I am happy to report that NAMI Florida was approved for Charter by NAMI National today during an official signing ceremony at the convention. The Charter was granted without any conditions and on the first and only submission.  Florida still has the most affiliates who have submitted their resolutions.  Florida may be 50th in Mental Health funding but NAMI Florida is #1.

 
 

 
 

 

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Judith Evans, Executive Director
NAMI Florida, Inc
1030 E. Lafayette St.
Tallahassee, Florida 32301
(850) 671-4445
(850) 671-5272 fax

Many of you have probably heard that NAMI Florida’s Education and Support Training contract is scheduled to end June 30, 2012.  Carol and I have had communications from you asking about the 2012-2013 Education schedule.  As of Tuesday we had not any response from Secretary Wilkins regarding our request to extend our existing contract until an ITN (Intent to Negotiate) was posted on the My Florida Marketplace. 

 
 

For those who had not heard; DCF does not plan on renewing contracts for peer and family education and support services.  They will be posting an ITN inclusive of peer and family education, support, conferences, peer certification, etc.  Of course no one can bid specifically on NAMI programs but our state office but agencies can bid on other types of family and peer training.  Even though Family-to-Family is evidenced based it does not assure that NAMI will be selected as a vendor.

 
 

Now that I have given you all heartburn and heightened your anxiety level, the good news.  Tuesday I received a call from our Assistant Secretary, Rob Siedlecki letting me know he is granting a 6 month extension.  This will enable us to hold State trainings through December.  The Department has approved the following:

Family-to-Family, Peer-to-Peer and Connection.  Yes, only 3.  Carol will be sending notices and dates within the next few days.  Please use this opportunity to get these programs into your community.  One of the items that our Board will look at before granting re-affiliation will be, is the Affiliate offering NAMI signature programs.

 
 

I don’t have a date as to when the ITN will be posted.  In the meantime I would like to begin collecting letters from family members and peers who have taken our program letting us know the personal value of these programs.   These can be sent to info@namiflorida.org or to me directly.  Please ask that they are sent as an attachment or send via post office.  Letters from the Providers you have relationships with will also be helpful to have when we begin the negotiation process.

 
 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call or send me an email.  Your support is needed as we continue to lobby for the funds to continue with our Programs.

 
 

Thank you,

 
 

Judi

Please share with your members and community partners.

 
 

June 15^th Children’s Conference Call with Dr. Ken Duckworth

Save the Date: Friday, June 15th, 2012, from 11:00a.m. to 12:30p.m. Eastern Time

Topic: The Relationship Between Stress, Exercise, Sleep and Adolescent Depression

We are very pleased to have, Richard Dopp, M.D., who has done research on this topic and is a Clinical Assistant Professor for the University of Michigan, Department of Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Section, with Dr. Ken Duckworth to discuss the relationship between stress, exercise, sleep and adolescent depression.

Friday children’s conference calls with Dr. Ken Duckworth, NAMI’s medical director and a child and adolescent psychiatrist, take place on the third Friday of every month. The calls are toll free and are scheduled from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. E.T. To access the toll-free call, please dial 1-888-858-6021; access number 309918#. We hope that you will join us!

Young Adults and Medication Decisions Webinar on June 7th, 2012

The Transitions RTC’s Associate Director of Participatory Action Research, Jon Delman, JD, PhD, will host a webinar describing the process by which young adults with mental illness make medication decisions with their psychiatrists. Findings are based on qualitative interviews with 24 young adults.

Title: Transition Age Youth as Active Participants in Medication Decision Making: A “Thoroughly Relational” Approach

Date: Thursday, June 7, 2012

Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements

PC-based attendees

Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-based attendees

Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

Space is limited.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/358851262.

Honoring Today’s Young Leaders for Tomorrow’s Improved Health and Health Care

For 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has been helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need. As one way to mark its 40th year, RWJF has established the Young Leader Awards: Recognizing Leadership for a Healthier America. Up to 10 awards will be given to young leaders, 40 years of age and under, who offer great promise for leading the way to improved health and health care for all. Each winner will receive an individual award of $40,000.

The Young Leaders Awards will recognize emerging leaders who have demonstrated the characteristics needed to improve health and health care through leadership and innovation. These characteristics—a combination of personal attributes, commitment to health and health care, and successful experience—demonstrate an ability to lead and innovate and they signal the potential to become a greater leader in the coming years. Some of the characteristics a nominee will have demonstrated include:

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The ability to bring others together to achieve results greater than what a single person could bring about;

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The capacity to apply learning beyond the boundaries of a single discipline;

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A history of developing great ideas into products, services or policies that have made a difference in health and health care; and

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Demonstrable evidence of impact on health and health care that extends beyond an initial group of people to reach additional populations, likely to be sustainable over the decades ahead.

For the complete list of young leader characteristics sought, please visit http://RWJFyoungleaderawards.org.