July 8, 2022

by Howard Diamond

“Summer Breeze, Summer Wind” and “Summer in the City” are just two of the songs that may have given us hope for the summer season. Hope is all around us; however, some of us may find it extremely difficult to know where or how to begin (on the journey towards hope). “Follow the fellow who follows a dream…”, may be the way to go. These lyrics from “Finian’s Rainbow” might inspire us to have hope to move ahead by going after someone or something we want.

We have to start somewhere in our journey. “Let’s start at the very beginning; a very good place to start.” from the song, “Do Re Mi”, from the musical, “Sound of Music”. Everything is done step by step, (not steps by steps) and the more we understand this, the more hope we can achieve. This is especially true for me this song, “In the Good Old Summertime” resonates here.

All trips have an entrance point, and each individual must find his/her own way. During my life, just like some of the cast of “The Wizard of Oz”, I tend to, “Follow the yellow brick road”, but I don’t end up in Emerald City. Maybe we all walk on the journey to success. Incorporated is one of my favorite statements, “Every journey starts with one step”. This is too idealistic for some, but it helps me be me.

Then, life for me remains practical. Also, we always need to do our best and, then and only then, can hope be realized. Try to relax and enjoy the journey. Please everyone go at our own pace; there is no rush to finish. 

Remember, who won the race between the tortoise and the hare!
(The tortoise!)

How does one have hope when they are or feel stuck at the start? Find one or two techniques that worked for us before and try them again. One idea that achieved success for me is that I was encouraged that there would be rewards ahead. For every step I took, maybe I could feel better about myself and that gave me hope that I’d get to the next step. It did not always help, but if I did not try, I might feel or still be stuck. Eventually, looking for hope and the idea and the concept of “hope rewards” was successful for me, so I was able to move in a positive direction. Also, attempt not to get discouraged! Again, one step at a time. We will move ahead. I did!

As it was said by Reverend Jesse Jackson:

KEEP HOPE ALIVE!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE! 

Like a song from The Beatles, hope can be, “Here, There and Everywhere”, plus we do our best to find hope. We need to try all the time, it does help us to get through the day much easier. During the summer, there are many more opportunities for hope and pleasure. Some people find that the energy one gets from doing physical activities gives them hope. They will run, jog, take a walk in a park, go for a bike ride, hike up a hill or go swimming. Hey, I just like to walk on the boardwalk or go to a pool. Or if you are sun sensitive, go to an indoor pool, exercise and or go to a weight room and/or relax in a sauna. If physical pursuits are not what make you hopeful, try reading a book on self-help, going to a relaxing movie or listening to positive music or
talk on the phone. 

No matter the season, find something we like to do and that is enjoyable to us and that can turn into a hopeful moment for us. Now, can we see ourselves being more hopeful? Rally our strengths and this may assist in our quest. Yes, even, I have strengths. Remember, we have both inner strengths and outer strengths, each one an integral part of making who we are. The general rule is always trying as hard as we can, even if it seems to be almost impossible. 

Doing this like the song from, “Man of La Mancha” says, “To dream the impossible dream”. This can be difficult but get started and try anyway. Build up slowly and give one another some hope one item at a time. Mostly, this works for me. Remember, hope builds on hope, which can carry us towards our ultimate “hope dream.” Also, success builds on success. At all times, just be honest with ourselves and others which can lead to a more hopeful situation for all concerned.  Always remind ourselves to keep on hoping,9⁰) dreaming or whatever makes us feel like a more hopeful person inside and out. 

ALL OF US CAN DO THIS!  I DID! 

Summer is meant for hopefulness plus positive thinking and dreams. So, what are we dreaming about this year?  It must be realistic, to be possible and to be attained. Hmm, more in another piece? To all, enjoy the summer, we deserve this and I will do my best to do the same.

