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The Massachusetts Psychiatric Rehabilitation
Association
A chapter of USPRA
DRAFT MassPRA Board Meeting DRAFT
January 20, 2006
Attending:
Pres. Bob Schueler, Deborah Delman, Brian Osborne,
Will Buckley, Ken
Kuklentz, Susan Abbott, Secretary David Webster;
Mary Gregorio, Maria Restropo-Toro,
Gail Blakely; Pres. Elect Margaret Jordan; We have a
quorum, 11 of 15.
Guests:
Brett Simmons (Westboro SH), Lyn Legere (UMass, BU
CPR), and Marcia Webster (CQI Western Mass): all are
nominees for board membership.
Not Attending:,
John Labaki~ill, Michelle Forlizzi—schedule
conflicts, Clara Carr—
vacation, Paul Ottenstein—just back from vacation.
Potential board members who have submitted
statements are:
Diane Gould, Lyn
Legere, Marcia Webster, Brett Simmons; ballot to go
out within two weeks.
Minutes:
November minutes approved unanimously (December's
meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather)
Board Meeting Location:
David requested a non-institutional setting; all
speaking agreed; Brett suggested the Westboro Public
Library where she has done art shows. She was tasked
to reserve it—close to 495/Pike. The room is
available, but only at 10am. Brett reserved it for
the next four months (third Fridays, lOam-noon). We
may talk with SMOC or Advocates to see about
potential Central Mass meeting places in the future.
Secetarial laptop: Discussion of buying
laptop for secretary to take minutes at locations
without computer (e.g. Westboro Libraty). Gail
said she had on sitting in close at home that she
would donate to MassPRA. GailPs generosity was
applauded.
Nominations for USPRA awards:
John Beard:
succeeded at renominating Mary Ellen Copeland; went
through this time. Irv Rut man: for CEO—
wanted to nominate Dennis Rice, but did not succeed
this year
Armin Loeb:
Joanne Nicholson (UMass Medical, Internationally
respected researcher on parents w mental illness and
their children) is member & was re-nominated; we had
voted
to nominate Leroy Spaniol, but that wasn't followed
through with. Next year! Early Research: We
contacted Dori Hutchinson and Alexis Henry, but
could obtain no
local nominees. This past week Dori asked for letter
from Bob for Chyrrel Bellamy (who has work and home
ties in New Jersey & Michigan), which board
encouraged, since no
one from Chapter had been identified. Detail's of
why that was needed available from
Bob—complicated, but apparently a national board
member endorsement was needed.
Bob circulated her CV and his draft letter of
endorsement, which was corrected and
approved.
Person in Recovery/Advocacy:
Sincerest apologies were extended to our designated
nominee, Deborah Delman: the board had decided to
nominate her for the award, but did not manage to
get it done. We will review for next year.
Officers:
In April 06 Margaret Jordan will assume the office
of President. Volunteers for other
offices had been urged to contact Bob via e-mail,
but thus far none has done so. Deborah
Delman expressed interest in becoming our President
Elect, and was roundly applauded.
As she pointed out, this should not be taken as a
nomination by acclimation (though support was
obvious), but rather other nominations will also be
welcomed. Kerri expressed some interest in running
for secretary. So far, no-one has stepped forward
for treasurer. Current office-holders cannot repeat
per our bylaws.
We had previously decided that we would make final
decisions on nominees for office in our March
meeting prior to annual meeting vote April.
Bob was elected to national board, which will be
demanding; we will continue chapter policy of
financially supporting his travel to 4 meetings/year
and the national
conference.
Conference Committee Report
April Annual Meeting:
(Will). At statehouse in April or early May. Annual
meeting and
encourage members to contact legislators also. The
board decided to invite Steven Tolman, Chair of the
new Mental Health Committee of Legislature to speak
(co-chair Ruth Balzer was seen as a possibility, but
she has decided not to run for re-election to the
house, so would be a lesser choice), as well as DMH
Commissioner Childs. Deborah
suggested getting sponsorship for room 222, an
attractive room that will comfortably
hold up to 60 people and features moveable chairs.
We have averaged around 40 people
in attendance in the past, but might expect more at
a statehouse event.. Bob will contact his state
representative to secure the room, and Mary will
contact Senator Tolman to
invite him to speak.
Possible other speakers include Pat Nemec, Dept. of
Labor, consumers, on work-force development. Bob
will contact Pat to see if she will speak about the
development of our curriculum, and Bob will
introduce her by outlining the board's perception of
the urgent
need for workforce training in rehabilitation and
recovery.
