What if you could help us win $1000 just by giving 10 bucks? On November 16, Give to the Max Day, you can. Last year we saw over $4,000 in donations through Give to the Max, so we’re very excited to be participating again this year.

Visit our page on GiveMN.org on November 16 to make a donation.

Overall last year, more than 38,000 donors logged on to GiveMN.org and gave over $14 million to more than 3,000 Minnesota charities and nonprofits in 24 hours during Give to the Max Day. This year, the goal for GiveMN.org  is to beat that record by engaging 40,000 donors during the second annual Give to the Max Day on November 16. The Mental Health Association of Minnesota together with GiveMN.org – a first-of-its-kind giving website for nonprofits in Minnesota – is working to create a stronger nonprofit community for Minnesota.

GiveMN’s Give to the Max Day amplifies your giving impact in a number of ways:

• Win a Golden Ticket! $1,000 will be given to a random donor’s charity every hour. You could be that donor! If you are up early or up late, increase our chances of winning that $1,000 by donating at time when there are fewer people awake.
• Put us on the Leader Board! Your donation on November 16, could put us on the leader board to win $10,000 or even $20,000 for the most number of donors for our nonprofit. Help us get “on the board!”

Visit the MHAM page at GiveMN.org to donate.

And thank you to all of our donors throughout the year. We appreciate  your support of our mission to enhance mental health, promote individual empowerment, and increase access to treatment and services for persons with mental illnesses.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is looking at making some very important changes to the mechanisms by which disability is determined for people with mental illness. The proposed changes would probably be expected to make it much more difficult to be found disabled by the SSA if the primary basis of disability is a mental illness.

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law has studied and provided a recap of the proposed rule changes Major concerns revolve about the proposed implementation of standardized tests and eligibility determinations hinging on the number of standard deviations from the mean on the new standardized tests. Bazelon projects that only one to two percent of the nation’s population will qualify as disabled as a result of a mental illness under the rule change if adopted. This is far below the most conservative of the estimates of the people with mental illness that are thought to be unable to work.

There are no standardized tests that have a body of evidence that suggest the tests will be able to predict an individuals ability to work Adoption of the proposed rules can be expected to result in many people being turned down by Social Security, but who will not, due to their mental illness, be able to work.

You may express your concerns and/or objections to the proposed rule changes to the Social Security Administration, but you must do so by November 17, 2010. Address your comments to the SSA by one of the following methods:

Go to the http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#home website and search for docket number SSA-2007-0101 and follow directions.

or Fax the SSA at 410-966-2830

or mail the Office of Regulations, Social Security Administration, 137 Altmeyer Bldg., 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21235-6401

Just a reminder that in recognition of Mental Illness Awareness Week, MHAM is hosting the Celebrating Recovery education event on Tuesday, October 5 at the Ramada Plaza in Minneapolis. The event will begin at 9:30 a.m. and conclude at 3 p.m. We would love to see you there! If you register before October 5, admission is $15. At the door admission is $20. Your admission includes presentations, a Wellness Fair, a Steps To Wellness self-care kit, and lunch.

This will be a great event for individuals living with mental illnesses, their family members and friends, and mental health providers. Michael Trangle, MD will speak about holistic care and staying healthy and Minnesota 10 x 10 and the DIAMOND program. Kim Lutes will share her experiences with the mental health system and the importance of self-advocacy. Brain Doran will discuss ways in which family members and friends can support a loved one who is living with a mental illness. Brett Dumke will provide an overview of the brand new Steps to Wellness self-care kits. Ed Eide will give examples of how individuals can share their stories to influence public policy.

The Steps to Wellness kits have been developed with support from an educational grant from Lilly USA, LLC, a charitable contribution from Janssen, Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceutical, Inc., a grant from Park Nicollet Foundation Healthy Community, and a grant from Pfizer Healthcare. The kits contain tools to help individuals manage their health and learn skills to advocate for themselves when working with medical professionals and social service providers. After the event, the kits will be available for order from the MHAM website.

Tickets to this event are still available. Please see the Celebrating Recovery page on our website to register online. Scholarships are available. To arrange for a scholarship, please contact Ed Eide at 612-843-4868, ext. 1 or edeide at mentalhealthmn.org.

By Brett Dumke, MHAM Education Coordinator

Who will develop the next generation of medications for mental illness? That was the question posed by the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Dr. Thomas Insel, on a recent NIMH blog posting. Dr. Insel commented on the recent decision of two major pharmaceutical companies to terminate their psychiatric medication development programs and the likelihood of others to do so as well. If new drug innovation comes to a screeching halt, it will have a profound impact for individuals who have not responded well to medications that are currently available. In order to fill this void, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NIMH may have to play a key part in all phases of drug development in the coming years.  MHAM will continue to monitor this alarming trend and will provide updates when they develop.