me so much hope
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and so if we all could manage to not screw things up for the next 10 years. I have great faith in our future, because we have wonderful young leaders. Who are ready and taking
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ready to be part of the solution. So we’ll continue to work with our our youth and young adult leaders and expand those programs. We’re very happy to be able to. Thanks to Nami National. We have, one scholarship for youth leader to attend the annual Nami Convention, and we’ll be joining a a small group of folks volunteers and some staff here from Nami, New Hampshire, who’ll be attending there? In June as well.
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I want to give a huge shout out to our volunteers. I’m a 200 strong across the State.
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you have sustained our core programs, our signature programs from family to family to peer to peer Nami basics. You know, I wanna
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our support groups are. It is so. You are so critically important. Our advocacy work. Frankly, you know, we could not do this without you.
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We have been overwhelmed with the number of new folks wanting to come and volunteer here at Nami, New Hampshire. So really
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see this as a place as mental health substance, use disorder, suicide. Those are all issues that that clearly are very important to people, and we welcome you to the Nami New Hampshire family and look forward to our work together.
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do wanna mention that we have a few new things, particularly on our website. We’ve got some new web pages with resources from eternal mental health. Older adults substance use disorder and co-occurring disorders and eating disorders is our newest web page. So please check that out. We are always trying to keep our resources up to date. You will notice it when you’re on our website. It is
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a large amount of information. Feel free to shoot us an email. If you think there’s something missing or something needs to be updated, we do try and monitor it. But we’re always welcome to input.
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We also just this in this year launched our new online training platform and stay tuned, as we will soon have our connect prevention online connect prevention program available in Spanish on there as well. And then, in terms of our Dei efforts, we have done a soft launch for our information resource line of responding to Spanish speaking callers.
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So bear with us but it we have done it. So. We continue to work, and making sure that we can be as accessible as possible. Diversity, equity, inclusion, is baked into our strategic plan, and continues to be very important here at Nomi, New Hampshire, as we do program planning. Indeed, we offer quarterly Dei trainings, and we have just started expanding that beyond our nomin New Hampshire staff and volunteers.
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So you still have some opportunities to join us in some of those trainings in the coming year, and
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I just wanna encourage you to again. Sign up. You’re not getting our E news or public policy alerts. 2 separate email lists. Please sign up for it. We? There’s a lot going on at the Legislature this session
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we had last year some really great successes.
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Including those medicaid rate, increases that the Commissioner mentioned that budget was historic in terms of mental health and healthcare. It included a 7 year reauthorization of Medicaid expansion expanded Medicaid coverage for Mo new moms postpartum up to 12 months, which we know is so critical in address, in addressing issues around maternal mental health
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and ensuring better outcomes for our babies. And then additional investments in workforce and all of the components of the mission 0 initiative. And frankly, that happened because of grassroots, advocates.
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and the final hours we were asked to have our advocates reach out and to house leadership and ask them to concur
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on the Senate’s budget.
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which we put out the call, and you all responded, and
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shortly thereafter we heard from house leadership who said, We got the message? Can you get them to stop
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and we waited for them to concur on the budget, and they did, which was the first time. No one has able to remember another time that they have done so, and it did not go to a committee. A conference, and the entire budget with those investments remained intact and assigned into law. So hats off to all of you who made those calls and held folks speak to the fire, so to speak, to get that done
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this year we’ve got more more work around workforce development. Also, looking at a bill to create a
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study commission to look at competency which is really important here in our State, because we really are lacking in services around competency and restoration. And we do have a new forensic hospital that will be coming online at the probably very beginning of 2026, and so there will need to be some changes in our current statute to make sure that that hospital can be fun fully efficient and function properly so.
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But we are hopeful that Study Commission will get a study committee will get approved and get its work done quickly, and
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another area that we continue to really focus on folks who are justice involved as well as suicide prevention, and that includes things like access to lethal means
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and making sure that people are able to access critical crisis services.
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And then there are a number of bills that we are really concerned about how they could have a very negative impact on the mental health of our youth. Particular Lgbtq youth, and we are working actively with partners across the state around those. So again encourage you to join us in this app these advocacy efforts. It’s a very busy session, and we welcome you. Our public Policy committee meeting committee is open. You can reach out to us, and we’d be happy to add you to that, and again sign up for those alerts.
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I will tell you that Nami, New Hampshire is in the midst of strategic planning process, and we have had wonderful input from our Nami, New Hampshire volunteer leaders. Our staff, as well as many of our partners and stakeholders in the community, and we look forward to unveiling that at our annual meeting in June. I do want to mention before I turn the floor over to my good friend Ward here, that save the dates, for this is my brave
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Nami, New Hampshire is hosting on May fifteenth, and our annual Nami walks New Hampshire. The State’s largest
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mental health and suicide. Awareness. Raising event comes back on October on October sixth. So please mark those dates and join us.
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I’m thrilled to be able to introduce our friend Ward Bennett, who has been. He’s been with Johnson and Johnson for 27 years. However, I wanna mention it seems like he’s been with Nami, New Hampshire for just as long Ward has become a really integral part of the Nami New Hampshire family.
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he, in addition to being at Johnson and Johnson for 27 years he’s been in the medical field for a total of 32 years, and as the healthcare policy and obviously director for the past 20 years he has worked with multiple medical disciplines on patient access to health, to the healthcare system.
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In addition, Board has volunteered with Naomi, New Hampshire, and he is a trained in our own voice speaker, he has taken peer to peer. He is also a member of the Northern New England Arthritis Foundation Volunteer Board. He is a connect group participant. And he has been
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a very long standing member of our own public Policy committee. Ward lives in Amherst with his wife Peg, and we are really grateful to have you here. Thank you and Johnson and Johnson for your support for this event.
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Are you? Good? Thanks, Susan. Yeah. It’s been a very, very great relationship with not New Hampshire for the last number of years. And just conferences so inspiring so far with Dr. Amador, and
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with Lori Weaver. It’s just it’s it’s really incredible. So I’m just sitting here thinking like everything that I was gonna talk about has already been touched upon in multiple ways. And it’s just it’s really neat to see, because, as Susan said, a lot of you may not know me, but I have been, as Susan said, I’ve been very engaged with Navy, New Hampshire for over a decade.
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and I’ve seen my job is healthcare policy and advocacy, so I’m not sales. I’m just working to try to connect different advocates and different areas, different disease states to really move the ball forward and everything that has occurred and see, like the Mission 0,
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the amount of people who are waiting for er beds right now, all of that I mean, 10 years ago, 12 years ago, when I came on the scene here. In mental health in New Hampshire. It was really it was. It was kind of dire, like the yard warning situation was tough, and
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you know I was at the Press Conference when naming New Hampshire, you know, called that out, and I was, you know, the 10 Year Plan kind of looking at all along. And it’s like, is this, gonna go anywhere? And it’s amazing to see where it’s gone. And it would not have happened without the constant kind of
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naming New Hampshire, you know, kind of beating the drum and continuing to bring in everybody that they possibly can to to, you know, to engage and really advocate around. But this is what needs to happen. We can’t, you know, continue on this way. And it’s it’s just really satisfying to see all these changes really coming forward. And people, you know, getting the help they need and families being able to, you know, get the help they need, and all those. So it’s just.
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It’s just
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you know, as I said, is very satisfying.
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But it’s also like I’ve got. As Susan said. You know, I’ve been engaged with a lot of the programs in New Hampshire and arthritis. And
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okay, my, if I can just deviate to my little personal story over a second like I base, basically like, I’ve had
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mental health issues and physical issues like arthritis rooms, arthritis and a number of things that should have really been diagnosed in grade school in school times and didn’t get diagnosed till I was about 55. And here I am, you know, walking in, in and out of some of the biggest institutions in the world, mass generals of the world, and all that, and just helping a lot of other people hopefully get what they need through the advocacy that I’m doing.
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But I was out there. So you know, 55. You get this. And then when you do get those diagnoses like there’s really, you’ve got to kind of
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forge your own path forward because there’s not really any place you can go. That’s gonna take it forward. So you know, I think everybody’s the own best advocate
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for
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for the for themselves
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in in in working in that. And that’s what I’ve really tried to do with my work. When you know, with the arthritis foundations and those sorts of areas. To really bring, bring it forward. So I think that the in this State there are some great groups, such as not New Hampshire, like new futures, the Arthritis Foundation American Cancer Society, or located right in
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right in conquered. And it’s really fantastic that you know, they’re right there. And the patient engagement as soon, I think. Susan said it, and Laurie said it, and a lot of people said, like the
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engagement with the legislators, with with with the process of getting new legislation passed and bettering our system is really it can come down to one
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one person story. Come down to Susan, said the
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one of my favorite stories, and I tell it all the time. This is the advocacy is like when they went on the budget, when they said, You know, please make them stop calling. I mean, that is just advocacy at its at its core. And that doesn’t happen unless that has been a focus piece of
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you know.
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focus from from not New Hampshire and other groups within within this. So I think that’s
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really
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at the core of of what I wanted to say. And just this, you know what once you really get into. Okay, this is this is what I’m dealing with. Then not only do you need to kind of advocate through the system to get the the healthcare you need you. You also need to advocate for yourself to
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you know, to within your own world to say, Okay, how am I gonna make the self better when I’m not in a medical facility, those sorts of areas? So that’s why you know, you kind of live myself and and work within that. And it’s just been a great partnership. So I appreciate you. I appreciate the engagement across the board here, and
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thank you very much for having me at your conference, and we’re proud. John Johnson. Johnson’s proud to support Nami, you know, now and
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in the future. So thank you very much.
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Thank you. Board.
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Thank you, Ward. We do always appreciate
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your your time and your generosity as well as Johnson and Johnson
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and your advocacy efforts. I also want to thank Susan
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for all your time.
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and I’m clicking on the wrong button. For all your time last night and this morning, and we will see you again.
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so just real quickly. I want to thank all of you for joining us this morning. Be sure to check out our virtual expo center. Some of the booths, including Nami, New Hampshire’s information and resource, which we’ve talked about today, and Volunteer Booth will be staffed during our lunch. Break from 12 to one, so make sure you stop by and see them as well as all of our
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booths that are open.
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Please keep an eye out for the evaluation that’ll be mailed out to you at the end of this conference. We appreciate your feedback on the sense session and the conference as a whole. If you need a certificate, you will be able to download one. After completing the survey.
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a recording of this session, as well as all of the sessions, will be available later this week in the lobby and up on the Nami, New Hampshire, Youtube Channel.
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So, coming up next at 1015, we’re very excited to have Professor Julio Delesto presenting, and every day’s hero journey from struggling student to successful professor.
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We hope to see you there. It’s really talking about our everyday heroes, and he’s fun, even though he doesn’t feel like it. So thank you all for joining us this morning, and we’ll see you at a session later today.
Featuring:
Professor Julio Del Sesto, Keene State College
Julio Del Sesto, who has struggled with mental illness since the age of 12, will discuss his journey from barely graduating high school to becoming a successful college professor. Today, Julio works to break down the stigma of mental health in his community and among his students. In 2022, he was awarded the Keene State Distinguished Teacher Award which recognizes excellence in teaching, encouragement of independent thinking, rapport with students, and student advising. In one student’s nomination letter, they said “Julio Del Sesto stands out as a beacon for those who struggle, those who do not know their path, and more beyond that.”
Sponsored by AmeriHealth Caritas
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So good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 2024 nomine New Hampshire Annual Conference.
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cultivating hope, celebrating everyday heroes.
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Thank you for joining us.
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If you are new to nomine New Hampshire, we are so glad you are here.
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You’re a longtime member of the nominee Hampshire family.
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Thank you for coming back
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nominee. New Hampshire is a grassroots organization that provides support education and advocacy
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to individuals and
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impacted by mental illness and suicide. In the Granite State.
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We do this by offering a variety of programs and events, including today’s offer.
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I’m Karen Prady. I’ll be one of your co-hosts for today, along with Michelle Watson.
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Today’s presentations are in
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are in Zoom Webinar.
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and there will not be an option to turn on your camera or microphone.
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We welcome questions in the Q. And A, and we’ll do our best to get to them all.
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You may have also noticed that we have turned off the chat feature which can, which can sometimes be distracting.
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We’d like to express our thanks
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to our sponsors who help make today’s conference available free of charge.
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The session. This session is sponsored by Americora health
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carrot is.
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thank you so much for your support.
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And now I’d like to introduce Liz Hodgkin’s nominee, New Hampshire’s director of adult programs
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who will introduce our next presenter.
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Liz.
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Thank you, Karen.
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So keen state graduate of 1996 and really excited. Just so, you know, there was a little who chose the the long straw, the short straw to be able to introduce Professor Julio de Sesto today, and I was very thrilled to be able to
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be able to introduce you today. So welcome. Julio de Sesso is the chair and professor of Journalism Department of Keen State college in keen New Hampshire.
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He teaches courses in photojournalism, multimedia production and live streaming. He also serves as advisor to the college’s award-winning newspaper, the equinox
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Julia’s professional work includes still photography, video production and audio production. He has produced work for many media outlets, including including the Keen Sentinel, Grandin State News, Collaborative and New and New Hampshire, Pbs.
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As often as possible. Julio includes his students in the production process.
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Julia lives in Winchester, New Hampshire, with his wife, 3 children and several pets outside the classroom. He’s been a working musician musician since 2,010, and a competitive gymnastics coach since 2,018.
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Welcome, Julia. We’re really excited for you to join us here today, and I’ll let you take it away from here.
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Thank you, Liz, for that introduction, and thank you, Michelle and Karen, for inviting me and having me be part of this conference.
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We’re going to try not to get sort of too emotional about it. It’s an honor to be here and to
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to share my story, and hopefully
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provide some insight and some help to other people. And
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little nervous still. But
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so I want to talk to you today about
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well, my story and
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kind of start at at the beginning. And yeah, I’m sorry you’re probably all like, well, he’s gonna tell her his life story. Well, yeah, cause it. It did start at the beginning and
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sort of I’ve been learning
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since the beginning about
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my capabilities and and
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resilience. I guess you would say
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so. I do want to start at the beginning. Where?
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And
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I promise everything that I’m talking about is going to be relevant, you know. Try to stay on topic. But all of these things that I’ve experienced in my life. I
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I think about a lot, and I try to bring to
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to my own children and to my students in particular, and to my colleagues as much as I can.
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And
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you know, honestly, it is something that
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that I just recently started talking about. I had some former students
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after I gave my graduation talk or showed my graduation video
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that came up to me and were kind of upset, that I had never told him the story before. And
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so it was something that I’d really
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it kind of kept private until recently.
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when I had the opportunity to speak at graduation
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because I had won and an award for
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distinguished teacher.
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And you know, when I’d won that award, it was sort of like.
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Oh, wow! I almost started crying. It was such an honor. And then I almost started crying because I realized I had to speak at Commencement.
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So it was a little nerve-wracking, but I saw it as kind of an opportunity to
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to share a
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with my students and their families something
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that I thought was relevant, particularly after Covid. You know.
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we as instructors, we really noticed a difference in our students. And
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so I thought it was particularly relevant, and maybe a little bit more meaningful than just sort of Hey, go out and get them
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which I didn’t find
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particularly inspiring.
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So
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I thought it was an appropriate time to kind of talk about it. So let me start sort of at the beginning.
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when I was when I was born
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I was born 6 weeks early, so
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I was premature, and
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when I was born I wasn’t breathing. So
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it came out, and you know the doctor, Patsy on the back, and I didn’t start breathing, so I was blue. I was limp
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So they rushed me out of the room, and I didn’t breathe for for several minutes.
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and so when the doctors came back in, they told my parents he’s got brain damage and
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Sorry.
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I wouldn’t be able to dress myself or
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anything like that. So
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they said, don’t expect them to have a normal life. I was in an incubator for 6 weeks with needles sort of all in my body to measure oxygen.
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and the priest had read me my last rites and all that kind of thing. So
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you know, it wasn’t wasn’t a great start, you know.
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and my limbs were sort of all contorted from the lack of oxygen and
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you know, one of my likes was really bent, and my mother asked about fixing it, and they said, Well, it’s not really worth it. So
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so it was kind of a rough start, and
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you know, so every night my mother would sort of massage my muscles to try to get them out of that position. And
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and then, a few weeks later.
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or I cut up
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couple months later, rather, I was diagnosed with spinal meningitis. So I was back in the hospital for another 6 weeks.
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And and
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spinal meningitis. It can be fatal. But
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the more significant thing is about half of
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newborns that get it have some sort of
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further brain damage or intellectual disabilities. So
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it wasn’t a promising beginning. And
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so they they had put me in this rehab facility
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place called the Kennedy Center, down in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
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for for
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rehab to see what whatever that they could do. And
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you know my mother told me one time that the nurses cheered. The nurses say like, why do they even bother? Because I was just?
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I wasn’t there, you know, anytime. They asked me to do something. I wouldn’t do it, and
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or try to get my attention.
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You know, any anything that they tried to do. I was just not.
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It could have been that I was stubborn, but you know I think for them they
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they saw as I was just not not really responding. So
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it took me a long time to walk, to crawl, to do pretty much everything, everything that was delayed.
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and I wasn’t forming complete sentences.
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you know
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well, well, after I should have been
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but one of my earliest memories was, I remember being in the car with my mother, and
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said, You know, mum birds eat birdseed, which
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it’s a sentence
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a.
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And I remember her crying.
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Yeah, that was, it’s one of my first memories, and I was like
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big deal.
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you know, but to her it was so.
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it seemed like, you know, sort of. All of a sudden I woke up.
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I did struggle in school. I had a lot of problems at dyslexia.
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reading comprehension issues
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add, though at the time they just thought it was
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beo
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lazy, or whatever
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you know at while I was in school.
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You know, people weren’t. Schools weren’t as sort of sensitive to these kinds of things as they are now, which
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is, is a good thing. I’m glad that we’ve made progress in that area, but I think some things got ignored or
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not addressed up. Maybe they should have been
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but I but I ended up thriving in
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in, in sports and art, and that kind of thing.
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I was into music, so I’d kind of proven everybody wrong.
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You know I wasn’t
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behind in school to the point where I had to stay back or anything. So I was doing okay. And
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you know I’ve proven all these these people wrong, which I still love doing and still proving people wrong. It’s sort of
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it’s a challenge, I think.
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but I remember being happy, and you know it wasn’t a bad childhood or anything so
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but I wonder sometimes how much that start that sort of rough start affected everything else after that.
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And I wonder, too, when I talk about what came next, how much of that
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could be attributed to that that sort of
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brain damage or the issues that I faced when I was born. So
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everything was great. And
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you know I remember being a happy kid, but great. About the end of seventh grade.
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I started to sort of feel different about a lot of things. And obviously there’s hormones flying around, and whatever. So
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to to my parents in
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and everybody else the teachers. It’s well, maybe it’s just
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puberty, you know. Everybody struggles with that.
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So
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but it was a big change, because in seventh grade it was the first time I’d gotten straight as in school.
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Oh.
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and the next year I failed 2 classes, so I just didn’t.
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I was terrified of everything.
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Reading in front of the class or just talking to people. I was just afraid of it, and
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I was afraid of making mistakes.
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and at the same time I also didn’t care which was kind of this weird.
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The dichotomy I guess, of
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like. Alright, I don’t wanna make a mistake, but I don’t care. So
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it was really difficult to deal with, and I first noticed it
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in sports. You know, baseball had always been in my life, you know, I would practice every day.
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And then I just stopped
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so
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you know, that was kind of a red flag for my parents
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hands.
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I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety issues particularly
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social anxiety.
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And
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the issue, though, was that you know, my mother.
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who had experienced depression herself, understood when I was going through my father.
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thought I was just being a wimp.
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and that you know I should just suck it up
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and didn’t believe in.
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But you know mental illness is a thing. It wasn’t a thing. It was just.
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You’re just being lazy, or
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whatever it might be so.
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It it made it hard
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in a couple ways to get help, because
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for him it was sort of well, why does he need to go see somebody he doesn’t need to.
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And at the same time, I’m thinking.
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you know, I’m believing him like.
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maybe I’m just lazy
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or whatever it might be so.
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you know my father wouldn’t, would
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my relationship with my father, especially after this point was not good.
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and I was angry at him for a long time. And
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I did just learn some things that
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made a lot of that. Okay, but I’ll get to that later.
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but I wasn’t getting the help that I needed and things get worse. And I ended up in the hospital twice
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for self-harming and suicidal thoughts.
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Some of that had to do with a reaction to antidepressants.
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Some of it was just how it was feeling so.
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but I but I remember, too.
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while I was in the hospital.
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a counselor saying, and I was.
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how old was it?
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16 at the time?
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Accounts are saying.
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you know, you guys
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talking to us kids, right? You guys will will probably spend the rest of your life in and out of hospitals like this. Oh, great!
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That’s that’s a positive statement.
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but I kind of look at that now, too, as like a challenge.
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I’m gonna take care of myself to a point where.
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hopefully, I don’t need to do that again. So
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But you know I really couldn’t figure out what was going on. My life wasn’t bad.
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I continued to struggle in school, and that the person sort of made that worse.
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you know.
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I was missing a lot of class and
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a lot of days.
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you know, at school, and it actually took me 5 years to graduate high school.
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my first senior year. I’d missed something like
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108 days, I think.
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because I I wasn’t going number one. I didn’t care all that much. Number 2.
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The anxiety was just too much, you know. It was just being in a class full of
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of my peers. I was just sort of afraid, you know, that social anxiety
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part of it was just too much.
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And because I was so far behind it was sort of like, well, what’s the point?
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Yeah.
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But I did end up eventually graduating after 5 years. It was sort of like a gift that was sort of like.
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just get you out of here.
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And I didn’t really have any direction or anything, and I’d been talking to
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one of
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My doctor’s about
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seasonal affective disorder. Maybe the sun, you know.
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feel better. And I so I had applied to a college out in Hawaii.
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Why not right hands? A lot of sunshine.
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and I got in somehow, and I was all excited, and I went to
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my father, and you know he wouldn’t sign the loan. He said he wouldn’t sign a loan to see me fail.
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So
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so that didn’t really work out. But while I was in
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high school.
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you know, right around this time
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in high school I had met this woman. She was my guardian’s counselor.
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and you know I got really close to her and her family.
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and about that time that my father wouldn’t sign the loan. I
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I moved out and actually moved in with
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that family.
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And
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they.
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you know, my relationship with my dad was so bad at that point. It was
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we couldn’t stay in the same house, so I moved in with his family.
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and they sort of had a different perspective on.
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on life and on me, you know. So it’s sort of from day. One
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first day I met her. It was like I could do anything.
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So
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you know, instead of I don’t want to see you fail. It was you can do anything that you want to.
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And so they reminded me that I had strengths and not weaknesses. And that’s something that I really
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focus on with my students. Now, you know, everybody has weaknesses. But you have these great strengths too. So how can we
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use that to your advantage, and help you be successful by
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utilizing those strengths? So
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that was sort of the first time that I
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been had experienced that
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sort of viewpoint. You know, it had always been.
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I’m gonna tear you down and not. I’m gonna lift you up. So
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So after high school, I moved in with these people. And after high school, I didn’t really do a whole lot.
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you know, end up working like a car wash, and whatever.
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And then I ran into who was now my wife, this woman who was now my wife, Adie, and
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we had dated in high school, and I just kind of ran into her. And there you go.
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and I saw sort of a future for the first time.
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Evan.
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So I decided, if I want future, I’m going to have to go to college. So
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I started at a community college in
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00:19:11.880 –> 00:19:16.460
enrolled, and my father was like, Are you sure you can do 4 classes?
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So it
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there’s a challenge for
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But it was really difficult, because about this time I started to develop panic disorder.
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It was really based on that social anxiety. But
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I
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you know every
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class I would go into. I I would have to sit right next to the door because I would have panic attacks.
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So you know, I kind of got worried that he was right.
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You know that I wasn’t gonna be able to do it.
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But
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I love proving people wrong. So
273
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I ended up at keen state. And I’ve got some
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some amazing people here.
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See Liz, there!
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And
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you know the people that lifted me up and I graduated with a 4.0
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And you know, I think my dad was proud.
279
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but you know
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So things were great again, you know. It was like, Wow, you know I accomplished this great thing.
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and
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you know
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everything was great.
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So if you think you know, that part of the story was emotionally told.
285
00:21:00.870 –> 00:21:03.969
so things were good. I got in a job
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in Philadelphia as a photographer at Saint Joseph’s University.
287
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And
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It was a good job. I didn’t like the city, but it’s a good job. It’s a good first job.
289
00:21:17.440 –> 00:21:20.370
and you know I was really interested in.
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00:21:21.170 –> 00:21:34.009
you know, pursuing an Mfa. Because I eventually wanted to teach. I wanted to be a college professor. It started off. My goal was to be a photographer, and then it just sort of changed to.
291
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You know, I had met these great people at keen state.
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This is what I want to do with the rest of my life. So.
293
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and then.
294
00:21:47.350 –> 00:21:50.020
by some sort of miracle.
295
00:21:50.250 –> 00:21:54.399
Nona Feinberg, who was the Dean at the time, the keynote state
296
00:21:55.260 –> 00:22:02.600
we had been in touch, and the instructor that worked with the college newspaper, the equinox
297
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had suddenly quit right before winter break, and they had no one
298
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the
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could come in. So she sent me a message and said, Hey, can you be here on January eighteenth and teach.
300
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So and my wife was pregnant at the time, and it was a huge pay cut
301
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need to make a cut.
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00:22:25.430 –> 00:22:31.240
and I ended up, having to break my lease in my apartment, which I still had to pay for when I moved here.
303
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Silly, but
304
00:22:33.130 –> 00:22:35.470
it was a big risk, but it was
305
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where I wanted to be. It was what I wanted to do.
306
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and it was an opportunity. And
307
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you know I I know I knew that I needed to do it, and luckily so did my wife.
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She was, I said, pregnant at the time, and
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was was with me. So
310
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So everything was great
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until
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I’m
313
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not too long into that that
314
00:23:03.960 –> 00:23:08.500
appointment. I was at a department meeting, and the chair at the time said, Well.
315
00:23:09.370 –> 00:23:12.140
we’re going to create a tenure track for
316
00:23:13.030 –> 00:23:20.679
essentially what I was doing in a tenure track. If you’re not aware, you need what’s called a terminal degree. So you either need a Ph. D.
317
00:23:20.850 –> 00:23:23.620
Or an Mfa. And Mfa. Is sort of like
318
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almost like a Phd. Without the dissertation.
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Has a thesis instead.
320
00:23:30.510 –> 00:23:33.169
but they’re both significant
321
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degrees, you know, and I’m I’m sitting there like, Oh.
322
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I just lost my job
323
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because
324
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yeah, I hadn’t even started.
325
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you know, a degree program. Yet. So
326
00:23:49.820 –> 00:23:51.700
so what happened was
327
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the department, luckily enough, wrote the job Ad.
328
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So that
329
00:23:57.920 –> 00:24:02.620
you know you could apply for this if you had your degree by this date, and it was
330
00:24:02.640 –> 00:24:04.669
essentially 2 years from
331
00:24:05.310 –> 00:24:07.010
when they put the job head out.
332
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The problem was, is that an Mfa at the very least takes 3 years.
333
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the complete
334
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and A. Ph. D. Usually for
335
00:24:20.470 –> 00:24:22.440
communication, probably 4 years.
336
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It’s a heck.
337
00:24:24.010 –> 00:24:24.939
hey? You know
338
00:24:25.060 –> 00:24:26.699
I don’t. I don’t know.
339
00:24:27.100 –> 00:24:34.460
It didn’t look hopeful. But I did find this program that
340
00:24:34.670 –> 00:24:38.400
out in San Francisco that did a remote Mfa program.
341
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and I enrolled, and I started it right away that summer.
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00:24:44.850 –> 00:24:48.720
and I talked to the school, and I explained my situation. I said, Look.
343
00:24:49.510 –> 00:24:56.220
is there any way I can do this in 2 years, and they said, not normally, but they gave me the exception
344
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to do it. So
345
00:25:00.790 –> 00:25:04.860
so I was working full-time. I was going to graduate school more than full-time.
346
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I also had a part-time
347
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job at at a golf course, and my daughter had just been born.
348
00:25:12.960 –> 00:25:15.319
So it’s just sort of like. You know.
349
00:25:16.670 –> 00:25:20.889
you know it was worth it to me. It was worth the the risk.
350
00:25:21.120 –> 00:25:22.240
Well, you know.
351
00:25:22.790 –> 00:25:26.830
and I didn’t even know if I had the job yet, so I still had to apply for my job
352
00:25:28.920 –> 00:25:30.180
at the same time.
353
00:25:32.010 –> 00:25:35.050
and I did end up getting the job somehow.
354
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I mean obviously up here. So somehow, I get the job.
355
00:25:39.770 –> 00:25:41.440
But I had that deadline.
356
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you know.
357
00:25:43.310 –> 00:25:46.609
and it was kind of crazy. But
358
00:25:48.250 –> 00:25:50.890
I think that alone was stressful enough.
359
00:25:52.490 –> 00:25:57.019
But what happened during that time during that two-year period
360
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was
361
00:25:59.060 –> 00:26:02.429
so that September my father passed away
362
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And
363
00:26:07.680 –> 00:26:12.540
the year after. So the second year of my degree program my mother died.
364
00:26:14.205 –> 00:26:14.889
So!
365
00:26:15.970 –> 00:26:20.099
And I really struggled with that pretty hard, you know, in
366
00:26:20.560 –> 00:26:22.820
it would have been hard enough if
367
00:26:23.790 –> 00:26:26.599
I was sleeping more than 3 HA night, because
368
00:26:26.770 –> 00:26:27.889
I’m still.
369
00:26:28.050 –> 00:26:33.619
I can’t take a break from anything. So I’m still working full time, you know, teaching full time. I’m still graduate school full time.
370
00:26:34.570 –> 00:26:36.979
I can’t stop because I have that deadline.
371
00:26:37.420 –> 00:26:38.420
So
372
00:26:40.370 –> 00:26:43.050
you know, it’s sleeping 2 or 3 HA night.
373
00:26:43.750 –> 00:26:44.810
and
374
00:26:46.280 –> 00:26:50.839
somehow I finished my degree program on time with 2 days to spare
375
00:26:50.920 –> 00:26:54.549
like it, finished May tenth, and the deadline was May twelfth something like that.
376
00:26:54.860 –> 00:26:56.040
So I finished.
377
00:26:56.280 –> 00:27:00.989
But during that time, like I said, I’ve been sleeping 2 to 3 HA night.
378
00:27:01.220 –> 00:27:02.320
I actually
379
00:27:02.540 –> 00:27:04.610
became addicted to
380
00:27:04.940 –> 00:27:07.920
sleeping pills, to ambient witches. Oh.
