Does BoKo Haram think we are ignorant? What child would not comply with a machine gun pointed at her? We are not ignorant and you will be held ACCOUNTABLE.

If you were one of the almost 300 schoolgirls kidnapped almost a month ago by terrorist, wouldn’t you say anything with machine guns pointing at you? I don’t believe for one minute over 100 girls asked for a terrorist group to convert them from Christian to Muslims. They are not given a choice, they received instructions to get in front of cameras and say what we rehearsed or you’re dead. These brave girls are being held hostage in the jungle by terrorist group BoKo Haram. They did not go voluntarily and have not had any choices since their school burned down. What cowards, dressed as Police Officers to convince the girls to go with them. The group is also responsible for killing 1,500 in the last month. The level of violence has escalating. I know terrorist are not trustworthy, THEY ARE TERRORIST. They are not terrorist bringing of goodwill to Nigeria.

They are suggesting a trade, the girls for clan members in prison. This morning I heard the President is considering negotiating. From where I sit, it’s a death sentence. It shows the government does not want to get its hands dirty. Almost 300 schoolgirls and the blood of 1,500 people are on your hands. Why is the government of Nigeria sitting on its hands. The President took three weeks to make a comment. I haven’t heard actions Nigeria is taking, other countries are looking for the girls. Where is the Military? Why was the group allowed continued growth? This type of terrorist act happens in many countries everyday, is the Nigerian government blind? Incapable of planning for the inevitable?

The Qur’an is universally known as the sacred book of Islam, the religion of submission to the will of God. The Qur’an assures evil doers do not have a place in afterlife.

All terrorist hide behind religion, twist the words to justify horrific acts and the laws don’t apply to them.

Allah doesn’t have a problem with kidnapping schoolgirls and killing villagers with bombs. WRONG!

Warrior

National Alliance of Mental Illness

Advocacy Update on National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week 2014

TAKE ACTION for Children’s Mental Health

National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, May 4-10, helps raise awareness around children’s mental health. This week NAMI joins communities around the country in raising awareness about the mental health needs of America’s youngest citizens. It is a week to focus on children and youth living with mental illness and to come together to advocate for a full array of effective services and supports for children affected by mental illness.

View activities you can do to support Children’s Mental Health Awareness.

TAKE ACTION for Children’s Mental Health

Below are bills that you can take action on to tell your members of congress to prioritize children’s mental health.

The Mental Health In Schools Act (S. 195 and H.R. 628)

The Mental Health in Schools Act is critically important legislation that provides federal funding to increase the availability of comprehensive school-based mental health services and supports and builds effective links between schools and the community mental health system. This legislation will improve the early identification of mental illness by funding school and community-based mental health services and linking students with effective services and supports so they have the chance to thrive and reach their full potential.

TAKE ACTION

The Keeping All Students Safe Act (S. 2036 and H.R. 1893)

This bill greatly restricts the use of restraint and seclusion in our nation’s schools to protect children from harm. Restraint means not allowing an individual to freely move their arms, legs or head. Seclusion means a person is placed in a space that they cannot leave. Children have been seriously harmed, traumatized and some have died from the use of restraint and seclusion in our nation’s schools.

TAKE ACTION

Learn more about the Keeping All Students Safe Act at National Alliance of Mental Illness

TO LEARN ABOUT NAMI AND ADVOCACY PROGRAMS PLEASE VISIT NAMI.ORG

To learn about public policy issues that affect adults and children living with mental illness and their loved ones, and how NAMI is providing a strong voice on these issues, visit the following sections at NAMI.org

You can find them under Public Policy link.