See you in the NewsBlogs and Newsletters.
Howard Diamond is a New York State Certified Peer Specialist from Long Island

July 2, 2022 (Reprinted from Mad In America)

First, let’s talk about Mad Pride Month, which MindFreedom Oregon has launched. Why July? The month of July has many connections to the movement for mental health consumers/psychiatric survivors (C/S), here are a few:

• Several decades ago, some activists in New York State were looking for a day to hold an annual protest in Albany of the mental health system. At first, they were about to choose July 4, but psychiatric survivor Myra Kovary encouraged them to choose a non-US-centered date, Bastille Day, July 14, 1981. C/S movement groups still often choose events on July 14. 

• When MindFreedom International looked for a week to celebrate the concept, invented by Martin Luther King, Jr., of “creative maladjustment,” they chose a week from July 7 to 14.
• By happy coincidence, the birthdate of one of the most amazing psychiatric survivor activists in history, Leonard Roy Frank, is on July 15.
• As we learned more about our history of the Mad Pride Movement, Wikipedia carried an interesting fact about one of the first known psychiatric survivor groups: “On 7 July 1845, Richard Paternoster, John Perceval and a number of others formed the Alleged Lunatics’ Friend Society.”

• And in Oregon, of course, the infamous Oregon Country Fair is always shortly after the 4th of July. MindFreedom has held events in the heart of OCF, the Community Village, for many years. Dissident physician/psychiatric survivor Patch Adams has often spoken. In the past, the late dissident psychiatrist, Carl Hammerschlag, has also joined Patch.

So, when MindFreedom Oregon, a small affiliate of MindFreedom International, discussed having a Mad Pride Month, July was the obvious choice.

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July 1, 2022 (Reprinted from NYAPRS ENews)

NYAPRS Note: On the eve of the July 16 launch of the nation’s new mental health emergency hotline 9-8-8 system, advocates have underscored the critical importance of putting services and supports in place should callers require more than the 9-8-8 phone support, as referenced by NAMI-NYC in the article below.

Just yesterday, the Offices of Mental Health (OMH) and Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) released an RFP for a second round of 12 supportive crisis stabilization centers that “will provide voluntary services with an emphasis on peer support that is resilience and recovery-oriented for twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week. Recipients may receive services in a SCSC for up to twenty-four hours.” 3 of the programs will be operated in NYC and the remaining 9 will correspond to the state’s Regional Economic Development Zones.

These models may be similar to a crisis stabilization center model operated by People USA and components of living room program models like those operated by Human Development Services of Westchester and the Mental Health Empowerment Project and  Rehabilitation Support Services in the Capital District.

NYAPRS has long advocated for these models and also an expanded set of ‘step down’ or ‘follow along’ services after the 24 hour stays at the CSCs that could include other NYS models based on:

• peer run 10 day crisis respite programs like those created, operated or supported by People-USA and
• after-hours peer-run engagement center with nursing supports and up to 28 days of peer-run short-term crisis respite services like those operated by Recovery Options Made Easy.

We also believe that people leaving these program should be afforded a peer bridger for as long as is needed based on the NYAPRS Peer Bridger™ Model.

Another essential component of the new crisis continuum should be the use of alternative-to-police first responder teams of peers and EMTs as proposed in NYC by Correct Crisis Intervention Today, which is based on the nationally acclaimed Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets (CAHOOTs) model pioneered some 30 years ago in Oregon.

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July 1, 2022 submitted by Peggy Swarbrick

Celebrate July!
Who wouldn’t want to celebrate National Cell Phone Courtesy Month? If you wonder what counts as good cell phone etiquette, check out this short video by Jacqueline Whitmore, who suggested July as a time to focus on cell phone courtesy.” She says, simply, “Put people first, technology second!”

July is also National Picnic Month. Your local supermarket chain and your state Extension may be able to provide tips for what to take and how to keep your food safe. For example, Sparkle Markets has tips that include packing frozen water bottles to keep food cold and provide cold drinks! Enjoy your picnic as part of Park and Recreation Month.

