At my conference in Washington DC, I got to meet some truly inspirational Consumers who were doing some great things.  I wanted to share with you one person who really stood out to me.  Her name is Sunny Algoso.  Sunny is from Hawaii (aren't we jealous?).  She is a Consumer doing great things with her life.  Sunny is a peer educator for the State Department of Health, facilitator of the HOPE Impact support group, and host of monthly `Olelo television program, “Hope in Recovery."  This television show is played on the 'Olelo website under the "Community" heading: http://www.olelo.org/.  Mental Health America of Hawaii has named her one of its 2011 Outstanding Community Mental Health Leaders. Sunny is truly a national treasure, and I'm so grateful to have gotten to know her!

  Be Well
~Emily

Last night, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Princeton Chapter of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance.  This was a great experience for me.  I love when people ask me good questions, and Princeton, you did NOT disappoint.  Some of the best questions that I got were:
1. What is the single most important thing that you have learned in therapy?
2. Do you think that a skeptical attitude causes people to have depression?
3. Where there any negative aspects to your recovery process that you'd like to share (ie: loss of friendships)?
I wish that I could post all of the questions asked, but I think that you get the idea.  A powerful conversation was had about recovery, and that was a wonderful thing. 
Which brings me to my next question: Are there questions about my ownjourney that you, the reader would like to get answered?  Or questions that you, the reader have about your recovery?  If so, I'd encourage you to put them in the form of a comment on my blog or you can anonymously submit them on the Contact page of my website. 

I look forward to hearing your great questions. 

Be Well
~Emily

About a week ago, I spoke to students who are enrolled in the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ.  This was a great honor, and extremely enlightening.  During my night there one thing became evident:  if this group of students is any indication of the quality of the mental health providers of the next generation, then mental health is in good hands. 

To give you a bit of background about the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Department at UMDNJ, it provides degrees (from an associate's to a PhD) in Psychiatric Rehabilitation, a newly emerging field which focuses on helping those with mental illness to re-integrate themselves into the community.  This may mean helping people with mental illness to get jobs, go back to school, etc, but it is not limited to just this.  The main objective in this program, according to its website is to "accomplish and support the fullest possible integration of the person as an active and productive member of community, improve the person’s own management of the illness, and facilitate recovery including [helping a person to] find new meaning and purpose in life."

The class that I had the pleasure of speaking with was Dr. Carlos Pratt's class, which is an introductory class in Psychiatric Rehabilitation.  I was so encouraged by the empathy, insightfulness, and intelligence demonstrated by the students as they asked questions about my book, my work, and my own personal experience.  Mental health will be lucky to have these students as practitioners. 

Be Well~
Emily