News and Alerts
Policy Reports
Public Policy Platform
State Advocacy
Take Action! Legislative Action Center
Mental Health Care Gets My Vote!
Health Care Reform
Criminalization and Criminal Justice Issues

Warrior

Inconsistently Yours surprised me with a nomination for the “I am part of the Word Press Family Award”.  I feel like I’ve won the Power Ball. She was the first person I met after starting my blog. She was particularly helpful answering question after question. I appreciate her honesty and killer sense of humor. She doesn’t give herself enough credit, don’t buy it, she is very smart. Check out her You Tube Channel where she peels back the layers of Personality Disorders. She introduced me to The Cut-Throat Club House Online which I am now a proud member. If you’re looking for a Blog to make you laugh, cry and most importantly offer support check out  http://inconsistlyyours.wordpress.com. Think of Blogs you’re moved by and pass along the “I am part of the WordPress Family Award”.   Congrats! to nominees of the “I am part of the Word Press Family Award”.  Shaun Gibson created the award. I will use his words to share what the award means to him and the rest of the Word Press community: “ is an award for everyone who is part of the “Word Press Family” I started this award on the basis that the Word Press Family has taken me in and showed me love and a caring side only Word Press can. The way people take a second to be nice, answer questions and keep it non competitive amazes me. I know I have been given many awards, but I wanted to leave my own legacy on here by creating my own award, as many have done before. This represents “Family” we never meet, but are there for us as family. It is my honor to start this award. Thank you”—Shaun Gibson I’m proud member of the Word Press family. Seeing the capacity to support each other is mind-blowing.  My heart smiles knowing we are capable. We are Survivors or on the road to success. I sending a Texas size hug for the nomination. Thank you for welcoming me like family by providing unconditional support. I am proud to pass along the “I am part of the WordPress Family Award” to the Blogs below. Please take a minute to check them out.  http://avictimsjournal.wordpress.com http://americanainjustica.wordpress.com http://youdonthavetosufferinsilence.wordpress.com http://sedge808.wordpress.com http://theslowheal.wordpress.com http://avalancheofthesoul.wordpress.com http://kelzbelzphotography.wordpress.com http://telahart.wordpress.com http://morningpageswriter.wordpress.com What you need to next: Thank the person who nominated you. Think of the great blogs you read and pass the award on.   Warrior  :)

Under the cover of darkness Nigerian Militants raid girls school kidnaping close to 300 girls. Some were able to escape yet stranded far from school. Their future is grime, girls as young as 9 years old are sold as slaves or prostitutes. For older girls the future is just as bleak. Girls as young as 12 years old will endure the horrific pain of Female Mutilation before being sold into marriage or prostitutes. International Trafficking is growing and the atrocities against young girls continue. Now is a good time to educate yourself on the complex issues. President Obama spoke out against the crime and Militants responded by kidnapping more girls. As mentioned earlier the issue is complex. This post is a high level overview of the issue. I want to do research, including responses from other countries and more specifically what President Obama has committed to. I received an e-mail yesterday from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on International Trafficking that I have yet to dig into. This situation has reached a tipping point for me. I will post a follow up very soon. I’m going to leave you with a quote from Amnesty International.

“MY BODY MY RIGHTS”
In many parts of the world, poverty and discrimination affect women’s ability to access education and exercise control over their own bodies. As a result, women and girls all over the world are at risk of violence, forced marriage, genital mutilation, unsafe abortions and human trafficking.    AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Warrior

Rosie Perez Oscar Nominated Actress has released a memoir about her road to survival with a Mentally Ill mother. I saw her on a talk show not long ago.  Rosie is open, no glossing over her past. She is a survivor. The book, Handbook for an Unpredictable Life. I found it on Amazon.

Many are focusing on Child Abuse Month and possibly making donations. CharityNavigator.com is an excellent site for information before making donations. I use this site because I don’t want my donation to be spent on management expenses. The tools are good and you can get an Expenditures Sheet to show how they use the money

I found this photo and had to laugh. I’m a survivor of abuse but still managed by meds for my Bipolar Disorder. I do what’s required to have a full life.

Warrior

I believe FGM is the most horrific form of child abuse. The article is difficult to read. If you are not familiar with the practice, I pray you’re outraged. I had no idea the practice of Female Genital Mutilation was a growing trend in the US. I found the article on NBC.com under World News with a 3/31/14 original publication date.

Horrific Taboo: Female Circumcision on the Rise in U.S.
BY ANNABEL ROBERTS AND MARIAN SMITH

When Marie was two years old, a woman in her village in Africa cut off her clitoris and labia. Now 34 and living thousands of miles away in New York, she is still suffering. “I have so many problems, with my husband, with sex, with childbirth,” she told NBC News, withholding her real name to protect her identity. “The consequences on my life are all negative, both physically and psychologically.”

