As a person with a serious and persistent mental illness, intellectual challenges and who struggles with substance abuse (I have to clarify that I am truly addicted to caffeine), my perspective may be a little bit different than many other people's viewpoint.
Some of my peers have taken offense to the supposedly "proposed" administrative name change from the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Administration to the Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Administration - some of it because they felt it was a "done deal" and they were not truly given a chance to give their perspectives.
I picked up an acronym lately that I like - GGMG. It stands for Get/Give perspective then Give/Get perspective. (Which ever order is most appropriate for the situation). From there, Merge perspectives then Go!
I would like to give my perspective on this. A name can provide essential definition and focus to something like an organization, a business or a department.
I get my services, not from our public mental health system, but from Henry Ford Health System - Behavioral Health Services. I do not take offense to the term 'behavioral' when it is matched up with the word 'health'. I believe the services I receive from Henry Ford Health System are provided for me in a manner that contributes to my Well-Being (Health) as well as my Well-Doing (Behavior).
I have developed a personal mission based off of this notion.
To BE/DO well and good
in order to
BE/DO well and good.
You need to be more well in order to do more good and doing good helps keep you well.
I can see Behavioral Health as a bridge to Holistic Health - which brings the mental into the physical and the physical into the mental. This is applicable to all people regardless of categorical status. This is part of the Keys to Total Health (which is the name of our Recovery conference in Oakland County).
We serve people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Adults with Serious Mental Illness, Children with Severe Emotional Disturbance and people who have Substance Abuse and Addiction challenges. All of the people we serve have an essential concern about their intellectual and developmental abilities. I like the idea of including Abilities rather than having a focus on Disabilities.
My proposal for a new name would be the Administration of Behavioral Health Inclusive of Intellectual and Developmental Abilities.
I know this is not the language we commonly use, but I wanted to put it out there. I am finding out that 'speaking up' is one of my 'developing abilities'. I'm not sure my perspective is one to be 'merged', but I felt it should be heard.
Mark A. Jones
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Does My Vision Count?
Three years ago we were updating our annual plan at Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority here in Michigan. I felt that I wanted to share my vision of what things should be like in 3-5 years in the future. Here's what I came up with.
Mark A. Jones (09/03/2008)
Each Year we go through the same process of developing an annual plan, and each year I never get to the point where I express what I feel I might have to contribute. To look at a plan for the next year with everything pretty much set doesn’t give me room to really comment on what I generally think about when I consider what I believe OCCMHA can do for the people we serve and the region we live in.
The goals each year are getting more tangible. They are stated in such a way that you would think that we played a more tactical role than a logistical role. When I think about things, I tend to focus on the theoretical and/or catalytic role of OCCMHA. From my view, these are the most important. We have delegated the logistical and tactical aspects of meeting our mission to the Core Provider Agencies. I look at the realms that are less obvious, but have a significant impact.
I see OCCMHA primarily as an agent for facilitating the development of individuals, organizations, communities and cultures that work together towards our mission and vision.
For persons dealing with serious mental illness, I see us facilitating recovery, growth and transition through our own efforts, but more so through the efforts of the Core Provider Agencies and with collaborations of entities in a variety of different communities.
For persons with developmental disabilities, I see us more focused on growth and transition and sometimes recovery.
For families, whether with children with developmental disabilities or serious emotional disturbance, I see us facilitating resiliency and the healing in the family.
For substance abuse, we facilitate the integrated recovery with other disabilities and challenges.
We also have a direct influence on individuals as they interact with us as advocates and stakeholders.
3-5 years from now(2008) - in 2012-2014 – what would I want to see?
• A place where positive growth and healing are the norm for all involved parties (Persons served, persons serving, persons collaborating)
• Not just agents of quality of life, but agents of healing at all levels (Being part of our system should be a means of healing all the way around. If someone volunteers or works in the system, their participation should beget healing in their lives and the lives that they touch - example: applying gentle teaching, motivational interviewing or building on elements of recovery in various areas of our lives and in the community).