381
00:27:08.450 –> 00:27:09.769
not a good thing.
382
00:27:11.150 –> 00:27:12.100
And
383
00:27:13.280 –> 00:27:15.559
you know, between all of those things.
384
00:27:16.160 –> 00:27:17.080
it just
385
00:27:17.280 –> 00:27:18.180
the
386
00:27:18.730 –> 00:27:24.449
it hit the fan, you know, and I I ended up back in the hospital.
387
00:27:25.060 –> 00:27:28.440
and I’m sitting there in the hospital thinking like, what am I doing here like? I?
388
00:27:28.490 –> 00:27:31.760
My wife is at home with a 2 year old
389
00:27:32.050 –> 00:27:33.839
at my job, and whatever
390
00:27:34.990 –> 00:27:35.615
and
391
00:27:36.390 –> 00:27:39.869
I just couldn’t understand how I ended up there, and
392
00:27:40.400 –> 00:27:44.709
part of it again was a reaction to antidepressants.
393
00:27:45.310 –> 00:27:46.090
but
394
00:27:46.380 –> 00:27:53.429
it was everything that had just happened. You know the loss of my parents. My daughter being born, we had bought a house during that time.
395
00:27:54.080 –> 00:27:58.509
Every stressful thing you could possibly think about, you know, sort of happened
396
00:27:58.840 –> 00:28:01.999
in that time, and I was still having panic attacks, and
397
00:28:02.070 –> 00:28:05.070
it was just a difficult time, and
398
00:28:05.940 –> 00:28:07.710
I ended up at hospital. But
399
00:28:08.690 –> 00:28:12.509
you know it was really a turning point, because
400
00:28:13.430 –> 00:28:17.010
I sort of met a couple of people when it was a
401
00:28:18.110 –> 00:28:20.780
a patient as well. One was a counsellor
402
00:28:21.250 –> 00:28:23.780
and the patient the the patient was sort of
403
00:28:24.550 –> 00:28:27.490
a lot like my dad, you know, and
404
00:28:28.200 –> 00:28:31.490
he’s someone who had been homeless and struggled with
405
00:28:34.530 –> 00:28:37.300
alcohol dependency and
406
00:28:38.560 –> 00:28:44.240
was really in rough shape, and he was like, what do you have to complain about.
407
00:28:44.550 –> 00:28:48.119
It’s like you’re you’re a professor, you’re a
408
00:28:48.160 –> 00:28:50.950
kids, a family, you know. I lost my family. So
409
00:28:53.080 –> 00:28:56.439
There was that who reminded me a lot of my father, and
410
00:28:56.810 –> 00:28:59.210
there was also a counsellor who
411
00:29:00.170 –> 00:29:02.819
really he was my age. He
412
00:29:03.130 –> 00:29:07.549
he wore a red Sox hat like I did. I mean, like he was talking to me directly.
413
00:29:09.990 –> 00:29:11.030
And
414
00:29:11.250 –> 00:29:16.039
they really, you know, made an impact on me.
415
00:29:16.680 –> 00:29:23.629
And so for the first time, I started to really try to take care of myself, and sort of
416
00:29:23.830 –> 00:29:26.959
learned a lot about meditation and breathing.
417
00:29:27.320 –> 00:29:29.580
started exercising more, and
418
00:29:30.790 –> 00:29:34.369
tried to find a different perspective. A more positive
419
00:29:34.480 –> 00:29:36.359
sort of outlook.
420
00:29:37.240 –> 00:29:38.270
And
421
00:29:38.670 –> 00:29:41.960
so once again, things started to get
422
00:29:42.690 –> 00:29:46.630
okay. You know, I I had a good life. I started to really
423
00:29:48.850 –> 00:29:51.609
appreciate, you know my life, and and
424
00:29:51.950 –> 00:29:54.830
and what I had, and where I’d gotten to, and things were great again.
425
00:29:54.890 –> 00:29:56.090
And
426
00:29:57.200 –> 00:29:59.400
and then again something happened.
427
00:29:59.540 –> 00:30:03.449
So in 2,018, January 2,018,
428
00:30:03.880 –> 00:30:04.830
a.
429
00:30:05.570 –> 00:30:06.810
My!
430
00:30:07.170 –> 00:30:08.569
My son was born.
431
00:30:08.760 –> 00:30:12.809
So my third child was born in on January sixth.
432
00:30:13.460 –> 00:30:17.749
and I remember how cold it was when we brought him home. It was like 20 below when we brought him home.
433
00:30:19.160 –> 00:30:20.140
and
434
00:30:20.380 –> 00:30:22.179
everything’s awesome right?
435
00:30:22.680 –> 00:30:25.349
And then, 8 days later.
436
00:30:25.920 –> 00:30:26.730
A.
437
00:30:26.880 –> 00:30:30.099
I brought my oldest daughter to gymnastics practice.
438
00:30:30.300 –> 00:30:35.179
and you know, one of the other kids mothers was like, Hey should have a play date like sure. Why not.
439
00:30:36.340 –> 00:30:37.350
and
440
00:30:37.810 –> 00:30:41.049
a few hours later it’s sort of you know.
441
00:30:43.620 –> 00:30:47.849
Parents were a nightmare. I get a call from the mother. She’s hysterical and
442
00:31:08.070 –> 00:31:10.419
My my daughter had been Miss
443
00:31:16.710 –> 00:31:18.890
a sledding accident in.
444
00:31:19.680 –> 00:31:20.600
She
445
00:31:24.930 –> 00:31:28.319
she had a traumatic brain injury and fractured her skull.
446
00:31:30.830 –> 00:31:31.780
Isn’t
447
00:31:33.060 –> 00:31:35.270
you know we? It’s
448
00:31:35.420 –> 00:31:36.649
she could have died.
449
00:31:41.115 –> 00:31:41.850
Sorry.
450
00:31:46.610 –> 00:31:47.510
So
451
00:31:48.990 –> 00:31:50.661
so then that happened.
452
00:31:51.360 –> 00:31:52.646
and actually
453
00:31:53.790 –> 00:31:59.159
Not too long ago I was diagnosed with Ptsd. Related to that
454
00:32:01.510 –> 00:32:06.839
which actually helped me understand my father a little bit more. My father had been in Vietnam.
455
00:32:08.910 –> 00:32:09.930
so
456
00:32:11.700 –> 00:32:16.799
A lot of the things that I was experiencing I recognized from
457
00:32:27.000 –> 00:32:29.100
from my father so.
458
00:32:29.590 –> 00:32:31.249
but I ignored
459
00:32:31.340 –> 00:32:36.219
it again. It’s like, Oh, it’ll get better. But Ptsd doesn’t get better.
460
00:32:36.440 –> 00:32:37.879
so I’m finding out
461
00:32:39.530 –> 00:32:42.240
you know, and I was more susceptible to it because of
462
00:32:42.500 –> 00:32:45.659
the other thing, the depression, anxiety, and that kind of thing.
463
00:32:47.080 –> 00:32:47.909
So
464
00:32:51.030 –> 00:33:00.529
yeah, sorry. So my imagination and my visual sort of abilities have always been my strength, and
465
00:33:01.400 –> 00:33:04.260
it has been sort of part of my
466
00:33:05.010 –> 00:33:11.299
my struggle with this. So the Ptsd basically manifests in
467
00:33:11.940 –> 00:33:12.970
these
468
00:33:13.090 –> 00:33:16.219
sort of visual flashes of, you know.
469
00:33:16.870 –> 00:33:18.920
So if if there’s a
470
00:33:19.450 –> 00:33:21.670
loud noise in in the other room.
471
00:33:22.670 –> 00:33:24.699
it automatically in my brain.
472
00:33:25.340 –> 00:33:27.569
there’s my kid in a pool of blood, you know.
473
00:33:27.780 –> 00:33:28.730
So
474
00:33:28.880 –> 00:33:32.949
so that’s sort of constant throughout the day. So it’s
475
00:33:33.160 –> 00:33:34.970
it’s something that I’m sort of
476
00:33:35.250 –> 00:33:36.940
dealing with now. But
477
00:33:39.990 –> 00:33:46.389
it’s also a way. It’s something that we’ve talked to our kids about, and a way for them to show them that
478
00:33:46.930 –> 00:33:49.309
it’s okay to get help. You know
479
00:33:51.060 –> 00:33:52.620
and that
480
00:33:52.650 –> 00:33:55.810
you know everybody struggles with things. And
481
00:33:56.750 –> 00:33:59.789
you know it’s okay to ask for help. And therapy is okay. So
482
00:34:02.390 –> 00:34:03.280
So
483
00:34:04.650 –> 00:34:06.309
you know. I think that
484
00:34:07.930 –> 00:34:10.557
now that you sort of know my life story.
485
00:34:12.150 –> 00:34:18.450
I kind of want to mention a few things about how that comes into play with sort of my work in my teaching.
486
00:34:19.469 –> 00:34:20.350
An
487
00:34:20.830 –> 00:34:23.789
a lot of it has to do with
488
00:34:25.250 –> 00:34:28.540
some of these things that happen. So the doctor’s saying, you know he’ll never
489
00:34:29.130 –> 00:34:31.839
have a normal life or dress himself, whatever
490
00:34:33.420 –> 00:34:37.500
you know my father’s saying they couldn’t do things
491
00:34:38.909 –> 00:34:41.790
that that I wanted to. I couldn’t accomplish these things.
492
00:34:42.380 –> 00:34:44.989
You know that that counsellor
493
00:34:45.250 –> 00:34:49.899
at the the hospital saying, Oh, you guys will be in and out of the hospital the rest of your lives.
494
00:34:50.449 –> 00:34:57.390
You know I’m very sensitive to those kinds of statements, because those are limiting statements that
495
00:34:57.920 –> 00:34:59.700
don’t allow for
496
00:35:01.560 –> 00:35:04.860
Don’t allow for good things to happen, and don’t allow for
497
00:35:05.840 –> 00:35:10.430
you know people to reach their potential, or whatever that might be. So
498
00:35:12.400 –> 00:35:18.450
you know, as a professor, I have what I say affects my students.
499
00:35:19.110 –> 00:35:22.149
even though I might not think they’re listening most of the time.
500
00:35:22.390 –> 00:35:29.460
It does affect them. The things that I talked to them about. And I remember one student early on
501
00:35:30.500 –> 00:35:31.270
the
502
00:35:31.400 –> 00:35:36.109
I had taken aside, and I said, You know you could really be good at photojournalism.
503
00:35:36.330 –> 00:35:37.310
and
504
00:35:37.820 –> 00:35:42.099
you know, she said it helped shape her career. So.
505
00:35:44.760 –> 00:35:50.280
You know, I’m very sensitive to what I say, and I’m very careful about what I say, but I try to
506
00:35:50.540 –> 00:35:54.160
find sort of those strengths of my students that I can
507
00:35:54.520 –> 00:35:56.020
get them to focus on
508
00:35:56.170 –> 00:35:59.280
rather than things that they struggle with, or things that
509
00:35:59.560 –> 00:36:02.020
set them back, or or you know.
510
00:36:02.540 –> 00:36:08.920
but they, just for whatever reason, don’t excel in. Well, there are things that you do excel in. So let’s concentrate on those.
511
00:36:09.020 –> 00:36:11.110
And how can we turn that into?
512
00:36:11.480 –> 00:36:13.070
You know your future?
513
00:36:16.900 –> 00:36:20.729
so you know, I have an opportunity every day to
514
00:36:20.790 –> 00:36:30.199
make a positive impact on these students’ lives and on my kids’ lives. And it’s a big responsibility. But at the same time.
515
00:36:30.760 –> 00:36:35.240
you know, it’s an honor to to be in that position.
516
00:36:35.610 –> 00:36:37.589
and it’s something that
517
00:36:38.000 –> 00:36:41.260
I take pride in it that I don’t take lightly. It’s
518
00:36:43.600 –> 00:36:44.580
you know it.
519
00:36:45.090 –> 00:36:48.610
I’m pretty lucky in the job that I have, but I can
520
00:36:51.370 –> 00:36:54.850
maybe make a difference in somebody’s life
521
00:36:55.250 –> 00:36:56.200
ends
522
00:36:57.380 –> 00:36:59.210
not, and and not
523
00:36:59.810 –> 00:37:06.039
to help them, maybe overcome some of those hurdles or those limiting statements that maybe they’ve heard
524
00:37:07.880 –> 00:37:09.099
And and I’ve
525
00:37:09.260 –> 00:37:16.480
heard from a lot of students. Well, I can’t. You know my parents don’t want me to be a journalism, major, because it’s a dying industry, whatever.
526
00:37:17.550 –> 00:37:22.299
And then they get a great job as a media producer somewhere, you know. And
527
00:37:22.890 –> 00:37:23.890
so.
528
00:37:24.650 –> 00:37:26.580
you know, it’s really
529
00:37:26.810 –> 00:37:30.879
I’m lucky to be, you know where I am and to.
530
00:37:31.010 –> 00:37:34.980
I think I’ve gotten through some of the things that that I have, so that I can
531
00:37:38.210 –> 00:37:41.909
sort of pass that along to some of my students.
532
00:37:42.130 –> 00:37:46.729
If they’re struggling with something, it’s easier for me to help them get through it, because
533
00:37:47.050 –> 00:37:49.480
maybe I’ve been through something similar. And
534
00:37:51.940 –> 00:37:53.969
yeah, I think college.
535
00:37:54.430 –> 00:38:01.370
You know, there’s this sort of movement, and I know you don’t need to go to college anymore. But I feel like college is where a lot of people figure it out.
536
00:38:02.150 –> 00:38:04.309
and and not just in terms of
537
00:38:05.120 –> 00:38:07.569
getting a degree and figuring out
538
00:38:07.960 –> 00:38:09.789
how to pass a test, but
539
00:38:09.880 –> 00:38:15.170
figuring out sort of who they are and how to how to overcome challenges, and
540
00:38:16.060 –> 00:38:19.840
maybe really figuring out what they want to do with their life.
541
00:38:19.980 –> 00:38:23.709
you know, and I really enjoy that part of my job.
542
00:38:24.720 –> 00:38:27.139
And I think, as educators.
543
00:38:27.420 –> 00:38:28.239
you know, of
544
00:38:29.060 –> 00:38:30.830
college faculty staff.
545
00:38:31.290 –> 00:38:34.950
Whoever the people involved in the student experience
546
00:38:35.520 –> 00:38:37.699
have kind of a responsibility to
547
00:38:38.000 –> 00:38:40.949
help the students through that, and to
548
00:38:41.690 –> 00:38:43.100
kind of show them
549
00:38:44.270 –> 00:38:47.359
what they could do and let them go there.
550
00:38:49.290 –> 00:38:54.080
so you know, I think that’s the most sort of rewarding part of my job, and
551
00:38:54.500 –> 00:38:57.460
you know I get to help people every day. I get to
552
00:38:57.730 –> 00:39:00.780
try to make a difference every day, and I hope I do. But
553
00:39:03.610 –> 00:39:05.980
you know, just sort of taking that extra minute.
554
00:39:08.000 –> 00:39:15.029
I’ve seen students just totally turn around in a class just by me saying, Hey, I think you can do this and
555
00:39:15.880 –> 00:39:17.650
total change. So
556
00:39:17.720 –> 00:39:21.649
you know. I try to do that as much as I can, because
557
00:39:21.670 –> 00:39:23.300
I know how difficult
558
00:39:24.600 –> 00:39:25.709
some of those
559
00:39:25.900 –> 00:39:28.800
statements can be that you know
560
00:39:30.410 –> 00:39:32.910
from parents, or whoever that
561
00:39:33.220 –> 00:39:35.879
you can’t do this. But well, maybe you can.
562
00:39:36.040 –> 00:39:39.439
And let’s try to figure out a way for you to do that.
563
00:39:40.220 –> 00:39:43.200
And I think a lot of times it’s come up where
564
00:39:44.150 –> 00:39:45.980
the student needs
565
00:39:46.890 –> 00:39:47.990
Some help
566
00:39:48.480 –> 00:39:55.029
from a mental health perspective, you know a lot, and especially after Covid.
567
00:39:57.460 –> 00:39:58.649
you know. There
568
00:39:59.410 –> 00:40:06.269
I brought a lot of students over the counseling center before Covid, and I’ve brought probably a lot more sense.
569
00:40:06.560 –> 00:40:08.109
We came back from that.
570
00:40:08.320 –> 00:40:14.930
You know, I had students even tell me, like, I’m not really even comfortable being in the classroom anymore. Like, I just don’t want to be around people anymore.
571
00:40:15.840 –> 00:40:21.090
And we’re seeing that more and more every semester where
572
00:40:22.930 –> 00:40:25.200
students just don’t know how to be together.
573
00:40:25.280 –> 00:40:27.680
They don’t know how to work together.
574
00:40:27.780 –> 00:40:30.589
They don’t want to go to an event. They don’t want to
575
00:40:32.420 –> 00:40:38.589
to go out and talk to people. A lot of journalism. One of the first assignments in
576
00:40:38.830 –> 00:40:42.520
one of the courses I teach is that you have to go out and
577
00:40:42.670 –> 00:40:45.949
get photos of people doing stuff on campus and get their names. And
578
00:40:46.150 –> 00:40:48.939
last semester. I had 7 people’s job
579
00:40:49.110 –> 00:40:50.900
first week because of that.
580
00:40:50.970 –> 00:40:52.509
because they don’t want to
581
00:40:52.870 –> 00:40:55.150
engage. So I think that
582
00:40:56.070 –> 00:40:58.835
you know for me, I’m really pushing
583
00:40:59.290 –> 00:41:02.649
and I’ve I’ve talked to the the keen State President about this as well.
584
00:41:04.840 –> 00:41:07.530
I’m really pushing for sort of added
585
00:41:07.680 –> 00:41:10.009
mental health services on campus.
586
00:41:10.070 –> 00:41:12.599
but also early engagement.
587
00:41:12.800 –> 00:41:13.779
you know,
588
00:41:15.380 –> 00:41:20.489
trying to engage more with first-year students and give them tools to
589
00:41:21.260 –> 00:41:24.780
to manage stress, to learn how to take a test to
590
00:41:24.990 –> 00:41:30.750
you know. How do I manage my time? I’ve been in high school, and it’s like 8 to 2 every day.
591
00:41:31.450 –> 00:41:35.079
It’s not the same here, and there’s sort of a lot of
592
00:41:36.360 –> 00:41:40.270
flexibility to get in trouble with. I guess you could say where
593
00:41:41.750 –> 00:41:45.389
there’s there’s so much freedom right away when they get here that
594
00:41:46.430 –> 00:41:49.529
it’s hard to manage. And if a student needs structure.
595
00:41:49.980 –> 00:41:52.239
So someone like me with
596
00:41:52.500 –> 00:41:55.009
with Ad. D. And and
597
00:41:55.040 –> 00:41:56.850
I still have trouble, reading and
598
00:41:57.280 –> 00:42:02.389
anxiety and depression. I need structure. If I don’t have structure, everything goes downhill, and
599
00:42:02.850 –> 00:42:05.439
students will come to college, and there’s no there.
600
00:42:05.490 –> 00:42:08.319
You have to be here 2 days a week, and other than that
601
00:42:08.330 –> 00:42:09.460
you’re on your own.
602
00:42:09.740 –> 00:42:11.930
and I don’t. I don’t
603
00:42:12.320 –> 00:42:15.910
necessarily agree with sort of our current approach, too.
604
00:42:16.450 –> 00:42:18.950
helping to manage that transition.
605
00:42:19.900 –> 00:42:20.610
In
606
00:42:20.830 –> 00:42:24.879
giving students the tools right away to manage those things and
607
00:42:25.440 –> 00:42:29.920
knowing when to get help, whether it’s with tutoring, or with
608
00:42:29.990 –> 00:42:32.700
depression or anxiety. When do you?
609
00:42:33.170 –> 00:42:36.829
You know? Here’s when you should get help. Here are the people you need to talk to.
610
00:42:38.410 –> 00:42:45.309
you know, and giving them some sort of connection on campus that they can go to, whether it’s a faculty member or a staff member.
611
00:42:47.400 –> 00:42:51.300
you know, I don’t think that we do enough with that. So that’s something that I’m
612
00:42:51.820 –> 00:42:53.500
really pushing for
613
00:42:53.650 –> 00:42:57.260
now, and probably will be forever, you know, because
614
00:42:58.030 –> 00:43:02.690
to me it’s never sort of enough, you know. I think that
615
00:43:03.430 –> 00:43:08.980
mental health is absolutely tied to academic success as much as people don’t agree with me.
616
00:43:09.830 –> 00:43:13.120
You can’t. If you’re not feeling good. There’s no way you’re going to do. Well.
617
00:43:13.230 –> 00:43:15.300
you might. But
618
00:43:15.460 –> 00:43:22.900
you end up like me where I just totally got in trouble, you know, because I wasn’t taking care of myself. So it’s like, yeah, I made it through. But
619
00:43:25.470 –> 00:43:30.310
you know. So I think that’s one of my sort of primary goals
620
00:43:30.800 –> 00:43:31.920
as I
621
00:43:32.290 –> 00:43:34.310
go through my career, and
622
00:43:35.000 –> 00:43:36.799
it’s completely tied to
623
00:43:36.980 –> 00:43:42.970
the success of my students just as much as me, encouraging them. They need to be healthy at the same time.
624
00:43:43.300 –> 00:43:44.270
So
625
00:43:45.295 –> 00:43:47.569
and if we don’t teach them that
626
00:43:48.440 –> 00:43:55.729
at this point, then we’re sort of failing them, because then they go out and get a job. And then there’s more stress. And then a family.
627
00:43:56.610 –> 00:43:59.550
If we can teach them that here
628
00:44:00.170 –> 00:44:06.530
they’re going to be not only better set up to succeed in college, but just in their life in general.
629
00:44:06.740 –> 00:44:08.130
you know, I still do
630
00:44:08.530 –> 00:44:14.359
some of the stress management stuff I was taught in a class at community college that we had to take.
631
00:44:14.410 –> 00:44:15.323
you know.
632
00:44:16.250 –> 00:44:17.180
so
633
00:44:17.460 –> 00:44:22.349
you know, those kind of things make a real impact. And I think the more we can do
634
00:44:22.610 –> 00:44:24.740
to address that, and not just sort of
635
00:44:24.870 –> 00:44:27.449
ignore it and let them deal with it on their own.
636
00:44:29.590 –> 00:44:31.660
then we’re really doing our job. I think
637
00:44:33.150 –> 00:44:34.780
so. I I
638
00:44:36.370 –> 00:44:44.809
I think that’s pretty much all I have to say. I I guess this is the part where we would move to questions. That right?
639
00:44:47.010 –> 00:44:51.590
Thank you so much, Julio. It was great to hear your story, and it
640
00:44:52.310 –> 00:44:58.069
so important to use those lived experiences to help other people.
641
00:44:58.850 –> 00:45:05.400
you know, have success in their lives, and very inspirational.
642
00:45:06.650 –> 00:45:10.020
So yes, this is the time for Q&A.
643
00:45:10.280 –> 00:45:17.640
And we don’t have the chat function enabled. But you can put your questions in the
644
00:45:18.640 –> 00:45:20.760
Q. And a feature.
645
00:45:20.980 –> 00:45:24.619
and we have one question in.
646
00:45:25.430 –> 00:45:30.960
I really appreciated you talking about the limiting statements of the and that words matter.
647
00:45:31.270 –> 00:45:36.260
Do you have a daily or consistent practice of using positive affirmations
648
00:45:37.030 –> 00:45:39.759
for yourself as part of your recovery.
649
00:45:40.750 –> 00:45:42.726
So so for me.
650
00:45:43.640 –> 00:45:46.365
yes, I do. Short answer.
651
00:45:48.130 –> 00:45:49.820
it’s it’s interesting
652
00:45:50.580 –> 00:45:54.589
talk about those limiting statements, and I’ll give you kind of a good example of
653
00:45:54.820 –> 00:45:55.770
one that
654
00:45:56.200 –> 00:45:58.609
was sort of pervasive in my life. Where?
655
00:46:00.290 –> 00:46:01.920
you know his sports was.
656
00:46:02.420 –> 00:46:05.529
Was everything in my house growing up like? If you weren’t.
657
00:46:05.580 –> 00:46:10.350
You need to be playing sport every season all the time, whatever it might be.
658
00:46:10.560 –> 00:46:11.450
So.
659
00:46:12.460 –> 00:46:14.250
But I also remember.
660
00:46:14.580 –> 00:46:16.859
you know my my father’s sort of
661
00:46:17.400 –> 00:46:19.600
I guess you would call them pep talks, but
662
00:46:19.750 –> 00:46:20.639
you know
663
00:46:21.070 –> 00:46:24.920
there was a lot of like, Hey, don’t f up
664
00:46:25.030 –> 00:46:25.760
right.
665
00:46:26.170 –> 00:46:28.640
And for a long time
666
00:46:29.720 –> 00:46:30.830
after that.
667
00:46:31.370 –> 00:46:33.380
you know, when I would do
668
00:46:33.550 –> 00:46:34.859
pretty much anything.
669
00:46:35.200 –> 00:46:38.620
sports or otherwise. I kind of hear that in my head.
670
00:46:39.260 –> 00:46:41.819
you know, don’t have up, and and
671
00:46:42.800 –> 00:46:46.990
for a while it was like, Where does it come from? Well, that’s where it came from, where.
672
00:46:47.350 –> 00:46:49.180
you know, I would have a game coming up
673
00:46:49.770 –> 00:46:53.680
for a game that day, and my dad would say something like that and
674
00:46:55.680 –> 00:46:58.119
again. He wasn’t a bad man. It was just sort of
675
00:46:58.960 –> 00:47:02.269
I don’t know if he was trying to tear me down, or what? But
676
00:47:04.270 –> 00:47:06.950
So that stuck with me for a long time, and
677
00:47:07.560 –> 00:47:11.930
I started to do sort of thought replacement kind of thing where
678
00:47:12.010 –> 00:47:15.470
I would hear that, and then I would counteract it with something else.
679
00:47:17.740 –> 00:47:20.189
And that could be anything from.
680
00:47:21.830 –> 00:47:26.269
you know. I’m not, gonna you know, sort of talking back to that that
681
00:47:26.710 –> 00:47:28.420
reflex or
682
00:47:29.465 –> 00:47:30.380
just
683
00:47:30.680 –> 00:47:35.600
sort of trying to breathe or replacing it with just more of a
684
00:47:36.020 –> 00:47:40.919
you know, this is, gonna be a good shot. Say, if I were playing golf or something like that, and
685
00:47:41.210 –> 00:47:44.109
and it took a long time, but I was able to sort of
686
00:47:44.210 –> 00:47:45.490
that doesn’t happen
687
00:47:45.710 –> 00:47:46.890
really anymore.
688
00:47:47.150 –> 00:47:50.210
And if it does, I know how to handle it. But
689
00:47:50.240 –> 00:47:51.789
I mean every day is.
690
00:47:53.080 –> 00:47:58.800
you know. To be honest, every day is tough. Every day I get up. There are a few days where I get up, and I’m like, Hey.
691
00:47:59.140 –> 00:48:02.439
I’m great, but a lot of days. It’s sort of a struggle to
692
00:48:02.520 –> 00:48:04.130
to get out of bed. And
693
00:48:05.130 –> 00:48:09.430
and I’ve been working on sort of when I get up that. Okay, this is
694
00:48:09.530 –> 00:48:13.540
this is going to be a good day, like, I have these negative feelings already, but it’s
695
00:48:14.430 –> 00:48:19.210
since the start of the day. It’s going to be a good day, and I have this to look forward to, and then this. And
696
00:48:19.570 –> 00:48:20.530
you know, I get to
697
00:48:20.660 –> 00:48:23.340
bring my kids to school, and and whatever. And and
698
00:48:23.500 –> 00:48:30.960
so just trying to sort of shift that focus. So as soon as I recognize the negative thought or just the negative feeling
699
00:48:31.990 –> 00:48:33.520
to say, oh, that’s just.
700
00:48:34.070 –> 00:48:36.020
you know, my, my.
701
00:48:36.420 –> 00:48:39.900
my body being protective, or whatever it might be.
702
00:48:39.980 –> 00:48:42.910
or it’s just a habit of this negative thinking pattern.
703
00:48:43.530 –> 00:48:47.310
All right. I’m just gonna kind of refocus instead of sort of letting it
704
00:48:47.710 –> 00:48:49.489
snowball throughout the day.
705
00:48:50.040 –> 00:48:51.859
Just sort of letting it go
706
00:48:51.980 –> 00:48:55.720
and trying to replace it with something positive as much as I can.
707
00:48:56.170 –> 00:48:59.451
Yeah, some days are better than others, but you know it’s
708
00:49:00.830 –> 00:49:03.200
It’s a good start, especially with
709
00:49:03.590 –> 00:49:07.430
the Ptsd stuff right now is that replacement of
710
00:49:08.020 –> 00:49:09.929
you know I get that flash of
711
00:49:10.940 –> 00:49:14.100
this traumatic thing happening that’s not actually happening.
712
00:49:14.700 –> 00:49:16.529
But me just saying, you know it’s
713
00:49:16.770 –> 00:49:18.790
my body being protective
714
00:49:19.710 –> 00:49:24.890
of me or my kids, or whatever. And it’s just a thought and let it go.
715
00:49:25.170 –> 00:49:25.930
So
716
00:49:27.290 –> 00:49:29.860
yeah, I do that a lot. And
717
00:49:30.230 –> 00:49:38.410
you know, it’s something I’m probably always gonna have to do. And that’s okay. But it’s sort of like any other skill. I think the more I do it the better I’m gonna get at it. So
718
00:49:41.870 –> 00:49:43.250
thank you, Julio.
719
00:49:43.410 –> 00:49:47.680
we we got a comment in
720
00:49:48.500 –> 00:49:49.500
that
721
00:49:49.800 –> 00:49:51.370
from Tricia
722
00:49:51.600 –> 00:49:53.849
from youth. Well, New Hampshire.
723
00:49:54.583 –> 00:49:57.829
Saying that she’d like to discuss how
724
00:49:58.143 –> 00:50:02.540
you might be able to help with this vision. They may be able to help
725
00:50:02.650 –> 00:50:15.339
with your vision to support students at King State College. We’ll get connected afterward. Right? Thank you. And she also wants to say, Thank you for sharing your story. Your courage is truly appreciated and inspired.
726
00:50:15.700 –> 00:50:16.839
Thank you very much.
727
00:50:17.940 –> 00:50:25.530
We also have a question. How do your family, friends and colleagues feel about you publicly sharing your story.
728
00:50:29.160 –> 00:50:31.750
so you know my family?
