Category: What’s New

Our support group offerings are changing radically in these unprecedented times. Starting Tuesday, April 14, online support groups will be held from 6:00-8:00 pm on a weekly basis.

These will occur using the Zoom platform, which provides access through the downloading of the Zoom app.

In order to deem this process manageable in terms of numbers, we ask that potential participants send an email to our office at namieastbay@gmail.com, indicating interest for specific dates. We will send back confirmation and information about passwords, meeting ID and logistics.

For the time being, there will be no distinction between groups for families of youth/young adults and families of adults.

As this process becomes more comfortable, we anticipate that this process may be modified.

All in-person meetings have been cancelled until further notice.

BAHVN Berkeley Support Group Meetings  are now online.

Please join our weekly online support group offered Mondays from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm (beginning Monday, March 23rd).
You can enter the online Support Group Meetings  for adults, family members, and transitional age youth(TAY, age 18-24) using Zoom (video conferencing platform) on a desktop computer, pad, tablet or cellphone.
Here’s how to enter:

To enter the meeting, click on this link on your computer or mobile device:
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/299747053

​If you are accessing this via the Zoom App directly, please enter this meeting ID: 299 747 053

If you are dialing in with no video or App, dial:
Dial by your location
        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
        +1 253 215 8782 US
        +1 301 715 8592 US
        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago),
         and enter meeting ID: 299 747 053

Find your local number: https://us04web.zoom.us/u/fcBk3DOHP

We regret sharing that group affiliate activities are being curtailed due to the coronavirus.

We anticipate setting up a process via Zoom whereby we can hold interactive support groups online and will soon invite you to participate via a notice in this space.

BEDLAM – Film screening event

Along with local dignitaries and the Physicians Organizing Committee, Nami EastBay will be co-hosting a screening of a critically important new film Bedlam, An Intimate Journey into America’s Mental Health Crisis, prior to its national PBS broadcast in April:

March 14, 2pm, Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive, with post-screening discussion led by Dr.Thomas Insel, California’s “Mental Health Czar”and John Snook, Executive Director – Treatment Advocacy Center. Tickets are available via BAMPFA.

March 15, 3pm, East Bay Media Center at1939 Addison Street. Free admission but recommend space reservation through EBMC. Discussion afterwards with Geoffrey Wilson, Physicians Organizing Committee and Tom Gorham, Options Recovery.

Do you experience voices, visions, special messages, unusual beliefs or extreme states of consciousness?

 What do these experiences mean to you? 

How do we live with and decrease distress from these experiences?

Please join us for free, drop in weekly Voices, Visions and Different Realities groups for families, transition age  youth (age 18-24) and adults who hear voices.   All local groups meet on Mondays, 6:00-8:00 pm at:

South Berkeley Senior Center

2939 Ellis St., Berkeley CA

(As of Jan 7, 2019)

(Meetings subject to change, please check website for updates.  The Berkeley group is a 10-minute walk from the Ashby BART station.  The San Francisco group is a 10-minute walk from the BART, Civic Center station.)

 The support groups are co-facilitated by people who have lived experience with the mental health system. More importantly, we are counting on you to shape the direction the group takes in providing support for each other.

This is a free, drop-in group. The Hearing Voices Network is comprised of people who see, hear, feel and think things that others may not experience, and members of their families and support network. For more information about the Bay Area Hearing Voices Network, check out our website at:

www.bayareahearingvoices.org

Email us at: bayareahearingvoices@gmail.com

Or find us on Facebook: facebook.com/bayareahearing voices

Researchers at Stanford University are looking for individuals with depression to take part in their trial investigating a new form of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy. TMS is an FDA-approved non-invasive brain stimulation therapy for depression for people who are not getting relief from anti-depressant medications. TMS treatment typically take 6 weeks but researchers at Stanford are trialling a 5-day protocol which they hope will be both faster and more effective. The study currently running is a blinded trial which means there is a 50% chance of receiving placebo treatment. However, all participants will be offered the real treatment after one month of beginning the study so all participants will receive the real treatment at some point.

If you have depression and antidepressants and are not currently helping then this may be a good option for you. The study is looking for individuals over 18 with a diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), who have tried antidepressant medications, who have not previously tried TMS, do not have epilepsy, no metal implants and no brain lesions.

If you are interested in seeing whether you are eligible to take part in the study, please fill out the questionnaires at the following link and the research team will get back to you: https://is.gd/stanford_atbs_study

You can find more information about the study and the research team at their website: http://med.stanford.edu/bsl.html or contact the research coordinator Romina Nejad at rnejad@stanford.edu for more information.

Mission Statement: Voices of Mothers is an advocacy effort by families on behalf of our loved ones with serious mental illness. We are fighting for changes to local, county, state, and federal laws and policies that are failing to provide adequate and timely services and protections to our vulnerable family members.

Goals:

Grow the family voice in Alameda County by broadening family engagement at all levels.

Monitor legislation at all levels that impacts mental health policies, campaign in support of laws that improve care for those with serious mental illness, and monitor implementation of mandated programs

Fight to reduce stigmatizing and blaming of families. Document instances of family blaming and misinformation in media and in communications tied to or funded by public fund

CONTACT INFORMATION: voicesofthemothersandothers@gmail.com