Today I went in with my mother to her work at the Department of Health for Principal's Play Day and had the wonderful opportunity to listen to a lecture given by the Director of the Schenectady City Mission, Mike Saccocio, and some of his associates. The program was centered around the Bridges Out of Poverty program that is being implemented in Schenectady and across the country to help eradicate generational poverty (2 or more generations in poverty). Before I dive into the connection I found in this program to NAMI, I wanted to go over what I thought to be some of the most interesting points of the discussion:
Of course many people living with a mental illness face poverty and homelessness (especially considering the lack of housing available to them). This is one direct connection to the lecture, but more loosely a lot of the ideas they expressed about the mental models that shape out perceptions, the necessity of respect and understanding, the the importance of collaboration, and the change over time of different issues were very closely related to the issues of decreasing the stigma surrounding mental illness. I can't yet say what I hope to do with this newly gained knowledge, but I do know that I'm very happy to have had this opportunity to reevaluate the best ways to solve problems in a community, which I think will prove to be useful for my project.
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On Tuesday the 23rd Ella, Grey, and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend NAMI NYS's Legislative Day. Similar to the Educational Conference we got to listen to many speakers such as Assemblyman Phil Steck and the Commissioner of the NYS Office of Mental Health Dr. Sullivan. It was great to hear from people who were really at the front lines of getting some really good and overdue policies passed and into law. In addition to making some small talk about NAMI@Emma with supporters of NAMI and government officials, we took part in a rally on the Capitol steps advocating for preserving and increasing the budget for housing programs for people living with mental illnesses. My favorite part of the day was speaking to my Assemblyperson, Patricia Fahy, advocating for the Mental Health Education in Schools Bill. This bill would revise the current New York State health class curriculum, which currently does not cover mental health at all. And really, can you have physical health without having mental health? Also, 50% of mental illnesses arise before age 17, and if students are not taught about the symptoms and signs of certain illnesses and where to go for help, it may take them many unnecessary years to figure out that they have an illness, if they do at all. Early treatment has also been shown to significantly improve the outcomes for those living with mental illnesses. To me, this bill really seemed like a no brainer, but the main opposition is coming form the NYS Teacher's Union. We also got to talk to Assemblywoman Fahy about NAMI@Emma, and expressed out hope that she would encourage Albany County school districts to set up chapters of their own NAMI clubs. We would like to start with Guilderland and Albany schools. This was such a great opportunity to get directly involved with the policy surrounding mental illness, and I know it was an invaluable learning experience for me! Last Friday the 5th Matthew Shapiro, NAMI NYS's Public Communications Director, came to visit NAMI@Emma. He spoke to us about NAMI NYS's Legislative Day, which will be occurring on February the 23rd in Downtown Albany. My co-head Ella and I will be attending and advocating for a Mental Health in Schools Bill, which would make mental health education a mandatory aspect of school's health curriculum.We hope that the girls who are unable to attend the conference will get involved with a letter writing campaign or with advocating for these bills via social media. Mr. Shapiro also spoke to us about NAMI NYS's walk next year, which will be happening on September 24th. I'm very excited to use this walk as an opportunity to fundraise some money for NAMI! Some girls also asked some very good questions about the genetics about mental illness, which, based on their curiosity, I think would be a very interesting topic to delve into further. It was great to have the club feel more connected with the state agency, and I'm very excited to continue this closer collaboration. |
Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all. -Bill Clinton
Katherine WallaceEmma Willard Class of 2017. Archives
May 2017
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