729
00:50:35.050 –> 00:50:38.100
I mean, they know the story, and they’re they
730
00:50:41.210 –> 00:50:43.289
We’ve always kind of made it a
731
00:50:43.500 –> 00:50:48.690
a thing in our house where you can talk about whatever you need to. And we’ve always kind of been honest
732
00:50:49.380 –> 00:50:51.429
with our kids, you know.
733
00:50:52.180 –> 00:50:56.480
for better or worse. Sometimes it maybe gets us into trouble. But
734
00:50:57.150 –> 00:50:58.319
you know, if
735
00:50:59.290 –> 00:51:06.370
if, say my wife or I are really not feeling well, and if our kids say what’s wrong.
736
00:51:07.810 –> 00:51:09.230
We don’t say
737
00:51:09.320 –> 00:51:10.660
nothing fine.
738
00:51:11.050 –> 00:51:13.560
because we don’t want them to do that. If they’re not
739
00:51:13.840 –> 00:51:14.780
feeling wrong.
740
00:51:16.700 –> 00:51:20.079
we’re not gonna make a big deal out of it. But if we’re like Oh.
741
00:51:20.110 –> 00:51:21.360
my head just starts.
742
00:51:22.770 –> 00:51:24.960
I’ll be okay. I’ll take a nap, or whatever.
743
00:51:24.980 –> 00:51:26.000
So
744
00:51:28.180 –> 00:51:33.000
So for them it wasn’t anything. I think my son started crying during it.
745
00:51:33.170 –> 00:51:34.000
Hope.
746
00:51:35.110 –> 00:51:35.900
But
747
00:51:37.010 –> 00:51:39.520
I think they were okay. I think
748
00:51:39.760 –> 00:51:40.580
the
749
00:51:42.620 –> 00:51:45.029
My colleagues, you know, like I said nobody
750
00:51:45.830 –> 00:51:49.709
knew anything about it, you know. I’d never really talked to anybody about it.
751
00:51:52.370 –> 00:51:53.410
and
752
00:51:54.430 –> 00:51:57.589
or with my students as well, but I think
753
00:51:59.050 –> 00:52:00.120
I think that
754
00:52:02.110 –> 00:52:09.150
that it may, you know. Maybe it helped some people, and I think that it was taken. How I hoped it
755
00:52:10.150 –> 00:52:12.140
would have been taken where
756
00:52:12.290 –> 00:52:16.849
it was like, Hey, look, I’m just gonna put myself out there because I know that
757
00:52:18.040 –> 00:52:20.249
a lot of my students and my colleagues
758
00:52:20.430 –> 00:52:23.019
are going through the same thing, and
759
00:52:24.390 –> 00:52:25.170
that.
760
00:52:26.000 –> 00:52:29.080
you know there is a way to get help in that.
761
00:52:29.340 –> 00:52:31.800
You can be successful even
762
00:52:32.490 –> 00:52:35.539
if you’re going through these things.
763
00:52:36.560 –> 00:52:39.839
you know, and I think, a lot of times for students. They think
764
00:52:40.370 –> 00:52:42.710
they start to feel this way. And it
765
00:52:43.250 –> 00:52:43.970
it
766
00:52:44.120 –> 00:52:45.560
there is no hope there.
767
00:52:46.010 –> 00:52:49.490
you know, which is obviously symptomatic of depression, but
768
00:52:51.540 –> 00:52:54.930
to show them, and whoever else that.
769
00:52:55.110 –> 00:52:57.740
even though you feel that way, there’s a way
770
00:52:58.610 –> 00:53:01.830
to get through it. And it’s not gonna be easy. But
771
00:53:03.080 –> 00:53:06.190
just because you feel hopeless doesn’t mean there’s no hope.
772
00:53:07.637 –> 00:53:10.679
So I I I think that’s
773
00:53:10.860 –> 00:53:13.339
generally how it was taken. So I
774
00:53:13.760 –> 00:53:15.349
I feel okay about it.
775
00:53:21.270 –> 00:53:22.610
Yeah, I can’t hear you.
776
00:53:23.860 –> 00:53:25.790
The next thing we have
777
00:53:26.290 –> 00:53:27.185
is
778
00:53:28.270 –> 00:53:32.550
Somebody says you’re very inspirational. Would you ever consider taking your
779
00:53:32.740 –> 00:53:35.290
taking to public school students
780
00:53:35.490 –> 00:53:36.830
and Aaron
781
00:53:37.120 –> 00:53:38.759
taking your message to them.
782
00:53:39.650 –> 00:53:43.307
Yeah, I think I think if there was an opportunity to
783
00:53:44.490 –> 00:53:45.539
it’s sort of like
784
00:53:46.300 –> 00:53:50.727
like this this presentation, you know, if there’s an opportunity.
785
00:53:51.500 –> 00:53:53.440
I’m always
786
00:53:54.010 –> 00:53:55.940
willing to do that, you know.
787
00:53:57.320 –> 00:54:04.339
it’s hard sometimes with my schedule, but, like right after this I have to go and teach, live.
788
00:54:04.800 –> 00:54:07.329
But that’s that’s okay. If I if I can
789
00:54:07.660 –> 00:54:11.229
find the time and and and the opportunity that I’m
790
00:54:11.590 –> 00:54:14.200
I’m always happy to do that because I feel like it
791
00:54:14.420 –> 00:54:16.690
like I said, if it helps one person like.
792
00:54:17.460 –> 00:54:18.540
then it’s worth it.
793
00:54:18.960 –> 00:54:20.099
Yeah, absolutely.
794
00:54:20.580 –> 00:54:26.210
So somebody says, looking back, do you still think you didn’t care in high school.
795
00:54:26.360 –> 00:54:30.569
or could it have been self protection since you weren’t getting the care you needed it.
796
00:54:30.840 –> 00:54:38.189
and I don’t care. Attitude can be off putting for family unless we have or learn empathy.
797
00:54:38.380 –> 00:54:41.819
How can we approach that attitude more effectively?
798
00:54:43.170 –> 00:54:43.990
Well.
799
00:54:45.170 –> 00:54:48.379
I I think for me in high school. I think I
800
00:54:48.530 –> 00:54:50.629
didn’t care, because
801
00:54:52.290 –> 00:54:56.770
maybe I just felt sort of hopeless, and I didn’t really know what was happening. So it was sort of
802
00:54:57.100 –> 00:54:58.229
that. Give up
803
00:54:58.510 –> 00:54:59.650
response.
804
00:54:59.880 –> 00:55:00.590
Huh?
805
00:55:00.910 –> 00:55:03.170
Oh, well, I don’t know what’s wrong on me.
806
00:55:03.940 –> 00:55:06.809
I guess you know, in in having
807
00:55:07.110 –> 00:55:12.559
heard certain things from from my father just saying like, Well, maybe I am just worth it. So whatever
808
00:55:12.730 –> 00:55:13.760
it’s not worth it.
809
00:55:15.030 –> 00:55:23.000
maybe part of it was, you know I couldn’t. I didn’t feel like I could do as well as I should be doing. So what’s the point?
810
00:55:23.560 –> 00:55:26.580
Kind of thing? I’m not really sure.
811
00:55:26.960 –> 00:55:28.189
But I think
812
00:55:30.610 –> 00:55:35.370
you know, addressing that attitude, and I’ve had to address it
813
00:55:36.170 –> 00:55:41.539
obviously with myself, but with my students and with my daughter.
814
00:55:42.170 –> 00:55:43.170
And
815
00:55:44.690 –> 00:55:50.729
you know my response to my students in particular. It would be very easy to sort of be like.
816
00:55:52.260 –> 00:55:54.100
They don’t care about my class, so
817
00:55:55.550 –> 00:55:58.009
they’re just going to get a 0 or whatever it might be.
818
00:55:59.330 –> 00:56:02.620
But I sort of actively engage those students more
819
00:56:02.700 –> 00:56:04.300
because they
820
00:56:05.170 –> 00:56:06.040
I I
821
00:56:06.770 –> 00:56:07.819
you know it.
822
00:56:08.460 –> 00:56:09.739
It’s sort of like
823
00:56:13.400 –> 00:56:16.050
you know what, when you see it. Kind of thing where
824
00:56:16.450 –> 00:56:16.896
like
825
00:56:18.010 –> 00:56:21.570
There’s something going on, and a lot of times there is.
826
00:56:21.660 –> 00:56:24.910
so I try to actively engage when I can.
827
00:56:25.560 –> 00:56:27.080
Once in a while
828
00:56:27.350 –> 00:56:28.649
the student might just
829
00:56:29.010 –> 00:56:35.359
drop a lot of times. They’ll even drop out of school, and I try to engage. But
830
00:56:36.490 –> 00:56:37.160
So
831
00:56:38.130 –> 00:56:41.070
you know, when it comes to my students, I try to
832
00:56:41.160 –> 00:56:43.819
engage as soon as I notice it, and then.
833
00:56:44.490 –> 00:56:48.720
you know, try to point them in the direction of the help that they need.
834
00:56:49.100 –> 00:56:50.389
You know, if I can’t
835
00:56:50.550 –> 00:56:52.940
give them what they need. So.
836
00:56:53.570 –> 00:56:58.060
And with my kids, too, we try to have that active discussion of
837
00:56:59.500 –> 00:57:00.573
you know.
838
00:57:01.740 –> 00:57:08.579
why are you feeling a certain way? And we try to talk about what happened at school, and whatever whatever else is going on, try to
839
00:57:08.940 –> 00:57:11.380
work through it. So I think that
840
00:57:11.680 –> 00:57:14.659
that I don’t care. Attitude is is sort of a
841
00:57:17.090 –> 00:57:19.080
a flag to
842
00:57:19.350 –> 00:57:20.709
all right. I need to
843
00:57:20.780 –> 00:57:22.510
pay more attention. I need to
844
00:57:22.990 –> 00:57:25.680
try to see what I can do here, so
845
00:57:26.040 –> 00:57:28.679
I’m not sure if that answers the question.
846
00:57:29.410 –> 00:57:34.920
Well, thank you so much, Julio, it was so good to hear you and your story
847
00:57:35.160 –> 00:57:42.660
and your words of wisdom. There are lots of words of encouragement in the Q. And a. And I can’t don’t have time to read them all.
848
00:57:43.010 –> 00:57:48.839
and also want to encourage you to make sure you take care of yourself after the presentation.
849
00:57:50.490 –> 00:57:53.050
because that’s really important as well.
850
00:57:53.730 –> 00:57:59.339
Yes, and thank you all for having me. I’m sorry we didn’t get to all the questions. But
851
00:57:59.660 –> 00:58:07.459
if you do have a question you want to ask me, you can find my email on the keen state website. I’m happy to
852
00:58:07.520 –> 00:58:08.920
answer any emails.
853
00:58:12.660 –> 00:58:16.989
So I’m sharing my screen again. Just a couple of slides.
854
00:58:17.640 –> 00:58:21.980
Course that hid my script. So bear with me just a moment.
855
00:58:30.550 –> 00:58:32.860
So thank you. Everyone for
856
00:58:33.100 –> 00:58:35.219
joining this session today.
857
00:58:36.150 –> 00:58:43.409
Be sure to check out our virtual expo center. Some of the booths, including Nami, New Hampshire’s information and resources. Booth
858
00:58:43.560 –> 00:58:45.160
and the volunteer booth
859
00:58:45.230 –> 00:58:48.499
will be staffed during lunch from 12 to one.
860
00:58:48.760 –> 00:58:53.489
Be sure to check out all the booths which can be accessed through the conference lobby.
861
00:58:54.110 –> 00:58:59.750
Please keep an eye out for an evaluation that will be emailed to you at the end of this conference.
862
00:59:00.170 –> 00:59:01.350
We
863
00:59:02.180 –> 00:59:06.239
appreciate your feedback on your session and the conference as a whole.
864
00:59:07.986 –> 00:59:09.480
If you
865
00:59:10.900 –> 00:59:15.230
need a certificate, you’ll be able to download one. After completing the survey.
866
00:59:15.580 –> 00:59:20.329
The recording of this session will be available in the Conference lobby later this week.
867
00:59:20.740 –> 00:59:22.070
and
868
00:59:26.810 –> 00:59:32.660
and then on the naming New Hampshire Youtube Channel
869
00:59:33.120 –> 00:59:40.360
up next. At 1130. We have Britney Porter, Kristen, Welch, and Chad Meyer, presenting on stigma, doesn’t stand a chance.
870
00:59:40.380 –> 00:59:43.229
Now. Me walks New Hampshire, and this is my brave.
871
00:59:43.300 –> 00:59:44.739
We’ll see you there.
872
00:59:45.870 –> 00:59:47.620
Thank you again, Julie.
873
00:59:47.640 –> 00:59:49.009
Thank you. Everyone for me.
Featuring:
Brittany Porter, Development Coordinator and Walk Manager, NAMI NH
Kristen Welch, CFRE, Director of Development, NAMI NH
Chad Myhre, Team Captain, Hunter’s Hannaford Heroes
Join Walk Manager, Brittany Porter, and Director of Development, Kristen Welch CFRE for an information session on two upcoming stigma-busting events! Hear important updates, inspiring stories, and more on how you can get involved!
NAMIWalks New Hampshire, the state’s largest mental health awareness and suicide prevention event returns on Sunday, October 6, 2024 in Concord!
NAMI New Hampshire presents This is My Brave – The Show will be live on stage on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 in Concord.
1
00:00:00.110 –> 00:00:06.330
Hi, everyone, and welcome to the 2024 NAMI New Hampshire Annual Conference.
2
00:00:06.510 –> 00:00:11.280
cultivating hope, celebrating everyday heroes. Thank you for joining us
3
00:00:11.400 –> 00:00:30.879
if you’re new to Nami, New Hampshire. We are so glad you’re here. If you’re a longtime member of the Nami, New Hampshire family. Thank you for coming back. Nami, New Hampshire is a grassroots organization that provides support education and advocacy to individuals and their families impacted by mental illness and suicide. In the Granite State.
4
00:00:31.040 –> 00:00:36.290
We do this by offering a variety of programs and events, including today’s conference.
5
00:00:36.360 –> 00:00:41.189
I’m Michelle Watson. I’ll be one of your co-hosts today along with Karen. Prev
6
00:00:42.010 –> 00:00:58.460
today’s presentations are in Zoom Webinar. There will not be an option to turn on your camera or your microphone. Welcome questions in the QA. And we’ll do our best to get to all of them. We have also turned off the chat feature, because sometimes it gets distracting, at least for me. It does
7
00:00:58.800 –> 00:01:16.499
for those of you who are joining us this morning. It’s but it’s 1130. So almost afternoon you will be automatically entered into a drawing to win 2 free tickets to this is my brave on May fifteenth, and the winner will be at notified later this week.
8
00:01:18.430 –> 00:01:25.779
We’d like to express our thanks to our sponsors who have helped make today’s conference available free of charge. Thank you so much for your support.
9
00:01:27.760 –> 00:01:34.819
Okay, now, I’d like to introduce Kristen Welch. Who’s gonna head? Go ahead and get this session started.
10
00:01:35.120 –> 00:01:36.399
There you go, Kristen.
11
00:01:36.850 –> 00:01:38.510
Oh, thanks, Michelle.
12
00:01:38.823 –> 00:02:04.380
So so great to have you all joining us today. For those of you who have been at the conference before. You know, this is a tradition we kick off. This is sort of the start to our official Nami walks New Hampshire season with an information session which will be led by our wonderful walk manager, Britney Porter. But I’m really excited to have a few minutes this morning to talk to you about an event that is new to Nami, New Hampshire.
13
00:02:04.480 –> 00:02:25.039
that we’re bringing this spring and I wanted to share a little bit about that with you. So on May fifteenth we will be bringing a production of this is my brave to New Hampshire. This event will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts, Bnh. Stage, and if you’re not familiar with this is my brave.
14
00:02:25.320 –> 00:02:51.350
This is my brave, is a storytelling event where a cast of community members and brave performers just like you and me. They’re not trained actors. They are people who are willing to share their stories of lived experience of living with mental illness, substance, use, disorder, are being affected by suicide. With the community, and that the intent behind that is to raise awareness, inspire hope
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and show people that they’re not alone. So we’re really thrilled to be bringing this production back to New Hampshire.
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I hope that you’ll join us.
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You know we have. Our goal is really to support our amazing cast and sharing their stories. And you know, when you see the show, you’ll know that they’re incredible stories of hope and empowerment and honesty. And we’re really we’re really honored to have the opportunity to to share those with all of you.
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so to participate. And this is my brave. You could. There’s a number of ways you can get involved. You can buy tickets to the show. Tickets are $20 a piece. Britney, just put the link to the website in the chat. You can. There’s a link to buy tickets right there. Your ticket also. Ha! Gets you access to a pre show reception. That reception will start at 6 pm. And it will pop some late horser’s and some non alcoholic beverages. So please join us for that.
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There will be resource tables from our amazing sponsors. And we’re just. We’re really, we’re really thrilled to to be able to offer that. So, as I said, visit the website, nami, nh.org slash T. Imb, for this is my brave
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you can buy your tickets there if you’d like to make a donation to support the show. You can do that there. There are sponsorship opportunities listed on that page, and there’s also information if you wanted to put out to take out an ad. That’s a wonderful way to honor our brave cast of storytellers. And so, you know, this is, of course, for us much like Nami, walks New Hampshire, which Britney will go into in a minute. But this is an awareness raising event.
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But it’s also in some. It’s also a fundraising event. So we’re hopeful that the community will support it by attending and by helping us raise some funds that will stay right here in New Hampshire and help us provide free support, education, and advocacy to over 40,000 granite staters a year.
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So thank you. And now now it’s my pleasure to turn it over to our wonderful walk manager and development Coordinator Brittany Porter.
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Awesome. Thank you so much, Kristen. I am just going to share my screen. Really, quickly.
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Alright!
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Can I get a so thumbs up if people can see my presentation?
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Chad, I’m looking at you. Thank you.
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Excellent.
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So thank you all so much for coming today. Whether you attended 21 walks are entirely new to the event, and everyone in between. Thank you. Again. I am Britney Porter. I am the Development Coordinator at Nami, New Hampshire, and our walk manager.
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So what is Nami Walks, New Hampshire Nami Walks, New Hampshire is the State’s largest mental health, awareness and suicide prevention event. Every fall thousands of granite staters lace up their sneakers and walk together through the city of Concord to stomp out the stigma and unite under the rallying call. Mental health for all Nami walks. New Hampshire is free, family, friendly and fun.
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So why do we walk? We walk to promote awareness of mental health, and reduce the stigma to raise funds for Nami, New Hampshire’s free support education and advocacy programs, and to build community and let people know they are not alone. And while this is Nami, New Hampshire’s biggest fundraiser. Truly, we are all about the awareness, and we are so happy to hold this awareness. Raising event.
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Just to do a quick 2023 recap.
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Last year we had over 1,300 participants. We had a hundred 32 teams, and for the third consecutive year we raised $200,000. And here’s a picture of some of our cutest volunteers from last year manning the Unicorn station.
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Just a reminder all of the funds raised from naming walks New Hampshire. Stay right here in in the State of New Hampshire, and help Nami, New Hampshire, continue its support. Education, advocacy, efforts.
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So let’s talk a little bit about this year 2024. The theme for this year is, I am Nami Walks, which I think is just so, so, so, so so appropriate, because, as much as I love the fun parts of the walk, like the entertainment and the snacks and the unicorn. Nami walks. New Hampshire is such an amazing and impactful event
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because of the people, and not only our participants who are incredible, but also also our incredible sponsors and all the people who support this event in various ways. And I’m going to get to talk about one of those amazing individuals in just a few minutes.
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So this year’s event will be on October sixth, 2024, at the Soccer fields on South Fruit Street, in Concord registration will open at 9 Am. With the walk kicking off at 1030, and registration is open right now@namiwalksnh.org
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so the walk is a 5 K with a shorter route available. Anyone who either doesn’t want to walk or has limited mobility is more than welcome to stay at the field. I promise I will be there. There will be chairs. So, however, you want to participate. That is fantastic. We welcome friendly dogs, and there will be treats and bowls of water along the walk. We will have refreshments, games, and entertainments.
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and the always popular pet costume, contest, and day of hope auction, are returning virtually
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so. Here are some of the ways you can get involved. You can register as a team captain, a team member, an individual participant, or as a virtual participant.
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We have a tutorial on how to register that Kristen is going to put in the chat, and that will get a little bit more in depth about what these various roles mean, and we also have a tutorial on how to best use your fundraising page.
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We have sponsorship opportunities ranging from $250 to $1,500,
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and we have our incredible Walk committee who helps us plan Nami walks New Hampshire, who meets on the third Wednesday of the month from 5 30 to 6, 30 on zoom, and every year we do need day of volunteers who help us set up the event, break down the event, hand out snacks, handle parking. We have so many opportunities. So stay tuned on that.
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And so now I’m gonna stop talking for a little bit, and I’m going to do a. QA. With Chad Meyer. He is the team captain of hunters, Hanford heroes.
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Last year he spearheaded the Hanover super team, and this was both of our first experiences with the super team, and he was so patient and gracious with me, which was amazing. And if you had a snack at last year’s walk, and you attended that was most likely a snack provided by Hannaford, and effort that Chad also spearheaded. So.
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Chad, thank you so much for being here and talking a little bit about your experience.
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Awesome thanks for having me today, Britney.
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Thank you. So tell me a little bit about your family’s story
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so approximately 2 years ago. My son Hunter. Who you can see in the slideshow picture. Experienced a mental health crisis.
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And so we was kind of at night. So we ended up bringing him to an emergency room.
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And he was admitted. I thought that by him getting admitted he would get a room upstairs.
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and unfortunately he sat in the er in a glass window room. With a chaperone for 4 days, and then finally
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We got him a room in a different section of the hotel or of the the hospital and
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he was there for an additional 6 days and
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although the the ho! The hospital was very helpful, part of the conditions of him being coming out of the hospital and coming home was finding some counseling and some support so I,
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at the time that this was in the middle of Covid and trying to find
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Some counseling was difficult at best. I I think I
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talked to over 20 or 25 different potential therapists and finally found one. But in that process I was given a pamphlet.
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That was just said dummy New Hampshire on it. Didn’t think anything of it at the time, because my goal was was on my son’s wellbeing and and getting him home, and and taken care of
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and I got home, read that pamphlet, and like most of us, I said, Oh, I’m gonna go on Facebook. And I looked at the Facebook page and and liked the Facebook page.
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So when I started getting daily updates around, how many people use, both children and adults were sitting in ers similar to my son, and I realized that I in fact, I felt like I needed to do something. And
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I saw the ad for for Nami walks
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and I signed our our family up 2 years ago and the 4 of us went for the first time. And it’s something that I I feel like was a great decision, not only for
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you know something I that I now feel very passionate about, but now
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in hindsight, looking back at it that first year brought my son and my daughter and my step
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like, my!
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My wife! Their stepmom to the walk, and
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Just realized how impactful that was, and realized
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How good
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Mentally that was
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for the 4 of us to experience together.
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That’s fantastic. Can you speak a little bit more about your experience? I believe that would be at the 2022 walk.
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Yeah. So we we went. Had no expectations.
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raised a little bit of money and and and got there. And you know, we started selecting our beads for different colors of
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how you have been affected by a mental illness in your family and
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we, you know we went through that process, and it started re raising some questions with my daughter, saying, Oh, I didn’t know you knew somebody
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so we just it. It started a conversation. We went on the walk, and we. We listened to some of the stories on stage. And then I actually just saw my son. Just you could almost see him like
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take a big old sigh and and a real, almost relief, and and you could see him smile and
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it was really cool to see cause it had been a long 6 months
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and
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and then I brought my daughter into the tent, where there was some some artwork
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from some local New Hampshire students who’ve also experienced mental health and illnesses, and
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that really hit home
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to to my daughter. And and it. It turned a light bulb on to her and said, All right, I I get it now. It shook her for a few minutes, but it really
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it it really hit home to her. And and it it kinda it again. It turned that light bulb on.
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That’s fantastic. And so in last year in 2023, you and I work together to create a super team, and for folks who don’t know what a super team is.
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Picture it like an umbrella. There’s one big team with a bunch of smaller teams under it, so Chad is a manager at Hanford, Claremont, and kind of rallied his whole Hannaford family to pull this together. And together we created this super team. Could you tell me a little bit about that experience?
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Yeah. So after that, that first year I kind of came back and and told the story to my director of operations and
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and she said to me, you know, next year. Let’s let’s get involved, and let’s let’s, you know, get Hannah for behind this
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and
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we tabled it for 6 months, you know. And then we started talking about organizing and realized that you know, I have 15 stores in in the district that I work in.
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and we really wanted to rally each of those stores individually as teams to kind of compete against each other. Because we can be a competitive group
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and
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really
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wanted to each other to see how much we were raising to kind of really set the bar high. So that’s when I reached out to you. You were a great partner and helped me kind of get through the weeds of the super team and and getting my team captains from each store on board. So it it really paid off. And and it was a really fun experience.
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I’m so glad to hear that. Could you speak to what the challenges were.
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Yeah, getting? I I think our biggest learning and and something that I’m now that I’ve had the experience of doing it for a year. You know, offline donations. We do a lot of
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kind of homegrown fundraising and getting those donations into the system so that each team could see where they were at again to be competitive and to to see who could raise the bar. The highest
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was a process that that some teams grasp very quickly, and some of the team captains struggled with. So
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eventually we got there and and and feel like we have a much better grasp of that process. But it’s certainly something that if you, if you’d ever decide to do a super team and want to do some offline donations. It’s something that that’s what, Britney, you you helped us out immensely to make sure that they were taken care of.
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Thank you. I’ll just give another plug for that fundraising tutorial. Again, just because there is it’s not ex 100% obvious where to put those offline donations. And that is mentioned in that video.
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So what were some of the best parts of your experience?
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I I think that before we even got to walk day last year, just to just seeing the different team captains from each store really get passion around. Something that I also had passion around was was really really cool and to see some of the different ways they were fundraising or bringing it to life in their stores.
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To raise money and and kind of think outside the box of
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how to raise that money was really neat to see was
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It was really inspiring you to just want to raise more and and and keep on going. So it’s something that we look forward to again this year. We’ve already started talking about it, and
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But then you you get to walk day and and for me, my district spans everywhere from
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from range up to to North Conway. So it’s a pretty stretched out district, so we don’t get to see. Get to see each other
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often face to face. So after having all that fundraising work and then getting to
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to walk day. I ended up having 67 associates show up
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which was
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amazing and overwhelming. I never thought we would have that response, especially for the first year. And they just, you know, we set a
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a a fundraising goal for our super team. I I believe it was $10,000 and we ended up raising over 14 the first year. So it really that that creating a super team in that kind of competitive nature really paid off. So it was.
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It was such a rewarding experience
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leading up to the the walk and then walk day.
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It’s just that to me, a special event, and something that I really look forward to. I just wish that I could slow the day down, because it goes by too fast for me.
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That day goes by in a blur. I I can confirm, and you have the fantastic folks in the picture behind you. Right? All the so we grabbed a couple of tents and so they could all find where to get their T-shirts.
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I was
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a again my district of district. Our director of operations for the district was super supportive, and she she said, You guys have done such amazing job
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fundraising and and really kind of rallying around this. She ended up getting T-shirts for the entire team. So everybody was very recognizable in their green and and lime, green and black. Hannaford
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hunters, heroes, shirts
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They were kind of everywhere at the walk, so that was that was really cool to see, too.
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that was awesome.
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So do you have any advice for folks who may be interested in joining Nami Walks, New Hampshire 2024.
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Take the leave and do it it it you you won’t. You won’t regret it.
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it it really is whether you’re you have experienced it yourself. You’ve experienced it in your family or even if you haven’t ex experienced it, just
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going and and and being amongst people who
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all have that same common goal, and and, like, you know, want to break that stigma and and
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and take care of each other. It’s it’s such a rewarding experience.
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Thank you so much, Chad, and again, thank you so much for joining us today. I said earlier that my favorite part of Nami Walks, New Hampshire is the people I get to meet, and Chad is just one of
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these amazing people I get to work with every day. So thank you, Chad, and again chad’s team was incredible. They raised over $14,000, and Hannaford continues to be a really terrific supporter of Nami, New Hampshire. So thank you.
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Thanks for having me
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awesome.
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So we have a couple of questions in the Q&A
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so one is for you, Chad. Chad, are you going to add more Hannaford stores or teams this year? It was amazing to see this last year, and I personally spoke with several Hannaford team members.
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Yeah. So I I my goal. So the 15 stores that I mentioned was for our district kind of in in
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Western and Northern New Hampshire. We’re gonna try to rally the troops and get the the district that’s in the Manchester area to see if they want to be a little competitive and have 2 super teams against each other. So that’s currently the goal. So we look, we look forward to seeing that come to fruition
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awesome. We? We love a good, friendly competition absolutely. Thanks Todd, and this one, I think, is for you, Britney. How can we host a walk remotely? Would we just do the walk on the day that mommy walks is hosted and raise donations?
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Absolutely. That is a great question. So that would be considered a virtual walk, and you would register as a virtual participant, and you can absolutely do the walk anywhere anytime. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be on October sixth, although we love to have that happen in solidarity, and if you do, in fact,
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grab your friends or colleagues, and do your own walk somewhere. Please send us pictures, or to let us know that that’s what you’re doing, and we can send you some of our I walk signs and some swag and feel free to send me an email. And I’m happy to clarify anything about holding a virtual walk.
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And I’m putting Britney’s email in the chat. Yes.
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I don’t see any other questions. I don’t know if we still have a few minutes left. I don’t know if folks have any other questions for Chat, or for Britney, or for me about this is my brave.
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Do you want to mention the booths that you have? That will be open during lunch. Yes, we will totally mention that. Thanks, Michelle. So we have a couple of booths. There’s a this is my brief booth, and there is also a development booth. Those will be open during lunchtime. So definitely come, check it out. You can also always send us a message at development at Nami. Nh.
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we really hope we’ll see a lot of you on May fifteenth. This is my brave, and then, of course, seeing all of you as well on the walk at the walk on October sixth. So lots of exciting awareness raising opportunities coming up, and we we hope that you’ll join us in them.
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So do you have anything else, or do you want me to wrap up this session?
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I think you know I forgot to mention the walk is a rain or shine event, and that just keeps like pinging in my head. So I’m like, I’ll just say that the walk is a rain or shine event.
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We’re gonna have the same weather as last year. If you weren’t last year’s walk, you know what was absolutely spectacular. So we have. We are ordering the same weather. Everybody send good vibes for that.
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Think we’re probably good, Michelle. I don’t see any other questions. I think we can probably wrap it up.
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Okay.