The practice of Female Genital Mutilation is common across much of Africa, where it is believed to ensure sexual purity before marriage. But Marie says FGM is also “very common” in some communities in America. “The pressure to get daughters cut is great,” she said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 150,000 to 200,000 girls in the U.S. are at risk of being forced to undergo cutting. The CDC says “at risk” because there are no actual records of the practice, only estimates – and old estimates at that. Its latest data date to 1997, the year after being banned in the U.S. But citing anecdotal evidence from health professionals and frontline workers, experts who work with victims and their communities say FGM is on the rise.

“It is hard to believe this is the real number because of how much [FGM-practicing] communities are growing, especially in the last two or three years,” said Mariama Diallo, African community specialist at Sanctuary for Families, a New York-based non-profit dedicated to helping domestic violence and trafficking victims. Her organization could only extrapolate using census data when it issued a report on the growing problem last year. Immigration to the U.S. from countries in Africa quadrupled between 1990 and 2011 from 360,000 to 1.6 million according to a recent report released by New York City’s planning department. “The numbers need to be updated – but this needs funding and no one is interested,” said Dr. Nawal Nour, founder of the African Women’s Health Practice at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Lack of Prosecutions

There are different degrees of FGM, the most severe form being the narrowing of the vaginal opening by repositioning the labia and stitching up the opening, sometimes leaving a hole the size of a matchstick for the passing of urine and menstrual flow. The cutting is often carried out without anesthetic on girls between infancy and the age of eight. Victims can suffer numerous physical and mental health problems: severe abdominal pain, vaginal and pelvic infections, pain during sex, complications during childbirth.

In Phoenix, Arizona, a staggering 98 percent of Somali women being treated at the Refugee Women’s Health Clinic have been circumcised, founder Dr. Crista Johnson said. She estimates the Somali community is at least 12,000-strong. Johnson has supported such victims all over the country – from Washington,D.C., to Michigan to California – and says the spike in immigration from such communities has astonished in recent years. “The number has easily quadrupled because of migration patterns,” she added.
So with such numbers, why has there only been one successful prosecution in the U.S.? “People won’t report against their families,” Marie said. Since the mutilation is usually organized by the child’s mother or grandmother and supported by the father, many cases go unreported, case workers say. “Even if there is protection from the government, it is difficult for a victim to disclose it through fear of retaliation from their family, and fear of losing their family,” she said. Still, experts believe the law is a useful deterrent. Johnson says there is a sense of resignation among the families that they must abide by U.S. laws. Nour agreed, saying: “Parents are afraid to do anything that will get them deported.”Taboo Topic

For Americans on the outside of communities where it is practiced, FGM is such an unknown that many medical workers, law enforcement and child protection officers are not informed on how to proceed when confronted with it. “This has been such a taboo topic, we [haven’t been able to] take it out from under the table. We need to make it something that can be discussed,” said Shelby Quast, senior policy adviser of Equality Now, an international women’s rights NGOI“There has to be a huge shift so that we identify this as a form of violence against girls – and not something that’s protected as a cultural and religious tradition,” she said. Support for victims is also comparatively poor in the U.S., health workers say. Nour in Boston and Johnson in Arizona run the only two clinics dedicated to supporting FGM victims in the U.S. Comparatively the U.K. – with only a fifth of the population of the U.S. – has 15 specialist clinics. British midwife Comfort, who runs one such operation, recently visited the U.S. to research American facilities.

Coming from Europe, where campaigners are making strides in turning FGM into a mainstream issue, Momoh was shocked to see “no proper coördination and hardly anywhere for girls to go for support,” she said. “The situation is well, well behind the U.K.” Campaigners say reaching out to practicing communities and educating them about the risks and consequences is critical to ending FGM.”If the police are called and told a child is at risk, what will the policeman do if he does not know what FGM is? We need to tell them about it, tell them it’s a violation,” Diallo said. “Every single professional needs to know they have an obligation: doctors, nurses, school teachers…. Everyone has to see it as their responsibility to protect children.”‘Shame and a Prison Term’

