BRIDGES and Mental Health Recovery

BRIDGES and Mental Health Recovery

Ramona Taylor, M.A., CMPSBRIDGES Program Director,

Mental Health America of Eastern Missouri

Two Parts to This Presentation:

• Part One: The Pitch

• Part Two: The Product

Part One: the Pitch

Mental Health America of Eastern Missouri and BRIDGES will offer you…The gift of a peer-to-peer, consumer-run

mental health recovery program of educational classes and support groups, thanks to the generosity of the Missouri Department of Mental Health

BRIDGESBuilding Recovery of Individual

Dreams and Goals through Education and Support

What Is BRIDGES?

• BRIDGES is a peer-to-peer, consumer-driven program that promotes mental health recovery through

Classes

Support Groups

BRIDGES: A Brief History

• Originally developed by the Tennessee Mental Health Consumers’ Association (TMHCA), the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Tennessee (NAMI-TN), and the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities. Sites include ADAPT and SLPRC in St. Louis, BJC in Farmington, Ozark Center in Joplin, and ReDiscover in KC and Lee’s Summit and others.

BRIDGES in Missouri

Exclusively available in Missouri through Mental Health America of Eastern Missouri. Phone: 1-800-359-5695 (toll-free)

Fax: 1-314-773-5930

E-Mail: [email protected]

BRIDGES Crossings Classes

Designed for consumers receiving services in the community

• Ten sessions• Two hours per session• One session per week

Crossings Course Topics, Part One

• Class 1: The Foundation of BRIDGES• Class 2: Mood Disorders• Class 3: Psychotic Disorders• Class 4: Anxiety and Further Disorders:

Personality, Eating, Attention, Dissociative Identity, Dual Recovery (Students’ Choice)

• Class 5: Helpful Support

Crossings Class Topics, Part Two

• Class 6: Medications and the Brain• Class 7: Problem Management• Class 8: Communication• Class 9: Spirituality and Mental Health, Self-

Injury, Criminal Justice (Students’ Choice)• Class 10: Advocacy, Evaluation, and

Certification

Successful Crossings Students (80 Percent Attendance or Better)

• Receive a Certificate of Completion

• May apply for training and employment as BRIDGES Crossings or Footsteps teachers or support group facilitators (if courses are successfully completed)

BRIDGES Footsteps Classes

Designed for consumers receiving services in hospitals and residential treatment facilities

• Five weeks• One session per week• One hour per session

BRIDGES Footsteps Course Topics

• Workshop 1: Introduction, Recovery, Support• Workshop 2: Diagnoses, Part 1: Depression, Bipolar

Disorder, Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder

• Workshop 3: Diagnoses, Part 2: Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Personality Disorders

• Workshop 4: Treatment, Medications, the Treatment Team

• Workshop 5: Crisis Planning, Advocacy, Wrap-up

Successful Footsteps Students(80 Percent Attendance or Better)

• Receive a Certificate of Completion

• May apply for training and employment as a Footsteps teacher (or Crossings teacher or support group facilitator if courses are successfully completed)

BRIDGES Support Groups

• One year (renewable)

• Once a week (or more, if host agency wishes)

• One to two hours per session

BRIDGES Support Group Topics

Different topics, always these themes:

• Survival

• Strength

• Sanity

Every story is a gift.

Interested Support Group Members

• May apply for training and employment as Support Group Facilitators or Crossings or Footsteps Teachers (if courses are successfully completed)

What Are the Gifts for Agencies?

• All materials, food, trained Teachers and Facilitators, labor, and program supervision provided exclusively by the BRIDGES program as administered by Mental Health America of Eastern Missouri.

• More self-aware and self-advocating consumers, more informed about their diagnoses and self-care strategies

What Are the Gifts for Attendees?

1. Voluntary attendance

2. Confidentiality

3. Peer companionship andsupport


4. Shared recovery/strength stories

5. Medical, diagnostic, and treatment information (as lived by consumers)

6. Reduction/elimination of shame


7. THEY ARE NOT ALONE!

Part Two: the Product

Before We Begin

Teachers have manuals from which they read aloud. The manuals contain teaching hints, script prompts, and other material students do not utilize.

Students have student manuals from which the Teachers (and students) read aloud. For today, you have handouts from Chapter 4.

Before We Begin

Please refer to the Class 4 handouts. We will read aloud from them today.

Class 4 in Brief

• Anxiety and Further Disorders

Class 4, Handout #1

PANIC DISORDERPanic Disorder is diagnosed when a person has had more than one panic attack, and at least one month where he/she is very worried about having another one.