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okay, so thank you all for joining this session. And as I prompted Kristen to mention, we do have a virtual expo center. So please check it out. Besides the development booth, and this is my brave. We also have the information and resource. Booth
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and a volunteer booth, as well as some other booths, so check them out and please visit our
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You know our staff and our volunteers and our sponsors that are are in these virtual rooms. It’s it’s really pretty cool.
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you will get an evaluation at the end of the conference, and it will be it will include each session as well as the conference as a whole. So please we appreciate your feedback. If you need a certificate, you’ll be able to download one after completing the survey.
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This session, as as well as all of our other sessions, have been recorded. They will be available in the lobby. You will be able to use this link at any point for the next year to get into the lobby and check out the
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recordings, or you can get to them on the Nami, New Hampshire, Youtube Channel.
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So up next we have lunch from 12 to one, where I, as again I’ll mention and promote the virtual expo, and then, at one o’clock, please join us for our afternoon keynote session with Dr. Christine Crawford, a conversation about youth, Mental health, and the upcoming Nami book for parents and caregivers. So thank you to Chad for joining us today. We really appreciated your perspective and thank you all for joining us, and we’ll see you at one, have a great afternoon.
Featuring:
Christine M. Crawford, M.D., MPH, Associate Medical Director, NAMI
Susan Stearns, Executive Director, NAMI NH
A growing number of children and teens in the U.S. are struggling with mental health conditions, and parents, teachers, and other caregivers are often at a loss when concerns arise for their own child. Are your preschooler’s constant tantrums normal for their age, or evidence of a developmental difficulty? Is puberty or depression to blame for your pre-teen’s reticence? Is my child in the wrong school, or being influenced by the wrong friends? Am I a bad parent or teacher, or am I overreacting? What exactly should I do?
Dr. Christine M. Crawford is an adult, child and adolescent psychiatrist who sees patients at Boston Medical Center. She is a staff member of the Wellness and Recovery After Psychosis Program (WRAP) where she provides psychiatric care for adolescents experiencing symptoms of psychosis. Dr. Crawford is also the author of the forthcoming book; You Are Not Alone for Parents and Caregivers: The NAMI Guide to Navigating your Child’s Mental Health with advice from Experts and Wisdom from Real Families due for release in September 2024.
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Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome back to this the second half of our conference, the NAMI New Hampshire Annual Conference, cultivating hope, celebrating everyday heroes. Thank you so much for joining us.
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We are so glad you’re here. Nomine new Hampshire is a grassroots organization that provides support, education and advocacy to individuals and their families impacted by mental illness and suicide. Here in the Granite State.
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We do this by offering a variety of programs and events, including today’s conference.
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I’m Michelle Watson. I’m one of your co-hosts for today, along with Karen. Prev. We hope you’ve had a chance to visit our booths and meet some of our sponsor staff and volunteers.
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Today’s presentations are all in Zoom Webinar, and there is not an option to turn on your camera or your microphone.
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We will welcome questions in the QA. Put them in as they come to you throughout the session.
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and you may have noticed that we’ve turned off the chat feature
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for those of you that are attending this session, you’ll automatically be entered into a drawing to receive naming Nationals book. You are not alone.
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The winner will be notified later this week.
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We’d like to express our thanks to our sponsors who helped to make today’s conference available to you free of charge. Thank you so much for your generous support.
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So now I’d like to introduce Susan Stearns, our executive director here at Nami, New Hampshire, who will introduce our afternoon keynote presenter.
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Thank you, Michelle.
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and it is truly my pleasure to introduce this afternoon’s keynote speaker, Dr. Christine M. Crawford, currently serves as the associate medical director for Nami. We’re always thrilled when we have our partners from across the Alliance join us.
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She is an adult child and adolescent psychiatrist who sees patients at Boston Medical Center. Dr. Crawford currently serves as the vice chair of education in the Department of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine.
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She is also the director of Medical student Education, and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine.
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Dr. Crawford is a staff member of the wellness and recovery after psychosis program, also known as Rap, where she provides psychiatric care for adolescents, experiencing symptoms of psychosis.
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She is also the author of the forthcoming book. You are not alone for parents and caregivers. The Nami Guide to navigating your child’s mental health with advice from experts and wisdom from real families, which is due for release. This coming September.
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I will say, as someone who has walked that journey with my now adult child.
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thank goodness! And we’re really looking forward to this book.
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Welcome, Dr. Crawford.
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Thank you. Thank you so much for that introduction and thanks so much for inviting me. To give this this talk today. You know
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I’m in Boston, and I’m very fond of New Hampshire, and I’m happy that this is an opportunity for me to to connect with with this group. And I’m looking forward to in the future to have an opportunity to meet you all in person, and to build even further connections. But
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I wanted to spend some time talking to you all about youth, mental health.
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and your role in supporting the social, emotional wellbeing of our young people. Because what we know to be true is that our young people are struggling, and our caregivers are also struggling with how best to support kids.
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And so I’m looking forward to talking to you about this upcoming book. You know you are not alone for parents and caregivers, but really the goal is to think about solutions, tools for how to help yourself, how to help your kids and how to have all of the resources that you need to continue on this journey with your child on supporting their their mental health.
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So let’s just start from the beginning. So understand
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what is the current state of affairs, as it relates to our young people, who, you know I had mentioned earlier, are really having some some challenges, and we’ve been hearing about this for a number of years, and those conversations certainly escalated during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the reality of the matter is that kids have been struggling for a long time, even before the pandemic.
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So we really do need to ask ourselves the questions. You know. Question, are the kids okay?
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We’re thinking about our youth. What’s really important to keep in mind is that
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with our kids, with their teenagers, it is possible to see the early manifestations for potential mental health challenges that may pose significant issues for young people, not only during this particular time in their life, but into the future. What we know to be true is that 50% of all lifetime cases of mental illness begins by age 14 and 75
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by age 24. It’s not that suddenly one day you turn 18, and then you start to experience mental health symptoms. But rather we see early manifestations of some of these difficulties. In in young kids, and they persist they can persist.
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We also know that when it comes to our adolescence between the ages of 1217 years old, we know that one in 6 experience a major depressive episode, 3 million adolescents had serious thoughts of suicide, and in 2021 we
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saw a 31 increase in mental health related emergency room visits. This has been a trend that we saw even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. And unfortunately, we continue to see this trend in which young people are seeking out mental health supports and emergency room setting. And oftentimes that’s their first interaction with the mental health system, and it is not
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an ideal setting to access mental health supports for the very first time.
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You know that over 6 million kits are diagnosed with Adhd over 4 million kits have anxiety, and we do know that depression and anxiety rates have been on the rise, but especially when we’re looking at our kids of color. Between the ages of 5 to 11.
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When I speak to a lot of caregivers, it’s really hard for individuals to wrap their minds around the idea, and even the concept of a 5 year old, experiencing significant symptoms of anxiety and depression. But we have seen this trend in which kids are getting younger and younger in terms of when it is they’re experiencing some of these symptoms, and we’ll explore this a little bit more
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in terms of depression. What’s interesting is that? Yes, things are difficult for our adults. But there’s this stark contrast when we’re looking at our teenagers and our and our young adults. In terms of who’s experiencing significant mental health symptoms.
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This graph right here just shows you
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the percent of the population with a major depressive episode. And this is looking over the course of 12 years. You could see an orange. This line that represents individuals over the age of 26. Rates of the major, a major depressive episode, have remain relatively stable. But just look here, from 2012 on
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when we’re looking at our 12 to 17 year olds and our 18 to 25 year olds. Look at those rates of A major depressive episode just going up and up and up. And it makes you wonder what was going on during this period of time, or what are some factors that might have contributed to this increase again, way before the pandemic, which was in 2020.
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This is not just about individuals who may be experiencing various episodes.
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Mental health challenges, and that’s it. But what we do know is that for our young people who are experiencing a mental health related challenge that it’s particularly difficult, because this is a critical time in growth and development for our young people. They’re still learning and acquiring the tools and resources
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that are needed in order for them to take care of their own emotional health. They’re starting to, and they’re in the process of
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accessing language that they can use to communicate to their peers, to their loved ones, to their caregivers, about what their internal experiences are, and so given the fact that
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they don’t have that tool box that’s full of language that they can use to communicate their distress tools to help regulate their emotional state. It’s a critical time, and we could see some pretty significant consequences. If our young people aren’t getting the help and support that they need for their mental health symptoms.
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We know that when we’re looking at the Lgbtq plus population. Those youth are 4 times more likely to attempt suicide when compared to straight youth. We also know that suicide is the second leading cause of death among children ages between 1418. And there’s been some interesting and distressing data that has emerged
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as shown that black children between the ages of 5 to 12 year old, 12 years old, are 2 times more likely to die by suicide when compared to white children of the same age. So lives are certainly certainly at
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at stake, and we can’t. We can’t ignore that at all.
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So kids really do need help and support
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that help and support, unfortunately, can’t only come from
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child and adolescent psychiatrists. We can’t entirely rely on the current mental health workforce. We can’t rely on individuals who are trained in providing psychotherapies to our youth, because there’s just such limited supply of these individuals to provide care, and that leaves a lot of caregivers hanging
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and wondering how am I supposed to support my my kid? If I can’t access the the help that they actually need? If I can’t access the the experts to take care of their mental health needs understand what is going on. So this is an issue in terms of providing care and support to our youth, that has to
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be a shared sense of responsibility and not just on the shoulders of our limited kind of mental health workforce in the area of pediatric mental health. So using the example of child and adolescent psychiatrists, there are between 8,300 to 10,000 child psychiatrists across the country.
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That is not enough. There are far more pediatricians that are available. I think the number is over 60,000 pediatricians are available across the country. This figure that I have over here on the
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right, and which you see a lot of red that indicates parts of the country in which there’s a severe shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists. And in the northeast, you know New Hampshire, you know, and Massachusetts, we’re doing a little bit better. But we’re still experiencing a relatively high shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists. And when we compare
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our States to some other parts of the country, such as Wyoming, where they only have 6 child and adolescent psychiatrists for every 100,000 children or Idaho they only have 5 for every 100,000 children, and then their South Dakota, that only has one child and adolescent psychiatrist per 100,000 children. We are not meeting
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the needs of our youth at all across this country that supposedly has access to resources right?
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And the American Academy for child and adolescent psychiatrists estimates that we need to have 40 se. 47. Child and adolescent psychiatrists. To be available in order to meet the growing demand for you.
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And so what are caregivers to do? There’s not enough of me to meet the needs. And so caregivers are often in a position in which they have to figure out. How am I going to support my kid when I have to wait 6 months, or go to another State in order to access, help and support for my my kid.
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and
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we can’t wait. Our kids don’t really have the time to wait months for someone to become available, whether that be a therapist a psychiatric prescribers, someone to do an evaluation. This is a critical time in their development, and time is of the essence, and we know that more than half of children in the Us. With the treatable mental health condition, they do not receive treatment.
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We also know that people between the ages of 0 to 25 they experience the greatest delay to initial treatment, for all the reasons that I’ve already highlighted. And this is a statistic that I was like, are we sure about? This? Is this true? Are you guys lying about this? But the average delay between onset of mental illness in terms of symptoms and treatment is 11 years
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11 years.
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That is just not an option for our kids. 11 years.
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And this is true. This is data.
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We’re also seeing that there are some disparities, as it relates to the type of treatment that certain
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racial and ethnic groups tend to to access. We know that looking at this figure on the left, the color, the
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the the darker color here represents hispanics. In the middle is non hispanic white, and all the way to the right is non Hispanic black, and we could see that utilization rates of mental health services. Is lower in terms of our in terms of people of color. So there’s already these delays, and we know that our minoritized populations
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face even additional challenges and burn into being able to access mental health supports.
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All of this is distressing, right? I I’ve noticed that my blood pressure actually kind of increased over the time of which I’m sharing some of that data. I’m noticing that my my head is a little bit tense, I noticed that my voice started to kinda escalate in terms of volume. It’s really distressing just to hear all the challenges that our young people are facing, and especially as a mom.
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It’s just. It’s really disheartening. To know that if you have a kid who really needs access to services that you’re just faced with all of these different challenges. And I didn’t even touch upon insurance coverage or anything like that? And so it makes you wonder.
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are the caregivers actually, okay?
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Because if they’re experiencing all of the stress that if they’re experiencing all of this stress. How are they doing in terms of their mental health? Right? So are the caregivers. Okay? Right
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now, the thing is about our caregivers is that
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chances are, you know.
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they themselves or someone else they know outside of their own children may be experiencing mental health concern. So we know that one out of 5. Us. Adults experience mental illness. You know that one and 20 adults experience serious mental illness.
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And 17% of youth experience, a mental health condition. So everyone is touched by mental health. I don’t need to preach to the choir here, you guys know this being naming New Hampshire but we also have to think about this emotional wellbeing and the mental health of our caregivers as well cause they may be experiencing their own challenges.
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Not only the mental health challenges, but just really practical ones, such as financial difficulties, because as a caregiver, you want to provide your kid with the best.
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and you go to the ends of the ear to provide for them, to find that therapist, to find that neuropsychologists, to find the person to do the evaluation to put them in the school to get all the advocates. You know the educational advocates that you need but it could be really stressful because we’re talking about financial resources. So that’s a significant source of stress for some individuals
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you can imagine. If you’re trying to attend all of these different appointments for your kid, and most of these appointments are during the day. It can interfere with your ability to work so that you can secure that income to be able to take care of your kid. So there’s this tension that exists like I wanna be 100 available for my child. By the same time, I need to go off to work, and I need time off and just constantly having to weigh those decisions is exhausted.
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caustic.
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Also, we hear a lot about the toll that supporting a young person with a mental health challenge can have on the relationship between caregivers. Parents relationships between other family members. There may be a difference of opinion about how best to support the kid, and that can result in a lot of difficulty, because your family is your social support right? And we know that individuals who are surrounded.
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surrounded by a community in which they feel understood and welcome. We know how, incredibly positive that is, for one’s mental health. But if there’s already stress intention there, it’s hard for you to be emotionally well, to be strong enough to take care of your kids a lot.
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You’re trying to figure this out. You’re going on Google trying to understand what is going on with my kid. You’re searching around for providers. You’re trying to figure out your work. Schedule. You’re having difficulty with your partner because of this. How are you to take care of yourself
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right? And we.
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as I mentioned earlier, we should go to the ends of the earth for our kids. But sometimes we don’t do the same for ourselves right? And we gip ourselves when it comes to our self care. And even though we feel like we’re doing the best for our kid by
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doing the most. We’re doing the least for ourselves, and that doesn’t really put us in a position to be the strongest and best
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care provider to our youth.
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And you’re just constantly making decisions. You’re making decisions about
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everything. And it’s just mentally draining and mentally exhausting. And we already know that being a parent
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is
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exhausting. So how do you go to bed at night?
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You have a running playlist of all the things that you need to do? You’re worrying about your kid. You’re worrying about what school is going to be like the next day you’re worried about. If your child is going to make it to the next day. Right?
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How do you sleep?
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We know that when you’re not sleeping well, and you’re not engaged in self care when you don’t have those social, emotional supports that you need. Your body becomes weak
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and just talking about the physiology of this, we do see that people who experience ongoing daily stress. They have a weakened immune system. And so what’s funny is that
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with a lot of parents, it seems like we always get sick all the time, like I I just feel like I should be studied by some infectious disease experts or something like that. But a lot of it has to do with stress and contributing to a weakened immune system. And so that is another reason why it’s so important for you to take care of yourself as you’re experiencing stress related to being the caregivers role because it
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actually has an impact on your physiology. And then also it can have long term chronic consequences for your overall health, your physical health, because you have ongoing release of these stress hormones. Our body automatically releases cortisol adrenaline. Other stress hormones when we’re dealing with difficult situations.
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But our bodies aren’t designed to face and deal with
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constant ongoing stress and the mental stress of worrying about your child worrying about how you’re gonna pay for different supports. How you’re gonna find these different supports. You are constantly releasing all of these hormones throughout your body
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so often that the receptors in your body have burned tired of these stress hormones so like. Oh, you again, cortisol you again.
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And so your body starts increasing the amount that you are secreting
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that can result in a lot of issues in terms of in terms of your way, in terms of your cardiovascular health. So this is really a pitch to
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remind everyone that. Yes, it is emotionally stressful to be in the caregiver role to think about the mental health of our kids. But it also is a physical takes a physical toll on our overall wellbeing. So again, we need to really take care of ourselves because our children need us.
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and they need us to outlast them.
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We don’t wanna die prematurely, you know, while they’re struggling to get the tools and supports that they need to take care of their health. So do what you need to do for yourself, so that you can support your kid throughout this journey.
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which is, gonna be a long one. Unfortunately for some
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it can also feel as though
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you’re trying your best to to get the help and support, and you start to second. Guess yourself, too. You’re like I am working so hard to figure this out, and I just can’t do it. You start to feel helpless, you may start to have low self esteem. You may notice that you’ve become more short tempered, and becoming frustrated, and that being on full display
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for your tip.
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And so we need to also take a step back and reflect on how we are displaying our internal response to what is happening with our kid right? So if we are noticing that we’ve becoming anger angry, we’re frustrated.
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Chances are your tin may be picking up on that, and they may be picking up on that energy, and especially for our younger kids.
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who are developmentally, is totally appropriate for them to be more self centered. Kind of kind of thinking about themselves. First, they may wonder. Okay, well, my parent is acting differently. Maybe it’s something I did wrong, maybe because I’m a burden. I already feel like a burden because of my depression. I’m seeing my mom, my dad, my aunt, struggle. This is just a reminder of the fact that I am a burden.
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So we need to think about, how are we communicating and expressing our internal emotional state to our kids, cause that can also have an impact on their social, emotional wellbeing. And then also the social isolation.
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Because maybe you don’t want other people to see how you’re struggling. You keep it to yourself. You don’t talk to your coworkers about why you’re missing certain meetings while you’re taking meetings from a zoom call car. Call from your cell phone in the car between appointments. You’re trying to keep all this stuff to yourself, and you’re trying to keep it under wraps. But the more that you do that, the more that you’re creating
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meeting a tremendous amount of pressure to contain everything. And you don’t want there to be one situation that just pops the lid off altogether. That can just really be quite disruptive. So you’re starting to notice these changes in you. Perhaps that could be a signal to tap into some rep supports, and we know that naming New Hampshire has a tremendous amount of support that are available for our caregivers.
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So why is it that we’re not okay. You know. I already mentioned about how our kids are really struggling. With their mental health.
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Our caregivers are struggling
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with the experience of providing care to our youth with mental health challenges. But what are other things that may be going on? That may be factoring into all of this.
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So I just wanna take a pause and have you all reflect on your own lives
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thinking about over the last 6 months or so
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what has been going on in your lives that you think may be contributing, or having some kind of impact on your mental health.
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on that mental health of your kid.
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just by virtue of being a citizen of the world and being exposed to the news to social media being exposed to other people living on the planet Earth. There are a number of things that we are all experiencing
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that have been challenging for us.
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and it’s almost as though we’re conditioned to just keep it moving, despite all of the difficulties that we’re hearing about. That’s facing
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our selves, our families, our communities.
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And there’s this kind of pressure to just keep moving forward. But the reality is is that it’s been hard to move forward with all of the uncertainty that we experience each and every day. It’s hard to keep it moving when you turn on the news, and you hear about all of these distressing events
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that have happened locally and beyond.
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And our kids are watching this. They’re seeing this, and they’re watching us.
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and how we’re responding to the events of the world and everything that is going on right?
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they are watching us, and how we are responding to all of the events in the world. And what are the tools and strategies that we’re using.
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So
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it can again
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be really, really challenging, because you may feel as though
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you are the only one
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who’s shouldering the burden of all of these different stresses who may be experiencing all of these different events in the world in this particular way.
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You are not alone in this, and we say this all the time, and not me. You’re not alone, but it could just feel so isolating. Right? Because you don’t want to share any of this with your kid. You don’t want to share with your kid who’s struggling the struggles that you have.
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But actually, in fact.
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it could be
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really helpful.
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and it could create an opportunity for connection.
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If you do think about generating and initiating conversations about how it is you are navigating
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this journey. Your own personal journey with your mental health.
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so that you don’t feel alone, so that your kid doesn’t feel alone because they now know. Well, okay, my mom is going through some of these difficulties. So who would have ever thought I thought it was just me? Everyone feels alone in their journey, and that’s what I love about Nami because we are so large. We’re a huge community. Your evidence of the fact that folks are not alone in this mental health journey. Okay.
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So we know that in response to all the stress in the world, there’s just a wide range of emotional responses, and there’s no right way to for how to respond to all the events in the world for everything that’s going on. There’s no right way, and there’s a wide range of emotional responses. And that’s why.
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again tapping into the tremendous resource that is now me and some of our support groups to hear how other people are coping, and you may find. My goodness, I thought I was the only one who was experiencing irritability, or I thought it was the only one who couldn’t eat or couldn’t sleep. But to know that there’s no right way to kind of navigate some of these these challenges
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I wanna
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touch upon a concept that we refer to as by curious trauma, to
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kind of elevate this conversation a little bit more in terms of how it is that we’re experiencing these events in the world, how that is impacting us. And then how that is impacting our kids and our kids ability to learn tools and resources for how to cope from us, right? So I’m gonna tie it all together. You’re probably like, what is she doing here? But it’s gonna make sense.
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So I just wanna introduce the concept of vicarious trauma.
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So what vicarious trauma is is the experience of seeing or hearing from someone else who’s experiencing a form of trauma, whether we know them personally or not, and this can be in response to a number of different events, such as watching you know the aftermath of a
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terrible bridge collapse in Baltimore. My goodness, or awful right, or seeing violent scenes on TV social media, or hearing about someone’s story of a traumatic event.
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We do know that people because we are emotional human beings, we have an emotional reaction to what it is that we hear right. And for some people they may experience hearing that news
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in a different way than compared to some other people. Right? And there are some reasons that can influence the way in which we respond to how it is that we experience some of these, the news, and some of the events of the world. This could be due to some of our personal history, that we have our current life, circumstances that make us feel even more connected to these. What we could refer to as external events.
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We have to think about the environments in which we live in so thinking about our own communities and what has already been impacting our own communities. And we also have to think about the cultural context. So there could be certain news happening in certain parts of the world that for some individuals that are like, no big deal doesn’t impact me because none of these things may range true for them. And so we need to
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create some space and hold some space for people to experience a wide range of emotions in response to some of the events of the world, and this also pertains to our kits.
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So as a caregiver.
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there is a tendency for us to minimize certain events when we’re talking to our kids about it. So let me provide a concrete example.
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Say, if my kid were to come to me and say, Oh, my goodness! I heard on the news that this is happening in this part of the world. This is terrible like, I’m so worried. This is, this is so bad.
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Our typical and automatic response to our kids is to say, Don’t worry about it. You’re safe. It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. It’s not that big of a deal.
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In fact, what we’ve learned is that that response may not be incredibly helpful. To our kids, because that closes the door on an opportunity to connect, to better understand? What is that child’s internal experience in relation to hearing about this event. How are they actually feeling, and what maybe
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driving or fueling that emotional response so that you can have a conversation with your child about it, and then that could allow you to be able to identify some supports that you could provide, or even provide some more framing, provide some more context over that particular event that may be
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happening right? So when we are just minimizing our children’s emotional reactions, behavioral responses to events that have not happened to them or anyone in their family. We’re not providing them at the opportunity to connect with us and to learn different strategies for how they can cope with hearing some of these difficult news right
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cause. At the end of the day, when it comes to providing support for our kids, we are doing this each and every day through all of these tiny interactions. That is how our children are assembling their toolbox for how to navigate the world as an emotional human being right.
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And one of the things that happened during the pandemic is that there was a sharp decrease in decline in the number of opportunities for kids to learn
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how to navigate different social situations and to learn and to observe, and for us to model, how to respond to some of these typical social interactions. And what have you? So
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again, I’m sorry that I’m a broken record, but I’ve heard that this is an effective way to get your point across is to use the broken record approach. But to use modeling, to use connection, to use curiosity as a way to fill up your kids toolbox for different strategies, for how to manage their social, emotional.
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Now, the reason why we may have different reactions and responses to hearing about
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traumatic events that are happening outside of our community is because our brain is wired in such a way that it actually
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actually drive certain emotional reactions and behavioral responses such that we can’t control it. It is out of our control, because there’s an actual physiological response that’s being driven by the brain. And so when you are saying to your kid. Oh, don’t worry about it. You shouldn’t be scared. Why are you acting that way? Why are you so jumpy? Blah blah! Don’t do that.
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It is because the way in which your kids brain is wired at that particular time in their development, and as a reminder, the brain continues to evolve and develop until the age of 25. They may react and respond in a way, because that is the only way in which their brain has been wired to respond and react.
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So what do I mean by that? You’re like kind of talking about biology here, Christine Crawford, stop it. So let me make it very simple.
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Say, if you’re watching the news.
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you see the bridge collapse. Oh, my gosh! That happened in Baltimore, Yipes.
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receiving that information, will go to the amygdala, which is your fear center, which basically filters through all this information to determine. Oh, my gosh! Is this like something that I, you know should be afraid of right now is this, gonna am I in danger? Is something bad’s gonna happen to me immediately. It determines whether or not there’s gonna be a fight flight or freeze response, right?
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And for some people, when they’re accustomed to always being in a situation in which
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it’s there’s a lot of intense emotional things that are happening. Their amygdala, their fear center, is like super activated. So even things that may not seem like a threat, they’re already primed and wired to experience it as a threat. And that’s because it’s directly connected to the hipaa campus which stores all of these memories that have a lot of emotional content to it.
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What happens when you’re a kid is that the parts of the brain that are really well formed are the emotional centers, the amygdala, the fear center and the hippocampus. Those connections are super strong when you’re a kid, and when you’re a teenager. And so you’re
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automatic response is like really driven by the emotional response you’re like, Oh, my God, this is bad! Is this danger? Because the part of your brain in the front that pumps the brakes that says, well, actually, let’s think through this situation rather logically, let’s slow it down actually in danger. Just looking at the environment doesn’t seem like it. So let’s just pump the brakes.
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Those connections
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aren’t that strong. Those connections have not been fully formed in the child brain and the teenager brain right and so when we say to our kids, don’t freak out about it, it’s not a big deal, they can’t help it. Their brain is wired in such a way. They’re freaking out
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also for our adults, for our caregivers. If you have a history of experience repeating tra! Repeated traumas.
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those emotional centers and those connections remain strong and much stronger than the connections between the emotional part and the front part of your brain that helps upon the breaks. So that’s another reason why some caregivers can also be somewhat triggered by how their kids behave by the emotional responses of their kids, and may feel really revved up and have a difficult time kind of managing and regulating their emotional responses.
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And for everyone to know, too, when our kids are experiencing stress, when they’re experiencing something that they perceive to be difficult, whether that’s a peer interaction, whether that’s not being picked for the soccer team, whether that is being excluded from a birthday party. And again, these are scenarios where we’re like, what is the big deal?
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It can be experienced as traumatic as a difficult right, and people can have different responses. They can have the response in which they’re they’re fighting back where they get upset. They’re frustrated. They may go up to the peer group and be like, why didn’t you invite me? I feel blah blah, blah rejected. They may do that, but they can’t help it again, because that’s how their brain and their body is responding to what it is they’re experiencing as a as a threat or something bad.
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They may have the experience of just freezing, of shutting down, of just
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feeling numb, being hopeless, depressed. They’re socially Ron. They’re not engaging
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and we also need to know that when our kids shut down when they are withdrawn. That can be in response to a threat that can be in response to stress. We shouldn’t also ignore that
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a lot of kids tend to get the most attention, who are experiencing and displaying externalizing behavior. Quote unquote acting out.
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they tend to get noticed. The ones who are allowed us who are most disruptive. We’re like we need to get them into care immediately, and folks are kind of making moves to get them into care. But we also need to be cognizant of our kids who are experiencing the fear, the freeze response, who are shutting down, who are more withdrawn. They need the same level of support.
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if not even more so because their response system is so shut down that we they can’t even communicate their distress, and that is even more concerning
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so again, wide range of responses. There are behavioral responses that we see. There are mental health responses that we see, and we’re physical responses that we see just by virtue of experiencing stress hearing about traumatic events that are external to us. And again, there’s no white, right or wrong way to respond to any of this. But what we need to start doing is
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being
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reflective of. Okay, I’m noticing that I’m spending more time on social media and less time connecting with my child. I’m noticing that I am constantly watching the news and Cnn. But I’m not engaging with my child to see how it is they’re experiencing the news. I’m noticing that I’m really short tempered, that I’m my energy as well. I wonder what might be fueling some of that change.
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I think we really need to take time to slow things down, whether it’s at the end of the day.
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whether it’s during our commute, we need to find time to reflect on. How are we behaving? How are we responding emotionally? And how are we feeling in our bodies.
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But given the way our society works, we’re go, go go keeping and moving. But again, that’s not good modeling for our youth right on how to take good care of yourself.
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So
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when you notice that you’re experiencing that freeze response, or you’re noticing you’re experiencing that fight response. Or you’re noticing that your kid may be responding to different things in that way, to take a pause rather than assign Blaine to the child or yourself for
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engaging or displaying a certain behavior, but to remind yourself, oh, this is my brain’s way of trying to keep me safe.
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Hmm!
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My body is actually wired to respond in this way. So that means something is going on that I should be listening to, to, not blame yourself for having this automatic physi physiological response, but to that. But to
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view this as your body’s way of communicating that, I’m trying to keep you safe. And this is the best way that I know how, based on the way my brain is wired right?
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There are different tools and strategies that one can use. I’m a huge fan of like mindfulness.
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Thinking about pace, breathing with paired muscle relaxation. There are specific therapy modalities, including Emdr dialectical behavioral therapy, which has a lot of mindfulness already built into that. And then, obviously, the support groups that we have available. Through Nami. It’s also important to think about how to kind of manage
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exposure to the news to content, and it’s important to stay informed. But set aside designated time to
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be informed to read the news so that you’re not overwhelming yourself and talk to your kids about that, how to kind of set limits to the amount of time that they spend
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kind of consuming information through the media and just talking to your kids about it, talking to your kids about how you’re coping with living in an uncertain world during uncertain times, again
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teaching them how to fill up their toolbox.
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The thing is, a lot of kids
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are having difficulty connecting with their kit caregivers to learn about what are the tools they can put in their toolbox.
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So teens are trying to figure this out on their own.
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and everyone has one of these right. Whether it be an iphone. This is my daughter. Actually, you might have seen it. That’s my daughter Sophia. She’s now 3. But anyways everybody has one of these, except for my 3 year old. That would be inappropriate.
