NAMI programs, mental illness stigma, and advocacy with Sylvia Thompson

Hello, this is Julianne Good and this is Psych One-on-One. We're here to make psychology understandable, interesting, intriguing and here to give you tips for yourself, your friends and your family for making your life a little easier in these difficult times. Today I have a special guest. Her name is Sylvia Thompson and she is the National Association of Mental Illness Westside Los Angeles president. And we're going to talk a little bit about the contributions that NAMI makes. The society there are an incredible association and organization and they have an immense amount of help for people out there with serious mental illnesses and their people and their families and their friends to make their lives a little bit easier. Sylvia? Yes, hi. Hi, how are you? I'm fine, thank you. How are you? Great. Thank you for joining us. Can you tell us a little bit about your background with NAMI? Sure. My initial contact with NAMI was I came in to take a class that they offer for providers, mental health professionals. I am a client advocate as my day job and so my role with NAMI is volunteer capacity. So I'm a volunteer. I'm a volunteer. I'm a volunteer. I'm a client advocate. So as a client advocate, I was dealing with a lot of clients with various disabilities including psychiatric disabilities and one of the courses that NAMI puts on is called a provider course and it helps mental health professionals see what family members go through during the process of when a loved one is in a psychiatric crisis. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. was raised in a home with mental illness. My mother was mentally ill, and I went on to get, you know, it was a very difficult experience growing up because as a child, you don't know that her reality isn't your reality. So it was very confusing and very chaotic, and I spent many years trying to understand what was happening. And so when I went away to college, the first thing I did was go get a degree in psychology as my undergraduate degree because I wanted to understand what had torn our family apart. You know, my father was very loving, but he was doing everything he could do without supports in place. And when mental illness hits a family, it's like a bomb going off in the middle of the family. It destroys relationships. It destroys... It destroys family connection. It destroys goals that families have for themselves and for others, and somebody needs to help pick up the pieces. And what amazed me is here I'd gone and gotten a degree in psychology, and I'd never heard about NAMI. And NAMI, it's the National Alliance, so it's nationally. It was created, it was founded in 1979, but... It was founded by a group of parents and family members who needed supports and resources for their loved ones with a mental illness. And it's a grassroots mental health organization, and it's about improving the quality of life for people struggling with the illness and their family members. And to this day, the affiliate I am the president of is the West Side LA, as you said, and it really... what what happens... My involvement, I started out as a teacher, because I was so taken with the programs and what it what it brought to my life. By the time I'd gotten... I'd found out about NAMI, my mother had already passed away and... I'm the youngest of six... Of six... Six children and so I had a struggle growing up, trying to marry my process and understanding what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it involved and what it of what had happened with my family members. And NAMI really helps me come to peace with that and understand that we all go through this at our own pace and that we all are at different stages. I'm the one that is most in the advocacy role right now, although my siblings have come around and understood what mental illness was. And I really attribute my work with NAMI as to helping them understand better that there's nothing to be ashamed of. One of the things that was really big for our family and for so many families dealing with mental illness was the shame that it was the secret that I kept as a teenager, as a young child. It was a story you didn't tell. And that's a kind of shame that no child, no one should have to live with. And unfortunately, that was a predominant reason why my... more help wasn't gotten from my mother is that it was just brushed under the rug. And that... I wonder if NAMI had been in my life, how my life would have been different. It would... I love who I've become, and now I've come to terms with my childhood and my experiences have led me to be the person who I am, and I like who I am, so I'm happy about that. But my life would have been easier had I had the support, the support from my family, and the support from my family in place as a child. I had to undo a lot of the damage that was created because I did not have those supports in place. Right, and thankfully for NAMI and your background in psychology, that has helped to support you and nurture you at this point, even though you didn't have it in your childhood along with your siblings and your father. At least now, everybody's kind of going back and reassessing what they had been through and maybe putting... a different level of understanding on everything you've experienced together as a family, correct? Absolutely. It's been a real time of healing, and I attribute that to both my involvement with NAMI, my teaching the classes. Every time I come in contact with other family members who have walked this walk, who have experienced, it makes me realize that I'm so not alone, and it's not... My family isn't alone, that this is something, even though people don't talk about it as often, that it