The Cole Resource Center (CRC) is an education and recovery community of peers and family members, dedicated to helping people affected by mental health challenges lead full and healthy lives.
We are all imperfectly perfect. Statistics show that one in every four Americans suffers from a mental health disorder. It is time to radically accept who we are regardless of what challenges we may face. Without guilt or without shame. Because by honoring our unique existence, embracing our pain, and being empowered, we can make a positive contribution to society. We are a voice for anyone struggling with mental illness and addiction. What you have is not who you are.
Julie will share how you can talk to family members, partners, friends and when appropriate, coworkers and other professionals about the bipolar disorder diagnosis. She will cover the language you can use to explain what you need and who you are in a way to create interest in the topic.
Waverley Place is a community support program of McLean Hospital located in Belmont, MA. The staff at Waverley Place practices the philosophy of love, empathy, compassion, kindness, and non-judgment. They offer many groups and activities, including meditation, writing, and games.
A diagnosis of bipolar disorder is determined according to behavioral criteria. However, the nature, severity, and course of behavioral symptoms can vary substantially between individuals, even among those who may carry the same specific diagnosis (e.g., Bipolar Type I or Bipolar Type II). Advances in neuroimaging tools over the past two decades have provided unique opportunities to look “under the hood” into how variations in brain structure and the function of brain cells may contribute to those individual differences in behavioral symptoms. This presentation will summarize the state of neuroimaging research to date and provide a discussion of future directions for informing novel treatment development for bipolar disorder.
The current standard of care for the first episode population is coordinated specialty care (CSC), comprised of a multidisciplinary treatment team that delivers psychopharmacology, psychoeducation, cognitively behaviorally oriented individual and family therapy, and supported employment and educational services.
Caregivers with mental health and/or substance misuse challenges and their children often feel shame and stigma from their communities when it comes to parenting. A team of Certified Peer Specialists at the Massachusetts General Hospital COE for Psychosocial and Systemic Research created two videos designed for both people with lived experience and healthcare workers. On these, parents say how they managed to raise their families; and children talk about their experiences. January 27, a peer team from the COE will lead a facilitated viewing of these videos and a discussion.
Do you wonder about the connection between mindfulness and mental health? Do you want to learn how to practice mindfulness to support your mental and/or physical health? Come and learn about these questions with two individuals who will share information and provide experiential lessons as well.
Come hear a panel of peers share their approaches to juggling both paid and unpaid work with their mental health. The panel will include Krista Armstrong-Moon, Andrew Fishman, Mary Johnston, Martin Petracchi, and Alisa Stepanian; and will be moderated by Cynthia Piltch.
Howard is the co-founder and on the leadership team of the Metro Boston and Southeast Recovery Learning Communities, is a Certified Peer Specialist, and a Certified Psychosocial Rehabilitation Practitioner. He will speak about his experiences with mental health challenges, his involvement with numerous organizations, boards and committees; and how these experiences intersect and overlap with each other.