• An Oasis – a city in the desert – refreshing and life-giving in an environment that is often toxic. (A sense of arriving at a place where you will be able to get refreshed and re-energized).
• Collaboration at a whole new level with community, stakeholders and staff (Some sort of catalytic changes).
• To discover and advocate for models that will weave the dis-articulated segments of our system into coordinated and effective movements towards a community in good health – physically, mentally and spiritually. (Things need to be tied together. We need to recognize and use the models that will enable us to function well together. We already have been educated on Person Centered Planning. This is based off of Appreciative Inquiry - started at Case Western in Ohio. We need to be able to apply it beyond the individual application of PCP).
• Despite trauma & illness, one enters a culture of active and realistic hope that assists people on their journey of wholeness and meaning. (This has to do with the accessibility of Hope).
• A place where you can’t help but to stumble upon it – where treasures are not hidden, but the keys to access them are out in the open and available to all. (Once again, people are able to readily access the people, processes and resources needed for positive growth).
• A place where positive stories are being written all the time and bad things can be transformed into positive outcomes for those who seek them out. (We are dealing with some pretty bad stuff. I yearn for a place where people who have to deal with some pretty bad stuff have some sort of positive story that is coming out of their journey - consumers, staff, etc..)
• Like a vineyard – for nourishment, health and enjoyment – an organism that provides health and well-being to its inhabitants. (There is a story how the Missouri vineyards saved the French wine industry by grafting disease resistant branches from the Missouri vines onto the French vines and it made it that the French vines became resistant to the fungus that was killing them. I can see this working at a couple levels - one where it applies to peers working in the system and also to the system bringing elements of healing to the broader society).
• Where there is congruence of thought and communication in the region and with the other positive cultures in the state, the nation as well as internationally. (I have an over-sensitivity to it, but I feel like we are often scattered in our foundational beliefs or there is not ready evidence that the foundational thought is widespread or spreading fluidly enough between people and throughout the region. I have seen recent progress with the Anti-Stigma Team and the Metro-AMI chapter transversing boundaries that have traditionally kept us segmented).
• Moving beyond the limitations of hierarchical top down organizational development into some of the more effective sideways organizing. (To remain viable in our mission, we need to take advantage of more sideways organizing. Some of the aspects of seeing things only in terms of top-down structure create limitations on how well appropriate sideways organizing works).
• A place where positive things emerge spontaneously and catch on easily. (Some things take a lot of effort and planning and need to be "rolled-out" like a new line of cars. At other times, you want to work at cultivating the soil, so when a new plant comes along, it can be easily propagated).
• A place of broad intelligence and wisdom in dealing with ongoing problems faced in route of our mission. (It would be nice to have a "business intelligence" that others would look to and that we would utilize well towards achieving our mission.
• A place to where there is a natural dynamic towards effectiveness – where people know how to solve problems and get things done in new more effective ways. (All the way from the highest executives down to persons working on their own or in small collectives, there would be a knowledge of how to effectively do things).
• Is a place where what we do as a system is relevant to a wide realm of civic life. (Our scope of influence would go beyond the people officially part of our system)
• Has a culture where deep anticipatory listening is the norm. (Where, at all levels, people have a firm understanding of the story "Horton Hears a Who". We need to anticipate hearing things we don't expect to hear and then know how to respond).
• A place where solutions are developed and shared and made available to those who need them.
• A place where, I among many, fit in and function well – and where my family is happy and healthy despite mental health challenges. (A place where my family, including myself integrally, can get and give the help we need).
• A place where thinking about those who need services is realistic and coherent – where ridiculous thought is challenged readily and replaced with more logical, healthy attitudes.
• Is a place where meaning and purpose is clear to all, tangible and easy to access by anyone who needs it.
• There are fluid and comprehensive communication systems and methods – both physical & electronic.
• There is a balanced focus on the person as well as the task at hand.