In France, which is also home to significant communities which traditionally practice FGM, experts say enforcing the law and outreach to practicing communities must go together. In stark comparison to the single American case, there have been over 100 successful prosecutions in France, with prison sentences for those found guilty of cutting or of allowing their daughters to be cut. “I don’t want my kids to undergo the same fate as me. “There, FGM is prosecuted using existing child protection laws – there is no specific anti-FGM legislation. “There was no need for a special law that would amount to pointing the finger towards immigrants,” said French lawyer Linda Weil-Curiel, who has spent years bringing cases against suspected perpetrators to court. “We had enough legal provisions in the penal code to prosecute and punish the ‘mutilation of minors,’ and the penal code is applicable to everyone on French soil, without discrimination.”She believes these prosecutions helped reduce the practice. “The large publicity in the media of the trials sent a clear message to the families: This is what you are going to get – shame and a prison term – if you do not respect the law.”

Please share your thoughts with me.

Warrior

I am heartbroken to hear about the shootings at Fort Hood yesterday. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victim’s family. Please know there are people around the world who are holding your hand. My heart breaks for the shooters family. His family is suffering for the loss of their son and the victims and family members.

I have to share a story about Fort Hood. Being one of the largest Military post, you can count on deployment at Fort Hood. A large percentage of soldiers fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan or other missions are proud to call Fort Hood home. The other side of the coin is a high percentage of deaths, brain injuries and limbs lost. When my grandfather died in 2010, I wanted to honor his Military service by having the Honor Guard attend. At the time Fort Hood had lost so many soldiers the Honor Guard could only service a 50 mile area. The funeral director told me not to expect anyone because we were out of the zone. Soldiers will always respect another soldier, they are bothers. My grandfather was 92 years old and served on the front line in WWII. Soldiers respect those who fought before them. They made an exception for my grandfather without being asked. My heart dropped when I saw two people to fold the flag and another to play Taps. I could see a tear in the soldier in front of me folding the flag. The precise manner of folding the flag, history flashed before my eyes. We are American living in freedom. When the service was over I couldn’t control myself, I ran over to them like a crying fool thanking them. Asking to please tell everyone thank you. I knew how many gave their lives for Americans freedom. Fort Hood is a post full of proud soldiers and survivors. My thoughts are with each of you.

This is a copy of the National Alliance of Mental Health newsletter. They are an advocacy group for Mental Health. I’m skeptical anytime our government is focusing on Mental Health. I feel like we get swept under the carpet. Last night the Senate passed HR 4302. Last week the US House signed the bill. The bill is now waiting for Obama’s signature.  Improving services for the mentally ill will slow the number of people falling thru the cracks. Many bills we hear the whistle blow and they disappear in to huge stacks of other bills. I write this as a person with Mental Illness nothing more. NAMI offers useful information on website and do a good job of keeping people up on the progress of bills.

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Medicare Physician Payment Bill Includes Two Mental Health Provisions

Last night, the U.S. Senate passed HR 4302, the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) extension. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week and now goes to President Obama for his signature. HR 4302 includes two provisions that are relevant to people living with mental illness and their families.

First, the bill includes the Excellence in Mental Health Act demonstration project. This eight (8) state pilot is critical to modernizing publicly funded mental health services to align with evidence-based practices and to streamline Medicaid funding. The eight states selected will receive planning grants and Medicaid funding to provide comprehensive community-based mental health services and supports, including integrated mental health and primary care treatment. Community mental health programs participating in this program will be required to provide a broad range of services, including 24-hour mobile crisis teams, crisis stabilization services, outpatient mental health and substance use services, peer and family supports, and intensive, community-based services for veterans.

Second, HR 4302 includes authority for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to undertake a new pilot program for states to establish and expand “Assisted Outpatient Treatment” (AOT) programs. This program applies to individuals living with serious mental illness who are not participating in treatment and experience serious adverse consequences such as repeated hospitalizations, homelessness or incarceration. States that choose to apply for funding appropriated for this program will be required to gather outcomes data on the effectiveness of the program, including its impact on reducing negative outcomes.

HR 4302 can be accessed here. The Excellence in Mental Health Act demonstration project can be found in Section 223 and the Assisted Outpatient Treatment demonstration program in Section 224.