is... And we need to talk about it more, that there's help out there and that it really has created a time of healing for all of us, absolutely. Yeah, that's incredible. That definitely is. I want to reach out to the listeners. If you would like to join us in this conversation with Sylvia Thompson from the National Association of Mental Illness, our number is 800-893-9000. That's 800-893-9562. Again, that's 800-893-9562. And Sylvia, can you tell us a little bit about what services that NAMI does offer? Sure, absolutely. So what we... NAMI is really... The cornerstone of what we do is really support and education and advocacy. Raising awareness, making sure research is... You know, that we stay on top of what the research is to help family members. And so what we do... And I'll speak for... We have several programs that NAMI has throughout the country. And if I may, the national website, if you're not in Los Angeles, the national website, the best place to go is the national website, which is www. n, like Nancy, a, m, like Michael, i.org. And there is a place on the website where you can type in where you are, and it'll tell you the nearest affiliate to you so that you can get resources in your area. But for NAMI Westside, what we provide, we have classes. One's called the Family to Family class. It's the signature class for NAMI. It has recently been... Designated as an evidence-based practice, which is very big news for us in that what that means is that the studies have shown that when family members take the Family to Family class, their loved one with a mental illness has a higher chance of recovery because of what they've learned in the Family to Family class. So that was... We've known that for decades. But it's nice to get the seal of approval. Exactly. So the Family to Family, we provide that in both English and Spanish. We provide a peer-to-peer class, which is... I'll step back for a moment. I'm sorry. The Family to Family class is for a family member who has a loved one with a mental illness. And it's a 12-week course, and it really helps family members understand what's going on in the brain. It helps them... It helps build empathy. It helps build communication skills. And we always say it's not that you don't know how to communicate. So often people, family members, when something goes wrong and there's a crisis, the tendency is to blame the mothers or the fathers blame themselves. And we're not saying you don't know how to communicate. It's just when somebody is mentally ill and if they are in a psychotic state, there's a certain way of communicating that can be helpful. And so we try to give tools to help people during the crisis times. And so that's the Family to Family class, and it's fantastic. And the Peer to Peer class is a similar model. It's 10 weeks, and it is for individuals who have a mental health diagnosis. And so it's the same idea where they really understand what's going on in their brain and then some different coping mechanisms they can use for themselves. Another class we provide is a class called Basics, and it's for parents of children who are under the age of 18 who are struggling with mental health. And it's a class that's really helpful. And it's a class that's really helpful. And it's a class that's really helpful. And it's a class that's really helpful. And it's a class that's really helpful. And it's a class that's really helpful. school-aged, because those are different issues that come up when there's a diagnosis that hits in early childhood or middle school or high school, that those issues wouldn't be really addressed in a regular Family to Family class. We have the Basics class. And then we have support groups for all those classes. And all those classes and support groups are done in both English and Spanish. We also have a series of speaking bureaus. One is a speakers, who are in school, Bureau that's had for the public, and we do that twice a month. And one is speakers bureaus for individuals that have a mental illness can go out and speak to the public at large about what it's like to live that experience. And it can be really helpful in terms of educating people what their experience is to help build compassion and empathy. We also have a family voice. Speakers Bureau is when a family member goes out and talks to the community about what the struggles, what struggles they've gone through having a loved one with a mental illness. We also have a few other programs that are relatively new, Ending the Silence, which is when a child in a school-age child has mental illness, once they are an adult, they go into the school system and can talk to kids in high school and middle school grades about what that experience was like. And now they are in recovery and stabilized. And it gives someone who might be having those struggles, it gives them hope that life gets better, that things get better. We also have the provider education course, which we've discussed already, and which you're familiar with. And then Parents and Teachers as Allies, which is a great program where someone, and all of these, the speakers that go out have been trained by NAMI. The Parents and Teachers and Allies is going out and speaking to parents and teachers in the school system to help them identify early warning signs and to help them become more aware of mental health issues, because it really is all about education. And the sooner we figure something out, the better. And I think that's a great way to help us. The better we're all going to be. And that really goes towards prevention and towards early intervention. And that's really a passion of ours at NAMI. Another new program we have is NAMI on Campus. And college campuses are oftentimes the place where a psychotic break can