Journey of Hope Class

Journey of Hope Class

An 8 week training for family members or people with symptoms of a serious mental illness. Learn about mental illness while gaining skills and effective coping strategies. The course is free, with an optional $20 materials fee for the manual. For more information, or to register for the course call 831-458-1923.

6:30 P.M. 8:30 P.M. on Tuesdays,
July 17 through September 4,
at the Teen Center,
6433 Graham Hill Road,
Felton Ca.

MHCAN Annual Peer Counselor Training
by Bonnie Schell

The Mental Health Client Action Network’s Annual Peer Counselor Training begins on July 10, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The 12 classes include skills from the Journey of Hope, the Center for Independent Living programs, and Cultural Competency material from the California Network of Mental Health Clients. Registration is due by July 2. The training is useful for any mental health client who wants to get a paid or volunteer job in the mental health support field.

Peer Counseling and Mutual Support Groups have been the chief activity of consumer-run programs since the 1970’s. Family support groups and all Anonymous Self-Help groups share many of the same values.

Everyone has an opportunity to speak, but is not required to speak, without interruption or advice. In a consumer peer group, everyone knows what it’s like to try to have a quality life on little money, to be powerless in many treatment situations, to have done embarrassing things. Members of the group make the effort to get someone to share who is shy or depressed or who is distracted by interior voices. Group members can give feedback to someone with speeding speech on multiple subjects. Group members can share their experiences with the positive and negative side effects of most medications.

Being in a peer support group helps individuals feel less isolated, a part of a community of people with struggles and accomplishments.

Facilitators of support groups need special training in active listening, reflecting back, reading body language, problem solving, making “I” statements on what they see, feel, or hear.

What is shared in a support group is confidential. No records or files or progress notes are kept. For this reason, the client of traditional mental health services is sometimes apt to seek help with life problems before reaching a crisis “facing the wall” situation. In some groups members phone one another and meet socially between meetings. In the case of violent feelings, self-abuse or drastically unwise choices, members reflect back their fear to the person speaking or acting out and may say they feel that they need outside help. If the individual is willing to seek help or get out of a destructive relationship, some group members may accompany the person to provide emotional support.

Support Groups mostly focus on the present, how individuals are managing their recovery and meeting personal goals. The purpose is support, not therapy. As individuals talk, not only do they hear themselves, but the soundness of their decisions and thinking is reflected back to them by how others react. Ultimately only the person with a serious mental illness knows the meaning of mental illness and the correlates of “getting better.”

Group members soon discover the “Peer Principle,” that when you help others with attention, you help yourself. Concrete help that may be asked for in a support group includes transportation, wake-up calls, support during anniversaries of family deaths and losses, finding a dentist or housing, moving, or reading over school assignments.

MHCAN currently has separate peer-led support groups for men and women, people with mood disorders, with schizophrenia, people interested in spiritual topics, in learning Spanish, in working a WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan).

Santa Cruz Homeless Resource Officer Eric Seiley

by Desiree Douville and Don Hilbert

Eric Seiley, City of Santa Cruz Homeless Resource Officer gave an informative and entertaining talk to a small group of NAMI-SCC members on June 21, 2000 at Sutter Hospital. Judging by the questions, laughter, and applause, the NAMI audience was very enthusiastic about the presentation made by Eric Seiley, a local police officer assigned to deal exclusively with the homeless in Santa Cruz. Here was a fresh, youthful voice, representing an innovative approach that is something of a first among communities of our size. Because the mentally ill comprise one of the three principal components of the homeless, this veteran Santa Cruz police officer has educated himself and conceived a program that seeks to provide a non-confrontational response to incidents involving the mentally ill.

Mr. Seiley was a patrolman with the Santa Cruz Police Department for 6 years before he began advocating for a position as a homeless resource officer. Mr Seiley shared his vision to assemble all of the service agencies in Santa Cruz County to sit down together and discuss how to help each other work together and streamline duplication in services.

Mr. Seiley's presentation was seasoned with stories which gave insight into the lawman's perspective and at the same time were personal enough to reveal a candid portrait of the man, including his growth to become a sympathetic partner within the mental health system. (He is a third generation lawman.)

Imagine your mentally disabled daughter leaving home with her boyfriend. He takes her across the country and abandons her on the street in a small coastal town. She is lost and she is scared. She’s experiencing symptoms and she feels helpless. This true story happened recently here in Santa Cruz.

Officer Eric Seiley began with the Santa Cruz Police force as a patrolman, but soon displayed a surprising ability to work with the mentally ill. The Homeless Resource Officer Program was created and immediately staffed by Officer Seiley. This assignment to the homeless, unique to Santa Cruz, is now in place but there are also plans for expansion. A second officer will soon be assigned to the program and CIT, Crisis Intervention Training, for a significant portion of local law enforcement staff, is an immediate goal (and one that NAMI SCC is actively engaged with).

The Homeless Resource Officer program allows Eric to work directly with the mentally ill on the streets. He advocates for services and facilitates help for this population. When I asked what changes Mr. Seiley would like to see within our local situation, his response included a relaxation of the confidentiality issue and an annual or even semi-annual meeting of all agencies dealing with the mentally ill to coordinate efforts. NAMI SCC intends to maintain regular communication with Mr. Seiley. We hope to invite Eric back to speak with us next year to see how the program is going.

Opinions expressed in this web site do not necessarily reflect the views of NAMI Santa Cruz County, NAMI California or any affiliated organizations. We attempt to present a balanced perspective on issues by presenting multiple viewpoints.

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