Creating a Culture that Values the Inclusion of Those with Mental Illness

Posted by on February 27, 2011

Webinar: Changing Perspectives-Creating a Culture that Values the Inclusion of Those with Mental Illness

Date: Monday, March 7th, Time: 4:00pm – 5:00pm EST (3:00 PM Central, 2:00 PM Mountain, 1:00 PM Pacific)

The National Service Inclusion Project (NSIP) is pleased to announce our next web conference to be held on Monday, March 7th at 4:00pm EST which will discuss including national service members with mental health-related disabilities. With the recent tragedy in Arizona, there has been a national spotlight on the topic of mental health that has generated significant public discussion.  Reports from media outlets, public service announcements, and nonprofit/charity organizations have all been working toward informing and/or clarifying this often misunderstood topic.

In particular for those in the national service field, there are questions about including members or volunteers with mental illness and how to provide accommodations if needed. Leading this informed, timely discussion on mental health will be two persons from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Rhode Island- Chaz Gross, Executive Director and Penny Ferrara, Inside Mental Illness Educational Co-Coordinator.  They will focus on exploring and improving our responses to individuals with a lived experience of mental illness in national service.

Some topics to be covered include:
-Myths about mental illness
-General discussion of mental illnesses, including: signs and symptoms, tips for positive interactions, things to avoid in interactions
-Supervising individuals with a lived experience of mental illness
-The impact of disclosure and legal implications
-Building bridges among community organizations and service volunteers

Featured Speakers:
Chaz Gross, MA, CAGS
Executive Director, NAMI Rhode Island

Penny Ferrara, BA
Inside Mental Illness Educational Co-Coordinator, NAMI Rhode Island

http://www.namirhodeisland.org/

To register for this event, please email nsip@umb.edu  by 12:00 PM EST on Friday, March 4th with the following info:

-Name
-Organization
-Email
-Phone
-If you require CART* to participate, please also indicate that in your email.

Please note: We will send out confirmation emails by Friday afternoon, March 4th with instructions how to sign into the web conference.

*CART service provides instantaneous translation of the speech text using real-time software. Teleconference participants receive caption services over the web. This is an accommodation we provide to participants who are Deaf or hard of hearing.

The National Service Inclusion Project (NSIP) is a training and technical assistance provider on disability inclusion, under a cooperative agreement (#08TAHMA001) from Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). NSIP partners with the Association on University Centers on Disability, National Council on Independent Living, Association on Higher Education and Disability and National Down Syndrome Congress to build connections among disability organizations and all CNCS grantees, to increase the participation of people with disabilities in national service.