happen, and helping the student body and the professors and the staff understand, again, the same idea of what are some warning signs to make sure that people are getting the support and the help they need before a crisis hits. And then there's another program called NAMI in the Lobby, which is we go into the lobby of hospitals where someone may be admitted for a psychiatric hospitalization, and the family members are in the lobby, and not oftentimes it's the first time this has happened, and they're shell-shocked, and they don't know what's going on. And to have somebody who's had that experience, who's walked through that with a loved one, who can sit with them and talk them through it. And that's really important. And I think that's a really important part of the program, is that we can talk them through and help them advocate for what needs to happen. So those are some of the programs that we're really excited about and very passionate about providing for the community. Well, it sounds like you're incredibly involved with the community and have so many different programs to fit whatever level that every individual and family is going through. That's an amazing amount of programs. Thank you. We're very proud of them. And we also have a program called NAMI, which is a program that's been around for a long time, and we're very excited about it. And also, you know, we have people in the office answering phones. We don't have a hotline, per se, because it's not 24-7. We call it a warm line. But during office hours, Monday through Friday, we have someone there that can answer questions and direct you to resources or can guide you through different issues that come up. And that number will also be on the website then? That is. It's 310-889-7200. I have committed to that. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And I think that's a memory. You've given it out many times, I take it. That's right. Yes. So, and, you know, we are happy to connect to resources, etc. That's always, you know, we're always happy to do that. Of all of the programs that you mentioned, what one program stands out the most as being one of the most well-attended or popular or, you know, however you want to mention it? You know, I think the most popular is clearly our family-to-family class because it is our signature class. It's been around the longest. It is the one, you know, the others have different challenges in terms of why the numbers aren't as high. You know, with peer-to-peer classes, the person has to have a certain level of acknowledgement. Right. A certain level of acknowledgement of their disability, of the psychiatric disorder. And oftentimes that doesn't come right away. Right. And so the person has to be ready to take that class. Whereas family members, you know, it can be parents, it can be, you know, spouses, it can be siblings, it can be nieces and nephews. We had, I had someone in one of my classes who was the person's best friend. That's a family member. So it's anyone who spends a lot of time with the person. With the mental illness who wants to be more involved and be more connected to the person and wants to help. So we, and all of these classes and speaking engagements, all of these things are provided free to the community. Oh, that's unbelievable. Yeah. That's, it's a great, it is a great service. The things that, you know, in terms of what's the most popular, I believe, you know, we're gaining momentum. The basics is we've had for only a couple years now, we're gaining momentum with that because so many people want to get in at school age. They want to start getting this. So a lot of our children's programs are new on the west side. They're within the last two years, three years, I think, actually, basics have been around. So it really is about, you know, I think once that word gets out, we're already starting to get overwhelming responses from schools wanting us involved. Yeah. And more involved than we can actually do right now. We are just limited by, you know, we only have a certain number of staff to do the funding and volunteers. And so we are limited in that respect. There's more out there for us to do than we have the capacity to do right now. And we're going after more funding to do that. Right. And more volunteers also. So if anybody's interested in volunteering also, please contact Sylvia. And this is a fantastic organization. I did the provider training for five weeks along with our friend Shelly Hoffman. And it was just, it was great. It was a panel of Shelly and four other people who had direct experience with either one of their family members having a mental illness or two of the panel members had mental illnesses. And just, it was, it was amazing. It was, it really brought faces and reality into the experience of dealing with mental illnesses. Because I think we all need to realize that it's a biochemical reaction in the brain that makes a person behave the way that they do. And that is, that's the precursor to everything else. And I think as a society, we still don't understand that. Or there's so many misconceptions out there. That trying to go out and get, you know, the public educated about that that is the basis of the behaviors that a person is displaying. I think really needs to be, you know, brought out more. And so hopefully the public in general are going to understand and be compassionate and not be fearful or running away or calling a person names or whatever. You know, just obviously. Yeah. Because they are not going to have a base of fear because they don't understand what the person that's suffering from a mental illness is going through. You are absolutely right, Julianne. That for us is the biggest challenge in terms of education in terms of providing the services is