Are You Talking to Your Children About Bullying?

Did you know that 24 percent of female students and 19 percent of male students report being bullied at school? Talking with your child about bullying is an important step to understanding whether bullying is affecting him or her. Research shows that parents and caregivers who spend at least 15 minutes a day talking with their child can build the foundation for a strong relationship and help prevent bullying. SAMHSA developed the free KnowBullying mobile app to help facilitate meaningful conversations about bullying anytime, anywhere.

KnowBullying Features

• Conversation starters
• Tips and strategies to prevent bullying for children ages 3–6, 7–13, and teens
• Warning signs to recognize if your child is engaging in bullying, being bullied, or witnessing bullying
• Reminders to talk with your child when the time feels right
• Section for educators: Prevent bullying in the classroom and support children who are being bullied.

Download KnowBullying today and have a conversation about bullying that your child will remember when it counts.

Stay connected with Bullying Prevention Awareness Month this October and #ActToChange bullying.

Visit StopBullying.gov for more info!

Article from the National Institutes of Health:

Study May RAISE Standard for Treating First Psychotic Episode

http://directorsblog.nih.gov/2015/10/20/study-may-raise-standard-for-treating-first-psychotic-episode/

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Dr. Francis Collins

Each year, about 100,000 American adolescents and young adults, their lives and dreams ahead of them, experience their first episode of psychosis, a symptom of schizophrenia and other mental illnesses characterized by dramatic changes in perception, personality, and ability to function [1]. This often-terrifying experience, which can last for months, will prompt some to seek help from mental health professionals, whose services can in many situations help them get back on track and reduce the risk of relapse. Still, for far too many young people and their families, the search for help is riddled with long delays, contradictory information, and inadequate treatment in a mental health system whose resources have been stretched thin.
There’s got to be a better way to reach more of these young people, and, now, results of a major NIH-supported clinical study point to a possible way to get there [2]. In this large study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, teams of mental health specialists partnered with young people and their families to create individualized treatment plans. After two years of follow-up, researchers found that this personalized, team-based approach to care had helped more young people stick with treatment, feel better about their quality of life, return to school and work, and seek follow-up help than standard care involving a single clinician.
Many studies show the longer that people with psychotic episodes go untreated, the harder it is to stabilize their symptoms and the more problems they develop. A common presentation is schizophrenia, a persistent, severe brain disorder that often can be diagnosed only months or even years after a first psychotic episode. Schizophrenia affects 1.1 percent of Americans ages 18 and older, and currently accounts for about 30 percent of all spending on mental health treatment [3].

To help people suffering from schizophrenia and other mental disorders that cause psychotic symptoms, NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health launched the Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode (RAISE) project in 2008. One arm of RAISE is its Early Treatment Program (ETP), which seeks to identify the best ways to treat a first psychotic episode.
The ETP team, led by John Kane, a research psychiatrist at The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY, spent a year consulting with experts and reviewing the medical literature to craft and pilot a comprehensive, evidence-based treatment strategy that would be workable within the U.S. healthcare system. The result was a program of coordinated specialty care that aims to link young people with a team of specialists soon after their psychotic symptoms begin. The program, called NAVIGATE, features four core services:

• Personalized medication management. Health-care professionals work with the patient to select and administer the right prescription medication at the right dosage to manage the psychosis.
• Family education. Health-care professionals and health educators meet with the patient’s family members and help them better understand mental illness and the challenges ahead.
• Individual therapy. The patient meets with a health-care professional to set personal goals, enhance wellness, and learn more about psychosis and its treatment.
• Supported education and employment. The patient partners with a counselor to find employment or enroll in school as soon as possible. Services are then provided each week at work or school to help them stay on track.

