National Alliance on Mental Illness - Montana (NAMI-MT) Conference

I returned last night from Billings, Montana where I did two presentations on topics related to parents with mental illness and their daughters and sons of all ages.  The organizers of NAMI-MT invited me to speak earlier this year and I am excited to report that the energy and reception of people at the conference was incredibly positive.  Many of the people attending the conference were personally touched by these topics as either parents with mental health struggles, grandparents raising grandchildren, or as daughter and sons themselves.

For the plenary speech I was asked to speak about my own experiences and my family's story.  Truthfully I find it much easier to speak about the major issues facing parents with mental illness and the common experiences of daughters and sons than to speak about my own story.  I'm sure that is natural, since it is hard to sort through and organize so many personal memories.  I also fear getting off track by adding too much detail or getting caught up in storytelling about a specific event.  However, when it was all said and done several of the audience members who have mental health struggles asked me for copies of my speech and people handed me personal notes of thanks with details about what parts of my speech touched them most.  It was wonderful to feel their support and to feel included in the community of people attending the conference.

Gary and Sandy, the organizers of the conference, did an incredible job.  They also included Mary Garrison from Illinois (Milikin University) to speak about her recently published article on what inhibits mental health providers from employing mental health consumers as providers.  I hope Mary is able to present in more environments because she really understands what is happening in practice when agencies begin to change their approach by including peer specialists and other "consumers as providers".

It was an incredible conference.  I've returned to New York City with a list of things to do.  High on the list is returning to a strategic planning document from June to help build an organization to sustain all of the Daughters and Sons efforts.