the stigma. It's stigma stops people from getting the help they need. It stops people from understanding, from reaching out to someone who needs help. You know, part of what I believe is not to be a victim. Not to be a victim. so much, you know, we look at what happens in the media and, you know, in TV, in movies, and so often someone is depicted with a mental illness as a criminal. Well, someone with mental illness is more likely to be a victim of crime than the actual criminal. And when you see things in the news, the sensational stories, shootings in movie theaters and schools and military bases, and they talk about mental illness, oftentimes they do a great disservice by talking about that as a mental illness. That is not the face of mental illness. That is the face of mental illness, severe mental illness that is not treated. And what stops us from getting treatment is... You know, oftentimes it is stigma. There are other things. There are, you know, there are insurance issues and all kinds of other issues. But a huge reason people do not get help for their loved ones or the person getting help themselves is what people will think, the fear of what people will think. Because people assume, as you said, that this is...that the behavior is by choice. I had family members say that my mother was choosing to live the way she was living. And I tried to explain it so it was no more a choice than a diabetic can choose to have lower blood sugar. It is as physical a disease as diabetes or epilepsy. Or that's like telling an epileptic not to have a seizure. You can't tell someone with epilepsy not to have seizures. It just doesn't work that way. Right. No. And we don't have that stigma anymore with epilepsy. We used to. We used to have...you know, there was a time when you couldn't say cancer out loud. And that stigma has gone away. And the stigma about HIV and AIDS is pretty much gone away. Mental illness is that next one. I certainly hope so because we really...we really need to rally around and define this as a physical problem. And so that people are not ashamed to go and get the help that they need. Because the help is out there. They just need to be willing to go and ask for it. You know, the sufferer and the family because there's just so many complications. And as you mentioned before, the blame and the shame and everything else that's negative that is putting up blockades for that person to go and ask for help. Right. Right. and get some assistance. Yes. And, you know, statistically, one in four people in this country have a mental illness. So when you look on your block, when you look at your neighbors, you may not be seeing all these behaviors you see in the movies and, you know, on TV because they're managing their mental illness. They're managing the depression or the bipolar disorder or the anxiety disorder or the OCD or the schizophrenia, and they're managing them beautifully. Some of the most courageous people I know are people I've met through NAMI who are living with a mental illness. They are incredibly strong in their dedication and devotion to living their best life, and I am awed by their strength of character every day. And when I see that and see the lives they live and the contributions they make to society, I want the world to see that. I want the world to see this is what we could be. We need to get rid of the stigma. We need to understand each other, and we need to have compassion, and we need to make sure that people who need treatment are getting the treatment that they need. Yeah, I highly agree with you, Sylvia, most definitely. Sylvia, we are... We're going to take a commercial break, and then we're going to come back and talk a little bit more about what the National Association of Mental Illness does and some of the people that you've worked with, okay? Okay. Sure thing. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology offers numerous psychology, behavioral, and health-related science graduate degrees at three campuses, Los Angeles, California, including branches of Westwood and Irvine, Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., and online. The Chicago School prepares students to meet the ever-changing mental health needs of society through classroom experience and real-world training. The Chicago School Counseling Centers in Irvine and Westwood provide caring, confidential, and affordable psychological services to individuals and their families. For more information, visit thechicagoschool.edu. And thank you to the Chicago School for sponsoring Psych One-on-One. Tonight, my special guest is Sylvia Thompson from the National Association of Mental Illness. Before the break, I was asking about some more of what the NAMI does for people with, you know, people who are suffering from mental illnesses and their families. Can you tell us what some of the most prevalent and most prevalent mental health issues are that you've seen in your life? I think one of the most common problems that I've seen is that I've been in a relationship with a person who has a mental illness, and I've been in a relationship with a person who has a mental illness, and I've been in a relationship with a person who has a mental illness, and I've been in a relationship with a person who has a mental illness, mental health issues that NAMI bases, deals with. Sure. Well, as I said, you know, one of the things for us, we are really about it's education, education, education, education, because with education, that's going to help eliminate stigma. That's going to help advocate. That's going to be how we support families and individuals with a mental illness. And it's how we build the awareness within the community. So that's huge in terms of, you know, it really is for us. It's all about