• There is maturing leadership that includes more and more of those being served and who have been served and have a deep concern for those being served in the growth and leadership, decision making and policy setting.
• A place where my coworkers (particularly consumer stakeholder peers) are able to utilize their strengths to contribute their best to the vital operations in the system (at all levels with a broad scope – not just in clubhouses, drop-ins and with peer support specialists)
• A place where appropriate teams are assembled with the necessary people of a variety of types and interaction styles to get things accomplished as desired.
• A place where heavy burdens and concerns do not get lumped up on top of an individuals back, but is split up logically and in a manner that increases the capacity of those carrying those concerns.
• A place where ‘consumer’ is used at appropriate times in our language and a broader understanding of how peers are all the persons you work side-by-side working towards the same aim.
• A place where common misunderstandings are quickly aired and resolved, so productive communication can resume promptly.
It is nearly 3 years later and I wonder how much closer we are to some of these things. I guess there really is a good purpose for metrics, but some things are difficult to quantify.
"Not everything that counts can be counted
- Not everything that can be counted counts"
- Albert Einstein
Mark A. Jones (09/03/2008)
Each Year we go through the same process of developing an annual plan, and each year I never get to the point where I express what I feel I might have to contribute. To look at a plan for the next year with everything pretty much set doesn’t give me room to really comment on what I generally think about when I consider what I believe OCCMHA can do for the people we serve and the region we live in.
The goals each year are getting more tangible. They are stated in such a way that you would think that we played a more tactical role than a logistical role. When I think about things, I tend to focus on the theoretical and/or catalytic role of OCCMHA. From my view, these are the most important. We have delegated the logistical and tactical aspects of meeting our mission to the Core Provider Agencies. I look at the realms that are less obvious, but have a significant impact.
I see OCCMHA primarily as an agent for facilitating the development of individuals, organizations, communities and cultures that work together towards our mission and vision.
For persons dealing with serious mental illness, I see us facilitating recovery, growth and transition through our own efforts, but more so through the efforts of the Core Provider Agencies and with collaborations of entities in a variety of different communities.
For persons with developmental disabilities, I see us more focused on growth and transition and sometimes recovery.
For families, whether with children with developmental disabilities or serious emotional disturbance, I see us facilitating resiliency and the healing in the family.
For substance abuse, we facilitate the integrated recovery with other disabilities and challenges.
We also have a direct influence on individuals as they interact with us as advocates and stakeholders.
3-5 years from now(2008) - in 2012-2014 – what would I want to see?
• A place where positive growth and healing are the norm for all involved parties (Persons served, persons serving, persons collaborating)
• Not just agents of quality of life, but agents of healing at all levels (Being part of our system should be a means of healing all the way around. If someone volunteers or works in the system, their participation should beget healing in their lives and the lives that they touch - example: applying gentle teaching, motivational interviewing or building on elements of recovery in various areas of our lives and in the community).
• An Oasis – a city in the desert – refreshing and life-giving in an environment that is often toxic. (A sense of arriving at a place where you will be able to get refreshed and re-energized).
• Collaboration at a whole new level with community, stakeholders and staff (Some sort of catalytic changes).
• To discover and advocate for models that will weave the dis-articulated segments of our system into coordinated and effective movements towards a community in good health – physically, mentally and spiritually. (Things need to be tied together. We need to recognize and use the models that will enable us to function well together. We already have been educated on Person Centered Planning. This is based off of Appreciative Inquiry - started at Case Western in Ohio. We need to be able to apply it beyond the individual application of PCP).
• Despite trauma & illness, one enters a culture of active and realistic hope that assists people on their journey of wholeness and meaning. (This has to do with the accessibility of Hope).
• A place where you can’t help but to stumble upon it – where treasures are not hidden, but the keys to access them are out in the open and available to all. (Once again, people are able to readily access the people, processes and resources needed for positive growth).
