A Busy Year Ahead

January Support Group 

Since New Year's Day falls on our usual support group night, I've made the executive decision to push our group back to Thursday January 8th at 7pm. We have a very appropriate speaker coming to our January meeting. Angie Storey, a retiring case manager at Lanark County Mental Health, has graciously agreed to present a Compassion Fatigue (cost of caregiving) workshop to us. I know I am a little worn out after the holidays and all that goes along with supporting family members with mental health challenges through the hectic and intensive festivities. I don't imagine that I am alone in feeling this way!

Giving and Taking Advice

I had a moment today in conversation with a person about a situation with their loved one, where I gave some very good advice which I needed reminding of. I said that the most important voice you listen to is your own. That is why it is so important to be mindful of whether your internal voice has a positive or negative influence.
If your internal voice is saying, "I'm tired", "I'm so hard done by", "I don't have the energy", then that is the way your outlook becomes. If you catch yourself saying these things to yourself, try modifying the message to have a more positive, but realistic tone. "I should start to feel more awake once I have my shower, it always feels so good." This may seem silly, but the soundtrack going on in our head truly has a huge impact on our wellbeing, being mindful of what it is saying and making some small changes can have a very real, positive impact on our lives.

Education Event

In partnership with MICA http://micaontario.com Mental Illness Caregivers Association, we will be hosting a workshop for service providers and the public. This workshop will be valuable to those people who do their own research on illnesses and treatments. It is designed to help people understand and evaluate the quality of medical studies. There is abundant information available and it can be hard to determine what information has valid scientific evidence supporting it, and what information exists without such evidence. We have all seen the media present new studies in flashy headlines as concrete facts and then the following week the media can claim the opposite is true. This workshop will give you the tools to look behind the headline.
When:
Thursday February 19th
Service Providers: 2-4pm
General Public 6-8pm
Where:
Mental Health Support Project - The Link
88 Cornelia St West Unit A4

November meeting with Lanark County Mental Health's Director

We have finished SFT

Strengthening Families Together is done for the season. Six people took the course and the responses have been mostly positive. I learned about some relaxation exercises to do for self care. I have often tried to find an hour or more to put aside to do meditation, but there are many ways we can learn to relax our bodies and quiet our minds in a shorter timespan. Unfortunately, relaxation doesn't rank high in priority when dealing with our busy work and home lives, so finding ways to let some tension go during our day is important.
Here is a link to a WebMD article listing many ways to incorporate a relaxation habit into your day. I like number 5.

http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/blissing-out-10-relaxation-techniques-reduce-stress-spot

November Support and Education Meeting

We are very fortunate to have the Director of Lanark County Mental Health, Diana McDonnell coming to our support meeting to outline services provided by LCMH as well as answer any related questions you may have. Please come and take advantage of this opportunity. Our meetings are the first Thursday of the month as usual. This month will be November 6th from 7-9pm.

October Support and Education

ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program) Presentation

Our first Thursday of the month meeting in October will include a presentation by ODSP about the details of their program. We will be meeting at 7pm at The Link (88 Cornelia Street), in the same building as Lanark County Mental Health.
Understanding the financial supports that are available to our loved ones can help ease some of the burden of caring for them. There can be many sources of strain while caring for someone with a mental health disability. It is valuable to learn about ways to mitigate that strain. There are lots of demands on our finances during a crisis; hospital parking fees, paying out of pocket for medications, ambulance costs, helping our loved one keep their bills paid during their mental health crisis, eating out rather than at home, increased gas costs for appointments. These are cost that we don't consider when creating budgets. During our monthly meeting we will be able to learn how ODSP works and how to apply. For those who may already be receiving support through ODSP, there are parts of the program that you may be unaware of.

Strengthening Families Together (SFT)

On Tues Sept 23 we had our first SFT session. It generated lots of good discussions and I hope that it was helpful for those who attended. The first session dealt with Schizophrenia and Psychosis. There was some surprise when we discussed the prevalence of schizophrenia in our society. It affects 1% of the population and 3% of people will experience a psychotic episode at some point in their lives. Experiencing a psychotic episode does not mean that a diagnosis of schizophrenia necessarily follows. There are other causes of a psychotic episode, so careful diagnosis is important. 

Our second session will cover treatment and recovery. We will look at medication, psycho-social interventions and wellness plans.

Communication

I have found the following video very enlightening as it pertains to relating to someone who does not believe they have a mental illness. This video is by Dr. Xavier Amador, author of "I Am Not Sick, I Don't Need Help!" He is a very engaging speaker who speaks in a way laypeople can understand. Please click the link below to view him speaking at a conference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdVj8gXsETs

September is going to be hopping

Welcome to Fall

The lazy days of summer are coming to a close and the return to a more routine schedule is a welcome relief for most people with mental illness (and their families).
Having a regular wake time can be more important than having a regular sleep time. Encouraging people who struggle to maintain normal sleeping schedules to wake at the same time every day, even if they go back to sleep after being up for a half hour, can be helpful in resetting and maintaining healthy sleep hygiene.