Chapter Conference:
(Will and committee): The board supported the
committee's recommendation that we
again hold the conference at Holy Cross on a day
between October 17-19 (inclusive). The theme will be
on Workforce Development from psych. Rehab.
Perspective, to be refined by the committee with
detailed recommendation for further discussion at
our next meeting. Lyn and Marcia offered to help on
committee. Board members and others are encouraged
to e-mail suggestions for speakers and perspectives
to Will.
NY APRS Conference:
People encouraged to go the conference in the
Catskills in
September. NY APRS is seeking SAMHSA funding to make
the conference regional in
scope, including scholarships for consumers in Mass,
and other neighboring states. The
board expressed their support, but not as a
replacement for our own.
National Conference:
Bob and Maria reported that the national staff was
leaning against going with Boston as a future site
because of the high cost of hotel rooms. Discussion
ensued of our experience (X2), and the very high
turnout for the last conference (it was the second
largest ever); Boston as a draw and easy for NY/New
England attendees. The
downside of having summer conferences in hot places,
even with cheap room rates, and
other issues related to less attractive sites was
discussed.
Maria & Mary suggested more encouragement to the
national office staff, who have little
experience staging major conferences, and so may
need some help. Conference
raises a lot of money for USPRA, so even though
Boston made money, USPRA
concerned that it has to be considerable.
Brian asked whether other chapters have psych rehab
curricula? Yes- CASRA (CA) and, indirectly, Illinois
also have curricula. The one developed by the
University if Illinois at Chicago was reviewed by
our committee early on and was not impressive.
CASRA's
came out after ours was already mostly written, and
we have not reviewed it. Brian would
like to talk to other states at the conference to
see what their experiences were with
dissemination of curricula.
Ev Bussema: Ev is a former USPRA board member
(as Chapter Rep. from Ohio) who
just started as staff after moving with her husband
to Maryland. She will be visiting the
area this weekend, and will meet with board members
Monday afternoon at the Vinfen
training center: Maria will bring her there at 1pm
after they "do lunch". She is in charge
of education and training for USPRA, and will have
some say about the conference. She wants feedback
and suggestions about their products, including
online and teleconference
trainings.
Membership:
Mary and Kerri have submitted an institute proposal
on our psychiatric rehabilitation
curriculum
for the Phoenix conference.
The board still has strong interest in Boston for
07; conference planning is fairly slow
and lacks experienced person to coordinate. NY APRS
has asked about co-sponsoring a regional conference,
perhaps could co-sponsor the national with NY APRS?
(NY chapter
ofPRA)
December's regional conversation on peer
support was cancelled because of inclement
weather. Paul and Mary will set up another date. The
board brainstormed future
conversations, with the following suggestions:
• Emerging practices as overall way of looking at...
• How to develop leadership
• Organizational development
• Culturally competent care
• Wellness/ health promotion
• IPS models of care—pro and con
• Strengths models of writing notes, both by peer
specialists & all. Collaborative
documentation.
• Older Americans and psych rehab
Mary and the membership committee will proceed with
the planning process.
Public Policy:
Deborah distributed some info sheets on the risk of
ending the carve-out of state MH
services and turning care over to HMOs—contact her
for more details; She attended a hearing all day
Tuesday by the Mental Health Committee regarding the
proposed elimination of the carve-out in favor of
"integrating" mental health with physical health
services. Deborah opined that the carve-in is
critical because it pools resources so that
innovative approaches can be piloted, all
stakeholders can be involved, and people in recovery
can have delivery of services provided in a way that
works for them. Unfortunately, it seems that Gov.
Romney has the power to implement this proposal
without legislative approval. It is a budgetary
issue that has been linked to the proposal to
cover the uninsured by saving money on mental health
services.
Bob attended on briefing on the issues around
development of the FY'07 state budget by the Mass
Budget and Policy Center. He passed out their flyer
detailing the negative
effects of the proposed rollback of the state income
tax to 5.0%, which include major
cuts in funding. A detailed analysis of the state's
financial condition was passed around, and is
available at www.massbudget.org. Please contact your
legislator on this: Kerry
Healey and Tom Reilly have both come out in support
of the rollback: Deval Patrick is alone among
gubernatorial candidates who do not.
Our next meetings are scheduled for February 17th
and March 17th. Details of the meeting site will be
sent soon.
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