Join the voices, speak up, reach out…   Do you have family members or friends in recovery? How about long term recovery? When people first get sober, taking it “one day at a time,” receiving that first 24 hour AA chip and then a 30 day AA chip can feel like it takes forever. Considering...Read More

National Day of Action, September 4, 2014 It’s true yesterday was the National Alliance on Mental Illness’ (NAMI) National Day of Action to #ACT4MENTALHEALTH. But don’t worry; every day can be a day of action. In fact, we must make every day a day of action if we are going to make a difference in...Read More

Robin Williams (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Our world changed on Monday evening… Famous people die every day. It can be a celebrity, a states person, an infamous character, a sports figure, or a world leader. For sure we almost always stop a bit and take notice, but every once in a while we find ourselves grieving...Read More

Will parity help reduce the stigma of mental illness? Part 1 “I think I’m just really mentally ill and no one’s noticed…” These are the words of 17-year-old John LaDue. It could be you’ve never heard of John LaDue, but just last May John LaDue was arrested and charged with multiple felonies which included bomb...Read More

How will you celebrate the month of May? Yesterday was May 1st! Our associate mentioned that she casually wished a co-worker “Happy May Day” and her co-worker honestly had no idea what she meant by May Day. She was quick to explain that it is a holiday that has evolved over the years, but one...Read More

Breakfast with friends…what about plans for the weekend? Today our associate stopped by a local diner to have breakfast with a couple of friends. She mentioned that as she settled in to look at the menu she found herself perusing the dining room —in other words, she was “people watching.” She soon realized that at...Read More

English: Official portrait of United States Representative . (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Mental illness ~ youth and young adults in crisis As January 2014 comes to a close, we wanted to take a few minutes to look back three years ago when Tucson was the scene of a mass shooting. On January 8, 2011, six people...Read More

A conversation about mental illness ~ new research, living with and Active Minds Results of largest assessment of substance use among the severely mentally ill On January 1, 2014, the results of new research were published in JAMA Psychiatry: Comorbidity of Severe Psychotic Disorders With Measures of Substance Use. The study was conducted by researchers...Read More

Headline: USDA Announces Support for Mental Health Facilities in Rural Areas If you saw this headline would you click on the link to read the story? We were curious because we did not immediately see the connection between the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and mental health.  The USDA’s press release was issued December...Read More

Senator Gordon Smith R–Oregon ’97–’09 Grandparent was Jesse Udall (Photo credit: Wikipedia) It really is OK to talk about “it”… There are a lot of families gathered together this week to celebrate the Christmas and New Year Holidays. Grandparents, parents, siblings, children of all ages, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends will find themselves enjoying a...Read More