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 Disability Information - Mental Illness

 

General Information

Education & Classroom Accommodations

Michigan Resources, Support Groups, Listservs & Websites

National Resources & Websites

Articles Related to this Disability

Medical Information

MI New Michigan Law Provides Mental Health Treatment Options
HB 4674, which is aimed at expanding the availability of assisted outpatient mental health treatment, was signed into law on November 16, 2016, by Michigan Lt. Gov. Brian Calley. The legislation updates Kevin's Law. Kevin's Law was named for a graduate student, Kevin Heisinger, who attended the University of Michigan. Returning home to Kalamazoo using public transit, Kevin was killed in the bus station by a man with a long history of schizophrenia who avoided treatment, and who had been in and out of the mental health care system for years.

 

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 General Information

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) is a nonprofit, grassroots, self-help, support and advocacy organization of consumers, families, and friends of people with severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic and other severe anxiety disorders, autism and pervasive developmental disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and other severe and persistent mental illnesses that affect the brain. (Information below from nami.org)

 

Mental illnesses include such disorders as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic and other severe anxiety disorders, autism and pervasive developmental disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, borderline personality disorder, and other severe and persistent mental illnesses that affect the brain.
These disorders can profoundly disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, moods, ability to relate to others and capacity for coping with the demands of life.

Mental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion, or income. Mental illnesses are not the result of personal weakness, lack of character, or poor upbringing.

Mental illnesses are treatable. Most people with serious mental illness need medication to help control symptoms, but also rely on supportive counseling, self-help groups, assistance with housing, vocational rehabilitation, income assistance and other community services in order to achieve their highest level of recovery.

Here are some important facts about mental illness and recovery:

Mental illnesses are biologically based brain disorders. They cannot be overcome through "will power" and are not related to a person's "character" or intelligence.

 
Mental disorders fall along a continuum of severity. The most serious and disabling conditions affect five to ten million adults (2.6 – 5.4%) and three to five million children ages five to seventeen (5 – 9%) in the United States.

 
Mental disorders are the leading cause of disability (lost years of productive life) in the North America, Europe and, increasingly, in the world. By 2020, Major Depressive illness will be the leading cause of disability in the world for women and children.

 
Mental illnesses strike individuals in the prime of their lives, often during adolescence and young adulthood. All ages are susceptible, but the young and the old are especially vulnerable.

 
Without treatment the consequences of mental illness for the individual and society are staggering: unnecessary disability, unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness, inappropriate incarceration, suicide and wasted lives; The economic cost of untreated mental illness is more than 100 billion dollars each year in the United States.

 
The best treatments for serious mental illnesses today are highly effective; between 70 and 90 percent of individuals have significant reduction of symptoms and improved quality of life with a combination of pharmacological and psychosocial treatments and supports;

 
Early identification and treatment is of vital importance; By getting people the treatment they need early, recovery is accelerated and the brain is protected from further harm related to the course of illness.
Stigma erodes confidence that mental disorders are real, treatable health conditions. We have allowed stigma and a now unwarranted sense of hopelessness to erect attitudinal, structural and financial barriers to effective treatment and recovery. It is time to take these barriers down.

 

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 Education & Classroom Accommodations

Information coming soon.  Do you have anything you'd like to contribute to this section? 

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 Michigan Resources, Support Groups, Listservs & Websites

 

Children's Mental Health Parent Support Group meets the third Thursday of each month at the Capital Area Library (Gallery Rooms B and C), 401 S. Capital, Lansing, from 6 to 8 pm. Parents of children with emotional, behavioral or mental health issues are welcome. For more information call Tiffiany at 1-888-ACMH KID.

 

Association for Children's Mental Health

Phone: 1-888-ACMH KID

Website: http://www.acmh-mi.org

 

NAMI Michigan
921 N Washington Ave
Lansing, MI 48906-5137
Primary Phone: (517)485-4049
Alternate Phone: (800)331-4264
Fax: (517)485-2333
Email Address: namimichigan@acd.net
Website: mi.nami.org

 

To view a list of mental health resources from Early Childhood Michigan, click here.

 

Dreams Unlimited Clubhouse - Our member-driven clubhouse exists to instill a sense of belonging, provide support, and increase independence for persons diagnosed with serious mental illness.

13200 Oak Park blvd., Oak Park, MI 48237-3627
Phone: 248-547-7712

Fax: 248-547-0094
 

 

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 National Resources & Websites

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) is a nonprofit, grassroots, self-help, support and advocacy organization of consumers, families, and friends of people with severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic and other severe anxiety disorders, autism and pervasive developmental disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and other severe and persistent mental illnesses that affect the brain.