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Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey, Inc. | 111 Spring Street, Freehold, NJ. www.cspnj.org

June 30, 2022 (Reprinted from NYAPRS ENews)

NYAPRS Note: Last week, NYS Attorney General Letitia James held a public hearing on New York’s mental health crisis and, in particular, the impact of the decline of both adult and youth inpatient psychiatric beds. The Attorney General’s objectives in this hearing were “to shed light on this crucial issue, explore potential areas of reform, and guide future investigations into allegations of inadequate mental health treatment….”

Over the course of the 4+ hour hearing, the Attorney General also explored and endorsed a broad array of community based approaches that were emphasized within presentations by government leaders and rights and recovery advocates, including NYC Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene Dr. Ashwin Vasan, Disability Rights New York’s Sabina Kahn and NYAPRS’ Harvey Rosenthal. See the excerpts below. You can listen to the entire hearing testimony at https://ag.ny.gov/livestream/public-hearing-access-mental-health-care-new-york.

Harvey Rosenthal  CEO NY Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services

….All public policies and services should be based on the fundamental belief that recovery should be the expectation for everyone, regardless of the extent of people’s current and past challenges. In doing so, we must ensure that people are afforded a full continuum of supports that runs the gamut of personalized outreach and engagement, crisis services, housing, peer to peer support, clubhouse and Medicaid funded psychiatric rehabilitation and treatment, emergency, inpatient and detox services.

…it is essential that we address the critical role that the social determinants of health play in promoting stability and community success, including the attainment of appropriate housing, financial stability related to employment and/or entitlements, culturally appropriate and responsive social relationships and support and appropriate access to transportation and food.

In doing so, we must address the root factors that typically precede addressing the symptoms and struggle people currently face: homelessness, poverty, hunger, health inequities and racial, gender and other forms of discrimination.

Recommendations:

…Our ultimate focus has to be on improving discharge planning and follow up with a full continuum of community services. It is critical to understand that our success will not lie in building more hospital beds but in ensuring access to a well-functioning community-based system of services and supports.

Every individual with a significant and repeat history of hospitalization should leave inpatient stays with a personalized peer bridger who stays involved with them for a period averaging 9 months, in keeping with the evidence based Critical Time Intervention model.

We must dramatically increase our investments in what is called ‘low threshold housing’, programs that provide immediate access to harm reduction-based Housing First and Safe Haven models.

We must dramatically accelerate our creation of a much more robust continuum of crisis services that features the use of the new 9-8-8 emergency hotline and follow along mobile crisis supports as needed. We must triple the number of newly planned crisis stabilization centers and, recognizing that these are only 24-hour interventions, create a continuum of step-down peer operated crisis supports, including 10-30 day respite and ‘living room’ programs.

We must make major investments in mental health alternative to police first responders. While we will continue to offer appropriate training to police officers, ultimately our success will lie in sending out the right people to defuse a crisis and divert an avoidable altercation, arrest or tragedy. This must include the launching of Correct Crisis Intervention Today which are peer and EMT led models based on the 30-year success of Oregon’s CAHOOTs model.

We must take racism head on and address our significant failure rates in engaging people of color as evidenced by the runaway rates of coercion and incarceration inflicted on these communities. This must include efforts to dramatically increase the number of agency administrator and direct care workforce who look and talk like the people they support.

We must invest in new models of support that voluntarily not coercively engage people ‘hard to serve’ individuals. Our focus should not be on blaming them for our difficulties in engaging and supporting them. Accordingly, we should see a great increase in successful programs like the INSET program in Westchester County, whereby persistent efforts by peer staff (people in recovery who serve their peers) have engaged 80% of a cohort with major histories that would have otherwise subjected them to coercive practices. 

We should ensure the widespread use of psychiatric advance directives that can guide crisis care based on the preferences expressed by people when they are doing well that help them when they are not.

Finally, we must continue to make huge investments in a linguistically and culturally competent workforce and the agencies in which they work.