• A place where positive stories are being written all the time and bad things can be transformed into positive outcomes for those who seek them out. (We are dealing with some pretty bad stuff. I yearn for a place where people who have to deal with some pretty bad stuff have some sort of positive story that is coming out of their journey - consumers, staff, etc..)
• Like a vineyard – for nourishment, health and enjoyment – an organism that provides health and well-being to its inhabitants. (There is a story how the Missouri vineyards saved the French wine industry by grafting disease resistant branches from the Missouri vines onto the French vines and it made it that the French vines became resistant to the fungus that was killing them. I can see this working at a couple levels - one where it applies to peers working in the system and also to the system bringing elements of healing to the broader society).
• Where there is congruence of thought and communication in the region and with the other positive cultures in the state, the nation as well as internationally. (I have an over-sensitivity to it, but I feel like we are often scattered in our foundational beliefs or there is not ready evidence that the foundational thought is widespread or spreading fluidly enough between people and throughout the region. I have seen recent progress with the Anti-Stigma Team and the Metro-AMI chapter transversing boundaries that have traditionally kept us segmented).
• Moving beyond the limitations of hierarchical top down organizational development into some of the more effective sideways organizing. (To remain viable in our mission, we need to take advantage of more sideways organizing. Some of the aspects of seeing things only in terms of top-down structure create limitations on how well appropriate sideways organizing works).
• A place where positive things emerge spontaneously and catch on easily. (Some things take a lot of effort and planning and need to be "rolled-out" like a new line of cars. At other times, you want to work at cultivating the soil, so when a new plant comes along, it can be easily propagated).
• A place of broad intelligence and wisdom in dealing with ongoing problems faced in route of our mission. (It would be nice to have a "business intelligence" that others would look to and that we would utilize well towards achieving our mission.
• A place to where there is a natural dynamic towards effectiveness – where people know how to solve problems and get things done in new more effective ways. (All the way from the highest executives down to persons working on their own or in small collectives, there would be a knowledge of how to effectively do things).
• Is a place where what we do as a system is relevant to a wide realm of civic life. (Our scope of influence would go beyond the people officially part of our system)
• Has a culture where deep anticipatory listening is the norm. (Where, at all levels, people have a firm understanding of the story "Horton Hears a Who". We need to anticipate hearing things we don't expect to hear and then know how to respond).
• A place where solutions are developed and shared and made available to those who need them.
• A place where, I among many, fit in and function well – and where my family is happy and healthy despite mental health challenges. (A place where my family, including myself integrally, can get and give the help we need).
• A place where thinking about those who need services is realistic and coherent – where ridiculous thought is challenged readily and replaced with more logical, healthy attitudes.
• Is a place where meaning and purpose is clear to all, tangible and easy to access by anyone who needs it.
• There are fluid and comprehensive communication systems and methods – both physical & electronic.
• There is a balanced focus on the person as well as the task at hand.
• There is maturing leadership that includes more and more of those being served and who have been served and have a deep concern for those being served in the growth and leadership, decision making and policy setting.
• A place where my coworkers (particularly consumer stakeholder peers) are able to utilize their strengths to contribute their best to the vital operations in the system (at all levels with a broad scope – not just in clubhouses, drop-ins and with peer support specialists)
• A place where appropriate teams are assembled with the necessary people of a variety of types and interaction styles to get things accomplished as desired.
• A place where heavy burdens and concerns do not get lumped up on top of an individuals back, but is split up logically and in a manner that increases the capacity of those carrying those concerns.
• A place where ‘consumer’ is used at appropriate times in our language and a broader understanding of how peers are all the persons you work side-by-side working towards the same aim.
• A place where common misunderstandings are quickly aired and resolved, so productive communication can resume promptly.
It is nearly 3 years later and I wonder how much closer we are to some of these things. I guess there really is a good purpose for metrics, but some things are difficult to quantify.
"Not everything that counts can be counted
- Not everything that can be counted counts"
- Albert Einstein
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Emerging Inter-Dependence
This article is originally from August of 2009.
