Music and art are my life along with my family. I also enjoy video games, spending time with my dogs, and watching stand-up comedy. Some of my favorite foods include steak, salmon, sushi, and burgers. At around age 11 or 12, I began to experience absolute terror. Everyday life was accompanied by nightmares and severe […]
I like music movies, forests, and oceans. I have been camping since before I could walk. I took horseback riding lessons as a child so when did my horse wander off the trail? I began drinking at age 14. I would steal money from my parents to buy alcohol on the weekends and drink and drive. […]
I was raised as a half city/half country boy, going on many hiking and camping trips and attending many UK games. My favorite thing to do in the world is to wander a new forest path with my dog. When I’m not working as a server waiting tables, you can find me watching sports or […]
I was born in Lexington, Kentucky. A fun fact about me is that I am adopted. Growing up, I loved playing sports. I was an avid swimmer and basketball player. Sports taught me discipline and teamwork. I did well enough in basketball to be offered a basketball scholarship to Virginia Military Institute. I played all […]
My journey to recovery began with a terrifying prolonged break from reality. I was experiencing audio and visual hallucinations and found myself in the hospital. It was difficult for me to believe I had a mental health problem. I blamed everything from a cochlear implant to food poisoning as the cause of my erratic behavior. […]
My childhood was invisibly rough. My family was poor, but we had housing and the gnawing emptiness of our hungry bellies was not observable. My dad was abusive, but words don’t leave marks and he had good aim with his belt. My family’s religion was not a comfort, but a weapon used to compel silent […]
We were freed from the unjustified shame. Family to Family is more than an educational class. For my spouse and I, it was an unshackling from the preconceived notions about our child’s trajectory. It was an unshackling from the guilt that we had failed to prepare her for adulthood. It gave us the freedom to continue […]
By Marcie Timmerman Angry at the world. Emotions so close to the surface everyone could see them. It was clear when Jeramie first came to Participation Station, he was a very troubled young man. He clearly needed us. It turns out, his winning smile and natural curiosity would end up serving him very well in […]
In September 2014 we had Carlton Craig, PhD, LCSW, DCSW from the University of Kentucky’s College of Social Work present to us on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. (See post on Principles of CBT here). He presented these frequently seen “cognitive distortions”, or ways people think automatically. CBT encourages the identification and acknowledgement of these thought patterns. Common Cognitive […]
“What the heck is CBT?” “Not another acronym. Alphabet soup, that’s this system…” These are common thoughts expressed when a loved one is assigned to CBT or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy by their physician or psychiatrist. In September 2014, Carlton Craig, PHD LCSW DCSW from the University of Kentucky College of Social Work presented on CBT- Cognitive […]
Support groups are generally defined as groups with common experiences or concerns who provide each other with encouragement, comfort and advice based on lived experience. Who better to understand what you’re going through than someone who has “been there” in some way? The lived experience of others facing a mental illness or who […]
It’s featured on grants, it’s advised for most participants in Fayette County Mental Health Court, and it’s on the schedule at Participation Station on a regular basis. It’s a core part of the Recovery we talk about. But what is WRAP really? WRAP stands for Wellness Recovery Action Plan. Mary Ellen Copeland, PhD created this method for […]
NAMI Basics is a Signature program offered by NAMI Lexington to educate and support parents of children and adolescents who have emotional and/or behavioral problems such as ADHD, Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Anxiety Disorders, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The course teaches coping skills, management skills, communication/listening skills, problem-solving skills, and more. […]
At its most basic, Peer Support is one person helping another person. When NAMI Lexington talks about it, we are talking about Family members helping family members, Consumers of mental health services helping other consumers, Providers helping other providers, and so on. Peer support can be pretty formal – as it is in support groups – […]
WHAT IS IT WEDNESDAY — The Kentucky Consumer Conference The consumer conference is a gathering of individuals with mental illness, Kentucky Peer Specialists, consumer-operated service center personnel, and recovery-oriented professionals from across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. One of the purposes of the conference is to connect individuals with mental illness to others in the state […]
Signature Programs contain information and processes vetted by experts from around the country and even the globe. The National Alliance on Mental Illness main headquarters spearheaded or refined these programs so they have up-to-date and quality information requested universally by the targeted audience (family members, consumers, etc). These programs give the same information and follow […]
We use this term frequently, as do our many partner agencies. It helps further define some of the people we are reaching out to with our programming. When we say a program or education course is targeted at individuals with SPMI or their families, we generally mean the federal and state definitions of SPMI. Per the […]
born December 7, 1895 died January 12, 1954 First African-American to earn a doctorate degree in any American university, having received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Clark University on June 14, 1920. He is known as the “Father of Black Psychology” for being also the first African-American psychologist in the United States. He is credited […]
Kentucky House Bill 65 is before the Health and Welfare Committee on Thursday, February 12th. This bill has the distinction of being reviewed and drafted by a committee of individuals which included family members and mental health consumers. NAMI Lexington has been advocated alongside other statewide and community partners to expand the treatment OPTIONS for […]
born April 4, 1928 died May 28, 2014 Maya Angelou was a prominent poet, writer and activist in her adulthood after holding a number of previous positions. Her autobiographical poetry works, including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, opened up discussions on traumatic experiences in African-American households. This conversation is still going on today as […]
“Integrated Care” is the systematic coordination of general and behavioral healthcare (http://www.integration.samhsa.gov/about-us/what-is-integrated-care). Ultimately, it is a full integration of mental health, substance abuse and primary care services. “The idea is that physical and behavioral health problems often occur at the same time. Integrating services to treat both will yield the best results and be the […]
NAMI Lexington’s mission is to “Promote Recovery”. Our expanded mission statement includes that we support, educate and advocate for family members and those living with severe mental illness. That’s a complex mission. It requires a lot of information sharing, and community support. This blog will share valid, important information about mental illness, the mental health […]
I’m Harold Jarboe. I want to share with you my successful recovery story. In 1983, I came to Eastern State Hospital at the early age of 19 all shackled up. I was experiencing my first manic episode. It was a total nightmare. I’ve had a total of 9 hospitalizations and 8 manic episodes. I have […]
My name is Monty Price. I like music, and like to make sure I have free time from school. Also, I like to take pictures and post them on Facebook. I hope everyone is doing fine today. NAMI has become the nation’s voice on mental health and was founded in 1979. NAMI provides programs for […]
