About Me

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I have 'spearheaded' the movement for a safe and lasting recovery for my son. I have learned specialized techniques to address behavior from an unstabilized individual who suffers from a severe brain disorder in order to keep him home until more in-depth treatment could be found. I obtained information from organizations as well as informed myself through reading books and newsletters. It takes work, but it can be done. It also takes a team effort from our family and the right professionals. And everytime I see my son smile, give love to his dog and other family members, or just jokes around, I am rewarded daily! We have our son back.

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Friday, February 22, 2013

When will it be time for our story, families like the Lanza's, to be covered by the media?

Michael Schofield (The Jani Foundation) wrote this blog on his site (http://janisjourney.org/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=30-minute-life-the-end-is-not-as-fun-as-the-start.html&Itemid=94) entitled 30 Minute Life (The End is Not as Fun as the Start about the piece aired by Frontline/Hartford Courant “Raising Adam Lanza” on PBS. Another discussion about gun control. Nothing about what it's like to be a parent of a child who has such a severe disorder, a medical disorder, that they can end up hurting others. Nothing about how Nancy Lanza, Adam's mother, was his first victim. Nothing about Nancy being included in the victim count. Michael states in his blog post that, "I wanted to hear from Nancy Lanza." I want to hear her story, too! I want to hear what happened. Because so many families are living with a similar situation with their loved one. They live in fear of violence due to an untreated medical condition that is being ignored by our Health Care industry. A medical condition where there is no accountability for mistreatment from society, officials like most police departments, hospital staff, doctors, mental health staff, or from our schools and colleges. Where is coverage about her side of the story? A story that so many of us share. I'm all for tighter gun controls however that will not stop the problem. Families need to have quick access to intervention with access to longer hospital stays to start treatment. Families need to be an important part of this process. Then, we need to be able to get court assisted treatment compliance and proper continued support for our loved one. I'm not feeling numb about the neglect anymore from the media's one-sided coverage. Now, I'm feeling angry! We need our story to be told!

Monday, February 11, 2013

A Most Amazing Video!

This is one of the most amazing videos that I have seen that artfully expresses some of the joys I feel about successfully getting the intervention, treatment, and remission of my son's severe brain disorder. I have my son back and we're enjoying a unique relationship that is so special, not everyone could understand unless they were in a similar situation. Please watch this as it can apply to all children as well. And all good parents! http://vimeo.com/11305685 Q&A from StoryCorps PLUS 2 years ago NOT YET RATED Joshua Littman, a 12-year-old boy with Asperger’s syndrome, interviews his mother, Sarah. Joshua’s unique questions and Sarah’s loving, unguarded answers reveal a beautiful relationship that reminds us of the best—and the most challenging—parts of being a parent.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

It's great when it works!

My son has just started taking GED classes at the local vocational center! We have worked for years to get to this point and the most amazing thing about this is that he is totally self motivated to do this! There is no ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) program to motivate him only his own desire to get his GED. I talked to him yesterday about how it was going for him and he said that it's going to take him longer than what he had thought. But although he was a little discouraged about the amount of time and personal effort on his part he has not let up on keeping a schedule at the center. A schedule that he set himself! For someone who is low functioning as he has been in the past this is a huge step! He hopes to pass the GED test by the end of this year. We are very pleased and we reinforce his being self-motivated. This is beyond our hopes before he started on Clozapine five years ago! He just keeps gaining ground! And he is maintaining his volunteer work as a 'Food Warrior' for the local Food Pantry and still cooks dinner nightly. We are very grateful and feel very blessed!

Give Them Something to Hold On To!

This was an article I wrote for Step-Up-On-Second's Summer 2008 newsletter about our journey to be able to give James motivation (something to hold on to) in order for him to stay compliant to treatment.

It explains a little about what we did as a family to facilitate his changing needs while staying safe.

I will be happy to share it on request.

I have also written and had publish a couple of letters to the editor for different newspapers in support of Laura's Law here in California.

Laura's Law is an assisted treatment law that would enable those who suffer from a severe mental illness to get Treatment BEFORE Tragedy!

BEFORE jail, homelessness, or violence!

Please write to your local representatives, your senators, your Board of Directors and the Governor of California. Tell them you want to see Laura's Law fully implemented in the state!

If you live in another state and want your state to have Assisted Outpatient Treatment laws like Laura's Law, click on the link below for the Treatment Advocacy Center and find out who you need to contact.