There is some sort of continuum in a wide variety of types of dependent relationships progressing towards greater independence and then in to inter-dependence.
The most common example is with a child. A baby expects to be taken care of. If any of its needs are not being met, he/she will definitely let you know. The child then starts to recognize things that he/she really can’t do for himself/herself and the child is in the position where he/she need to ask for help. As a toddler, he/she move on to the next stage where he/she will need to start to do some things on his/her own.
This model can apply to an individual as well as a group of people – individual consumer, group of consumers (drop-in, clubhouses, advisory committees, work groups), employees (direct care workers, case managers), agencies (Core providers, other agencies) – any where there is a dependent relationship progressing towards independence and interdependence.
This could be applied on many levels, but my interest lies in the relationships of emerging groups of consumers with the parties they depend on. Individually consumers are dependent for supports and services that are provided by the core agencies. By nature of the relationship, consumers have disabilities that put them in a dependent position. For example, they cannot prescribe their own medications, nor would they need case management unless they have the need for case management.
There are some consumers that we provide supports and services for whom they are stuck in stage 1) Assumed Care or stage or in stage 2) Recognized Dependency. We need to recognize that there will be a certain number of consumers stuck in these regions of dependency. Most everyone else is temporarily there or is further on up the scale. The Recovery Movement in our county primarily involves the middle stages: 3) Emerging Autonomy; 4) Instructional Interdependence; and 5) Emerging Independence. In the last two stages, that is where Interdependence becomes a primary form of interaction. Some collaborations will hopefully enable you to solve a problem together, while on occasion, there will be other exemplary collaborations that are synergistic and catalytic and spur things on to new levels. People and groups need to be respected for whichever stage they are currently in.
Because there is this variance in where different consumers and consumer groups are at, there needs to be a conscious effort to avoid stereotyping the people who receive our services and supports from our system. The notion of “THE Consumer” is a myth. We are not all alike and we each have our own journey that we are traveling. The model is not for ‘typing’ consumers, but rather is to be used to explain the various relationships involved when someone in a dependent position transitions towards independence and inter-dependence. However, I am not sure that ‘stage’ is the right word for what I am trying to talk about. It is more like realms or regions that a person can be in as they are in a variety of different relationships. There is still a stage aspect to it, though. There is a progression from a beginning state towards an ideal state in the end. It may make things a little more complex and confusing, but, for me, it’s better to deal with this subject as part of continuum rather than in the black and white terms that we use so often.
Not much positive is said about dependency, yet we all experience it. Often times, we just don’t know it. We depend on our roads to be there and to be passable. We depend on clean water coming into our house and the ‘used’ water leaving it unseen or un-smelled. Many public services we never even think about until they are gone. The great black out in August of 2003 is an example of that. Dependency becomes a problem when it becomes inappropriate and there is no progress towards a different and more appropriate state. There are some people with great supervisory or physical needs may be dependent on a high level of care the rest of their lives and appropriately so. However, we would want them to make progress in the areas that can be developed.
When working with people who are in Recovery, we need to remember that they are each at their own level along the continuum. When we realize that, we are able to accept the person for where they are at and be there with them on their journey to the next level.
There is some sort of continuum in a wide variety of types of dependent relationships progressing towards greater independence and then in to inter-dependence.
The most common example is with a child. A baby expects to be taken care of. If any of its needs are not being met, he/she will definitely let you know. The child then starts to recognize things that he/she really can’t do for himself/herself and the child is in the position where he/she need to ask for help. As a toddler, he/she move on to the next stage where he/she will need to start to do some things on his/her own.
This model can apply to an individual as well as a group of people – individual consumer, group of consumers (drop-in, clubhouses, advisory committees, work groups), employees (direct care workers, case managers), agencies (Core providers, other agencies) – any where there is a dependent relationship progressing towards independence and interdependence.
This could be applied on many levels, but my interest lies in the relationships of emerging groups of consumers with the parties they depend on. Individually consumers are dependent for supports and services that are provided by the core agencies. By nature of the relationship, consumers have disabilities that put them in a dependent position. For example, they cannot prescribe their own medications, nor would they need case management unless they have the need for case management.