This Month's Support Meeting

Thursday September 4th at 7pm we will meet at The Link in Smiths Falls (same building as LCMH).

We will have a guest speaker to cover tax benefits that apply to people with disabilities and their families. Heather Chapman, who is an accountant in Brockville, has been very helpful, knowledgeable and compassionate. Her contact information is: 

www.heatherchapman.ca 

613-865-9014 

84 King Street West Suite 205 

Brockville ON K6V 3P9.

SFT

Strengthening Families Together will be run this September/October at The Link in Smiths Falls.

Please contact mentalhealthfamilies@gmail.com to register.

The course will run 4 Tuesdays in a row, starting September 23rd from 7-9pm.

Please visit http://www.schizophrenia.on.ca/Programs-Services/Strengthening-Families

to learn more about the Strengthening Families Together course. 

Summer Support

Our support group meeting has come out of nowhere. Tomorrow, Thursday July 3rd, we will meet again at the Link in Smiths Falls. I have been attending the Strengthening Families Together Online course and look forward to sharing my experiences with this format.

Another issue that I have recently experienced is estate planning for families who have people with disabilities. I have done some research and came across a very informative article. Here is a link to Special Needs Planning. The beginning of the article covers various ways of creating a will. What I found most informative was the various benefits and drawbacks of the types of giving available.

 http://www.specialneedsplanning.ca/tools.html

The Inheritance Trust

This type of trust allows Ontario residents who receive ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program) to inherit up to $100 000.00 without impacting their ODSP eligibility. The biggest issue to consider with this type of trust is that if the trust accrues interest or grows in value to over $100 000.00, then the ODSP payments are reduced dollar for dollar by that amount. One issue which could be considered a benefit depending on the individual's situation is that the beneficiary can only withdraw $6000 in a 12 month period, unless it is used for purposes related to the disability. If the beneficiary withdraws more, their benefits are reduced dollar for dollar.

The Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP)

This savings plan provides an option for estate planning that doesn't require a trust or a trustee. This also allows for accessing significant government money. Contributions max out at $200 000.00 and it is after tax money which is contributed, therefor that money isn't taxed upon withdrawal. The government money which is contributed and the growth or interest is taxed upon withdrawal. The beneficiary can access the funds in the RDSP so long as the amount withdrawn is over and above the amount that the government has contributed.
In future posts I will go into more detail about the RDSP, for now here is a link with more information. 

http://rdsp.com

The Henson Trust - The Absolute Discretionary Trust

This type of giving relies on a trustee to manage the investment, management and disbursement from the trust. There are fewer restrictions than in the previous two types of giving. The trustee could in fact use money from the trust to create and fund an RDSP in order to access the government matching funds, while keeping some funds for use before the beneficiary reaches retirement age. 

Meeting Thurs June 5 2014

Upcoming Meeting June 5 7-9pm

We are starting to get into the swing of things. I have approached Brent, a pharmacist from our Smiths Falls Shoppers Drug Mart and was pleasantly surprised to find out how eager he was to come and present to us and answer our questions. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about different classes of medications and ask questions that you may not even know you have. :)
Join us at the Link.

Next Meeting July 3

I plan on approaching some local banks to have someone from their investment arm come and break down the ins and outs of Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSP). I just read on the news that the major banks have agreed to eliminate the fees on basic banking accounts for students, youth and low income seniors. I noted they also mentioned that this would apply to those who have an RDSP. This is of importance for most of the people who struggle to make ends meet while also struggling to maintain their wellness.

Shameless Promotion!

Look for an article in June 5th's EMC about our support/education group. I want to thank Heddy Sorour for helping to make sure that people are able to learn about the supports available to them in our community.

Ideas and inspiration from the Summit On Children and Youth Mental Health

Welcome!

I have returned from the Summit On Children and Youth Mental Health. It was fantastic to connect with a variety of people from diverse backgrounds, all of whom where passionate about Mental Health.

2 tidbits that I wanted to share are:

Dare to Dream Program by the Ontario Centre for Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health.
Dare to Dream is a unique youth-led funding program that supports youth in partnering with adult mentors and front-line service providers to make a big difference in their schools and communities.
Youth can apply for up to $5000 to create and implement a project idea that promotes mental health and well-being. Application deadlines are 2/year in October and March.
See their website for more info.
www.daretodreamprogram.ca


The Ontario Centre for Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health had a wonderful handout that I believe could be used in a variety of ways. It is a dry erase decal that could be put on a persons bedroom door, on their school agenda, etc. to help them consider their mood and help them communicate it to family, friends and service providers.

 

 

 

I was fortunate to listen to Dan Hill speak at the conference. He spoke about his mother's, aunt's, sister's and son's serious mental health issues throughout his life. He is an inspiring and brutally honest person who is looking to do what he can to de-stigmatize mental illness. After listening to him speak and perform, I looked up his webpage. www.danhill.com He is coming to Smiths Falls ON to perform on April 26 2014. Please take the opportunity to go and listen to him at the Galipeau Center.

 

Melinda Long