Early treatment is what gives us hope for a recovery.


HERE ARE THE TWO FIST STEPS WE DID

The first, was as early an intervention as possible.

The second, was putting together the right treatment team for my son.

INTERVENTION

Daniel's Place
www.stepuponsecond.org/services/help.html
1619 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA. 90404
(310) 392-5855
First stop to getting important information at the beginning of the onset of a severe mental illness. They also serve those with autism.

Lost Hills Sheriff's Department who would send out officers when we needed back-up and to the At Risk program that tried to help our son.

Barry J. Nidoff Juvenile Hall
Sylmar, CA 91342

Some of these people have moved on to other locations but we are very grateful they were here when we needed them the most.

1) His Honor Commissioner Gold who understood what we were facing with James and did all in his power to support us in being successful with his prognosis. He ordered that compliance to treatment be part of James' probation because AB1421, Laura's Law, was not available to us.

2) Public Defender Evan A. Kitahara was what we needed to get James treatment. I would recommend this man to anyone. He is one who spear headed all the conections with the Public Mental Health Attorney for James while he was in Juvenille Hall. Mr. Kitahara understood our situation and he was a big part in our success.

3) Public Mental Health Attorney Lisa Greer. She was responsible for getting James what we needed from the Juvenile Hall school that would qualify him for Emotionally Disturbed status that would allow us to pursue placement through our school system and the Department of Mental Health in an out-of-state lock down facility. She also had James sign over his educational rights to me which was critical in the last years when he wanted to stop the program he was in out-of-state. It also gave me power in the Individual Education Plan meetings (IEP) once James was of legal age. She spent all day in one meeting with us to insure we had the right verbage so that James would have what he needed in our school district. She did so while missing an important meeting for her own special needs child. A great woman.

4) Jerrald. F. Pedrotti - great help in connecting with Even, Lisa, and James when he was in Juvenile Hall. A great advocate for treatment and a great mentor to those lucky enough to get his attention and help.

5) The various probation officers that would listen to our family needs and support treatment.

Child Advocate (name forthcoming) to help us navigate through some tough meetings with the school district to get a lock-down facility approved by the district to meet James' needs at that time.

Las Virgenes School District

Mental Health Attorney (name forthcoming) to get probate conservatorship so we control James' SSI monies until the time when he is ready to take control of his finances.

Devereux Residental Treatment Facility
http://www.devereux.org/
League City, Texas

TREATMENT TEAM

Tracy Rosberg, Ph.D. psychologist
23401 Park Sorrento, Suite 200B
(818) 591-3000
Either Tracy or a member of her team can help with a wide range of disorders including Autism. Tracy helped us with my son getting on a Clozapin trail and she recomended UCLA. She also personalizes her therapy session to fit the needs of the person. She would take walks with my son because he couldn't sit in a room for a long peroid of time.


Dr. Steve Marder at the UCLA Schizophrenia Clinic

Outpatient Schizophrenia Program
http://www.psychiatry.ucla.edu/
Information and referral - (310) 825-9989
or (800) 825-9989
(310) -268-3647 to schedule an appointment.

Sophie at ICPS - (951) 354-6804
ICPS (Independent Consultant Pharmacist Services) - monitors blood test for white blood cell count and more. A great help to both the doctors and the families who have a member on a Clozapine trail.

Ride-On:
http://www.rideon.org/
e-mail: info@rideon..org
10860 Topanga Canyon Blvd.
Chatsworth, CA. 91311
(818) 700-2971
Horse therapy with psychoanalyst. This was a great help to James regaining some of his self-confidence and much more.
They service all types of mental and physical disorders.

Victory Wellness Center- Day Program and much more
14411 Vanowen St.
Van Nuys, CA. 91405
(818) 989-7475

ABA (Applied Behavior Analyisis) - Behavior modification techniques that allowed us to develop personalized programs to keep James compliant to treatment, extinguish unwanted behavior (even when he wasn't yet stable with the right treatment), increase wanted behavior, self-esteem, and over time trust. I learned the basics from an Autism Patnership trainer with on the job training in a Community Based Instuction High School setting but there are many who offer this program. It is designed for those with autism but I found that once I deveolped a plan around the needs of my son, it was still the most effective behavior modification program for when he was not able to reason out problems. Behavior is behavior, in my humble opinion.

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