There are some consumers that we provide supports and services for whom they are stuck in stage 1) Assumed Care or stage or in stage 2) Recognized Dependency. We need to recognize that there will be a certain number of consumers stuck in these regions of dependency. Most everyone else is temporarily there or is further on up the scale. The Recovery Movement in our county primarily involves the middle stages: 3) Emerging Autonomy; 4) Instructional Interdependence; and 5) Emerging Independence. In the last two stages, that is where Interdependence becomes a primary form of interaction. Some collaborations will hopefully enable you to solve a problem together, while on occasion, there will be other exemplary collaborations that are synergistic and catalytic and spur things on to new levels. People and groups need to be respected for whichever stage they are currently in.
Because there is this variance in where different consumers and consumer groups are at, there needs to be a conscious effort to avoid stereotyping the people who receive our services and supports from our system. The notion of “THE Consumer” is a myth. We are not all alike and we each have our own journey that we are traveling. The model is not for ‘typing’ consumers, but rather is to be used to explain the various relationships involved when someone in a dependent position transitions towards independence and inter-dependence. However, I am not sure that ‘stage’ is the right word for what I am trying to talk about. It is more like realms or regions that a person can be in as they are in a variety of different relationships. There is still a stage aspect to it, though. There is a progression from a beginning state towards an ideal state in the end. It may make things a little more complex and confusing, but, for me, it’s better to deal with this subject as part of continuum rather than in the black and white terms that we use so often.
Not much positive is said about dependency, yet we all experience it. Often times, we just don’t know it. We depend on our roads to be there and to be passable. We depend on clean water coming into our house and the ‘used’ water leaving it unseen or un-smelled. Many public services we never even think about until they are gone. The great black out in August of 2003 is an example of that. Dependency becomes a problem when it becomes inappropriate and there is no progress towards a different and more appropriate state. There are some people with great supervisory or physical needs may be dependent on a high level of care the rest of their lives and appropriately so. However, we would want them to make progress in the areas that can be developed.
When working with people who are in Recovery, we need to remember that they are each at their own level along the continuum. When we realize that, we are able to accept the person for where they are at and be there with them on their journey to the next level.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Odd Thoughts and Unheard Voices: a collection of unenfettered opinions of a non-normative consumer
Often, the voice of consumers is unheard. The voice of the greater powers and the more knowledgeable persons prevails - even in the realm of where the focus is meant to be on consumers and their recovery.
I am an advocate for/with those who are identified as consumers in the mental heath system. This is a record of my 'odd' thoughts. They are my opinions and they are most commonly different in many circumstances. Odd can mean different and strange, but I like to also reference the phrase of 'odds and ends' - things that may not fit well in other places. Currently, I see this as a journal, but as time goes on, I intend on it to become a forum for other unheard voices to be heard so they can be taken to mind and heart.
I am an advocate for/with those who are identified as consumers in the mental heath system. This is a record of my 'odd' thoughts. They are my opinions and they are most commonly different in many circumstances. Odd can mean different and strange, but I like to also reference the phrase of 'odds and ends' - things that may not fit well in other places. Currently, I see this as a journal, but as time goes on, I intend on it to become a forum for other unheard voices to be heard so they can be taken to mind and heart.
Odd Thought: Enabling Personal Responsibility
Sometimes I think there are certain people in charge that naturally are very driven as competitors or as achievers and that these people will often expect others who are having trouble doing basic life tasks to pull themselves up by their boot straps when they may have had their boot straps cut or that the replacement boot straps they have been given by the people in charge are inadequate.
I have a model about the transition from dependency to interdependency. Most people are aware of the need to move from a dependent condition to an independent condition before you can arrive at an interdependent condition. I believe there are some other stages along the way, and adjustments need to be made in how empowerment can be facilitated for persons still on their journey to it.
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