making sure that that message is heard and what mental illness is and what the needs are. A lot of the advocacy that happens for mental illness, there are a lot of struggles that are happening right now in the world of mental health insurance, mental health insurance, and mental health parity issues that are coming up in terms of insurance companies not covering things that they need to be covering. So we get involved on that level. There's a huge connection with the criminal justice system and mental health issues. And the reason, as I said before, is because of a lack of treatment. So unfortunately, oftentimes somebody will end up doing even a petty crime, because they are not in treatment and they're not compliant with their medications, et cetera. And they end up in the penal system. And that is not an appropriate place for someone who needs treatment. They need treatment, not to be stuck in a jail that's not giving them the treatment they need. Unfortunately, Twin Towers here in Los Angeles is known as the largest mental institution in the United States. And it's a problem. That's a sad commentary on what our society has done for the mental ill. Right. Well, yeah. And the funding for the mental health hospitals also was cut in the 80s. So therefore, there's not the hospitals that we used to have or the clinics. All the funding started getting cut. And then people with mental illnesses started, you know, like you said, committing petty crimes, landing in jail, or living on the streets, instead of being given the proper care that they need within institutions and clinics. Correct. And it used to be that the, you know, they checked to see, well, are they a danger to themselves or others? And in terms of being able to take care of themselves, they needed to be able to procure food and shelter for themselves. And that standard has now dropped down to, if somebody can rifle through a dumpster for food, they will, the sort of understanding is that, well, at least he or she can get food. That's the standard by which we are allowing our citizens to live. Yeah, it's pathetic. It is pathetic. And it's a human rights issue. It is. The way we're treating mental illness and, you know, people struggling with mental illness is the next civil rights movement. It really, truly is. It needs to be. And honestly, I think that between helping with, we had a criminal justice conference in September, which was a huge success, and it was getting all the players on board. It was getting the district attorney's office. It was getting the sheriff's office. It was getting all of the people lined up and talk about, everyone acknowledges that this is a real problem. Steve Lopez has been very vocal, a writer in the New York Times, has been very vocal about his dissatisfaction when he's seen in the jails as to how they deal with mental illness. He's a passionate advocate for the rights of the mentally ill and a huge supporter of NAMI and really believes in the work that we do and wants to see treatment. And within the justice system, it, you know, understanding, that when someone commits a crime, it needs to be dealt with appropriately so that the person can get the treatment they need so that they can start the path to recovery. The biggest part of this education that we're trying to make sure everyone understands is that recovery is possible. So often, I still hear people say that, basically, they write off someone with a mental illness because they're doomed. It's never going to get better. And that's not true. The treatments that we're coming up with, the research that we're doing, is every day gets better and better. I mean, we know things about the brain now that 10 years ago we didn't know. And so, as I said, I know people who are living with a mental illness successfully and have relationships and marriages and children and are productive and well-adjusted and healthy. And they're doing what they need to do to stay that way. And that's, obviously, that's our wish for everyone is to be able to have the means, whether it's through insurance or to have the access to the resources they need to have that right as well. Yeah, and to get through the first block of dealing with the fear of having a mental illness, then going and getting the assistance, finding the right medication regimen, for that person, because every person's different. Every person is different. And the beautiful thing now is the psychopharmacology for people with serious mental illnesses is getting better. These drugs are getting to be more targeted towards getting more dopamine going or anything like that within that specific part of the brain without having as many side effects as were, like, in the past, like Thorazine or Valium or anything like that. Well, Thorazine was one of the huge ones for schizophrenia that had a lot of side effects, correct? Correct, absolutely. The new generation of drugs are much cleaner. And they're becoming more so every day. The other thing, and alternative therapies, you know, there's the transcranial magnetic, you know, therapy that they're using that are helping with drug-resistant depression. There are a lot of, there's a lot of crossover between epilepsy and mental illness, ironically. Well, it's not really ironic, actually. If you believe, once you understand that this is all a brain disorder, that we're talking about a brain disorder, it makes sense that this is going to be similar to epilepsy, is going to be similar to autism, is going to be similar to Alzheimer's, that they're all, they're all brain disorders. And they're at varying stages. Obviously, Alzheimer's is towards the end of life and there are other mitigating factors to that. But they are all, it is, you know, I sort of have this wish that in 10 years, no