The group’s next challenge was to test the NAVIGATE model at 34 community mental health treatment centers in 21 states. Over time, most centers successfully implemented and sustained NAVIGATE using their regular resources, along with research funding to support up to 5 hours a week per patient for educational and employment counseling.
A total of 404 teenagers and young adults, all of whom had experienced a single episode of psychosis and taken less than six months of antipsychotic medications, enrolled in the two-year study. Each volunteer was randomized to receive either the team-based NAVIGATE intervention or standard community care, which usually consisted of treatment determined by one clinician. The participants, who ranged in age from 15 to 40, spanned various races, ethnicities, and genders.
Researchers found that NAVIGATE participants stuck with treatment for 23 months, on average, compared to 17 months for those in standard care. This longer period of treatment represents a step forward, because one of the biggest obstacles to the effective treatment of first-episode psychosis is that many patients stop treatment too soon. Young people taking part in NAVIGATE also reported an overall higher quality of life, indicating a more positive outlook toward family, a purpose in life, and engagement in society. Many participants and their family members also indicated that one of the things they liked most about NAVIGATE was its highly personalized, team-based approach to delivery of care and follow-up.
A great example is the Simpson family, which lives just outside of Lansing, MI. At age 17, son Collin was hospitalized to work through his first psychosis, receiving what his father Tom describes as “generic care.” When Collin was released from the hospital, Tom says he felt utterly unprepared to arrange the aftercare and take steps to reduce risk of a relapse. He tried to find a psychiatrist in Lansing for his son, but he couldn’t locate one who was available to see new patients. That’s when Tom’s sister, who worked in community mental health, suggested that Collin enroll in NAVIGATE.
Tom calls NAVIGATE’s individualized, team-based approach “a godsend.” Collin not only received timely psychiatric care and careful monitoring of his medications, he also got help to prepare and pass his General Educational Development (GED) test, guidance in drafting his resume, and assistance in finding a job. Meanwhile, Tom and other members of the family participated in the NAVIGATE educational program and got their questions answered about psychosis, schizophrenia, and what they should and shouldn’t expect from Collin. “We would have been clueless if they hadn’t brought us all in as a group,” Tom says. “It was a critical part.”
How’s Collin doing today? His dad says his son is doing great: holding down a full-time job, playing in a band, and “is really a fully functional member of society.” As for his future goals, one is to become a peer-support counselor to help others come through their psychosis and get back on track.
Importantly, the NAVIGATE researchers found that the sooner young people with first-episode psychosis received coordinated specialty care, the better they fared. Still, there is much room for improvement: the median time of untreated psychosis before enrollment in NAVIGATE was nearly 1½ years, which is consistent with previous studies. Why such a lag? Part of the problem is that young people and their families can be wary of seeking help, possibly concerned about other people’s misperceptions about mental illness.
My hope is that, informed by results of this study and other NIH-funded research, more people will be empowered to seek prompt treatment for first-episode psychosis and other mental health disorders. In fact, the resources to help them are already in place in many areas of the nation. Congress recently allocated funds to subsidize treatment for first-episode psychosis, and, since 2014, 32 states have moved toward establishing comprehensive specialty care to enable earlier intervention.
References:
[1] Schizophrenia: a concise overview of incidence, prevalence, and mortality. McGrath J, Saha S, Chant D, & Welham J. Epidemiol Rev 2008, 30:67-76.
[2] Comprehensive Versus Community Care for First Episode Psychosis: Two-Year Outcomes From The NIMH RAISE Early Treatment Program. Kane JM, Robinson DG, Schooler NR, Sint KJ, John M, Heinssen RK, et al. Am J. Psych [Epub ahead of publication]
[3] U.S. Spending For Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment, 1991-2001. Mark T, Coffey R, Vandivort-Warren R, Harwood H, & King E. Health Aff. 2005 Jan-Jun Suppl Web Exclusives, W5-133-W135-142.
Links:
Schizophrenia (National Institute of Mental Health/NIH)
Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode (NIMH/NIH)
John Kane (The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glenn Oaks, NY)
NIH Support: National Institute of Mental Health

That is my goal, to carry on her legacy

Listening to Sam Smith's Stay With Me and the line is: Why am I so emotional? 

Why am I so emotional? 

       Let's start with my Grandma passing away on Saturday, the 16th. She was one of the strongest women I know. I wasn't ready for her to go but I think she was ready. I loved hearing all of the stories this week from my dad and my Aunt of when they were kids and thing my Grandma did as a kid and teenager. My stubbornness didn't fall far from the tree either. We cleaned out her house and I got really weird like I didn't want any else to have her things, she is my Grandma damn it and I will take care of her stuff. I soon realized that I couldn't do that I took what brought me great memories of her. 
      
       She had four children, one of which she had to bury just one year ago. No matter the age a parent should never have to bury their child. She had many different type of cancer and she beat them all. I would jokingly tell people that if there was a nuclear war the survivors would be my Grandma and the cockroaches because that is how bad ass she is. She had a legacy. A legacy of being a peacemaker and giving unconditional love. Just when you think someone can't be loved anymore she would show up and show you how to do it. That is my goal, to carry on her legacy.

       Secondly, I have had five med changes in the last 2 months. I am very tired and just want to sleep. Is that the new med or my week catching up with me? I am hoping this one is going to work or at least give some relief with NO side effects. Wherever I am at, I want to be somewhere else. For example something if I am at home I want to be at work. Then when I am at work I want to be at home. It is almost like I am trying to outrun something. Funny thing is it keeps finding me. 