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But hey, I’m not labeling. If Fo, if folks have 3 year olds, my actually in all fairness, my 3 year old is very, very good at the iphone, but does not have her own, but she’s very good at it. But anyways, young people are teenagers
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are struggling to figure out how to fill up their toolbox. So you know where they’re going. They’re going to social media.
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They’re going to social media. And I’ve spent a lot of time in recent years kind of talking to to folks about social media use among our our young people, and everyone is like, well.
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young people just need to stop being on social media. We just need to tell them. Stop it.
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What was the last time you ever told a teenager to stop doing something, and they stopped it
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like, Come on. So we need to think about
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how we can.
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except the fact that our young people are gonna be on social media and social media is a very, very powerful tool. But we can actually provide support around the use of that powerful tool, that kind of leverage, the positive aspects of social media use it for good. There’s actually an opportunity to do that. But a lot of parents are like. No, just take away all phones, disconnect from social media. But the thing is, teens wanna be like other teams.
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It’s developmentally appropriate for them to do so to be like everyone else. So it is hard for them to just
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drop social media use. Now, just for awareness for caregivers. Here most teenagers are on Youtube. 95
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of teenagers between 13 and 17 are on Youtube 67 are on Tiktok and one out of every 16 uses. Tiktok, as a search engine.
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So your 14 year old is not googling depression.
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They’re searching for a non-tikalk.
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And then videos that have been created by various content designer or content creators who are 1315, talking about depression like their knee.
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Right? And that’s how they’re learning about mental health related issues
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through Tikta and through Youtube, Instagram Snapchat. What folks need to know. Nobody’s using. Facebook and Twitter also, now known as X folks are on it. But really kind of these more video based social media platforms. Which can be challenging because
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they can actually see things right how to do certain things. And so it makes it a little bit more difficult because it is so direct and so instructive. And the reality is, our young people are spending a lot of time on different social media platforms, I mean constantly throughout the day, even while they’re at school. So with Youtube.
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they’re 90 are constantly on Youtube. 41 are on it. Several times a day. And then same thing with with tick tock, they’re really using it. The overwhelming majority of of their day right?
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What is also concerning is that over 83% of mental health advice on Tiktok is misleading. And there’s been some research to support this 14% of videos include content that could potentially be damaging to our young people, and some of the conditions that tend to be associated with the most misleading information is Adhd bipolar disorder or borderline personality, disorder, depression, and anxiety.
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So what can we do? With our teens and our kids, knowing that this is where they’re getting their mental health support. But even backing up
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prior to that, like understanding, why are they turning to social media and mentioned earlier on typically the way you know? We hope that youth development happens is that the adults in their lives are modeling
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how to cope and how to navigate the world from a social, emotional standpoint. And because our caregivers are struggling with identifying effective tools and strategies to cope kids have to turn to social media right? And so again going back to that importance of modeling importance of having these conversations with kids, and to be curious
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how they are using social media. Sit down next to your kid while they’re on their phone rather than say, Oh, put that phone down, stop using it to sit next to them and be like, Oh, what video are you watching, or
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what? What is that about? Who are your favorite content? Creators? You would sound really cool to your teenager if you’re like, oh, who’s your favorite content? Creator on Tiktok? They’d be like Mom, that’s weird. And let me show you this really cool dance video. You know. It’s all again about making connections, being curious, and then over time they may open up to you and start showing you more content. And like, Oh, hey, mom, I
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found this really interesting video about Ptsd, I think I have this.
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Then you could start a conversation about what are the most appropriate next steps. Right? Use talking about their friends as like an indirect way to gain some insight as to how they’re getting their mental health information and how they’re understanding their mental health. This is super helpful for for teenagers. Cause they could say things like, Oh, I’m fine. I’m totally fine. Okay. But can you tell me a little bit about how Sarah and Jessica are doing. Oh, let me tell you about Sarah like
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she’s so depressed, and this and that. And oh, do you know what Sarah’s doing to help herself? Yeah. So Sarah came across this video, you are learning a ton. So please please be curious about your kids. Friends
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know the names of your kids, friends, and what they are doing to take care of themselves. I’m also a big proponent of mental health days full stop. I really am. Kids have
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allotted sick days at school, but I do think that we need to have conversations with our kids about
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how are they doing emotionally, and if they are in a place in order to go to school to function, but to not use it as an excuse or crutch, or a way to avoid certain behaviors, but to use it as a day to recharge themselves, to reset, to talk about how they’re actually doing, rather than just kinda giving off the impression that life is hard. Keep it moving. Who cares if you’re feeling sad or and keep it moving?
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You can’t, because then there. You don’t know how to engage in self care.
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You can provide a lot of boundaries and a lot of
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framing for the use of mental health days a lot of good modeling around it, so that teens are using in a way that’s actually beneficial and not in a way much. They’re engaging and avoiding behavior.
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A lot of young people and caregivers aren’t aware of the fact that a number of school districts actually have mental health clinicians embedded in the schools. And so if your kid is showing you some social media content about a mental health condition, you could say, Well, I wonder if there’s like a a counselor at your school that maybe you can talk to. I can look into that. Is that something you’re interested in? And so kind of using
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discussions about their friends, social media, as an opportunity to figure out whether or not you need to help support making a in touch in person kind of connection to more. Direct mental health services. Okay?
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So what I want to make sure to spend some time on is to talk about kind of next steps and something that I’m really excited about. And it’s
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It’s about this book, right? So this is the cover. This is actually my first talk ever about my blog first time showing my cover to like a public audience. So it’s kind of cool, right? But yeah, thanks, guys, thanks for for the hearts and all that. But this is a project that I’ve spent
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almost 2 years working on. And as I you know, I finished the book I sent it over to my editor in February. So this is like, I just finished right. And
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I reflected, my kids are 3 and 4 years old. I’m like I’ve been writing this book the majority of their lives. That’s that’s unbelievable. Wow! That’s kind of wild. But here’s the cover of this book, and this book is a follow up book to ken duts. Buck, you are not alone which focused on the journey of adults. In terms of their mental health journey. He interviewed a hundred
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and 30 people across the country, also part of the Nami community and other mental health experts. Just talking about the road to recovery, as it relates to mental health. But what became pretty clear is that our caregivers need something concrete with practical tools, advice, and guidance on how to take care of their kids when they’re waiting 2, 3 months for their kids to see a mental health expert.
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and I meet with a lot of parents who are just sitting at home. They’re like, what do I do in between these appointments with mental health providers. What do I do as I’m awaiting the evaluation and the reality is, there’s so many things that you can do. There’s so many things that should be done that can continue to be in place even when they’re engaged in mental health supports. And this book really highlights that fact
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that there are so many resources in the Nami, within the Nami community, within our communities and with our interactions, one on one with our kids. But we’re so quick to kind of thinking more externally and more big picture and be like someone fix my kid right? But really, there’s a lot of capacity that you have inside of you in order to provide your kid with that support.
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Right? So you’re probably like whatever I don’t buy it. I don’t buy it. But you know, we know that our youth are are really struggling right? And it can be hard to understand what that looks like in a preschooler, you know, thinking about? Okay, these constant tantrums? Are they typical for a kid their age? Or is this indicative of a developmental issue?
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My 14 year old, my 13 year old. Is this just purity? And the reason why they’re so irritable, moody because of purity? Or is it actually depression that’s going on?
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am I is my kids struggling in school because the school is bad? And they have terrible friends. Or is there something else that’s behind that?
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And then the big question of.
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Am I just a bad parent?
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Do I just not have this tools or skills
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to support my kid?
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No, that’s wrong. No, no, no, but a lot of parents think that, and they wonder that they wonder, am I over reacting? What should I do? And this book? My hope is that will address all of those concerns. I really hope it does.
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Well, I’m what I tried to do. We’ll see if I did it. I tried to provide a lens through which to understand the many complex factors affecting children’s mental health.
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I’m covering young people between, you know the ages of like 3, 4, like preschool age all the way through high school.
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I talk about different mental health conditions, how they manifest at different ages, what sort of interventions, may be necessary. And what are some of the supports that can be put in place to ensure that kids thrive? And what’s amazing about this book is that this book isn’t just a reflection of my clinical expertise, but this is a reflection of the expertise, the collection
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of expertise of our Nami community. I interviewed over 80 people, including kids themselves, young adults, caregivers, teachers, coaches.
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All of these individuals have lived experience with mental health conditions, and they are experts in their own right for how to navigate, how to kind of navigate this journey, as it relates to youth, mental health, and they share their personal stories. They share tools and strategies that they use on their journey to recovery. And it’s a reminder that they’re just not alone, and that we are a community of folks who demonstrate that and live that each and every day.
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My hope is that this book will open the door to more caregivers to realize that Nami is for young people, too, and it is for caregivers of young people.
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So here’s a table of contents. I know I’m sharing a lot. But hey, I figured I’d do that. But you know, part one is, how do you think about your kids? Mental health like
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I didn’t even think about whether or not they need help.
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I talk about a framework to use to determine. Okay, do I actually need to talk to my pediatrician about this? Do I actually need to see a therapist? Or it’s just, is this like, okay, this is developmentally appropriate. I gotta buckle in and just go along with the ride right? And then also starting the journey. How do you get started on this journey?
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How do you understand? A mental health diagnosis and a 4 year old, or in a 5 year old. How do you understand that? Because I oftentimes meet people, and they’re like we met with one provider when the kid was 7, and now at age 12, they say, yes, this diagnosis. Then at 9, they said, he has this diagnosis. You guys don’t know what you’re talking about.
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but we talk about it. Talk about how things evolve and change over time because kids grow and change over time. So a diagnosis isn’t a way to label your kid and to kind of think about the kind of extent of their development, but is to understand what that kid. It looks like at that particular point in time.
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And then we go into the specific mental health conditions in part 2, and then part 3 is really reflection of lessons learned. From lived experience.
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I hope that in this book people will take away from a concept that I kind of came up with called a distress radius to figure out, okay, is there really a problem with my kid? Is this just a problem that is localized home? Or is this more indicative and reflective of a much larger pattern in which we’re seeing disruptions outside of the home at school, with the relationships with peers and other adults.
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And so I talk about the importance of noticing your kid by looking for a pattern of behavior, talking to your kid, but talking to them while doing a lot of listening. So really listening, but with a edge towards curiosity, and locking in and embrace
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the child, locking in, really trying to make it such that as soon as you identify that your kid is struggling to really contain things by telling your kid and reminding your kid I am here for you. I’m gonna find a community to embrace you so that everything that you’re experiencing internally doesn’t create further disruptions and other aspects of your life. So I talk about that
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and lastly, because I love to leave some time for questions. And, Michelle, I’m still good. We we have until 2 15. Okay, good. Is. I just want to remind everyone on the call that Nami has a teen and young adult helpline that’s available for teens and young adults specifically. And so your teen or young adult can text
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friends is 6, 2, 6, 4 0. They can call the phone number that you see here also on the Nami National website, there’s a whole list of different resources that are available to teenagers in the form of a Pdf.
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so I really encourage you guys to go to Nami or to look up the teen and young adult resources that are available.
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So with that.
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that was a lot of fun. I love talking as you could tell, but also I just really appreciate you all inviting me and being the first to hear about my book. So thank you, Milestone, for me.
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We are thrilled to be the first to hear about the book.
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Feel very, very privileged. Thank you so much for that conversation.
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very engaging lots of great information to share.
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we do have a lot of the resources that we got from Nami National, and have put them in the session or under your speaker name at this point of the day. I’m not quite sure where we put them, but they are available through the lobby.
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So we do have a few questions, and we hope people add some more as we go. Can young children with mental health, ages 5, through 10, outgrow depression and anxiety if they receive counseling at these ages.
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Yes, and that’s part of the reason why I decided to go into child and adolescent psychiatry is because, with early intervention and providing tools and resources to kids during critical times in their development, you can completely alter their trajectory.
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and you intervene at the right time. And so what we do see is that young kids, school age kids who may be experiencing symptoms of depression. When they’re engaged in therapy, and we oftentimes recommend all the time recommend that kids who are experiencing some of these symptoms be connected in therapy and more specifically family therapy.
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so that the caregivers can better understand how they can support their kid, how they can communicate effectively to their kid and also teaching the kid how they can communicate effectively with with their family and the various systems that they’re a part of and so making sure that their family unit is strong. Their community unit is strong, that their school has the resources that they need to. In order to support the kid.
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the kid can thrive. They really can, because you provided them with the structure. And you’ve given them the tools during therapy so that they can help some of those
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thoughts that they may have in terms of black and white, thinking in terms of catastrophizing in terms of feeling hopeless in terms of being more sensitive towards rejection. You can certainly make it such that these kids have the tools that they need, such that depression may not frequently interfere or
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or or interrupt function in a significant way that can alter their trajectory.
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That’s great and super helpful. Thank you.
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I’m gonna jump through a question and then go back to another one. So can you give a little bit of information about the section in your book on youth and psychosis?
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Oh, yeah, I can.
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that’s an excellent question. Because I think it’s important for us
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as an organization, to to think about individuals who have serious mental illness who have smi, but also to understand that some symptoms of psychosis or of a primary psychotic disorder can manifest
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early on in childhood and in the teenage years. Typically, what happens is
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those early symptoms get overlooked. And it’s hard for people to be able to pick up and identify these symptoms. And then kids go off to college. And then that’s usually when they have like their first full episode. Or what have you? So what I talk about is how to be curious about some of these symptoms, how to understand what it is that your child is experiencing
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but also kind of talking about what are some supports that can be put in place? If there are some concerns about a pattern of behavior or some experiences that they’re having that are getting in the way of their ability and function. And I also provide some context for how caregivers can understand these symptoms, because sometimes the symptoms can make it difficult for one to connect with their kid to understand their kid to
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how there could communicate with them. And so I talk about some strategies for how to navigate that. And also just kind of talking about how there
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other factors, whether it’s substance, use, or other things that can make it such as though someone experiences these symptoms, but they could potentially go away with some of the appropriate interventions. So the chapter isn’t focused on your kid has Xyz condition, but it’s more about how to understand it.
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how to support them through it, how to communicate, what language to use with your kid, and what language to use when talking to your own community when talking to your mom right? But talking to grandma about this so that they can understand this because you want to kind of be the liaison between your kid who’s experiencing symptoms and their larger community and so
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coming up with language that you feel comfortable with to communicate with others, so they can still be a source of support. For your kid, and that they’re not afraid of these symptoms, but they have a better understanding of what these symptoms are all about.
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That’s awesome. And we do have a support group here in at Nami, New Hampshire, for for families experiencing the early, serious mental illness or first step. So psychosis.
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so that’s
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that’s really great that you’re addressing that in the book as well.
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let’s see, do the numbers for the amount of child psychiatrists include those employed
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through digital services like better health.
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Yeah. So what’s interesting about all of these telemedicine services is that there are a lot of nurse practitioners who are providing psychiatric medication management. So they are not factored into that number. So this is specifically looking at child and adolescent psychiatrists. What’s interesting about my profession is that there are a lot of people who are board, certified and child and adolescent psychiatrists, but not a lot of them who are seeing kids.
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So a lot of people think about like pediatric psychiatrists as only seeing kids.
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But actually, we’re board certified to treat people across their entire lifespan. So there are people who go on to get that additional training so that they can see everybody. But it doesn’t mean that their scope of practice is just limited to treating kids and teenagers. So that’s something to to keep in mind. So even though I said 8,300 to 10,000, there’s probably a percentage of that that doesn’t see kids right? So that further limits access.
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I love telemedicine. I love tele psychiatry because it really has opened up the doors such that people in low resource areas now have connections to pediatric mental health providers. But no, those numbers do not include our psychiatric nurse prescribers, and I also think that there needs to be a lot more support and resources that are provided
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to our nurse practitioners so that they can receive the robust amount of training that is necessary to specifically prescribe to kids because there aren’t a lot of fellowship programs for Nps that are directly geared towards child psychiatry. And so everyone is trying their best. And so we also need to look at providing more robust training for Mps because they really are
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filling a huge gap in mental health services.
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even though we have 4 more. I’m just gonna pick one more cause the time is we’re running out of time.
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And this was a little bit related to what you’re just talking about. Do you see a role for pediatricians in the interim? Since there are so few mental health professionals.
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do they receive enough medical training and psychiatry? Or would they need additional training to be effective.
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Fantastic question. So our pediatricians are are best friends because they really serve as the front lines for this youth, mental health crisis. Our pediatricians know, and I’ve been impressed over the years that there seems to be growing acceptance of the fact that mental health conditions are primary care, related issues, right? So anxiety, depression, trauma, related responses. Adhd, that still falls under
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primary care. And so our primary care providers are better as screening for some of these conditions referring to different types of therapy as well as starting medications. Part of the reason why I’m so embedded in the Boston University Medical School is because I’m really invested in the idea of
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creating the shared sense of responsibility, of addressing the youth. Mental health crisis. And I wanna make sure that our medical students are graduating from medical school with a robust understanding of how it is that they can support our youth if they happen to go into pediatrics and primary care. Our residency program with pediatric residency, we’re
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integrating more behavioral health throughout those 3 years of pediatric residency, so that they have that training and support that they need. But I’ve been really encouraged by the fact that things seem to have been improving in terms of primary care, providers, understanding of how to support youth, mental health.
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That’s great. Thank you, and thank you for all the helpful messages.
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I don’t know if Susan or Karen have anything else they want to say before we wrap things up.
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We are so appreciative of your time. We know how how busy you are, Karen and I really learned in detail about all of the things that you’re working on. But we are so excited about this project with the book.
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And we’re hoping that maybe we could be one of the first, maybe on a book tour or something like that. That’s right, because at the end of the day this is a Nami book 100 of all. The proceeds from this book goes back to Nami, not to my pocket. Right? So this is a Nami Nami book, and I really hope that everyone is really excited about getting this book out into the hands as many people as possible. So they learn about Nami so they can get connected
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to us. So I’m really excited that more people will know about us. So that’s really just incredible.
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That’s awesome.
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I wasn’t gonna say anything, but we are very excited about your book, Dr. Crawford. So
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I I wanted to make sure I could say it so.
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But yes, we we would love love to
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be among the first again to help promote it.
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So thank you. Thank you, Dr. Crawford. Thank you for all of our participants. You’re seeing lots of lots of love coming up on the screen.
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and we have the the links for a variety or of downloadable materials from Normallyorg. And I know some of those were shared in the chat.
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As I’ve said many times earlier today. And so, as Karen, please keep an eye out for an evaluation at the end of the day, and it will reference all of our sessions as well as the conference overall, you will be able to download a certificate if needed. After completing the survey
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recordings of the session and all of the other ones will be available in this lobby, as well as the naming New Hampshire Youtube Channel.
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Coming up next, we have Lisa Morgan, who’s going to be presenting on crisis supports and suicide prevention for autistic people.
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So thank you again. And we’ll see you at the next session.
Featuring:
Lisa Morgan, Certified Autism Specialist and Trauma-Informed Consultant
Research has shown suicide to be a leading cause of death for autistic people. This presentation will cover the warning signs, unique risk factors, statistics of suicide, and how to be culturally aware in working with autistic people. Autistic people think, communicate, and experience the world differently than non-autistic people. The presentation will describe five autism-specific resources to use in supporting autistic people around suicide prevention and crisis support.
Sponsored by WellSense Health Plan
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Welcome everyone. Good afternoon, and welcome to the 2024 NAMI New Hampshire Annual Conference.
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cultivating hope, celebrating everyday heroes.
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Thank you for joining us.
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If you’re new to Nami, New Hampshire, we are so glad you are here.
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If you’re a longtime member. The naming New Hampshire family. Thank you for coming back.
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Nominee. Hampshire is a grassroots organization that provides support, education and advocacy to individuals and their families, impacted by mental illness and suicide in the Granite State.
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We do this by offering a variety of programs and events, including today’s conference.
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I’m Karen Freebay. I’m one of your co-hosts today along with Michelle Watson.
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Today’s presentations are in zoom, zoom, webinar.
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There will not be an option to turn on your camera
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or microphone.
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We welcome questions in the Q. And A, and we’ll do our best to get to them all.
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You may have also noticed that we have turned off the chat feature which sometimes can be distracting.
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We are able to.
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We’re we’d like to express our thanks.
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Hold on one moment.
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We’d like to express our thanks to our sponsors who helped make today’s conference available free of charge.
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Thank you. Well, sense health plan for sponsoring this session and for your continued support of Nami, New Hampshire.
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I’d now like to introduce
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Lisa Morgan of Lisa Morgan. Consulting
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will present crisis, support and suicide prevention for autistic people.
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Lisa has a connection to nomine New Hampshire
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she trained. Doesn’t need her own voice. Speaker.
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But we I heard her on a
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webinar presenting this information earlier this year, and I’m really glad to welcome her back.
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Go ahead, Lisa.
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Thank you.
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Okay, I’m going to share my screen.
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Everybody see that? Okay.
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yep.
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okay.
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so welcome everyone. We are going to talk about crisis supports and suicide prevention for autistic people. And I like to just to remind everybody that we will be talking about suicide and possibly self harm, and to take a break if you need one.
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If you feel triggered at all, take care of yourself.
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988 is the national call text or chat line. And if it’s for if you need even more support or assistance.
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and I also wanna make a note about language
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as an autistic adult, I use identity first language in my presentations
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and will in this presentation, and that’s aligned with my own preferences and those of my autistic colleagues and friends.
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But I also recognize that not all people use or prefer this identity first language, and so to be respectful. Each person should be given the opportunity to choose the language they prefer to be identified it by.
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We’re going to be describing the most researched and supported unique risk. Factors of suicide for autistic people
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explain how to communicate and support autistic people in crisis
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and then to apply some
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autistic specific resources to support autistic people in crisis.
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So first question is, why do we need crisis support and suicide prevention for autistic people?
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Well, first of all, it is a leading cause of death for autistic people and research for the long. Well, not really a long time. So I got into this
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Advocacy work around 2,016, and there was no research for those autistic people with an intellectual disability.
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They were saying that you know it was a
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that suicide was a cause of death for autistic people without an intellectual disability. But now we do have research. You’ll see later on in my presentation, that autistic people with an intellectual disability have just as high of a risk.
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also want to see. People are not believed. Some reasons are due to masking, which I’ll talk about later as well. Flat affect.
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I support autistic people in crisis, and I’ve been told
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many times that they’ve gone to ers with, you know, telling people that they are suicidal.
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and they’re sent home
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because they don’t have any outward distress or outward
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you know, kind of facial expressions, or anything like that that they they get sent home. With no support.
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And communication differences in trying to explain what’s going on for them as well. There are unique risk factors of suicide and as well, all the risk factors. The general population pertain to autistic people.
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Warning signs don’t meet the needs of autistic people. One of the resources that I’m going to share is
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considerations to take when using the warning signs of suicide. The general population, because there. Some of them are aspects of autism.
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Suicide. Assessments are not made for autistic people who tend to be very literal thinkers and literal
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way of you know.
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answering the questions on the assessments, and they may fall through the cracks.
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Interventions don’t make space for autistic culture.
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So a lot of professionals as well. Look at autistic people
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through the medical model.
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mostly through the Dsm 5.
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And it’s really deficit based with disability dysfunction, you know, just disorder.
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and it is in many ways
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a disability for many people, but looking at it only through the medical model, really looks at what’s wrong instead of what a person might need.
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So some of the things in the Dsm 5 are compromised communication skills, cognitive rigidity.
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degrees of impaired social ability, and making small talk and attention to detail.
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limited repetitive behaviors, stimming and rocking, which are needed in crisis for regulation.
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Narrow, focused interest of special passions which actually can be used in crisis to get somebody out of a preservative negative thought pattern
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sensory processing issues like environment and even internally, with it over
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active, you know. Central nervous system.
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so these are all
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true, but
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they can also cause what I call unintentional harm.
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because many professionals don’t understand the need to assess an autistic person for support.
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I’ve trained in a
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really pretty big research study.
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I was a co-lead on the tradition clinician training team.
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and we trained over 250 clinicians and many, many of them said, if they find out somebody is autistic, they don’t even assess them for suicide.
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So it’s not. It’s not known that autistic people have a high risk of suicide.
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Many first responders don’t understand ways to work with an autistic person in crisis.
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Which is why I got into this advocacy work, because the night we found my husband had died by suicide.
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the first responders were supportive and everything, but not the support that I understood as support.
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the behavior of autistic people is many times misunderstood and could be reacted to in a negative way, causing unintentional harm.
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And then autistic people just tend to not get their needs met.
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So what does unintentional harm look like?
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It’s friendly. It’s encouraging. It’s empathetic and caring to non autistic people and some to autistic people as well. Because, you know, there’s different.
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Everyone’s different on the autism spectrum.
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So some may work, but for a lot of people. So, for instance, the night I found my husband, one of the policemen
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kind of standing behind me put his hand on my shoulder, heavy hand, and it scared me, and I didn’t know how to react. I didn’t know what it meant. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do
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for months afterwards, when I thought about that night.
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I you know I could feel that hand on my shoulder.
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It took me a long time to realize that it was actually
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and encouraging.
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Act to put a hand on shoulder, but not not to me, not to my senses.
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not to my, you know, processing speed, the high anxiety I had.
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It just was not
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encouraging or supportive
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so unintentional harm by well meaning professionals is still harm.
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So looking at. And we talked about the medical model. Now, looking at autism through a social model is really much more supportive
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for an autistic person understanding that autism is a spectrum condition.
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and the spectrum is not linear, going from like a low function to a high functioning kind of thing. It’s more circular. And if you see with this pie right here and there’s aspects of autism listed, and you know at times the pie might look like this. And
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in the afternoon it could look completely different.
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Because skills and abilities kind of come and go. And our, you know people. Autistic people can do something in the morning that they might not be able to do in the afternoon, depending on what has happened between
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morning and afternoon
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and how much they were able to regulate. And so.
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knowing that is helpful as well
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knowing about sensory issues in the environment as well as an overactive central nervous system.
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And knowing the autism culture which some of the autism culture would be that, you know, autistic people think differently
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to be very literal, could have a visual memory. And thinking pictures really have a focus on details.
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Know that there’s focused passions
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and stimming, you know. Some. Sometimes, you know, I stem when I I twirl my hair, which is socially acceptable, but
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stimming is used to regulate, and so, understanding that
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and supporting someone in a crisis and giving them even permission to go ahead and stem if they need to, is supportive
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using honest literal speech. And do we talk about that in one of the resources.
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And then, knowing that you know with self care
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lot of people withdraw for self care.
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So we use the social model in our resources to support autistic people?
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but autism and suicide, what do we know
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about autism and suicide?
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We know that autistic individuals are significantly more likely to think about, attempt and die by suicide than the general population
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we know. Suicide is a leading cause of premature death in autistic people.
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We don’t know much about the protective factors for autistic people. What we do know is the protective factors for the general population are not protective factors for autistic people. In fact, some of them are unique risk factors
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and autistic people have uniquest factors
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as well. Autistic adults are 9 times more likely to think about a tent or die by suicide than the general population.
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And and it with a study done by Cassidy at all.
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60% of the newly diagnosed autistic adults. In that study.
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reported suicidal ideation compared to just 17 in the general population. In that study.
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same study, 35% had planned or attempted suicide compared to 2.5
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and the general population.
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And for children, it’s it’s pretty much the same, if not worse. Autistic children are 28 times more likely to think about
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or attempt suicide
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and suicidal ideation and behavior has been reported in autistic children, even under 10 years old. So it really it goes across the lifespan.
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And then we do have this new research where autistic adults with an intellectual disability are more likely to attempt to die by suicide.
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They have a lower occurrence of suicidal ideation than autistic people without an intellectual disability.
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There’s more difficulty with communication.
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There’s poor access to services.
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and we really need improved understanding of anxiety and depression in this population. But I’m glad that they are starting to
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look at that population. Do research.
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I wanna talk about anxiety.
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and as you’ll see as we go along in these next few slides.
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how it sort of plays in
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autistic people
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being suicidal.
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making attempts and dying by suicide.
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So it’s among the most common comorbidities of autism, spectrum disorder.
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Research does vary on the numbers of autistic people who suffer from anxiety, but consensus says that 40 to 50 of autistic people have a clinical diagnosis of anxiety.
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and it could be generalized anxiety. It could be social phobia could be agrophobia.
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There’s many different types of anxiety.
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We could be even more than one together.
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And then there’s a population study in Denmark. It was a 20 year. Study 6 million people in it, and out of the autistic people in it.
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The study found 90 of them had a co-occurring disorder with one of the most common being anxiety, and that the next being depression.
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So there’s many reasons why Oops
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did. Again, there’s many reasons why
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an autistic person, you know, might have chronic anxiety. The environment can cause anxiety because of the sensory challenges
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and validation. When an autistic person might tell someone that the lights are too loud.
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And the other person can’t hear them
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or there’s too much noise, and they’re the only ones who feel that way, or the temperatures too hot or too cold.
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one example I can share from my own life. Experience is, I used to work before I got to advocacy work, I work. I was a teacher.
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and the last place I worked was a small private school, 6 staff.
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There were about 30 students, about 80% of them on the autism spectrum somewhere.
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And I came in on a Monday morning and I could smell something, some something was different. I couldn’t place it, but I could smell it, and nobody else could smell it, not any of the kids, not any of the staff.
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On Tuesday, when I went in, I could smell it stronger still. Couldn’t place it.
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Still, no one could smell it.
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And I started feeling, you know. Is it me? You know nobody believed me
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so finally, on the third day, the school leader could smell that in the same way, I could on Monday like a little bit of something. Couldn’t place it by this time. It’s overpowering me, my sinus of burning
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so because I had one more person, that validation. I went into look for it, and we had a second stairs that we never used, and I went up there, and halfway up the stairs I knew exactly what it was
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over the weekend someone had
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power. Wash the roof.
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and there’s a door out there leading to the roof, and someone put the big gas powered power washer inside the door and close the door, and it was gas fumes. And so we were able at that point to get all the kids out of school and school out and be safe.
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But
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you know the that kind of sensory in the environment. I was very anxious about what was going on those days, because nobody else could could, you know, had the same experience. I did.
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Social situations can cause anxiety. There’s so much in autistic people don’t understand about social situations. Same school. When I first started.
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one of the teachers said, I’ll text delay, Lisa, as she was leaving, and I thought, I’m going to make a friend. This is great, you know. No text came, and I thought, she’s probably busy, you know. Maybe forgot. She kept doing that day after day, and I thought I don’t know what’s going on
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but I was pretty anxious about it, because I I don’t know if I was missing the text, if I what I was supposed to do it was just confusing. Well, when I asked her, she said it was her way of saying goodbye. See you later. Kind of thing. And
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for me, goodbyes. Goodbye. Text later means she’ll text me later. So you know, social situations can be confusing. Change can be very difficult. It can put an autistic person into crisis.