A panic attack is a short period of intense fear in which four or more of the following symptoms happen suddenly.

Symptoms of Panic Disorder #1

• Pounding heart• Sweating• Trembling or shaking• Feeling of “I can’t breathe”• Feeling of choking• Chest pain• Nausea or abdominal distress

Symptoms of Panic Disorder #2

• Feeling dizzy, unsteady, light-headed or faint• Feeling of unreality or being detached from

oneself• Fear of losing control or of going crazy• Fear of dying• Numbness or tingling• Chills or hot flashes

Class 4, Handout #1

GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER

People with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) can’t help but worry even if things appear to be going fine. A person with Generalized Anxiety Disorder would have three or more of the following symptoms.

Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• Restlessness• Easily tired• Difficulty concentrating• Irritability• Muscle tension• Sleep disturbanceThis kind of worry and tension goes on for at least six months. Many have struggled with it as long as they can remember.

Class 4, Handout #2

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER

The person suffers from obsessions and compulsions.

Obsessions (thoughts)Compulsions (actions)

Obsessions (Thoughts)

• Thoughts, impulses or images that won’t go away, and upset the person.

Thought: being unable to stop thinking about germs or dirtImpulse: person feels the need to wash hands constantly.Image: person sees mental pictures of bad things that might happen if dirt and germs are not controlled.• The thoughts are not just overwhelming

worries about real-life problems.

Obsessions (Thoughts)

• The person tries to ignore these thoughts or take actions to keep bad things from happening because of the thoughts.

• The person knows that these are his/her own thoughts (not from any outside source).

Compulsions (Actions)

• Actions the person does over and over, sometimes according to rigid rules.

Example: hand washing, putting things in order and checking things

• Thoughts, such as praying, counting or repeating words silently that the person feels he or she has to do because of the obsession.


The actions and thoughts are supposed to help the person feel better or prevent some dreaded event, but these actions and thoughts either will not do anything for what they are supposed to prevent, or are much more than is necessary.


• At some point, the person has recognized that the obsessions or compulsions are extreme or unreasonable.

• The person is really upset by the obsessions or compulsions. They take up more than an hour per day, or get in the way of daily activities, work or being with other people.

Class 4, Handout #3

POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

• The person has experienced or witnessed an event or ongoing situation in which the person feared for his/her life. The person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness or horror.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

• The traumatic event is experienced over and over again, through memories, dreams, flashbacks or things that remind him/her of the traumatic event. The person may have a panic attack when reminded of the event.


• The person avoids the trauma by avoiding certain thoughts, feelings, situations or people. The person may be unable to recall the trauma. The person may no longer be interested in activities that used to be important. The person may feel separate from others, may be emotionally numb and may feel a sense of having no future.


• The person may experience sleep problems, irritability, concentration problems, may startle easily and may always be on guard.

The BRIDGES Motto:

I can beAll I can be

But, if it is going to beIt is up to me.

You are not alone!

What Is the Gift?

For agencies:

A peer-to-peer support program proven to be effective in improving “participants’ self-perceived recovery and hopefulness” in two studies (University of Illinois and U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation, and SAMHSA)

Agencies Provide BRIDGES:

• A meeting room to comfortably accommodate consumers

• Mutually agreeable arrangements for date, time, and location

• Some brief time with decision-making staff in person and electronically to verify arrangements

• Minimal assistance with class or support group promotion (posting/handing out flyers, word-of-mouth)

What Is the Gift?

For students and support group members:1) The comfort and companionship of knowing

we’re not alone2) Shared, first-hand experiences of successful

survivors3) An opportunity to be ourselves, amongst

ourselves4) Food

Attendees Provide BRIDGES:

• Their presence (if they want)

• Their stories (if they choose)

• Their wisdom and learned experience (if they desire)

BRIDGESExclusively available in Missouri through Mental Health America of Eastern Missouri

Contact: Ramona Taylor, Program Director

Address: 1905 S. Grand, St. Louis, MO 63104

Phone: 1-800-359-5695 (toll-free)1-314-773-1399 (local)

E-Mail: [email protected]

Sources for Handouts and BRIDGES

Definitions: American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM IV. Washington, D.C. APA.

Teaching Materials: Diehl, Sita, et.al. BRIDGES Crossings Teacher Manual and Student Manual(2004). Nashville, TN. TMHCA.

Thank you for attending.

• Any questions?

• Please fill out the evaluation forms on the table. Thank you.

Documents

BRIDGES and Mental Health Recovery