offense to the psychiatrists out there, we're going to stop calling this psychiatry and we're going to start calling it neurology or brain or, you know, I'm trying to think of a word with brain. You know, instead of, obviously, neurologists have their own practices, but that I think part of the term psychiatry, it pulled it away from the brain. The term psychiatry has pulled away thought, away from it being a brain disorder. It made it something other than a brain disorder, which is what you think of with neurology. And I think that's a disservice because I think that ultimately, you know, there is... There is a physical cause. There is a reason why it's happening and it's understanding the brain well enough and doing the research for mental illness the way they do research for epilepsy and they do research for Alzheimer's and they do research for autism. You know, doing the same brain research to understand what's going on in the brain so that you can target how best to treat the disorder. And that's... That's how you're going to get more, even more specific targeting. You know, one of the most exciting things is they're talking about being able to do gene testing and understanding which drugs in the future, which drugs would fit based on this person's genetic makeup. That's exciting. That's very exciting. Yeah, because right now, we have like PET scans and fMRIs. If you can afford it, if your insurance covers it, you can do it. Those are perfect diagnostic tools to undergo if you think that you have, you know, a serious mental illness or one of your family members does because it shows exactly what's going on in your brain. And then you can work with a psychiatrist and say, look, okay, the neurologist, you know, and the psychiatrist can sit there and consult with each other and figure out exactly what's going on. And it's just the route to getting the specific, drug therapy, if necessary, is just so much shorter. They're not, you're right, they're not trying to figure out what is going to be the right fit for that patient. Correct. Yes. And going back, that goes back to mental health parity, you know, in terms of insurance. If I suspected, you know, if I went in and they suspected I had breast cancer, I'm assuming I'm allowed to say that on the air because I thought about it. Oh, that's okay. That's common term, right? You know, they find a mass, they do a mammogram. If they can't get a clear picture, they do targeted mammograms. They keep going. Those are tests that are used for screening. And that's covered by insurance. I've met, you know, you don't have to pay for those things. And so why the same diagnostic tools aren't available for a brain illness is that's a mental health, that's a mental health, that's a mental health, that's a mental health, that's a mental health parity issue. Right. And that's going to be changing. That's going to have to change. Because honestly, you know, as with anything else, you know, you want to talk about cost. Well, let's talk about cost in the long run when you don't actually treat the disorder that you should be treating. You know, I talk about the wasted money. And wasted lives on top of it. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, that I think is the most tragic part of this. It's not so much, it's not so much the cost because, you know, again, it's a consumerism issue here. The more people get diagnosed properly like this, it's going to cost less. You know, the government's got to get that under control. It's like the cost to our society by not treating mental illnesses properly is much more extensive untreated than it is if you can get them and give them the proper tools. It's just so much shorter. And yeah. It's more costly on a treatment level. It's more costly on an emotional level. It's more costly on a societal level. It is, you know, we are losing our resources. Our human beings are resources. And I think about, you know, and you're talking about mental illness hits in the prime of life, right? So it's hitting children. It's hitting high school students. It's hitting college agents. It's hitting college students so often. And it happens later as well. But if you look at the, you know, you're stopping someone in the prime of their life when they have so much to contribute to society. And, you know, that's the societal piece. That's where society pays a price for not making sure that people can be their best selves, that we can all function and reach our potential. And, you know, we all pay a price when that happens. We all lose out. We do. And also to look at that, I have known people with serious mental illnesses that were incredibly creative. Just had a gift for the arts or writing or whatever and just phenomenal. But they had struggles trying to keep doing their passions, their artwork, because of struggling with the circumstances. And I think that's a big part of it. They had a lot of severe mental illness and the stigma and the shame and everything else associated with it. They did not get the support that they needed and just deteriorated. And I knew a couple that committed suicide. So, I mean, it's just, you know, I'm praying that this is going to change. And, you know, hopefully somewhere within that complicated Obamacare package, there's something for mental health. there there will be there is and there will be this is a good um there on many on many fronts this is a good step for us um in terms of just alone the one point alone that now someone cannot be denied insurance because of mental health diagnosis up until now if you had a mental health diagnosis you were no longer considered insurable unbelievable it's unbelievable it is unbelievable that in our country that was allowed to happen um in this country in the united states