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June 17, 2022 (Submitted by Tracy Puglisi, Association for Mental Health and Wellness)

“A day of remembrance in freedom from slavery and a day to remind us to continue the pursuit of freedom for all black communities.”  –Vesper Moore

Juneteenth Fact:  American History slides @monicapirani

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June 16, 2022 (Reprinted from NYAPRS Cultural Competence Committee | ENews)

How Your Organization Can Recognize Juneteenth

by Ella F. Washington and Jasmine Sanders Harvard Business Review 

Juneteenth is not just Black history, it is American history. Over the past year, in the wake of countrywide Black Lives Matter protests, many U.S. organizations have taken to acknowledging Juneteenth, or June 19 (Public Holiday Date Monday June 20), the anniversary of the day in 1865 when the last group of enslaved Black Americans were freed by Union troops. Some have offered a paid company holiday for all employees; others, an extra floating holiday to use on Juneteenth or another day, an event to celebrate Juneteenth with Black ERG groups, or learning sessions for all staff.

For DEI scholars and practitioners, it’s heartening to see this recognition and high energy around a historic moment previously only recognized by those in the minority. However, many Black and other POC employees are rightfully asking, why now?  We believe companies can approach Juneteenth in a way that significantly enhances their diversity, equity, and inclusion work. This anniversary is a tangible opportunity to amplify understanding of the unique experience of Black Americans and serve as a catalyst for conversations about intersectionality.

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June 12, 2022  by   Howard Diamond    

“When I’m sixty-four,” written by Paul McCartney. Yeah, I just turned sixty-four. Upon reflection, I had good and bad times, I have had some successes and some failures. It’s a little complicated, but…

I am alive.

Composer Stephen Sondheim wrote the song “Being Alive” for the Broadway musical “Company.” Cited in the final verse, “To help us survive, being alive, being alive, being alive.” Its overall meaning is that a person wants someone to hold, a desire for human contact, and a positive outlook on life. This might explain why I am here today and alive. These lyrics are fictional. For most of my life, I have been content or perhaps more neutral with being alive. At sixty-four, my life is not over. Sixty-four is only a number. More importantly, it’s about how one feels. At age sixty-four, I am doing fine. Most days, I  feel good and productive.

                      More to do, more to accomplish

My struggles earlier on are far behind me. For twelve years, I had a significant other. Unfortunately, this ended with the death of my partner. Someone once told me to be happy we had our twelve years. This she called an Asian Lunar Life together. Twelve years together. Close enough, 5 June 2003 to 12 June 2015.

In 1980, I successfully graduated from Long Island University, CW Post, in under four years. Despite my earlier achievement, I could not secure employment after college. As a result, my anxiety symptoms progressively worsened. Eventually, I became more agoraphobic than ever. See, we get the entire picture. For approximately three years, I didn’t travel beyond a mile and a half from my mom’s house.

From 1994 to 2013, I worked in the Mental Health Field, where I had various positions for the same Mental Health Agency. During that period, I had a variety of different obligations and functions. Also, I handled my job responsibilities, received several merit salary increases, and was promoted twice. For most of those years, I was pleased with my situation as a Peer Specialist, and many of my colleagues were good and cooperative.

However, I had a strange working relationship with my last supervisor. Over time, my performance was severely critiqued and often heavily criticized. Eventually, my supervisor questioned my ineffective decisions, plus handling situations, so my  work progressively went downhill. Indeed, she made everything difficult for me, and coming to the office was less palpable. Also, she pressured others in the agency to make working there uncomfortable for me and eventually be asked to leave, or I was going to resign.

As a  resilient person, I found a new position with a different mental health agency. For three years, I continue to handle my responsibilities without incident. By the third year, my headaches were getting worse. Also, the frequency and intensity were steadily increasing. Several days, I felt it was impacting my functioning and doing my position, so I asked for time off and stopped working. Initially, my status changed to put me on short-term disability. After several months my physical limitations were not improving, so I left for medical reasons.

