News & Events

Free Webinar on Preventing Suicide

Posted on February 1, 2012

Please join us Friday, February 10th, at 1:00 PM CST for a free web conference called,  Understanding and Responding to Suicide in Our Communities.  This program may be seen by clicking the links above. 

Program Description:
This training will help clinicians explore their own thoughts and reactions to suicide in order to help them remain regulated when someone on their caseload becomes suicidal. Understanding and recognizing a variety of vulnerabilities to suicide will be addressed, including both long and short term risk factors for the general population and the relationship of diagnoses on Axis I and Axis II to suicide risk. A step-by-step guide to managing suicide before, during and after acute suicide crisis will be presented. Research related to effective prevention and intervention strategies will be discussed.

Program Presenter:
Ronda Oswalt Reitz, PhD, earned her PhD from theUniversity ofKansas in psychology. She currently works for the Missouri Department of Mental Health developing DBT programming. She provides consultation and supervision to staff in both public and private mental health settings in theU.S. She was the previous DBT Program Coordinator forFultonStateHospital..

 If this will be your first time joining one of these presentations, no pre-registration is required, but we do encourage you to view our test video at your convenience.  This may be seen by clicking here.  

 

Family-to-Family Celebrates 25 Years

Posted on January 26, 2012

Over the years, the National Alliance on Mental Illness Family-to-Family program has helped over 1,000 local families deal with mental illnesses.

On Wednesday night, graduates of the program gathered to celebrate it’s 25th anniversary.

Missi Berquist is proof of the programs success.  She attended the program 15 years ago, to learn more about schizophrenia.  She was so moved by the classes, that she ended up teaching them.

“It really was a lifesaver,” said Berquist.  “After the 12 week course educational course, I really felt a lot more confident dealing with all the aspects of that particular disorder.”

Dennis Groce shares how the program helped him.

“The benefit I would say is how to deal with family members that are going through an illness,” said Groce.  “The perspective of turning it around, and thinking about that illness from the family members standpoint, is pretty important.”

Both Berquist and Groce agree, that the family to family program has forever changed their lives.

“Whether you have someone that is suffering from a mental illness or not, I would say it’s extremely important to have a program like this in the community.” said Groce.

The next Family-to-Family session begins in March.  View coverage of the event from 12News/WSEE Reporter, Jamison Hixenbaugh at http://www.erietvnews.com/story/16602888/25th-anniversary-of-family-to-family-program.