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Autistic people count on sameness. So they plan their days to know. Is it what to expect? The tiniest detail?
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Where, like, where they’re going, how they’re gonna get there? Can they leave early? Who’s going with them. Who will they see there?
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Will they have to make small talk? Will they be loud music, I mean, on and on. What will be expected of them.
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And then, when something changes, all that planning is gone, and they’re left with no plans to depend on. That’s very highly
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anxiety producing
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to have to wing it at that point.
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and then masking autistic people use the social strategy of masking their autism to fit in, which is exhausting.
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And research has shown. It’s detrimental to the mental health, because no one knows them for who they truly are. As people.
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It’s profoundly lonely, even though it’s a social strategy that works to have that relationship, to have that job, to go to a higher education and get, you know, a degree.
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It’s profoundly lonely, because the whole time. They’re acting like they’re
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not themselves
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They’re also suppressing all aspects of their autism, any sensory sensitivities in the environment they’re not regulating
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and they do their best to look and act like everyone else around them.
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But the mask is not the same as when people act different in different circumstances like between school at home or home and work. There’s some asking there, too, or going to Mcdonald’s or a fancy restaurant. You kind of masking at a fancy restaurant masking for autistic people is changing who they are as a person all day long, every day, every week, every month, years and years and years.
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I know I pro most likely started in first grade when
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I didn’t know how to make a friend, and I didn’t know how to
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start being involved like, join the game. I didn’t know any of that, and so I didn’t. And I was alone a lot, and I would watch the other kids and start doing what they did and saying what they said. And I look, that’s when I started to mask and just continue doing that my whole life. So a lot of autistic people don’t even develop a sense of self because they never.
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They’re always trying to act like like the other people who they they think know, know what to do.
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Relationships can be anxiety producing. I’ve experienced the ending of many friendships and have no idea why, so I can’t learn.
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And that’s the same story for many, many autistic adults.
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And there’s so much about employment that can cause anxiety for autistic adults.
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First is, the interview process is heavily based on first impressions, thinking fast, making decisions, performing on the spot.
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none of which are easy for autistic people.
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We can have a slow processing speed, unrelated to intelligence negative.
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Apparently Lisa is having some technical difficulties. Please hold on while we
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try to
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get her back on.
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Are we back.
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I think I went out in there for a second.
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Okay. And everyone can see the presentation.
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Okay.
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share what happened? Okay, I’ll try to reshare
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you. See it now.
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Okay.
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yeah.
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Alright.
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You’ll see it.
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Okay.
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see, where was I?
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so we’ll we’re on a list of time. Yeah. I think I personally recognized the motion of anger when I was somewhere in my thirties.
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And so asking in as far as crisis supports, asking a person of Lexithamia. How they’re feeling is really difficult to answer.
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asking them what they’re thinking about is a much more supportive way of asking in a crisis.
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But
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us to find me does not stop someone from experiencing negative emotions. They just don’t know what they are.
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Typically, I will say, I don’t feel well inside, because I know I’m I’m experiencing some kind of negative emotion, but I don’t know what it is.
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and I also might cry, but not know what I’m crying about, so there’s no way to alleviate it. And with processing speed it might be something that happened
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hours ago, or
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the you know, yesterday, or something
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so supporting somebody in a crisis with Alexa can be tricky.
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and so you you can have
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negative emotions. You you may not. You may have no emotions at all, which.
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unfortunately, then
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there can be a sudden huge wave of emotion that’s difficult to regulate, and an autistic person may still not know what that emotion is, and can find it very difficult to manage.
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So this can be a crisis for the artistic person, especially if they’re already highly anxious.
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and we’ll see further in the presentation.
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what impulse, what Alexis Amia can do?
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As far as being
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concerning for for suicide.
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I want to talk about impulsivity, and then I’ll show you exactly what I mean about it. Working together for an autistic person and being very concerning about suicide.
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So the contributing factors which impulsivity is a core feature of autism and some contributing factors include sensory processing.
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being hypersensitive to certain sounds, textures touch lights which is dysregulating and hard to cope with, leading to impulsive behaviors.
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executive functioning which is cognitive processes responsible for planning and organizing and completing tasks.
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Autistic people can have challenges with executive functioning that lead to poor decision making
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and difficulty regulating their behavior.
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and that that’s a safety concern with impulsivity. And Alexithimia
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together with somebody who’s already, you know, experiencing suicidal ideation and self harm.
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So
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together,
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Somebody can
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engage in behaviors that could seriously harm them.
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or even dying by suicide, without even thinking about or knowing what they’re doing because of that impulsivity, that lack of being able to explain your emotions, that impulsivity. And then you know they could, just before they even know it, they could have done some harm to themselves.
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That’s the safety concern.
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So we’re going to go to unique risk factors. This list is not all of the unique risk factors it contains. Some of the most studied and supported is also thwarted, belonging
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a diagnosis. Oh, autism itself is a unique risk factor.
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and we have the Co occurring psychiatric conditions which I already talked about before that study in Denmark with anxiety and depression, being
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the most common in having 90 of those autistic people on the study having a co-occurring psychiatric disorder.
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then we have lack of social support.
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and I like to put it together with unmet support, needs
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and autistic people significantly and pre predict suicidality, even after controlling for a number of demographics and diagnoses
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unmet needs, is pretty defined pretty broadly. It could be unmet needs in the home owning a home
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with employment, mental or physical healthcare.
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finances, social activities on and on and on.
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just it really is the number of unmet needs at the same time with that lack of social support.
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masking or camouflaging that I already explained, whereby autistic people attempt to mask or camouflage your autistic traits.
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It’s profoundly
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lonely
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and is detrimental to one’s mental health.
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Even though it like, I said before, even though it is helpful socially.
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Nobody knows who you are as a person it’s exhausting. And the reason why many autistic people have to withdraw for self care after going to school or work or social activity.
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Having a late diagnosis is an unique risk factor of suicide for autistic people. It can be related to the unmet needs
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and supportive lack of social support. But there’s also a lot of grief
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experienced by autistic people diagnose later in life. They mourn what could have been if they’d only known sooner, and they have a sense that something was different about them their whole lives, but didn’t know what it was.
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And when they find out. There’s regrets and the sense that if they’d only known they would have done things differently.
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Autistic females are a particularly high rate of suicide. Research study shows that
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the rate to be 13 times higher than their non autistic
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female peers, many experience being misdiagnosed.
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invalidated about what they’re experiencing, and they’re experiencing all the other risk factors above it as well.
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The last one that’s supported
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is autistic burnout. That’s which is an intense physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion with regression of skills that someone else with autism experience and many autistic people say it results from
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mainly having the cumulative effect of having to navigate a world that was really just, not designed for them.
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including being invalidated. And also it’s the demands of life chronically. Oh, outweighing an autistic person’s ability to cope.
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So understanding autism and the culture of autistic people, so autistic people do not have to master autism is suicide. Prevention.
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Cultural knowledge would be understanding autism and not just the book learning part, but actually asking people who are living with autism, what it’s like, and learning from them.
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Some examples of autistic culture would be knowing that autistic people have those focus passions. Adherence to routine
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have a unique way of being. And it’s okay, you know, accepting that differences in communication and being okay with that. So a lot of times in the support groups that I co facilitate, it’s okay. If an autistic person doesn’t turn on their camera or communicates through the chat.
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That’s all. Okay.
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and if it was okay everywhere else, it, you know, it would just be so much better. For autistic people.
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So in crisis support, though knowing the strengths of autistic people. So I like to do strength based support, and these are some of the strengths, and these are some of the strengths that I chose that are really good in in supporting autistic people, in crisis. And in.
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you know, suicide prevention. So they’re very creative people.
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And on the other end of that, the problem solvers. So they’re creative problem solvers. So having them be part of the solution
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for their own you know, suicidal ideation or crisis is going to be really supportive to them, really validate them. Always presume confident competence.
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just because somebody’s in a crisis or has difficulty with social communication. That doesn’t mean they’re not competent. So presuming that competence is really important.
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Autistic people tend to be very honest.
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And it can kinda get us in trouble sometimes. But
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you’ll really find out what’s going on with them because they’re they’re going to be honest about it.
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But you have to ask them in a way that’s
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they understand. So if you say to somebody, do you? Wanna do you want to kill yourself?
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You know. An autistic person may say no, but they’re planning on it, and it might be that day or that next day, and they’re planning up. But what you asked them was if they wanted to, and they don’t want to.
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It’s just they don’t have any other way of going on, and so they might be planning it. So, asking what you want? The answer to with an autistic person is very supportive, and remembering that they not only understand the world in a literal way a lot of times, but they
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hear questions in a literal way as well.
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They adhere to routine, which is
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amazing. When you’re when you’re trying to get somebody to use a safety plan once it becomes a routine for them, they’re most likely going to use it.
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And in making the safety plan being detail oriented is a very, you know. It’s it’s strength
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to write down everything that might keep them safe, reduce access to means
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being rule-based.
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So I live with suicide, all ideation, and when it gets too strong for me, I have a rule where I will sit in my car. I don’t go in my home where there’s access to means.
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So until I can get my
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suicide thoughts down in in a more comfortable way that I’m comfortable with. I won’t even go in the house. I might. I’ll sit in my car. I’ll go for a walk.
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And I go, and that sticks because it’s a rule. And I’m rule based.
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fairness is very important to autistic people. So talking to them about? Are they being fair to themselves? Are they being fair to their loved ones?
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So there are strengths to use when supporting autistic people in crisis.
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But there’s also challenges as well.
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So knowing that there’s sensory issues to keep in mind that could put somebody in a crisis executive functioning skills, you know, kind of plays into impulsivity.
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that can be very concerning if they already have suicidal ideation.
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Alexithimia, you know they could hurt themselves before they even know it.
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social situations are always difficult and challenging. Communication differences
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supporting autistic people in a way that they understand
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rigidity and preseferation can be very difficult for an autistic person to get those negative.
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a negative experience or negative thought pattern
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out of their minds, because for separation is very, very strong. Cognitive rigidity is strong as well. So I suggest, and it’s one of the resources that we’ll talk about is
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using their special interest, getting them talking about. That may be enough to help them
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kind of get out of that preservative loop, but they may go back in it, and it may be a, you know, just an ongoing support. In that way.
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Change is very difficult for autistic people, and can even put them in a crisis.
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They have the co-occurring disorders.
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They have a slower processing speed. So allowing time to
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process what’s happening and formulate words
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is very supportive, and then that Alexaimia.
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and knowing that they may not know when they may not be able to describe what they’re feeling, so I suggest
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to hook it, kind of hook it to an experience they’ve already had.
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So for it’s a child, you know. They may explain that I they feel the same way they did when they had a birthday and invited somebody invited some, you know, people, and nobody came.
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or for an adult, you know, they might feel the same way they did the day they got fired.
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So any kind of past experience that you can hook how they’re feeling now. They may not have the words to it, but they may be able to.
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you know, talk about a past experience where they felt sort of the same way.
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So now we’re getting to resources.
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These are the 4 resources that I’m going to share. They’re written in collaboration with the autism and Suicide Prevention Work group that I founded in 2,017,
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and I always just want to make sure to make this disclaimer, to, not to do, not make any important life altering decisions based solely on the information. In these following slides.
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the information is designed to broaden knowledge about autistic people.
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Your autistic client really knows most about themselves or the family member or friend that you’re supporting, and your job is to be very supportive is to help them communicate their needs to you.
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So the first
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toolkit was written for Crisis Center Workers and other helpers in identifying and supporting autistic people in crisis. That’s the original purpose.
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so the art, the crisis toolkit explains how an autistic person might communicate, think
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differently. For example, very literal. Discuss the sensory issues. Relationship challenges such as difficulty in making, developing and keeping friendships.
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The toolkit also explains misunderstandings and validation and various ways. Miscommunication can lead to isolation and thorough belonging.
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The toolkit also suggests practical ways to support an autistic person in crisis. There’s a one page pull up to use in real time.
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The toolkits now being used by various professionals, support autistic people in crisis, and even family and friends are using it.
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It’s also been translated into 2 languages for the use of in the countries of Brazil and Portugal.
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and even the mainstream media in Brazil is is supporting it. So that’s pretty cool.
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So some of the things that we talk about in the crisis toolkit
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is asking. This is so important, asking direct, clear questions, using fewers as possible and getting straight to the point. Even if it feels like you’re being blunt and rude. It’s kind for the autistic person.
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And that’s who, you know, you’re trying to support.
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So just, you know, using the dictionary meaning of words getting straight to the point, no flowery words in between, just no hinting
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cause for us. There’s nothing in between lines.
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Allow extra time for processing thoughts and formulating words because of that processing speed.
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and then to help ship the thoughts, ask about any special interest they might have, using that communication style of direct, clear questions, getting straight to the point.
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We also talk about avoiding metaphors. Social nuances are slang cause, even if the autistic person you’re supporting, and you know them. And they they use that and understand that
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if they’re not in a crisis, there’s a reduction of skills in a crisis, there’s overwhelm. There’s anxiety. There’s so much going on that it’s difficult to have to, you know.
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Go through that all that
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kind of energy you have to use to use those metaphors, lines, and social nuances, and they may lose that in a crisis.
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Speaking words of logic instead of emotions, especially if you’re supporting somebody with alexophymia
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and then explaining positive coping skills and how they’re helpful. I had a lot of feedback from autistic adults saying that they thought that they were being dismissed if they were told to go for a walk or
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listen to music, or, you know, have a drink, drink lots of water, things like that. They thought they were being dismissed, but they, when they realized it, was to help regulate their anxiety
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and help to just regulate anyway.
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Then they were much more willing to use it, and felt, you know much better about being told to do those things.
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The crisis who could also talks about supporting autistic people in crisis make, possibly facilitating a safety plan depending on the person that you’re supporting. I would always encourage them to write down that plan. A lot of autistic people are very visual.
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and they may with a high anxiety they may forget what was said to them. So writing everything down is very supportive.
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Helping the person connect with local resources is also supportive.
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They may never have done it before. The first time that I reached out to a community service for help. I was in my low fifties
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and
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It was very hard to do. I was going to this place where you know women can go get help.
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and
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I had to will myself to go through those doors because it was like a big black box to me. I I couldn’t plan for it. I didn’t know what was on the other side of those doors.
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I got myself in front of the lady I was supposed to. I told my story, and she laughed.
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and I’m not sure to this day. Why, she laughed, I don’t know how I told it.
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I don’t know.
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you know. There’s so much I don’t know, but I did get up and leave, and I didn’t get any help.
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So discussing what’s going to happen writing down things? Possibly practicing. What do you say? What do you not say? You know? What questions do you ask?
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Anything that you can do to help an autistic person
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get help with a community resource would be supportive.
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This next resource is considerations of warning signs.
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The purpose was to show considerations to take when assessing or supporting autistic people with warning signs for the general population.
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So it contains 10 warning signs that were listed on the American Association of Suicidology’s website
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and explain considerations to take when supporting autistic people.
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So some of the considerations are aspects of autism. Regulating
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investigating further is in the toolkit
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using communication that you get from the crisis toolkit that first one.
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and then
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under really understanding the people that you are supporting.
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So one of the suicide warning signs is add anxi, anxiety, agitation, sleep, issues which are all symptoms and difficulties. Autistic people struggle with regularly.
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So what we want to find out is make sure we find out is of an autistic person.
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is
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If they’re suicidal, we don’t want them to be deemed as just being autistic.
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And if they’re just being autistic, we don’t. That want them to be, you know, thought to be suicidal. Both ways are going to be, have have unintentional harm.
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So we want to find out what’s really going on. So how might how might we know if one of these is actually an aspect to autism or wanting sign of suicide.
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Well, we use this, the concise specific language
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in the crisis, toolkit
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and investigate any changes in level of anxiety, agitation, or sleep issues.
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and really, really try to communicate with the artistic person in a way that they understand.
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Withdrawal is is a warning sign of suicide the general population. It’s also a coping mechanism used for self care for autistic people. It could also very well be a warning sign of suicide for autistic people.
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So again, determining any changes in baseline, is it increasing? Is it increasing? And they’re regulated? Or is it increasing? And they’re still not regulated.
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you know, just finding out what’s going on for them, seeing the person before you using that concise, specific language very literal. No slang
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is going to be supportive.
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This one
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is a warning signed suicide, the general population, and
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is probably the closest, truest warning sign for autistic people. If we had them.
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There are autistic people who have strong emotional connections with possessions.
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objects, and many are very connected to their pets, some of who are support animals or therapy pets.
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So this behavior definitely warrants further investigation.
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Remember the person you’re helping. Autistic people may have other reasons for giving away prize possessions.
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And I’m going to tell this little story. I I knew this little boy who had a blue car, and the blue car’s name was Norbert.
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and this little boy and Norbert were never separated. They were always together when I saw the little boy I saw in Norbert Vice, and and it was just, you know they he just always, said Norbert everywhere. And then one day he came up to me with emotion in his eyes.
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cuddling, you know, cradling the little car in orbit in his both hands.
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and asked me if I could keep Norbert for him, because he loved Norbert too much.
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So that was pretty good insight, for around a 10 year old. And I did keep him over for him. I kept checking in every once in a while if he wanted to see him if you wanted to hold him, if you know. Did you want him back? Didn’t?
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He hasn’t back now, though.
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But if I had seen that boy without Norbert, without that conversation, or knowing that he had that conversation with somebody else, I would be very concerned.
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You know, so that
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so just again investigating what’s going on with the autistic person using language that they understand is supportive.
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The next resource I’m going to talk about is warning signs of suicide for autistic people.
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This
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was an international team of researchers, clinicians, and autistic people
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who over a year’s time
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looked at all the research, and came up with a proposed set of warning signs of suicide for autistic people.
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And the toolkit has the 10 research based warning signs. It has scenarios which show what it might look like for autistic people that you’re supporting
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and
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has
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the research.
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So here are the warning signs of suicide proposed warning signs of suicide for autistic people.
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And it’s really behavior that is based on
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and increase or decrease from baseline
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And I’m gonna go through a couple of them.
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And I’m good. These are condensed versions. They’re longer in the resource. But I’m going to read this one to you, and then show you just some some aspects to be concerned about, or what might be concerning and how to support.
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So Lucia routinely withdraws for self care. Her family and friends understand her need to do this.
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and Luci’s family and friends noticed that she was spending more and more time in her room. Lucy goes straight to her room when she gets home only coming out for meals. Lucy continues to attend her usual activities, although she doesn’t want to.
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She no longer wants to make her clay animals and has not replaced that passion with another
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cause. Some autistic people do replace special passion sometimes with another.
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But what’s concerning here is she’s spending more and more time in her room. She’s not as regulated
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and she has, and she does no longer wants to make her clay animals.
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Research shows us that many autistic people value a long time to to recover after intense social events. But it’s particularly concerning, if increased social withdrawal is coupled with reduce interest and in pleasure and a previous intense interest.
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So this might be warning signs of suicide for depression, I mean warning signs for depression and autistic people which include could include suicide thoughts.
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So one other thing in this scenario that’s very, very interesting for autistic people
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is a lot of times. Professionals will say, Well, is this person that you know supporting is they? Are they still going to school? Are they still going to work? Are they still
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doing their after school activities. Are they still going out on the weekends to social events?
440
00:46:43.937 –> 00:46:48.059
And if the answer is yes, the professional might say, Well, that’s good.
441
00:46:48.170 –> 00:46:51.219
you know, that’s good. Then, you know, I’m less worried about them.
442
00:46:51.370 –> 00:46:53.179
But for autistic people
443
00:46:54.410 –> 00:47:03.090
continuing to do their usual activities may be because it’s too exhausting to change a routine because we’re so routine based.
444
00:47:03.410 –> 00:47:09.840
So it doesn’t mean the same for an autistic person if they’re still doing their usual activities, especially if they don’t want to.
445
00:47:10.482 –> 00:47:12.420
It could mean that it’s just
446
00:47:13.230 –> 00:47:16.779
harder to change than to keep doing it.
447
00:47:17.230 –> 00:47:19.660
So, knowing that would be very supportive.
448
00:47:20.920 –> 00:47:22.760
Warning sign Number 6.
449
00:47:22.770 –> 00:47:26.839
This is a new focus on death, related topics that are not a special interest.
450
00:47:27.426 –> 00:47:30.034
Jen calmly stated. He wanted to kill him.
451
00:47:30.720 –> 00:47:33.720
So if one day after school there was no emotion.
452
00:47:34.132 –> 00:47:52.167
He was not agitated, but rather matter of fact, he could not articulate why Jane continued to focus on suicide. He mentioned people in the news who had died, talked about people, movies, dying discuss the best ways to die. There was no no
453
00:48:03.160 –> 00:48:04.229
on dramatic
454
00:48:07.450 –> 00:48:08.880
like again. Let me say.
455
00:48:14.790 –> 00:48:17.689
Lisa, you seem to be losing signal.
456
00:48:33.480 –> 00:48:35.239
Please hold on. I’m like
457
00:48:35.480 –> 00:48:36.570
stress.
458
00:48:36.990 –> 00:48:37.889
But that.
459
00:48:43.670 –> 00:48:44.400
N.
460
00:48:51.500 –> 00:48:56.389
Lisa, if you can hear me you’re losing signal. We’re losing 5.
461
00:49:26.910 –> 00:49:28.889
Think we may have lost her.
462
00:49:32.890 –> 00:49:34.710
Let’s see if she reconnect.
463
00:49:35.160 –> 00:49:37.499
Please be patient. Stay with us.
464
00:49:52.300 –> 00:49:54.140
and here she is
465
00:49:55.740 –> 00:49:58.930
back again. Technical issues.
466
00:49:59.110 –> 00:50:00.470
Yeah.
467
00:50:01.690 –> 00:50:04.539
alright. Let’s see.
468
00:50:06.070 –> 00:50:08.570
you’re talking about
469
00:50:09.090 –> 00:50:11.629
the death. Yep, death-related topic.
470
00:50:13.880 –> 00:50:15.340
Scenario one.
471
00:50:18.420 –> 00:50:21.480
Okay, so
472
00:50:22.570 –> 00:50:23.710
did I.
473
00:50:24.030 –> 00:50:30.260
Did. I get to the point where I was talking about that it was an emergency for Jen.
474
00:50:31.130 –> 00:50:34.560
No, you didn’t get that far. You didn’t.
475
00:50:36.890 –> 00:50:48.240
You didn’t even finish what was read on this on the scenario. Okay? Well, I’ll let people read it. And I just want to say that at this point, because Jen has said.
476
00:50:48.420 –> 00:50:53.000
he wants to kill himself. This is an emergency situation for him.
477
00:50:53.160 –> 00:50:54.290
So.
478
00:50:54.400 –> 00:51:09.009
even though there’s no emotion, even though he’s not visibly agitated, he has no outward list of emotion, he just very matter of fact, it is still an emergency situation for Jen, because he has said he wanted to kill himself.
479
00:51:09.300 –> 00:51:17.149
So words have to have more meaning than outward display of emotion for autistic people. Now I will go through
480
00:51:17.240 –> 00:51:26.909
period of if I’m in crisis period of where I might cry and look visibly upset. But as I get deeper into crisis, I would perfectly fine and okay.
481
00:51:27.130 –> 00:51:42.909
So if you think about going into a room, and with, you know, to triage with autistic people, and one is sitting in a chair kind of crying silently. One is crying harder and kind of visually pacing, and one is sitting there perfectly calm. Perfectly okay.
482
00:51:43.140 –> 00:51:46.340
That person may be in the worse crisis than the rest of them.
483
00:51:47.546 –> 00:51:49.243
There is one
484
00:51:50.330 –> 00:51:54.440
morning sign of suicide where it’s no communication.
485
00:51:55.770 –> 00:52:01.500
to kind of verbalize distress, because sometimes autistic people lose the ability to communicate.
486
00:52:01.620 –> 00:52:03.628
and they’re at a worst
487
00:52:04.360 –> 00:52:07.919
you know, distressed than they are when they can communicate.
488
00:52:08.537 –> 00:52:22.869
So that that’s this warning signed the research shows that, like Jen, many autistic people can report suicide thoughts, and our behaviors without necessarily showing the same degree of distress as seen in non autistic people.
489
00:52:23.090 –> 00:52:28.469
Because of this, many autistic people report not being believed when they report suicidal intent.
490
00:52:29.290 –> 00:52:41.150
Very, very, very important, to know that an autistic person can just calmly say they’re going to kill themselves, and that is an emergency situation, because everything for them is happening on the inside internally.
491
00:52:42.510 –> 00:52:51.399
So, main points for this resource is to watch for changes from baseline as far as withdrawal, regulating anxiety, self harm, or depression.
492
00:52:51.770 –> 00:52:57.500
Autistic people in crisis may not act like autist, like non autistic people in crisis.
493
00:52:57.730 –> 00:52:59.629
it can be very, very different.
494
00:52:59.780 –> 00:53:03.600
may not be able to verbalize emotions or what they’re experiencing.
495
00:53:04.110 –> 00:53:18.990
New focus on death. Related topics so like, you must discern between special passion and suicide, thoughts and behaviors. A lot of autistic people have suicide as a special passion of maybe actors or politicians or other. You know, special kind of people or populations.
496
00:53:19.380 –> 00:53:22.060
but it’s concerning so
497
00:53:22.765 –> 00:53:32.270
you know, if you’re supporting them, watching to see if it becomes personal. And all of a sudden they’re experiencing personally suicide thoughts and behaviors.
498
00:53:32.440 –> 00:53:48.109
They may research ways to die by suicide, and what may be traumatic for an autistic person could be different from what causes trauma and non autistic people. So, for example, it’s, you know, you’re supporting somebody who’s autistic. And they they’re in crisis because they lost a friend.
499
00:53:48.290 –> 00:53:54.820
You know, they might be told that. Well, everybody loses friends every once in a while, but for them it could be the only friend that they have.
500
00:53:55.540 –> 00:54:07.190
and it could be after a history of years and years and years of losing friendships, and it could be, could be enough to. So that’s something that could put them in a crisis which may not for non-autistic people.
501
00:54:08.488 –> 00:54:12.760
The last resource I’m gonna talk about today is a reasons for living.
502
00:54:13.400 –> 00:54:17.389
This is for autistic adults to do either by themselves or with support.
503
00:54:17.967 –> 00:54:23.139
And it really is just to remind them. Why, to not die?
504
00:54:23.872 –> 00:54:28.200
It’s to give hope to help, possibly regulate feelings.
505
00:54:28.370 –> 00:54:31.000
even if they don’t understand those feelings
506
00:54:31.070 –> 00:54:38.139
and can’t explain those feelings to remind them they have a purpose. Now, this is really important, especially for masking and camouflaging.
507
00:54:38.170 –> 00:54:41.189
who did not ever develop a sense of self.
508
00:54:41.350 –> 00:54:44.540
And they’ve been masking for years and years, cause they’re late diagnosed
509
00:54:45.198 –> 00:54:50.131
and even those diagnosed earlier in life. They mask as well
510
00:54:51.550 –> 00:55:04.819
cause that can remind them who they are and what they can do. So if you’re helping somebody, or if you’re doing this by yourself, and you love to read, I would put down that, your reader, or, if you love to garden that you’re a gardener.
511
00:55:05.353 –> 00:55:08.989
Something that gives that sense of purpose and of who you are.
512
00:55:09.437 –> 00:55:11.660
It describes where to keep your list.
513
00:55:14.060 –> 00:55:19.439
and the resource goes on to just show different ways to create it.
514
00:55:22.000 –> 00:55:25.110
asking, you know, questions to ask even
515
00:55:25.416 –> 00:55:36.609
it doesn’t have to be really lofty things on the list. It could be that you’re, you know, someone’s waiting to see the next season of their favorite show on Netflix. They’re waiting for the next favorite author to write a book.
516
00:55:37.015 –> 00:55:40.440
You know it doesn’t. Ha! It could be somewhere. They wanna visit
517
00:55:40.810 –> 00:55:43.729
it just something that means something to them.
518
00:55:44.080 –> 00:55:49.479
and then it talks about how living with us of suicide can be very difficult and things to remember.
519
00:55:49.850 –> 00:55:54.200
It could be difficult to make this list, and that can be discouraging. But
520
00:55:56.060 –> 00:56:01.128
It really did help me. My list is doggyed right now.
521
00:56:02.450 –> 00:56:14.199
It’s just a reminder when your mind is so full of anxiety and impending doom. And you’re in crisis to have this list to remember and just read it, and it helps to calm those thoughts.
522
00:56:14.818 –> 00:56:17.210
It so shows when to use the list.
523
00:56:17.320 –> 00:56:18.713
some ideas
524
00:56:20.030 –> 00:56:22.009
of how to use the list.
525
00:56:22.050 –> 00:56:26.620
And the very, very important thing about changing the list. So if somebody has a pet down
526
00:56:26.760 –> 00:56:30.589
or an object that somehow gets lost and is no longer in their life.
527
00:56:30.918 –> 00:56:36.010
making sure that list gets updated, because if they’re in crisis and they grab that list, and they see
528
00:56:36.030 –> 00:56:42.089
that thing or person that’s not in their life anymore. That could be just terrible.
529
00:56:43.600 –> 00:56:46.380
so making sure it’s it’s always updated.
530
00:56:47.970 –> 00:56:54.200
So in conclusion, we all have a role to play in suicide prevention efforts.
531
00:56:54.510 –> 00:57:01.490
But learning directly from autistic people with lived experience of suicidality is going to be really important and very supportive
532
00:57:01.520 –> 00:57:04.820
for other autistic people who,
533
00:57:06.140 –> 00:57:14.680
you know, have suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Don’t be afraid to ask about suicidal thoughts. Research has shown it will not put the idea in somebody’s head.
534
00:57:14.820 –> 00:57:23.530
And then, when you listen to the answer react, reacting in the way that will open the conversation up for more conversations going to be very important.
535
00:57:23.670 –> 00:57:27.049
So for an autistic person who has communication difficulties.
536
00:57:27.610 –> 00:57:36.790
It might be really hard for them to know who to tell what to tell, how much to tell, but if somebody opens that conversation for them
537
00:57:37.220 –> 00:57:41.149
that might be very, very supportive, and they might be so relieved.
538
00:57:41.570 –> 00:57:49.329
But then, you know, the reaction has to be appropriate as well, so that so that they’ll come and talk to you more and more.
539
00:57:49.804 –> 00:57:55.820
Remember that autistic distress may not look like neurotypical distress. This is going to be so so important.
540
00:57:56.329 –> 00:58:09.169
And then to make use of the growing number of autism, specific crisis resources is important, because that’s really going to show how to support them, how to communicate with autistic people, what what is supportive and what isn’t
541
00:58:10.020 –> 00:58:20.300
and then advocate for more autism, specific training for Crisis Center workers, emergency department clinicians, first responders, and other mental health professionals, and even family and friends.