Over the last three years plus, I have struggled with various physical ailments that hampered my progress. Initially, I had visual issues, which caused blurry vision and migraine-like headaches. When I went to my neuro-ophthalmologist he informed me that I had nerve damage behind my left eye. Happily, it is only one eye, and it might affect my driving sometimes, but I should always be careful. Also, I needed eyeglasses every day with a unique prism in the left lens.

Furthermore, during the last two years, I have developed neuropathy, a nerve condition that primarily affects my lower extremities and is predominately different on my left side. Somedays, I am in pain, making it difficult even to move. On other days the feeling is like pins and needles. Even worse, when it feels like stabbing pain, I want to scream. Most days, the nerve damage makes it hard to just walk. My gait is off, and I am out of balance. Many times, I feel like I am a hundred and seven at times and will fall. Again, looking at the positive side, my affliction is to the left side. Therefore,  I still can drive, but I walk in pain.  Despite all the pain, I am still alive.

Singer Gloria Gaynor sang it best, “I Will Survive.” Continually, I keep up with what I need to do. So,  I can do my laundry and drive to buy my food and toiletries. Adhering to medical appointments and picking up and taking my medications are essential to keep me alive, and I will survive. More importantly, I get outside of my place almost every day.

Charles Darwin wrote that it is “Survival of the Fittest.” I’m still doing my best to survive these sixty-four years. When the weather starts to warm up, I bring my tablet to the park or the nearest boardwalk. When summer arrives, my days will be spent at the local pool or beach tanning. Yeah, “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer” isn’t just an expression for me. Now, I’m sixty-four and during “Rest Of My Life,” which was written and sung by many artists, I want to be in the best health for all of us.
I’m sixty-four, and I’m alive. 

See you in the NewsBlogs and Newsletters 

Howard Diamond is a Certified Peer Specialist from Long Island.

June 7^th, 2022

These past few weeks, there have been a number of traumatic events, leaving us all to deal with emotions, grief, and pain. We wanted to inform everyone about a few additional supports available to help people deal with grief and emotional trauma resulting from the Buffalo tragedy and other recent traumatic events. Below are a few culturally relevant resources to help people navigate feelings and identify healthy ways to cope:

• MHEP-RISE Center (Mental Health Empowerment Project) is a direct resource for virtual groups as well as 24 hour peer support (1-800-643-7462).

• Recovery Options Made Easy (ROME) offers warmline support https://recoveryoptionsny.org/peer-support/. For more information call (716-532-5508). To access their warmline from 4PM -11PM call 844-749-3848.

• Mental Health Peer Connection (MHPC offers monthly online support groups and other peer-run supports. Please visit http://wnyil.org/Mental-Health-PEER-Connection for more information.

Additional trauma/crisis/grief resources for New Yorkers can be accessed here: https://omh.ny.gov/omhweb/disaster_resources/emergency-mental-health-resources.html.

Matthew Canuteson

Pronouns: He, Him, His

Diversity and Inclusion Officer

Office of Diversity and Inclusion

New York State Office of Mental Health

44 Holland Ave 2nd Floor

Albany, NY 12229

518-473-4548

matthew.canuteson@omh.ny.gov

www.omh.ny.gov

June 1, 2022 (Reprinted from Wellness Institute of CSPNJ, Peggy Swarbrick, Editor)

June Memories
What pops into your mind when you think of the
month of June? Memories are very individual and
it’s hard to know what makes some experiences
stick. Sometimes a smell can prompt a memory,
like the smell of fresh-cut grass or a just-picked
strawberry. What is a good memory?

Month-Long Celebrations
June is Great Outdoors Month! Endorsed by the
federal government and many states, celebrating
the great outdoors is good for your health and
your peace of mind.

In past years, the National Park Service and the
US Department of the Interior have promoted this
month as a time to visit public lands and
appreciate the amazing world around you.
Want some other ways to enjoy the outdoors?
Check out your local Audubon Society to learn
about birds in your area. Learn about bird songs
through Cornell University.

Follow the path of the moon, stars, and planets
with EarthSky.

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