 

Information coming soon.  Do you have anything you'd like to contribute to this section? 

If so, email it to jackie@bridges4kids.org

 

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 Articles Related to this Disability

 

Coercive Restraint Therapies: A Dangerous Alternative Mental Health Intervention - Physicians caring for adopted or foster children should be aware of the use of coercive restraint therapy (CRT) practices by parents and mental health practitioners. CRT is defined as a mental health intervention involving physical restraint and is used in adoptive or foster families with the intention of increasing emotional attachment to parents. Coercive restraint therapy parenting (CRTP) is a set of child care practices adjuvant to CRT. CRT and CRTP have been associated with child deaths and poor growth.

 

MA Dad: System Punishes Sick Kids - Joshua Sarao's father had no idea that his son's three-month stint for a probation violation would turn into an eight-month nightmare of psychiatric hospitals and suicide attempts. But the anguished Haverhill dad has been forced to watch as his son is bounced from program to program in a juvenile justice system meant for delinquents, not mentally ill kids.

 

MI Disabled Woman's Dog Has Its Day - Joyce Grad, 55, of Birmingham sits with Lady in her apartment on Tuesday. A federal jury in Detroit sided with Grad in a lawsuit that may have a big impact on mentally ill people who request no-pet waivers from condos and co-op boards.

 

How Many Did I Overlook? The Transformation of a School Psychologist - During my first ten years as a school psychologist, I was not aware of the neurobiological nature of mental illness. I had no inkling that many of the students that I saw had the symptoms of what we now are beginning to understand as diseases of the brain. I variously labeled these students seriously emotionally disturbed (SED), conduct disordered, and out of touch with their feelings. That many of these children might be suffering from the initial stages of major mental illnesses rarely occurred to me.

 

MI Gov Granholm Signs Kevin’s Law, Creates New Treatment Options for Mentally Ill - Governor Jennifer M. Granholm signed legislation that will improve care for Michigan citizens with severe mental illness. The new law will allow courts to order treatment for individuals with serious mental illness who do not meet the current criteria for involuntary hospitalization but who need outpatient mental health treatment to protect themselves and others.

 

From Dorie - As the mother of a son with Paranoid Schizophrenia I have been struggling with the issue of prayer for quite some time. It is not that I have lost faith. I have been running on it for five years now. Granted there were times when it was reduced to the size of a mustard seed. But as I look back in hindsight, there was a moment that stands out from all the rest that left me totally and completely drained and frozen in fear like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car when it came to the issue of prayer.

 

MI Children in Crisis: Mental Health - In this three-part series, the Detroit Free Press examines how children with bipolar disorder, anxiety, schizophrenia, depression and other mental illnesses succeed or fail in getting mental health services. Through the eyes of children who are in treatment, locked up, or on the brink, we explore what it takes to get services, what's available and the impact on families when a child needs mental health care.

 

CHILDREN IN CRISIS: Family of Boy Overcoming Abuse Makes Tough Choice to Get Him Help He Needs - Not when he is reminded of the fire that killed his three adopted siblings and nearly took his own life. Not when he thinks of the years of horrific neglect, physical and sexual abuse and constant shuffling from place to place. Not even when he's plucked out of his home and locked up in a juvenile detention center.

 

MI Mental Illness Stresses Juvenile Justice System - He was a whiz at origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into various shapes and objects. Leave him alone in a room with a ream of thin copier bond and he would emerge with the most sturdy three-dimensional container, a child-welfare advocate marveled. "It could hold water," said Brian Philson, director of the Jackson County Youth Center. Despite the boy's uncanny knack to craft something out of nothing, the 13-year-old was hard pressed to build a place to sort out his apparent inner demons.

 

OH Special Report: Troubled Minds, Chaotic Care - Mentally ill children in Ohio are abused by the system: Care is hard to find, often wretched, and so costly some parents give up their kids to get government help.

   

Are People With Mental Illness More Violent Than Other People?

 

Mental health centers help victims connect - In the 32 years since he was first diagnosed with a mental illness, Robert Johnson has boiled the essence of his disease down to one chilling word -- isolation.
 

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 Medical Information
Facts on Access to Medications
This resource guide on mood disorders is an additional tool for use by NAMI advocates who are working with state policymakers and legislators to preserve access to life-saving mental health medications.
Facts on Access to Medications: An Introduction
An introduction to the policymaker's resource on facts on access to medications for people with mood disorders.
Facts on Access to Medications: The Patient's Individuality
Continuation of the policymaker's resource on facts on access to medications for people with mood disorders that addresses the issue of a patient's individuality when prescribing proper medications.

 

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