Save the Dates


• The Benefit Golf Tournament is scheduled for 10/3.
  
• Potluck (August - TBA)
  
• The Holiday Hope Dinner will take place in December 2008.
  
• The Ambassador of Hope Awards Dinner is planned for April 2009.
  Check back for more details.

Education Meetings begin at 7:30 p.m.
3534 West End Church of Christ
2nd floor - Meeting Room

Speaker: Dr. Pat Levitt, Professor/Director of the Kennedy Center
Event date:  Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Time of event:  7:30pm – 8:30pm
Event topic:  mental illness, bipolar, anxiety, depression

Pat Levitt, PhD, is the Annette Schaeffer Eskind Chair and Director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. He also is Professor of Pharmacology at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Dr Levitt received his PhD degree in neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. He served as Chairman of the Department of Neurobiology and Co-Director of the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh for 6 years before moving to Vanderbilt in 2002. Also named a McKnight Foundation Scholar in 2002, Dr Levitt is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an elected member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, and is a member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council for the National Institutes of Health.

Dr Levitt’s research interests are in the development of brain circuits that control learning and emotion. His clinical genetics and basic research studies focus on understanding the basis of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia, and how genes and the environment together influence typical and atypical development. In 2006, his work on autism genetics received the Cozzarelli Prize from the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science as the Outstanding Biomedical Sciences paper. He has received a large number of research grants from the National Institutes of Health, and foundations such as the McKnight Endowment Fund, the Joseph and Esther Klingenstein Foundation, the March of Dimes, Scottish Rite Foundation, and NARSAD. He is the author of over 190 scientific papers. Dr Levitt serves on the editorial board of Biological Psychiatry, Cerebral Cortex, and Neuron. Dr. Levitt is a frequently invited speaker at national and international seminars and conferences, as well as public education and policy forums that promote the health and education of children. In 2007, his work in public policy included a speech before Congress for the House Speaker-sponsored National Summit on America’s Children.

Date: June 10
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Place: 3534 West End Church of Christ

Announcement: Juli Gallup, community liaison for Disability Law and Advocacy Center (DLAC) of Tennessee, will speak at the NAMI Nashville Education Meeting at 3534 West End Church of Christ on June 10. DLAC provides legally based advocacy for individuals with disability in the area of civil rights violations in education, employment, access to building and services, abuse and neglect issues, and voting rights. DLAC also provides the Client Assistance Program for Vocational Rehabilitation in the State of Tennessee

DLAC is excited to have the opportunity to speak to the NAMI Nashville group about its agency and the services that it provides. There will also be time for feedback from attendees about discrimination and civil rights challenges faced in day to day lives. For additional information please visit the website at www.DLACTN.org.

Speaker: Linda Dunlap - Jason Foundation, Director of Education on 5/13
For more information visit the Jason Foundation.

Speaker: NAMI TN (Roger Stewart) and Everyminute.org (Michael Corbin) on 4/8

Lori Nason is the Diversion Service Nurse Manager for the Crisis Stabilization Unit with the Mental Health Cooperative. Lori was the education speaker on 3/11/2008.

Rori Mason - Executive Director of Grandpa's House was the education speaker on 2/8/2008. Click here for more information.

With Hope in Mind

With Hope in Mind is an 8-week family education course that provides basic information about schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and dual diagnosis. The course is based on symptomology of the illnesses. It also covers information on medications, recovery and rehabilitation and suggests possible sources of financial assistance. Additionally, this course offers helpful skills-building classes, such as problem solving and communication, that aid family members to better cope with the illness. It also provides immediate coping skills for dealing with the different cycles of each illness, including crisis planning. The revised edition will also contain a religious unit. The class concludes with a session on advocacy which empowers family members to be effective advocates for their loved ones with mental illnesses. With Hope in Mind is a modular course that can be presented in numerous ways and contains 5 videos. It has a support group component also. (1½ hr. per class, 8 presentations) The course is available in Spanish and French.