of america that that was allowed to happen and um and that alone is going to help families because you know they were only allowed people were only allowed to keep their children on insurance a certain number of years and um that alone is going to help make sure that people are have access to treatment that that can be affordable that is affordable um being able to pay for medications no one should have to worry about how much it costs to get antipsychotic medications because trust me as a society we want to make sure people get their antipsychotic medications right and they're expensive we need that yes and they are expensive yeah which is which is one of the reasons why you know patients go off of them is like i can't afford it so therefore it's like okay do i eat or and have a roof over my head or do i take my antipsychotic medication that's an either or right and that's a bad decision to have to make that is terrible so can you tell us a little bit more about that the children's program is a program that's been going on for a long time and i think that's that's fascinating and it's wonderful that that's a new program because i've i've done some therapy with children with some real aggression and anger issues that hopefully with a little bit of therapy and you know intervention by the schools and hopefully the parents you know it's going to um help to not let something that might be workable as a child uh mental problem later on sure well and you know one of the things that we found that i find is so beautiful about the basics class in particular is you know that is about educating the parents and so often especially when you're talking about parents of young children is that um they blame themselves parents blame themselves and so they don't they think they've done something wrong they think it's their parenting they're probably not they're probably not they're probably people out there telling them it's that they're not a good parent or they're not setting the right rules or everybody has an opinion and um and and is letting them know what that opinion is and so you find a lot of parents with shame and if you are full of shame you cannot seek help it's it's so difficult to reach out because of the shame and so the wonderful thing about the basics class is we take the shame away that this isn't anything you did but this is what's going on in your child's brain and here's how we can help and here's what we can do and now you've turned that shame into some hope because now you're saying oh there is something to do this is what it is and this is how we can this is how we can work with it um so to me giving parents back hope is an amazing thing and um it's one of the things you know i i i'm in the service industry i've you know i started in education and and now i do client advocacy and for me it is about service the work i do with nami is the most rewarding work i've ever done and um and it's why i keep volunteering all my spare time all the all the spare time i don't have it it really is that program that basics program is really exciting to me and the other things that are they ending the silence is also really We are in an epidemic right now of young children who are taking their own lives, and we as a society need to take a hard look at that, why we're allowing things to happen in our schools and in our communities that make it so impossible for a child to feel that there's any hope in their life. Yeah, we can't afford to turn a blind eye anymore. Absolutely not. And, you know, when there is a suicide, there is typically depression, and it may be situational depression because of bullying, which is often the case. But many people are bullied without then committing suicide, so we need to take a look at what's causing children to take that next step and why don't they have the supports in place. And that's why going into the schools with the ending of silence is, number one. Yes, the teachers are hearing this, too, but these kids are hearing about it. They're understanding that there's hope, that this is temporary. Whatever is going on inside for you is temporary. It also raises awareness for these kids to look at their peers because the peers always know what's going on. The parents might not know, but the peers always know. And you'll hear afterwards, well, their best friend was, they knew, he or she knew, but was sworn to secrecy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so it needs to be a conversation and we're, we're bringing that conversation to the school. So that's very exciting for us. That's beautiful. That is, and it's again, going on and educating and, and, you know, letting people know this, this is preventable. If he can nip it in the bud at the beginning and not let it get full blown, this, this could, suicide is preventable. I think in a lot of cases. Absolutely. And, and it's preventable on a, on a, on a community level. That's not to say, you know, there are there, it's never anyone's fault that they let somebody commit suicide. But as a community, we can make sure that we've educated people as much as we have. We've offered the supports in place. We know that. There's no shame in asking for help. That everybody struggles and it's okay to reach out and it's encouraged to reach out. And by making sure that message is loud and clear and we reduce the stigma. Once again, if we go back to that stigma, reduce the stigma, then yeah, you're going to eliminate a lot of these suicides. It, it is. It is something that for me, I, I think probably because I started in. Education for me, it's very dear to my heart. And, um, you know, I see. Children and with all the potential in the world and, um, it saddens me that they are for what, you know, whatever life they have been brought