      My brain is going through a lot right now and trying to process a lot of information. Sometimes I don't know what day it is, if I showered, ate, or how long I have been staring at the wall. You know the scenes in the movies where the person is moving slow and everyone around them is moving fast and the person seems confused or lost? Yeah, that's me. 

      I am hoping that my beautiful nephews first birthday party and a three day weekend help gets me back on track. 

It never gets easier

10 and a half years of therapy, medication management, inpatient stays, intensive outpatient therapy and still to this day I struggle with my demon - bipolar disorder. Now today I say demon because that it what it feels like, tomorrow or a month from now it could be a blessing in disguise. Oh the joys of having a mental illness - those chemicals really need to balance their shit out soon.

When I am manic I want to make lots of changes every where. My clothes, my purse, my job, my vehicle, house decorations, add another pet (I want to do that all of the time but it is amplified during mania) you name it, I want to change it to something brand new. Then it becomes an obsession in my brain and this is the only thing I can focus on until it's done or the mania has passed. This has been what I do as long as I can remember. As a kid maybe starting around age 11, I would rearrange my bedroom in the middle of the night (Thanks mm for just letting me do it). I guess for a long time that satisfied my need for change. Now I have other people in my house that I have to consider before I change something, plus a little thing call money. Oh yes, spending can be a problem when manic. I have a time or two turned over the debit card and worked off of cash until the mania passed.

Along with the need for change I am irritable. Think of it as PMS on speed?? Yeah that's about right. It comes and goes whenever the hell it wants and on whoever it wants. Sleep becomes few and far between as well. I feel restless like I am trying to get the house ready for a party but someone forgot to tell me it was cancelled. Have you ever seen a hamster in an exercise wheel? Well that hamster is showing you what my brain feels like during mania; it never stops going, ever!

All of the symptoms change with each mania phase. It's like when you are playing BINGO and a different set of number will win the game; a different set of symptoms can or not come with each mania phase. For me they are different, which is why it never gets easier. I take a medication for everything I talked about plus some that I didn't go into.

Why on earth would I be laying what it is like for me to have a manic episode? Because if I am acting different, seemed pissed off, tired, bitchy, or quiet there is a reason and if you ask me I will be honest and tell you that I am cycling. I know that this is temporary and I will soon go back to my baseline self but until then don't take it personal and please don't get angry with me, I can't control it.

"The desperate need for change combined with the crippling fear of it makes me toxic."

 - Jessica Young

For more information on Bipolar Disorder visit NAMI at What is Bipolar Disorder?

Share your story

I have always been a huge supporter of sharing our stories. Where did we come from? What makes us who we are?

This bipolar blog is asking for just that. Check it out and maybe you can help change someone's life and view of mental illnesses.

Check out @BipolarOutLoud's Tweet: https://twitter.com/BipolarOutLoud/status/498325126580948993

Trying something new

Trying something new to keep myself busy and out of trouble.

We have used these energy drinks for awhile and love them. So I am giving the business side of Amway a try.

I want to try the cleaning products next because I tend to like products that don't have a harsh smell and are more natural.

Here is my tweet:

Check out @jdy1226's Tweet: https://twitter.com/jdy1226/status/495709458212081664

And my site:

www.amway.com/YoungTeam

Happy browsing!

BPT

Not letting the small thing take over during a big time

My stress and anxiety are pretty high right now.

Here is my list of why:

1. We are in the process of closing on a house, which means a lot of paperwork, gather documents, packing and organizing the move.
2. The kids go back to school about a week before we move, so we need to get all of their back-to-school items purchased and not packed.
3. My spouse is basically out-of-town or unavailable this entire time.
4. My work schedule is never the same.
5. Coordinating my son's new dance class drop-off every week.
6. My cat is sick and now has to become an indoor cat.
7. Pack
8. Pack
9. Pack
10. And finally, I live in the desert and it is f-ing HOT!

In the middle of all of that chaos there are these little dust devils that pop up that just about send me over the edge. And I am talking about a full blown grown-up temper tantrum. But then I have to take a step back, take a deep breath and ask myself, do I need to get the work up about this right now? 99% of the time the answer is no but it is so easy to get sucked into the small things right now. Am I avoiding something or do I need help. I don't know but I had to get this out.

Labor Day weekend I will be relaxing in my new pool and that is what I will keep my eye on!


(Picture from http://www.investwithalex.com/killing-stress/)