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NAMI PA Wilkes-Barre Newsletter












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NAMI PA Wilkes-Barre Chapter News
Luzerne/Wyoming Counties’ Voice on Mental Illness

 

 

 

Living with Mental Illness:
A Consumer-Family Perspective

 








































 

Many will agree that the highlight of the NAMI PA conference was Saturday’s Opening Plenary with Fred and Penny Frese.  Their presentations were  informative, inspiring and entertaining .  Dr. Frese, a husband and father of four, shared that he is a person with Schizophrenia.  “I’m not only a psychologist but a psychotic psychologist,” quipped Dr. Frese. 

Dr. Frese explained the cognitive differences in a person with Schizophrenia as deficits in:
-short term memory
-working memory
-memory & verbal      
 learning
-memory & visual

 






  

learning
-attention
-speed of processing
-reasoning & problem
 solving
-social cognition
Dr. Frese also shared his interview  with  ABC NEWS UpClose.

Penny Frese spoke from the perspective of a spouse.  She related that Fred dropped the “S” (Schizophrenia) word on her thirty years ago. Penny shared that denial is the first step in coping followed by the three A’s:  Acceptance (“expand the parameters of normal behavior, recognize gifts, acknowledge accountability”), Accommodation (“build

 

 






 

on strengths”) and Advocacy (“bite the ankle and hold on”).  She encouraged families to learn everything they can and to redefine their own thought patterns by looking for the blessings for “when God takes with one hand he gives with another.”  She has “companioned Fred on  his difficult journey.”








































 

Mission Minded Couple Receives Award

 

Imagine that at the age of 25, your educated and working child becomes disabled with a disorder few people acknowledge as a real illness, let alone understand.  You witness the struggle with accepting the diagnosis, with enduring the medication side effects and with the stigma.  You want to become involved when your child is hurting but don’t know where to turn. 

Ruth and Bill Helgemo are two people who can be trusted to turn to in such situations.  Since one of their children faced mental illness,
 they have become 

Involved in advocacy, working with others to develop a clubhouse, helping get furniture to a person in need and helping a person with MH/MR.  Their most recent endeavor is to help families retain guardianship of their family members who need family support.

Upon receiving the Jean Pisano Award at the NAMI-PA awards dinner, Ruth Helgemo noted “our hearts are with people with mental illness because they have touched our lives:  Indeed the work of Ruth and Bill Helgemo has touched our lives as well. 

By Glenda Race,
NAMI PA Wilkes-Barre Member