into that they can't see their own potential. And for me, that's. Where I, I really, I think that's. Part of the reason why I'm so passionate about these programs. It's helping children who are struggling at that moment or may come across some, one of their friends that's struggling. That can be that difference that can make that difference. And, um, and that's pretty powerful. That is powerful. Yeah, I agree. And, and also just the programs for the college age students also, especially since. A, you know, we're doing the, the one year memorial for San. D hook. And that's one of my passions is, is to go and get the information out there to the, you know, the older teens, young adults, the ones who are really seeming to struggle right now. You know, and to prevent some of the, some more mass shootings. This to me, I think is, should, again, I think this should be one of the priorities that this country is taking right now. Is to get the education. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Get the education out there, get the preventative programs out there and prevent these mass shootings from happening. Correct. They're totally preventable. And you know, it's amazing. Every story you hear about these mass shootings, every single one you hear this individual fell through the gaps and it's easy to demonize. It's so easy as a society for us to say, what a bad, horrible, evil person. That's not evil. That's ill. That is ill. That is evil. That is an illness that hasn't been treated. And we need to take culpability for that as a society. And until we do, we're not fixing that problem. No, we're just putting band-aids on it. That is a problem in our society. Yeah. And until we accept accountability for how we're letting this happen, we're allowing these people to fall through our cracks, through the insurance cracks, through the system cracks, whatever the cracks are. Until we assume the accountability for that, nothing's going to change. And we will continue to pay a price. And one of the things you mentioned, the colleges. One of the things that on the college campuses that makes it so important for more awareness to happen there at times, it's not more important, but it's equally important as with the younger children is once someone is in college, parents no longer have any control over their health care. So when you have a 12-year-old child or a 15-year-old child, parents still are able to control their health care. When you have a 12-year-old child, parents still are able to go in, take them to a doctor. They are in control of his treatment plan. When someone is of college age, once you hit 18, you make your own decisions. So if you don't have the awareness of mental health, then you're going to be less likely to be able to make the right decisions for yourself. And so the education there is imperative that we get out and make sure that college kids understand. Yeah. That there's no shame in asking for help and that, in fact, it is a heroic step. It's strength. Yes. Take that step. You are a hero. You're a hero for yourself. You're a hero for your family and everyone who loves you and everyone who is around you. You are a hero. Just step up to bat and make sure you get yourself the help you need. Exactly. The help that they deserve. Exactly. Most definitely. Well, Sylvia, as we're wrapping up, can I... Can you give the listeners some contact information, please? Absolutely. So as I mentioned, the NAMI National, if you're not in the LA area, NAMI National is... The website's www.NAMI, N-A-M-I, like National Alliance Mental Illness, NAMI.org. For folks here in LA and Westside LA, our office is 310-889-7200. And our website is www.NAMILA, so N-A-M-I-L-A.org. And just a quick shout out, if I may. Yes. We are having a very fun fundraiser on Friday and Saturday of this weekend in Venice. It's called the Depressed Cake Shop Pop-Up Bakery. It's at St. Joseph's in Venice. And all proceeds will be donated to NAMI West LA and St. Joseph's. And which is also benefits mental health. They have a wonderful program for mental health there as well. And it's a fun event. And Friday night from 6 to 9 and Saturday from 10 to 6. And they're baked goods. And they've got... The Depressed Cake Shop is a very exciting global initiative that's happening to help raise funds for mental health organizations. So it's on our website. And we'd love to see everybody there. Yeah. So everybody there. Beautiful. Thank you so much. And I hope a lot of people do go there. That sounds like a great, great fundraiser. It's a lot of fun. We did one in August and it was terrific. The theme has to be that the baked goods are all gray on the outside, but they have a bright color on the inside to signify hope and that things get better. Oh, that's fascinating. I'll have to eat one of those one time. It sounds... Yeah. No, I'm curious. Well, Sylvia Thompson, thank you so much for joining us tonight. It was so my pleasure, Julianne. Thank you so much for having me. Take care. Bye-bye. And for our listeners, if you cannot listen to this whole podcast, we are archived on skidrowstudios.com. We have about 30, 35 shows in the works right now. And also check out the other shows on Skid Row Studios. We are adding every week and just fascinating different programs. So I highly encourage you to check that out. And if you would like to contact me, I am at 564-234-4650. My email is jgoode8 at verizon.net. I do therapy down in Newport Beach, California. And I'm also launching off onto therapycable.com. I also have more practitioners that I work with at that site. So check us out over there too. Thank you so much for joining us on Psych One-on-One. Thank you so much to Jeremy Hansen. And take care of yourself. Take care of each other. Bye now. Bye.