542
00:58:21.560 –> 00:58:25.339
And that is it. For me
543
00:58:25.620 –> 00:58:28.719
or I’m done. I’m ready for some questions.
544
00:58:29.410 –> 00:58:34.270
and we have some questions. Thank you so much, Lisa, for sharing with us.
545
00:58:34.820 –> 00:58:36.070
You’re welcome.
546
00:58:36.570 –> 00:58:41.251
We have related to that last
547
00:58:42.850 –> 00:58:47.380
last line in your last slide.
548
00:58:47.940 –> 00:58:50.530
We have a question very specific to that.
549
00:58:51.380 –> 00:58:58.870
And it’s can people who work with assessment and crisis be taught that instead of the usual ask.
550
00:58:59.080 –> 00:59:02.630
Are you okay? Are you thinking about harming yourself?
551
00:59:03.070 –> 00:59:04.900
Rather ask.
552
00:59:05.280 –> 00:59:10.200
how many times today did you think about hurting yourself or ending your life.
553
00:59:10.600 –> 00:59:12.779
or how many times this week.
554
00:59:13.730 –> 00:59:15.230
because if someone is
555
00:59:15.350 –> 00:59:22.990
thought about it an hour ago or 15 min ago, they can articulate that it’s not an open, ended question.
556
00:59:24.140 –> 00:59:28.376
does that make sense to you? Lisa? Yeah, it does. It does.
557
00:59:29.300 –> 00:59:34.980
yeah. And I, you know, I think they can be taught like. And and it. It may have to be
558
00:59:35.470 –> 00:59:38.610
autistic people advocating for themselves
559
00:59:39.160 –> 00:59:40.030
and
560
00:59:41.850 –> 00:59:51.590
but ask a lot of the questions that they ask to determine if somebody’s suicidal, or has suicidal ideation, or is in crisis or need support.
561
00:59:52.420 –> 00:59:54.630
Autistic people don’t understand them.
562
00:59:55.288 –> 00:59:57.319
Or they’re not enough.
563
01:00:00.060 –> 01:00:02.929
be like like that person said, you know
564
01:00:03.310 –> 01:00:07.310
it. It’s it’s good to be known that how many times they thought about it.
565
01:00:07.460 –> 01:00:12.020
And if sometimes sometimes, you know, people will answer so literally
566
01:00:12.030 –> 01:00:16.000
that they don’t even aren’t even able to tell what they want to tell.
567
01:00:16.762 –> 01:00:18.370
If that makes sense.
568
01:00:18.890 –> 01:00:23.940
I’m thinking about, you know, this autistic boy who had a sore throat.
569
01:00:24.110 –> 01:00:30.239
and he had had it, and his mother was. He’d had it for a couple of days, and his mother was bringing him to the doctors.
570
01:00:30.610 –> 01:00:41.660
but the moment the doctor asked him if his throat hurt, it didn’t. Whether he had just had a drink or just had a loaner. It didn’t hurt anymore. So he told the doctor. No.
571
01:00:42.070 –> 01:00:50.620
And then his mother had to elaborate and say, Well, but it’s hurt, for you know, yesterday and last night, and the then the boys like, Yeah, yeah, you know, really bad.
572
01:00:50.660 –> 01:00:54.700
But he answered exactly what the doctor had asked him.
573
01:00:54.920 –> 01:00:56.709
And so that is a problem
574
01:00:56.870 –> 01:01:02.289
when supporting autistic people for suicidal like, you know, ideation and and thoughts and intents.
575
01:01:03.860 –> 01:01:08.380
That same person who posted that question also added.
576
01:01:08.640 –> 01:01:11.369
my loved one has been in
577
01:01:11.790 –> 01:01:16.890
Cmh. Planned for 7 years in and out of the hospital for that long.
578
01:01:17.310 –> 01:01:32.620
This speaker is the first person I have ever heard of, heard of nurses, social workers, group, home managers, provider. This is the first person I ever heard, validate, almost word for word, what my loved one lives with, and what I see.
579
01:01:32.980 –> 01:01:34.930
what resources like
580
01:01:35.050 –> 01:01:37.960
online, can I point a provider
581
01:01:38.200 –> 01:01:41.629
whom there’s a slight chance they might want to learn?
582
01:01:41.760 –> 01:01:45.629
Providers we deal with just do not seem to know any of them.
583
01:01:46.560 –> 01:01:58.609
Yes, all that. Website, autism prices supportcom all of these resources are on there, available for free, free, downloadable Pdfs.
584
01:01:58.770 –> 01:02:02.670
Share them with anyone, everyone who will listen or read. Em.
585
01:02:05.250 –> 01:02:13.930
But yeah, and I also put the the link for your website in the chat. So people should be the link to it from there.
586
01:02:16.325 –> 01:02:18.439
Our first question.
587
01:02:19.535 –> 01:02:24.620
has to do with A teenager with autism.
588
01:02:25.410 –> 01:02:32.189
I am just learning about autism due to the fact that my youngest child went undiagnosed until she was 14,
589
01:02:32.380 –> 01:02:34.829
due to her being very high functioning.
590
01:02:35.440 –> 01:02:38.949
Now that I’m learning new strategies to help her.
591
01:02:39.020 –> 01:02:44.840
I am finding it very hard to explain to my family why she reacts to things differently.
592
01:02:44.860 –> 01:02:48.200
and how to deal with her when she’s having an episode.
593
01:02:48.700 –> 01:02:54.130
Can you give me some ideas on how to help people understand while learning myself?
594
01:02:57.130 –> 01:03:09.619
Yeah, it it is very difficult. I work with a lot of autistic adults who are diagnosed later in life, some in their seventies even, who try to tell family members, and they just don’t believe them
595
01:03:09.950 –> 01:03:13.589
because of the masking. I’m sure your daughter is
596
01:03:14.010 –> 01:03:15.283
a master
597
01:03:15.980 –> 01:03:17.680
and so
598
01:03:18.460 –> 01:03:34.580
she looks looks fine, normal, normal, just setting on the driver drier. I don’t like that, but for lack of better word, she looks normal, and so they expect. You know, there’s some expectations there that she is going to a react like everybody else that they know
599
01:03:35.400 –> 01:03:37.470
but education about.
600
01:03:37.950 –> 01:03:51.510
you know, autism always helps. I wish everybody who was supporting an autistic person could read uniquely human by very present. That’s an amazing book that helps to understand the autistic person in their experience.
601
01:03:53.560 –> 01:04:03.720
but I would just try to, you know, explain what autism is. Explain about masking. Ex. Explain that she’s trying to regulate
602
01:04:05.740 –> 01:04:10.119
you know, and and the environment is hard for her. So everything’s turned up.
603
01:04:10.350 –> 01:04:12.530
Try to explain as if you know
604
01:04:12.570 –> 01:04:21.309
her having some. You know music that everyone else thinks okay, could be like, she’s in this nightclub where the music so loud you can’t even talk to each other.
605
01:04:21.945 –> 01:04:26.209
And and just kind of explain what that experience is for her.
606
01:04:27.123 –> 01:04:31.380
But yeah, education is just going to be the way to try to do that.
607
01:04:33.580 –> 01:04:34.719
Thank you.
608
01:04:37.040 –> 01:04:38.950
Our next question
609
01:04:39.900 –> 01:04:41.270
is.
610
01:04:42.170 –> 01:04:46.820
how might I start the conversation with my thirty-three-year-old son.
611
01:04:47.130 –> 01:04:54.439
who appears to be on the spectrum, but it’s never been diagnosed. He receives treatment for bipolar disorder, too.
612
01:04:54.870 –> 01:05:01.000
and a prior counselor suggested to me that he might have be on the spectrum.
613
01:05:01.240 –> 01:05:07.629
At this time my husband was dismissive of the idea and declined the testing for diagnosis.
614
01:05:10.510 –> 01:05:11.325
Yeah.
615
01:05:16.110 –> 01:05:19.220
well, again, you know, it’s all about education.
616
01:05:19.380 –> 01:05:21.300
and possibly.
617
01:05:21.550 –> 01:05:22.620
you know.
618
01:05:23.210 –> 01:05:27.449
being able to point out why you think your son might be on the spectrum.
619
01:05:28.000 –> 01:05:34.609
There’s no services for adults on the spectrum. So really, a lot of times when adults are looking for a diagnosis.
620
01:05:34.640 –> 01:05:40.729
it’s to try to help themselves explain why they have the experiences they they have in their lives.
621
01:05:41.050 –> 01:05:48.229
So, for example, when I get my diagnosis, when I was 48 years old, it was because I got fired from a teaching job, and I,
622
01:05:48.400 –> 01:05:52.329
you know I teaching I was born a teacher.
623
01:05:52.953 –> 01:05:54.040
I had
624
01:05:54.150 –> 01:05:59.190
just about every parent go into the principal’s office and ask for have to have me back.
625
01:05:59.270 –> 01:06:03.660
but he said I just didn’t get along with the other people, and I didn’t. They were
626
01:06:03.820 –> 01:06:09.549
people. I felt I was in middle school again. I did not get along with those other teachers.
627
01:06:11.850 –> 01:06:12.970
so
628
01:06:14.400 –> 01:06:19.580
that’s why I went and and and tried to find out why. You know, why is this happening to me
629
01:06:19.660 –> 01:06:28.990
so if your son’s not in that place, I’m not sure if if he might or might not. But I would just, you know. Try to explain to him why you think
630
01:06:29.180 –> 01:06:36.870
it. He is on the autism spectrum, maybe. What difficulties, having maybe even ask him or tell him how
631
01:06:37.400 –> 01:06:41.669
sort of to work around some of the difficulties having, and then suggest.
632
01:06:41.710 –> 01:06:48.500
you know, these work for autistic people. Why don’t you, you know? Try, try some of this. Try regulating. Try?
633
01:06:51.630 –> 01:06:56.390
you know there’s different coping mechanisms that you can use. There’s different ways to
634
01:06:56.490 –> 01:07:04.309
get around small talk by having conversation starters in your pocket? Just different things like that. Maybe that might help.
635
01:07:06.630 –> 01:07:07.590
Thank you.
636
01:07:08.528 –> 01:07:12.850
We have a lot of people asking, How do you get tested as an adult.
637
01:07:14.240 –> 01:07:17.140
Those waiting lines are years long.
638
01:07:18.220 –> 01:07:20.280
unfortunately, right now.
639
01:07:22.510 –> 01:07:28.099
I would say, just get get on a a waiting line to be. You know, a psychologist
640
01:07:29.012 –> 01:07:30.400
have a narrow
641
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new Psyche vowel done.
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01:07:36.100 –> 01:07:42.619
a lot of people are self diagnosed and more and more self diagnoses very, very much accepted in the autism community.
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So that that would allow you to join autism, support groups and meet other autistic people. I Co facilitate a couple of support groups of over age 50 with Aan e.org from Massachusetts. They have a lot of online support groups, online
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activities for all ages.
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And there’s a woman that came on and said, I’m suspecting that I’m autistic, and I want to talk to more autistic people just to see if it kind of validates
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who I think I am. And by the end of her first group she was like, Oh, my gosh! You guys think just like me.
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I think just like you. And so she was really validated in the fact that she may be autistic
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01:08:24.922 –> 01:08:30.089
but as far as getting a formal diagnosis. Those waiting lines are are very, very long.
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I think.
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I think we’ve answered everyone’s question.
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yes.
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A lot of people are just remarking that
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One person remarked that she concur. She lives. This.
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and what you shared struck struck her so personally.
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I will.
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We do appreciate the fact that you came and shared with us today. Lisa.
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Oh, I’m glad to be here, sorry that it kind of cut out a few times, but
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at least, I think we got the whole thing in. So I think we did. And
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01:09:21.229 –> 01:09:22.470
I’m going to
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to.
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Should I stop sharing now? Yes.
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okay.
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01:09:29.410 –> 01:09:32.349
So lots of comments about
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appreciating
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what you shared
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nice.
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01:09:37.920 –> 01:09:39.949
Well, I’m glad everybody came and
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01:09:40.170 –> 01:09:46.440
learn something, and and I know that, you know now they can share it with people that they know, and
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we can get the word out there
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01:09:49.460 –> 01:09:50.739
how to support.
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01:09:51.830 –> 01:09:54.349
how to support autistic people in crisis.
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01:09:56.800 –> 01:09:58.950
So I do want to.
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close this session
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with a few closing comments.
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I want to thank everyone for joining this session today.
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Please be sure to check out our virtual expo center booth for downloadable materials.
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lisa does have a booth
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and a lot of the resources she was talking about are available in there.
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Please keep an eye out for the evaluation which will be an email to you at the end of the conference.
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We appreciate your feedback on this session and the conference as a whole.
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If you need a certificate, you’ll be able to download one. After completing the survey.
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A recording of this session will be available in the Conference lobby later this week.
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and then on the Nomi, New Hampshire, Youtube Channel
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up next at 4 o’clock. We have Tom Dearborn, Eric Skinner and Rob Cass, the highs and Lows tour a community cycling event for better mental health.
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We will see you there.
Featuring:
Thomas Dearborn, Highs & Lows Tour Chairperson
Rob Cass, Highs & Lows Tour
Eric Skinner, CFO, Highs & Lows Tour
The Highs & Lows Tour is organized by a group of people who have been directly or indirectly impacted by mental illness and suicide. Our mission is to promote better mental health in New Hampshire through:
1) Raising awareness of mental illness and suicide prevention
2) Destigmatizing mental illness
3) Raising funds for NAMI New Hampshire (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
Sponsored by New Hampshire Community Behavioral Health Association
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So good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our final big session. For the 2024 NAMI New Hampshire Annual Conference.
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Thank you for sticking with us through today. It’s been a fabulous day, and we have a really fun event for you.
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To, you know, end our day about talking about cultivating hope and celebrating our everyday heroes.
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no, I mean New Hampshire
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is a grassroots organization that provides support, education and advocacy to individuals and their families impacted by mental illness and suicide in the Granite State.
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We do this by offering a variety of programs, events, including today’s conference.
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I’m Michelle Watson. You may have seen me throughout the day, as well as my co-host, Karen Prevay.
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We’ve had an amazing committee of staff and volunteers, who we wanted to recognize for all their valuable contributions to this conference.
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Today’s presentations are in Zoom Webinar. There is not an option for you to turn on your camera or your microphone, but we do welcome questions in the QA.
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And we will do our best to get to them all. But please put them in.
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and we’ve also turned off the chat feature so it can be distracting. But if you will have something you’d like to just say to one of our panelists.
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please just put that in the Q. And A. As well.
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We’d like to express our thanks to the sponsors who made
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help make today’s conference available free of charge.
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Thank you. To the New Hampshire community. Be behavioral health community Behavioral Health Association for sponsoring this session and for their continued support of nomine New Hampshire programs. So now, I’d like to introduce Kristen Welch. I’m slurring all my words at this point.
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Nominee New Hampshire’s Director of development to introduce our next presentation. Go ahead, Kristen.
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Thank you, Michelle, and welcome everyone. I hope you’ve been having a wonderful conference day. I’ve heard from a lot of people about how inspired they’ve been by today. So just kudos to all the conference organizers who put together these amazing sessions.
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And I’m really thrilled that we are ending the day with with the highs and lows tour. One of the best parts of my job is that I really have the opportunity to meet and get to know amazing people in our community who are doing incredible things to make a difference.
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For granite staters who are affected by mental illness and suicide, and the 3 the 3 folks you’re about to hear from are, you know, truly amazing. I met them back in 2022 when they first started this event. They have grown it by leaps and bounds since then, and you’re gonna hear a lot more about that. So I’m not gonna steal any of their thunder. They’re gonna talk all about that. But
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truly, just a wonderful group of people that I am so privileged and honored to know and get to work with and spend, you know, spend time with, and and
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be a part of this event. Nami, new Hampshire, is very grateful to them for raising awareness
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and raising funds to help support our programs and services. So it is truly my pleasure to introduce Tom Dearborn, Eric Skinner, and Rob Kass, who are going to tell you about the highs and lowest tour.
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Thank you very much. Michelle and Kristen, for the kind.
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Are you able to see the slides?
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Okay? Alright. Well, I’m gonna go ahead and begin
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good afternoon, everyone. My name is Tom Dearborn, and I have the privilege of being the the chairperson for the highs and Lows tour.
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and on behalf of the team I just wanna extend our sincere gratitude for everybody at at Nami, New Hampshire, for all the great work that they do. It was only recently that I actually found out that one of my sisters takes advantage of a support group that that Nami offers. So we are just. We’re really thrilled to be able to support Nami. And and it’s a real honor to be able to talk to you today about what we’re trying to do to support better mental health in in the Granite State.
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So what we’re going to do is we are going to start with a video to give you all kind of a flavor for what this event is like.
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this is, it’s a 4 min video, and it will kind of show you what like the pre-event event looks like. It gives you all sorts of
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images of of people out on the road riding, and some of the breaks. And so we hope it gives you a sense of what it’s like to be there with us on this on this very special day.
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Have things been well that you mention?
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My folks still talk. They speak 2 word sentences. I’m saying too much, but you know how it gets out.
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No winter code. Keep out all the code of your
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spear, anyone. Shame.
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retrograde. We shake the frame of your heart.
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No one know your name.
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and we are
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Ok. There ain’t a drop of. So
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you gotta.
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I’m still out here with the pals and the dogs. You need me, dear. I’m the same as ours. It’s all okay. They’re in a
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hey, Glenn. So my
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you got.
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Can you do
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he got
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in the
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thank you. How it was, how it asked my skin. What I did have you
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gather in your car
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feels, and at the end of it all.
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Just hope that your sky.
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I see you would say
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retro cream. We shake the
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dream of your
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so your name
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there ain’t a drop.
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God.
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you
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do good
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and go.
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Me do.
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Ok. There ain’t a drop
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got.
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They’re like eating inch 30 feet from where your parents sleep.
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and I look so
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leave I spare. I was
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alright. My hands gripped the wheel. I smile stupid, the whole wave
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those 5 words in my head. You said I’ll never
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you.
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do you?
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Hey, you
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bro grade! We shake the
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of your
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know your name.
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Good night.
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There ain’t trump
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you got.
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and it’s still out here with the
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was in the
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until this year stole the world.
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It’s all okay. There ain’t a drop of.
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So my.
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you got
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you.
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yeah.
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you got
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the guy.
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So I hope that you enjoyed that video. I can’t stop smiling, you know, whenever I see it, and I always thank Kyle Mcphee for for making it for us, and he did. He did a great job.
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As you can see, we we have a lot of fun. This is a very, very serious topic. But we have a lot of fun with this event.
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And so the reasons why we ride I wanna give give you a little overview of is, you know, if you ask anybody on a team, you know, our focus is really on producing a high quality event where friends and family can get together and do something that’s fun and healthy.
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You know, riding bikes is, I think it’s great for your mental health. I always feel better when I get off my bike. I try to do it earlier in the day, so I can feel better longer throughout the day.
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And we got 3 key objectives. We want to raise awareness of mental illness and suicide. We want to destigmatize mental illness, and then we also want to raise month funds for Nami, New Hampshire. So 3 really important things.
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So the image that you see in front of you there is is taken from from the Mount Cube Farm, which isn’t Orford. That’s kind of like the height of of land that day. We’ve got a great view of Musalock from there.
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Really, really beautiful section of the ride.
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One thing you’ll also notice is that in this photo. It’s almost all males that we we’ve got 3 rides, and this one is a sentry ride and it it it dawned on me that women are obviously too smart to ride a hundred miles because we got a few of them to ride on on on this one. But if you saw in the video and you see in other images, we are pretty evenly matched among the sexes. The women just tended to to migrate to the 43 and the 26 mile ride.
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But this this was a you know a great place to stop and and enjoy each other’s company, and and and get a nice nice view.
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So in terms of governance.
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So we are currently in Llc. But we’re going to have nonprofit status by the end of this year. So we we essentially will have a board of directors that are responsible, responsible for the overall governance of of our organization. And really the job is to make sure that we maintain fidelity to our mission, which I just talked to you about on this on this previous slide.
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The picture that you see here was at the end of day, 3 on our first year, and the individuals that you see in front of you there had ridden 3 days and 300 miles, and the State police were with us and supported, supported the event, and they supported us last year, and they’re going to continue to support us this year. We’ve got a great great partnership with them and really appreciate their support.
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Here we’ve got a picture of our team. We have a really, just a phenomenal team of individuals who feel really passionate about what we’re what we’re trying to do here.
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Rob and Kyle and Patty have kind of been with us basically since the beginning, along with a couple of other people that continue to to volunteer, and then everybody else has kind of come on since since we started.
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So, you know, started with just a few people kind of doing a pilot. And now we’ve really got a well oiled machine of of people who are passionate about this, and also many times helping us out in the area that they’ve got. Core expertise, like, for example, Kyle is is a marketer. Mary Beth Bentwood is a marketer with public affairs and communication skills. Reagan is a social media professional.
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Don was a fire captain and a paramedic, and he’s leading the way. For our being our chief safety officer. So we’ve got people that have a passion for the topic, and some real expertise in the area that they’re helping us out, in which which can only mean, you know, good results.
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Most all of us have been affected in one way or another
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by mental illness or suicide.
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And so it feels like a calling for for many of us.
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and we we sometimes jest that when we get together and do our work. It’s almost. It’s almost therapeutic
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to be together and working on this this common community problem of of mental illness and and and suicide
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and one byproduct of coming together. That I didn’t really, truly anticipate when we got started was some of the dialogue that this would generate.
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So you know everybody has their story, and I’m gonna invite Rob Cass in a minute to share his. Now. I’ve known Rob since we were in high school together. He even came several years ago to to Puerto Rico, and my family and I were were living there to do a triathlon, and there’s like this
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huge part of his, his family history that I was unaware of, and that he and and generally his siblings just really never talked about for decades.
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But but just, you know, having dialogue about mental illness and suicide, has brought up an opportunity for some really rich dialogue, and hopefully, some really, you know, healing as well. So with with that said, I’m gonna turn it over to Rob to to talk about his. Why, behind? Why, he’s here with us at the highs and lowest tour.
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Oh, awesome! Thanks, Tom, I appreciate that for those of you who don’t know my name is Rob Cass. I am, ironically, the chief technology officer who had the hardest time getting on just now.
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But
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so
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I’m a childhood survivor.
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a parental suicide.
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I’ve never admitted that it
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public before, so
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I’ve talked about it in small circles. But this is the first time publicly
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I’ve had this conversation. I’ve never uttered those words, for today
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I was 9 years old.
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If you can imagine a few days before
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you went into fourth grade.
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That’s where I was a few days before fourth grade
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found out that my mother was no longer on this planet.
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I’ll never forget
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what it felt like to hear those words.
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It was a summer night in Humba, Arizona.
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and physically what it’s called
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felt like somebody reached into me and pulled out my insides
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from my stomach.
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There’s a whole that’s
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never been filled.
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It’s always there.
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my heart!
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I I could hear my heart beating my ears.
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My head was spinning.
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it was just spinning, but at the same time I felt an explosion.
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though I can only
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describe as my Psyche just exploding.
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It was so unfathomable, so beyond anything I could imagine to hear.
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The worst I could imagine
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was that my mother was in a wheelchair
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was the worst thing I could imagine, and I found out.
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I had already had my last conversation.
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I was disoriented, I was confused.
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Up to that point.
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I had a blissful life. My childhood was nothing but perfect. I loved my mother. I felt like I was the only child
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and
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and after that
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there was a 47 year cycle
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of disorientation and confusion.
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and I repeated a cycle over and over and over again, and that was a cycle of
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bliss
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of my childhood
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in a really good place.
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And then it was torn down. In moments.
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I have created those circumstances in my life.
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professionally.
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academically.
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spiritually, financially.
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and professionally, in every way you can imagine. I have created the circumstances
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to do really good things
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only to self sabotage for the last 47 years.
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and I didn’t recognize the cycle while I was in it.
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That was 1977.
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There have been a few angels
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that have absolutely
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made an impact, even though some of them were smaller. There’s 3 angels in particular.
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Some of you know Gail Wilson.
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She she was the first she was the first angel that I met who has made a profound impact on my life.
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Lucille Stubbs.
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and then a woman named Vicky Reno.
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They all impacted my life. They they they were there at the right time, so I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge them.
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because we never know who we’re being an angel, too.
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A couple of years ago I ran across an organization.
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and a man who was my neighbor. More importantly, he became my mentor, and he was the the founder of an organization, a nonprofit called ains Angels. He’s also a young ladies who passed away. Ainsley
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was her father.
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He formed an organization that I was a part of that taught me how to share my fitness. My fitness was a gift that I could share. And he we’ve we’ve made that point, and he’s helped me understand that, but he taught me a far bigger lesson.
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He’s taken the greatest tragedy of his life.
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and has turned it into 2 things that I couldn’t wrap my head around. I just couldn’t get my head around.
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Those 2 things are joy for other people
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and a blessing for the people. He took the the tragedy of losing his daughter.
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and has made it a blessing
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for 100. What tens of thousands of people to me! That’s an absolute miracle
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to be able to turn your deepest grief into joy, and a blessing is something I just couldn’t get my head around, but I didn’t. I did, Aziz angels, and then I got a call from Tom.
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asking me to be to join this tour before the first tour, and it it it filled me with yes, fitness with a purpose. I’m in so I
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so I joined Tom, and he couldn’t have known
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He didn’t know at the time that my mother committed suicide. So we had that conversation
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during the the planning of this this ridiculously, seriously, and pervasive topic.
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One of our mutual friends from high school in his fifties
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during our planning of the first tour
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committed suicide.
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and it became really real life. This is not something that happened. It’s not something that happens to other people. It’s happening right now under our news. And these are people that are in our phones, the people who are
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who are doing that. So it’s everywhere.
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During the presentation of that first year. That we did this tour.
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I might as well have been I remember where I was sitting or sitting in the back.
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and I might as well have been at my mother’s funeral as a 9 year old boy in the front row, just absolutely
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reliving
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everything all over again.
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This is how we’re gonna start a hundred ball ride
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with that much emotion.
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So that that that invocation that that
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that
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time that we spent together in the morning was so impactful to me, so meaningful
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as we honored people, that we knew collectively who were not there to celebrate with us.
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So we got on the road and started writing.
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I was under prepared. Anyways, it is what it is. I have a tendency to borrow Tom’s bike and the bike that I borrow, cause. I’m making excuses right now for all you cyclists, Eric and Tom. Just so, you know.
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Tom’s bike was, he had it when he was in his 20 s.
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So he had really strong legs, stronger than now, anyways, and he had smaller gears, which means I couldn’t climb. Very well. These are all excuses, and I get it.
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At Mile 73. I was toasted.
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but that’s where the start of Mount Cube was. It was a seven-mile incline.
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and 2 people came back. Phil Peck and
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Mark Van Fleet came back to coach me and pace me up, but they couldn’t see
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was in between their coaching sessions. I didn’t have. I couldn’t speak.
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so I have my white
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glasses on, and I was weeping behind my glasses as I thought of very specifically on that 7 mile cent.
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Dwayne and Joel Hearts.
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They were with us. They would have loved to have been us. But it was all I could do to get up that that climb.
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and an idea crept into my head
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during that 7 mile climb. And, by the way, if you’re
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7 miles an hour, which is about that was about an hour’s worth of just climbing.
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An idea crept into my head that this is hard.
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And these are 2 world class people who dropped back
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and we’re pulling me up this mountain. They were just talking, coaching me, cheering me on just like little. And it was like, Wow, these are world class people. This is hard doing things for the right reason, and this idea began to ruminate.
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and they got me over the top of that 7 mile line. By the way, one of the pictures up there was the Mount Queue at the top.
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so we got over it.
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But when you’re in these events
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an endurance event, it gets really raw sometimes, and the the motions are right below the surface.
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but we finished, and it was a great success. I love everything about it.
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Smiles everywhere. It was a. It was an accomplishment our first year.
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but something just still wasn’t exactly right. All the puzzles pieces didn’t fit
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until last fall, when I took took my coaching lesson. Personal coaching from a friend of mine, Derekham.
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who got me to really date, do a deep dive into why, I do what I do, and this is what came out of that.
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And this has all been growing for 47 years.
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I do hard things with world class people to help those in need.
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so that those in need have an advocate.
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I am my mother’s advocate. I’m Joel’s advocate.
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I’m Dwayne’s advocate.
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I’m wretched. Advocate.
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I’m Glenn’s advocate. I’m Bill’s advocate. I’m Tony’s advocate.
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Rogers, advocate.
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and there’s so many more
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I’m honored to share my gift of fitness and to be surrounded by these guys this team. For this reason
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I don’t know if there’s anybody
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who loves to write as much as I do.
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Who’s who’s been so touched by suicide.
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Who has this much? This is this, is it? This is my purpose. This is why I’m here. It’s taken me 47 years after my ninth birthday to figure out why I’m on this planet.
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This is why I’m here. There’s no place that I’d rather be. There’s no one is. I’d rather be talking to this, is it?
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This is it? It’s crystal clear
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show.
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My life now makes sense in the craziest way, with so much purpose. There’s 0 ambiguity.
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and I can’t thank Tom enough for making that call to me to invite me to be a part of this team.
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cause I’m I’m right where I need to be so, Tom, I appreciate it. I love you all. Thank you.
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Thank you, Rob, for for sharing. And yeah, when I made that call I had no idea of that part of Rob’s history. I think I was calling him actually to to just ride. I wasn’t even thinking that he would necessarily end up working with us on the team.
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And then he he’s like, I know you’re not paying anybody. This is a hundred percent volunteer. I’m coming aboard, and you can’t fire me. And I’m like that. Just so happens we need a vice chairperson and a chief technology officer and you know. Believe me when I say that nobody is more passionate than Rob, and you know he gets he gets stuff done, and
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you know nothing will will get in his way of making sure that you know we’re we’re successful here, and love you, too. And it’s it’s great to have you on on this team.
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Thanks, Adam.
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So I’m gonna
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we’ll continue with with the presentation. Now I’ve got several more slides, and then I’m going to turn it over to to Eric to bring us home.
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But in terms of the event, history so inaugural year was was 2022
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as we were emerging from the pandemic, and you know my idea was to do 3 days and 300 miles because I had done an event like that. But frankly, it was too many days, too many miles, most people for a charity rider more interested in a one day event with with multiple options.
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We did have about A dozen people do all 3 days, and at the last minute we said, we’ll do one day registrations for a century ride, and we got 40 people to sign up
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and that year we were able to get about $10,000, including in kind donations, towards supporting Nami.
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And then last year we we learned our lesson a bit in terms of the the length of of the ride. So we did a one day event with 3 different distances, and we get 120 registered cyclists so much, much bigger event. And we were able to like on the check. I think it said 26,000, but there was still some coming in after that, so we’ve been able to contribute over 28,000 in nami plus substantial incline in kind donations that were
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used to support the tour.
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And then this year we’re planning an additional one day event, and we’re expecting 240 to 250 riders. We wanna cap it out at that number because we wanna make sure we’ve got a really high quality experience for the riders and sponsors and and volunteers.
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And and we’re stepping up our goal in terms of fundraising. We’re we’re gonna target $100,000 this year. We definitely feel like we’ve got great momentum, and if we don’t hit 100 this year it’s it will. It will be next year. We have the right trajectory. We’ve got the right plans in place to make this happen, and Eric will talk a bit about the revenue streams that we’re we’re looking at.
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So in terms of the 4 distances that we’re offering.
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We’ve got a 2643, and 106, which is very closely aligned with what we did last year, but we’re also adding one that’s 65 miles.
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We wanted to do one that was at least 62, 62 is a metric century, and that’s a pretty standard offering, and a lot of cycling events. A lot of people like to do do that sort of distance. So each group is, gonna have captains. Each group will have a sag vehicle which stands for supply and gear. So very well supported.
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We’ve got plan stops throughout the course of about every 20 miles. And more frequent for that shorter distance course. The State police are gonna support us again this year and again. I can’t emphasize how how wonderful they have been to to work with us.
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You know, as soon as I brought it up to jay the point. Who runs the motorcycle unit. He’s like, if you’re doing this to work on better mental health in New Hampshire. And you’re gonna support Nami. We’re there for you. They know how how critical this is in in our State and really across all States.
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So each group starts at a slightly different time about 15 min intervals, and that’s to allow for a little separation on the road as well as rest stops.
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And here we’ve got an overview of of what the rides actually look like. So I’ll take you through. I’ll take you through the first one in a little bit of detail, and then can run a little close, a little quicker on the on the next ones.
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But we’re going to be starting at Holderness school.
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We ride through Plymouth and Romney out to Wentworth.
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up to Warren, and this is the first 20 mile break. Then we continue on 25 out to have roll and down to Pyramont for our second break another 20 miles or so, or 22 miles. Then we continue down either route, 10 or River road in the Connecticut River Valley, through Pyramont, Orford, Lyme to Hanover, coming back up to line where we have launch it, that Stella is really wonderful lunch. Nice atmosphere.
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Continue up 10 to Orford, and then we go over Mount Cubes. So that’s that picture that you saw here in the 7 Mile. Climb that that Rob mentioned.
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We all kind of congregate on top.
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and then we take off down the hill. We get to fly down this hill, back into Wentworth back through into Romney. It’s a huge day in Romney. They have their old home day there, so there’s all sorts of activity going on.
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and then back through Plymouth and to and to hold in a school.
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So it is really an epic ride with all sorts of beautiful views. The scenery is fantastic. We maximize this to have really, like the best views, with the least amount of traffic possible.
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And then the 65 miler is essentially the same route out to Warren, but instead of going all the way from Warren to Havrel, there’s a cutoff that we take to bring us back to 25 C. And we get some nice hills there. So this group can experience some painful hills as well. But people like that actually
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and then back down to Warren, where we’ll have another break, and then same same loop back to holding a school.
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For the 2 other rides.
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These follow that same route out to Warren for the 43 Mile Group. They’ll have their break there. Then they’ll have another opportunity for a break in Romney, and then back to to Holder school.
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This is really it’s a challenging ride to 43 miles is a good distance. But obviously, you know, more achievable, takes a little bit less training. And also I would add that this particular route does not have a lot of hills. The first 2 you’ve you’ve got some hills. This one is relatively flat.
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and then we’ve got our 26 miler, which could even be shortened if somebody felt like doing a little bit less. So, starting at holding a school.
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could just go out to the rummy common in back and make it about 20 miles, or you go a little bit deeper into Romney and do this lollipop loop.
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Come back to the Commons, take a nice little break, and then head back to holdings. So we’ve essentially got something for
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for everybody. We’ve got really, really challenging long rides for people that want to be challenged. And then we’ve got some shorter rides for people that don’t want to, you know. Take on that kind of all day all day pain, and regardless. It’s gonna be very well supported. We’ve got plenty of beverages and hydration. We’ve got people who are able to do any minor mechanical repairs. If you get a flat tire, or you know something like that.
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We really very, very well, well supported on the ride.
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And of course, safety is is a super important thing that that comes first
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and so we do have, like a safety briefing for each group to talk through some protocols that will make everybody as safe as possible. There is some inherent risk, obviously, in in in riding bikes. But we want to try to minimize that just as much as possible. So talking about safety and getting people familiar with with basic protocols. To make things as safe as possible is important.
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We also take out insurance from U.S.A. cycling and Clark insurance for our board.
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We will have at least one first aid kit and someone designated to render first aid, if, if if necessary. Again, each group will have a sag vehicle stands for support and gear.
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following behind. And then we do have all writers or guardians in a case of of kids under 18 signing waivers to participate in the event
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we did have we did have kids as young as 14 years old last year. I mean, really the the bottom line as a parent just needs to evaluate, you know, is is my kid. you know, physically able to do this. And are they cognizant of, you know, safety being an important
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aspect of this ride. But we we had several kids doing it, and
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and
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think we may have lost.
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Tom
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looked like he was frozen and might have had some technical difficulties.
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Hi Jordan looks like you’re up.
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Yeah, if you’ve got the slides, Michelle, if you want to put those back up while Tom’s trying to get back on, I can jump in.
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That’ll give me just a second.
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Well, while everybody’s waiting. I’ll I’ll kind of pick up where Tom left off and talking a little bit about the event. When we get the slides up we can kind of continue a little bit more. So my name’s Eric Skinner. I’m the chief financial officer, and the sponsorship sales lead for the team.
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I’ve got a a strong business background real entrepreneurial spirit. So
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I kinda
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use that to kind of keep us organized as an entity. Make sure that we’re staying legal. Getting our nonprofit status in place and just make sure that we’re we’re highly effective spreading awareness. And also we’re doing doing a good job on our fundraising
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so as we like to wait till we get the slides back up so you can visualize a little here?
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I’ll give you a quick how did how do we all get involved in this kind of stuff? How is a how’s a guy that just is a businessman doing doing mental health. I don’t know anything about this stuff.
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Our daughter
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back at during the pandemic had
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was was not doing well, had some really dark times. And I just met Tom at a at an event where he was talking about this 300 mile crazy ride he was doing that was benefiting and making awareness for mental health
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and suicide awareness. So it really struck home for us
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through our daughters through our daughters
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path through that we saw some real holes and and services, and not being able to find providers. And
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when you have, when you have somebody that’s questioning their
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pushing suicide. Really having mental health struggles.
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not being able to get a therapist or be able to even talk to the public or their friends about this for 6 to 8 weeks. Just isn’t a good deal.
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So that for me was a motivators, you know. What can I do? So enter, enter, Tom, and he’s a he’s a heck of a leader and a great man that collect up people and put us to work.
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So so jumped into the highs and lows tour
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some of the biggest things. If you wanna go to the next screen, Michelle, it’d be great. I wasn’t sure where you were at. I don’t know where I’m at, either. So
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yeah, that’s perfect. So, picking up where Tom was at. So we we’ve learned a few things in the past. And we really are stretching to make sure that we’re putting on a very good event. That is the primary we want to make sure people are having fun enjoying themselves safe. And we want to include different people. So we really, we’ve structured some of our some of the entry fees to be discounted for students.
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for first responders, for veterans. Things like that just to name a few. So we do have a we do have a few people on the board that are involved in their veteran outreach.
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There’s a lot of statistics on that I won’t get into now. But it’s a community that really needs support. So we’re really trying to leverage what we’re doing to spread that awareness through that community as well.
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Very specifically, we’re looking for affinity programs that we can develop and then develop the programs and then find other affinity groups that we can roll this out to. So this the first year.
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this year is the first year. We’re rolling out the veteran outreach program.
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But there are certainly limitless other
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Outreach programs that we can do based off this. So we’re looking for, you know the the, the participation
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as a cyclist, as a as a volunteer, or as a fundraiser.
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as sponsors.
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But we’re starting this year with one, but the goal will be eventually to have, you know, 5 or 6 different outreach groups or affinity groups.
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And this is one that’s just a natural inclination based on our peer group that we have. So we’re kind of
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watching to see how this goes, and we’ll make adjustments next year. Roll out some other
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affinity groups and outreach programs.
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Michelle, are you able to see me?
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Yep.
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okay.
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cause I I don’t think Eric was. I’m sorry I got I got kicked off for for a minute.
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That’s okay. I can see you.
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Tom. We were just finishing up the veterans. If you wanna pick up on the campus benefits and keep rolling. Great. Okay, okay, I’ll I’ll do that. I know that we’re running very, very short on time, so I’ll I’ll go through this relatively relatively quickly. So we are partnering with with with Holderness school this year. We’ve got 3 partner schools overall Plymouth High School Proctor, Academy, and Holderness and Holderness is very graciously offered up their campus for us to host the event.
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Huge benefits in in in hosting it at at Holderness. Ample parking. They have a dining hall that holds over 300 people, so we’ll be able to hold our morning event. There they’ve got built in. AV they’ve got bathroom facilities. We’ll also bring Porta bodies on site, but it’s just a phenomenal space. They’ve got lots of green space, as you can see in this in this shot right here for outdoor activities.
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And we’ll outline what the post event is. Gonna look like where we’ll be taking advantage of that. And it’s just a great community that that that supports our cause.
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So if you can go to the next one.
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so a basic overview for our timeline, for the weekend is we’ve got packet pickup on Friday afternoon, the ninth.
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and then Saturday morning we’ll continue with a packet pickup and breakfast, and at 7 30 we begin our morning program, which is really a very, very special
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time, and I’ll break that down a little bit further in a second, and then we’ll start the rides at at 8. 15
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groups are going to ride back to Holderness for for
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a fantastic post event community, if you will, where we’ll have kind of a party celebratory atmosphere, and then we’ll wind down the event by by 6 Pm. This particular image is
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out between Warren and Haverle on Route 25, near Mount Musselock. Really wonderful views.
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Michelle. If you could go to the next one.
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So this is essentially our our pre-ride program. Apart from the the packet pickup and and and the breakfast, we’ve got something that we believe is really really special that helps set this event apart. We’ll we’ll have a nice welcome message, followed by inviting Kristen Welch up to in
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to introduce the Nami speaker. This year we have Michelle Thompson, who is the survivor of parental suicide, to to talk about her, her lived experience.
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and then Eric will present. What we refer to is is the big check to to Nami with with the proceeds and estimate of the proceeds that we will have at that point. And when I say the big check, I literally mean the big check. Eric goes out and gets something that’s about 3 feet long, so that it’s highly highly visible.
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We’ll get a picture with our sponsors and and the State police and the local police.
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and then we’ll have an invocation which is a fancy word for, like a a blessing or or a prayer. That not everybody needs to participate in. But I think a lot of people find that having a good grounded spiritual connection is helpful for their overall mental health. And so we’ll we’ll have that as an offering
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prior to the national anthem which we’ve had this the last couple of years, and people just love it. It’s such a fantastic
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patriotic feeling as we as we get out there on on the road, and so I’m gonna turn it over to Eric, on this this next slide. But just wanna say what a huge asset Eric has been! For the team! He really he does.
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He does everything as our Cfo he’s obviously managing the funds, but he also sells sponsorships. He gets insurance for the event. He he has through his law firm got them to set up our Llc. And now the 501 c. 3 he’s just done a tremendous amount, and is a phenomenal partner to the team.
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And so with that I turn it over to you, Eric.
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Thank you so much, Tom. I think we’re officially over time, do we? What do we have for time, ladies.
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none
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guys. Okay.
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The next session won’t start. Yeah. You know our ending. Our closing session won’t start till this one’s done, so we just hope that everybody will. When you’re done we’ll go over to the closing session.
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Yes, yes, alright, I’ll I’ll try and be brief and truncate a little bit of this. So I wanna thank everybody for coming out learning about us, learning about Nami and all the incredible work that they do.
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So let me just do you know, a post ride event so really quickly, the what we found from the the first year that Tom, Tom and is growing is we’re doing this 300 mile
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Superman ride. We said we need to have more inclusivity. So
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we opened up the different rides. But really what what I felt like we were missing was the rest of the community. If you’re not a cyclist, you’re not involved.
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So we started this post ride community event. You don’t have to be a cyclist. You don’t have to have a family member. That’s a cyclist. You you don’t have to have any affiliation. You just want to come out and have fun. That’s what this is for. So this is our first year we’re gonna have live musicians. We’ll have Raffles for 50 50 raffle cycling gear
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food trucks plenty of games. Porn hole, bouncy house. We’re gonna have a little trike race. Maybe if we’re getting crazy. We might have an adult trike race. You never know what could happen.
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So main thing is, we’re trying to open this up to the to get that conversation going. And and yes, this is the Cfo set talking.
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Our our main mission is to spread awareness
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even more so than money.
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So if you do nothing else start that conversation, come to the event. Be around the people that that you want your community to be. So let’s skip, skip to the next next one there.
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So really quickly, revenue streams. And I’m gonna I’m gonna gloss this a little bit for time.
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But we our registrations for our riders cover most of what our event our costs.
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what really makes the infills, the rest are cash contributions from sponsors, corporately.
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family foundations, individuals, anything from a hundred dollars to $10,000.
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That’s where it all hits the pavement.
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We get a lot of donations for in kind contributions. Hannaford’s the common man, were incremental and feeding everybody.
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So you know again, if if you’re out there and you’re saying, Hey.
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I I want to do something. I don’t have cash, but, man, I can. I got a load of bananas coming in a truck next week. Give us a call.
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So this is a million ways to do that. We’re also interested in partnering with other other individuals companies that will enhance our events.
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The, we have a professional photographer that’s covered a couple of the Olympics.
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And he’s gonna be there this year. Selling very, very discounted professional photographs that support Nami as well.
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So there’s a lot of ways to do that. As a rider. One of the things that we did open up as well, monetarily is similar to
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to some of the other fundraisers out there like a Pan mass challenge. It’s a massive bike race. They require a massive amount of fundraising. What we’re doing is once you sign up, we’re asking each
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each participant
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to do a minimum of a $250 fundraise it’s you don’t have to do it. But we’re hoping that you see the passion. We’re hoping you get excited for what you’re gonna do. We hope, if you’ve only ridden 25 miles, that maybe you step into that 40 mile.
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and you go to that rich uncle, and you say, Hey, uncle.
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what do you say? Will you support me in this?
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So that’s what we’re kind of hoping for to to really further our mission with this
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let’s jump down to the next next slide here. So these are a bunch of our sponsors from last year. We’re getting more and more
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if you’re out there, and you you own a company. We’re nonprofit. So it’s it’s a direct write off on that. There’s a lot of companies out there that will match donations as well. So ask the question of of your the boss, or whatever it may be. Let’s jump to the next one.
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So some of the things that we’re we’re doing that that are kind of fun for the participants as well as we. We provide a cycling Jersey. Now, this is a an image of what we’re starting with for for this year we pick different colors each year that represent different things of awareness that we’re trying to go after so right now you’ll you’ll come away with a nice cycling jersey if you fundraise, and you can kind of tear up. You can get some gloves. You can get some bibs. So
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if you if you got 2 rich uncles, you might actually get more swag in there, too. So we can play with that. We’ve got some limited addition purple socks. Everybody loves purple socks.
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So these will be sold on our website, and also at the event again, all nonprofit charity based stuff. Alright, let’s jump to the next one.
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I’m going fast here. Folks keep up.
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So call to actions what we would love to see you do if any of this is resonating with you.
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jump in as a sponsor. We got a big old donate button on our website. Jump in there. 10 bucks makes a difference.
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10,000 makes a difference to do what you can
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come as a volunteer. If you don’t, you’re like, I don’t know about this cycling stuff. Those guys are crazy.
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Who cares come to the event. Have some fun. Volunteer.
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See? The bunch of kids in and out of the bouncy house.
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Come as a rider. Talk to those rich uncle, see what you can do. That’s the Cfo. Talking to you. Sorry
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we’re just, you know, Plano, come to the community event. The big thing where we’re trying to make sure that we do is open dialogue to friends, families.
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colleagues, everyone.
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We’re no longer in the age where real men don’t cry.
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We’re to a we’re to a point in our society where we need to talk about these things.
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the conversations that I’ve had
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just in
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in talking about sponsorships and getting riders here.
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I’ve been amazed
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at how much people have broken down and talked about their troubles.
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and have come out of that conversation in a very positive way. So last piece and I’ll and I’ll move on like us on. Oh, go back! One more, Michelle.
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help us spread the word Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin.
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Get to us. Spread us to your network like us. We’re really good people, I promise.
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and see what you can to kinda help us spread this word.
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that’s all I’ve got, and sorry for the speedy finish here. But thank you guys so much, and if you have any questions, if there’s time we’ll answer them.
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Michelle, I know you need to hop off to start the other session, so I can take it from here. You go go ahead and and take care of that
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great. Thank you. Thank you, guys. It was awesome.
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Thanks. And we’ll be right over as soon as we’re done
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perfect.
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do we? We probably have, like maybe a minute for questions, and then we need to kind of. We need to direct people over to the closing session. But does anyone have any questions for Tom, Eric or Rob.
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Oh, we have a question
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from Lori Foster.
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Laurie, do you wanna put your question in the QA.
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Or I’m not sure. Hang on.
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I’m not sure how to
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do this here.
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Alright.
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Leslie, Robin says, thanks you. Thank you. This all sounds amazing.
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sorry, Lori. I’m trying to figure out how to
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let you talk here
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up.
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Alright. Well, if you can put your question in the QA. That would be great. Lori.
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Any other questions
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before we head over to the closing, closing session.
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Fantastic presentation! Says Pat Moriarty.
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You thank you.
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Well, I put the link to the highs and Lows tour website in the chat. So all of the ways that Eric and Rob and Tom outlined for how you can get involved with this amazing group are, are you can find a lot more out at their website and
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just thank you all so much for being here today for sharing your stories and sharing your why, we are truly so very grateful to you for all that you’ve done for naming New Hampshire. You are. You’re part of the Nami New Hampshire family. You’re stuck with us. So we’re really, we’re very grateful to you. So everybody, if you want to hop on over to the closing session, and we’ll we’ll finish up the conference.
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Thank you.
Closing comments by NAMI NH Deputy Director Bernie Seifert.
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So welcome to the end of closing session for us.
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That was a great last session, talking about the highs and lows tour. So right now, I’m going to introduce you to Bernie Seifert. She’s our deputy director, and she’s say a few words about the end of the conference.
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Okay, thank you, Michelle. And so thank you, everyone for joining us for this year’s naming New Hampshire Virtual Conference, cultivating hope and celebrating our everyday heroes.
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So whether you joined us for just one or 2 sessions of our program, or for the whole thing. We’re so glad you were able to be here. And so perhaps you selected just one or 2 of our sessions because the topic kind of piqued your interest. Or maybe because your schedule didn’t allow you to join more than one or 2 sessions, whether or not.
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no fear. We’ve recorded all the sessions, and you can listen to each of them individually at your own convenience. So last night we had a wonderful presentation by Dr. Amador, who presented on the topic. I am not sick, and I don’t need help.
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So this can help us provide help to provide us with on some insight and understanding. Well, with some someone we know. And since this is Nami, so it’s oftentimes that someone we know is someone we love.
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so they may feel like they may not be, may not need help, but we think they do, or we know they do so, what we do and how we can help them. Dr. Emador provides us with a few tips. So if you missed that one, really, you may want to watch the recording.
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So today’s lineup was equally as wonderful. The day started with comments from our naming New Hampshire’s executive director, Susan Stearns, and she was joined by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. Commissioner Lori, Weaver and Commissioner Weaver mentioned that the Department has been working on on an ongoing basis on a road map of what the Department has in store for upcoming months and years regarding mental health.
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Then, Commissioner Weaver, use the phrase, if not now, then, when and that is a mantra that we here at now may need to continue to use, if not now, then, when and by we I mean, I’m talking about our all our volunteers, wonderful volunteers. We have our teachers, of of classes.
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leaders of support groups, our speakers, and all our families out there. As well as we as the nomine New Hampshire staff. So we together can continue to reach for the stars and need to continue to demand that we and the people we love get
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the best mental health services possible. We need to continue on, on, on stopping that discrimination experience by all who are faced with mental illness and mental health challenges, we must demand the best.
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and we also this morning heard from Julio del Sedo del del Sesto, excuse me in sharing his and his family’s journey, and going from struggling as a very young child and young adult, and he beat the odds and proved them wrong, and he became a successful college professor who cares deeply for his students and and contempt, and empathize with their struggles. His message is truly one of hope and inspiration.
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Our friend from Hanford, Chad Meyer joined nomine New Hampshire’s Brittany porter and Christian wells to share a bit of his family’s journey, and why he gets involved in the annual naming walk. It was so inspiring and so filled with hope his message. And he gives the message that we and you are not alone.
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We heard this afternoon from Dr. Christine Crawford, who shared information about youth, mental health, and provide tips for parents and caregivers of children and youth experience men experiencing mental health, related symptoms. And if you feel like there has been an increase in the number of kids experiencing mental health symptoms.
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It’s not at your imagination, it’s real. And Dr. Crawford showed how in the past 10 to 12 years there really has been a progressive increase in kids experiencing mental health symptoms. Men. Mental health stress can be very draining, emotionally and physically.
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And we and she talked about how we need to take care of ourselves as parents and caregivers when we’re taking care of others, and I know that in my work here at Namu, New Hampshire, I’ve I’ve run into a lot of family members and caregivers, or some like to be called care partners who feel like they don’t have time to take care of themselves. I don’t have time to take care of me. I’ve got to take care of that individual.
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And Dr. Crawford highlight highlighted. How important it is that in order to be the best caregiver we can be, we need to take care of ourselves.
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So if not for yourself to do it for the one you love. Dr. Crawford gave us a little lesson on neurobiology to help us understand how we process stress and how you know. The first step in being a good caregiver for others is understanding. Why, how we need to take care of ourselves.
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It’s an important lesson for all of us. And she talked also about the book that she’s written, you are not alone for parents and caregivers.
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and it probably sounds a little familiar. Dr. Ken Duckworth wrote the book, you are not alone. Anami book that came out last year. Well, this is a sequel. You are not alone for care, parents and caregivers. She’s provides practical tools, advice, and tips for caregivers of children and youth in who are in need of mental health supports, and that book is due to come out later this year. So stay tuned. Now I’m in New Hampshire is on it.
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This afternoon we heard from Lisa Morgan, who presented on crisis support and suicide prevention for autistic people.
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She talked about the unique aspects and rear and risk factors related to individuals with autism and how our medical model looks at what is wrong rather than what does an individual need? And Lisa provided a lot of information that helps us better understand or identify what some of these needs may be she shared her personal stories through her presentation, which
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really made it very interesting to listen to, and helped us better understand what the learning objectives were of her session. Needless to say, I learned a lot from her program, and I highly recommend that you listen to the recording of the session. If you haven’t heard it today.
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And just a few minutes ago we had a presentation, titled Highs and Lows Tours Community Cycling Event for better mental Health, by Thomas Dearborn is the chairperson of the Highs and Lows Tours. We also heard from Rob Cass and Eric Skinner. They talked about how their
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you know they’re biking. This whole bike tour is really a mission. It’s a calling that they have. All the members of the highs and Lows tours team have been touched by mental health and or suicide at some point. So it’s really. And I know the short video. They short again made me smile.
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and the personal stories made me cry so. It was a very, very touching program to watch. So in closing finally, you say close.
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I want to thank our sponsors, Johnson and Johnson. Well, sense, health plan.
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Americorps, Caritas, New Hampshire, New Hampshire Community Behavioral Health Association, Hca. Healthcare. Thank you all. And thank you to the Nominee. New Hampshire Conference planning committee. A special thank you. Goes to Michelle Watson.
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Karen Prevay, Liz Hopkins, Hodgkins, who pay extra close attention to the details of this program. Thank you for the behind the scenes support of Patrick Roberts and Emily Huff.
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and thanks for the valuable input from Adriana Grant, our volunteer representative on the planning committee.
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Thanks to our communication staff, Kim Murdock, for her support and getting the word out about this program to Christian Welch and the development team at nomine New Hampshire for their help with sponsors, and thank you for all the work you do every day to make this a better place. Take care of you. So that’s all folks, and I hope to see you.
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This is my brave. On May fifteenth.
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the naming New Hampshire’s annual meeting on June twentieth, and the naming New Ham, New Hampshire. Walk on October sixth. Thank you all
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bye. Now.
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Hi, thank you so much, Bernie. This was great. Thank you all for being here today. Please make sure you fill out your evaluation, and you can share the recordings. And let more people who weren’t able to attend or register, you know. See this valuable information? Thank you. All.
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Have a great night. Bye, bye.
Participants will:
- Increase awareness of resources, for all stages and ages of their mental health journey.
- Leave the conference feeling empowered and hopeful.
- Be part of a community of mental health – recognizing they are not alone, that NAMI NH is families helping families.
- Recognize the importance of peer voices and lived experience.
- Learn ways to reduce stigma and discrimination.
- Understand the many forms mental health recovery takes.
- Learn individual advocacy.
- Understand mental health is connected with overall health and well-being.
Each spring, NAMI NH hosts an annual conference. Participants come from communities all around New Hampshire and are interested in learning more about mental illness. This includes broadening their understanding of ways to support each other, reduce stigma, advocate for quality mental health services and find needed resources. Those we encourage to attend include parents or caregivers who have a child or youth with an emotional disorder, families who are supporting an adult or older adult loved one with mental illness, those who have a mental illness, military families, peer recovery professionals, individuals who have lost a loved one to suicide, families and individuals who are struggling with co-occurring disorders and the service providers who support recovery efforts in New Hampshire. This is an opportunity to come together to learn, network and communicate messages of hope.
We are grateful for our Annual Conference Sponsors and Donors, who make it possible to offer this event at no charge to attendees. Click here to learn more about sponsorship opportunities, or contact
Kristen Welch, CFRE, Director of Development.
FEATURED PRESENTATIONS
Keynote Presentation: March 26, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Dr. Xavier Amador, founder of the LEAP Institute
I Am Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help: How to Help Someone Accept Treatment
What is anosognosia? Many people who love someone with serious mental illness can be frustrated by the individual’s failure to understand they are sick. Dr. Amador will present research on the prevalence, etiology, and clinical significance of poor insight of persons with serious mental illness. Evidence that poor insight is a symptom of these disorders rather than denial will be discussed. Strategies for helping such persons will be summarized.
Dr. Xavier Amador is an internationally renowned clinical psychologist, author, and leader in his field. His books, published clinical research, worldwide speaking tours and extensive work in schizophrenia, bipolar and other disorders have been translated into 30 languages. He is also the CEO of the Henry Amador Center on Anosognosia and a family caregiver of two close relatives with serious mental illness.
Welcome Session & Opening Remarks: March 27, 9:00 am – 10:00 am
Lori Weaver, Commissioner, New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services; & Susan Stearns, Executive Director, NAMI New Hampshire
The State of New Hampshire’s Mental Health System
Join this session as NAMI NH’s Executive Director Susan Stearns officially opens the conference for the day. She will provide NAMI NH updates and introduce Lori Weaver, Commissioner, NH Department of Health and Human Services. Commissioner Weaver will discuss the state of New Hampshire’s mental health system.
Sponsored by Johnson & Johnson
Afternoon Keynote: March 27, 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm
Christine Crawford, MD, MPH, Associate Medical Director of NAMI National
A Conversation about Youth Mental Health
A growing number of children and teens in the U.S. are struggling with mental health conditions, and parents, teachers, and other caregivers are often at a loss when concerns arise for their own child. Are your preschooler’s constant tantrums normal for their age, or evidence of a developmental difficulty? Is puberty or depression to blame for your pre-teen’s reticence? Is my child in the wrong school, or being influenced by the wrong friends? Am I a bad parent or teacher, or am I overreacting? What exactly should I do?
Dr. Christine M. Crawford is an adult, child and adolescent psychiatrist who sees patients at Boston Medical Center. She is a staff member of the Wellness and Recovery After Psychosis Program (WRAP) where she provides psychiatric care for adolescents experiencing symptoms of psychosis. Dr. Crawford is also the author of the forthcoming book; You Are Not Alone for Parents and Caregivers: The NAMI Guide to Navigating your Child’s Mental Health with advice from Experts and Wisdom from Real Families due for release in September 2024.
WORKSHOPS
Professor Julio Del Sesto – March 27, 10:15 am – 11:15 am
An Everyday Hero’s Journey from Struggling Student to Successful Professor
Julio Del Sesto, who has struggled with mental illness since the age of 12, will discuss his journey from barely graduating high school to becoming a successful college professor. Today, Julio works to break down the stigma of mental health in his community and among his students. In 2022, he was awarded the Keene State Distinguished Teacher Award which recognizes excellence in teaching, encouragement of independent thinking, rapport with students, and student advising. In one student’s nomination letter, they said “Julio Del Sesto stands out as a beacon for those who struggle, those who do not know their path, and more beyond that.”
Sponsored by AmeriHealth Caritas
Brittany Porter & Kristen Welch – March 27, 11:30 am – 12:00 pm
Stigma Doesn’t Stand a Chance – NAMIWalks New Hampshire & This Is My Brave
Join Walk Manager, Brittany Porter, and Director of Development, Kristen Welch CFRE for an information session on two upcoming stigma-busting events. Hear important updates, inspiring stories, and more on how you can get involved.
Lisa Morgan – March 27, 2:30 pm – 3:45 pm
Crisis Supports and Suicide Prevention for Autistic People
Research has shown suicide to be a leading cause of death for autistic people. This presentation will cover the warning signs, unique risk factors, statistics of suicide, and how to be culturally aware in working with autistic people. Autistic people think, communicate, and experience the world differently than non-autistic people. The presentation will describe five autism-specific resources to use in supporting autistic people around suicide prevention and crisis support.
Sponsored by WellSense Health Plan
Thomas Dearborn & Eric Skinner – March 27, 4:00 pm – 4:45 pm
The Highs & Lows Tour: A Community Cycling Event for Better Mental Health
The Highs & Lows Tour is organized by a group of people who have been directly or indirectly impacted by mental illness and suicide. The mission is to promote better mental health in New Hampshire through 1) raising awareness of mental illness and suicide prevention 2) destigmatizing mental illness and 3) raising funds for NAMI New Hampshire.
Sponsored by New Hampshire Community Behavioral Health Association