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January Is Mental Wellness Month
Interim Inc. recognizes January 2019 as Mental Wellness Month and dedicates the month for promoting overall mental wellness. Interim wants people to understand that mental wellness is not just the absence of mental illness, and that people can improve their overall mental wellness for a better and healthier lifestyle.
The World Health Organization (WHO), defines mental health as a “state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.”
Mental wellness then is about how all aspects of your life, the social, emotional, physical, spiritual and intellectual, all come together for an overall state of well-being.
January is designated as Mental Wellness Month by the International Association of Insurance Professionals (IAIP), an educational organization for insurance professionals.
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You Don’t Want To Miss This….
Join Us On January 24th 2019!
For a Presentation by Renowned Journalist and Author Steve Lopez – Mr. Lopez Meets Mr. Ayers: Exploring Mental Illness and Homelessness. Get Your Tickets NOW!
Interim is bringing renowned author and Los Angeles Times journalist Steve Lopez to the Monterey Bay. Join us for this engaging community presentation – Mr. Lopez Meets Mr. Ayers: Exploring Mental Illness and Homelessness
Steve has won more than a dozen national journalism awards for his reporting and column writing at seven newspapers and four news magazines, and is a three-time Pulitzer finalist for commentary.
Steve is also famous for his popular novel, The Soloist, which was turned into a movie starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. The Soloist is a true story of the unlikely friendship between Nathaniel Ayers and Steve Lopez, which began when he spotted Ayers, who he learned was homeless and living with schizophrenia, playing a two-string violin on skid row in Los Angeles.
About the Event:
Steve Lopez will talk about his experiences and insights, with an emphasis on homelessness and the mental health system of care. Steve will also talk about his friendship with Nathaniel Ayers. A casual reception for all event attendees will follow the presentation. Includes light refreshments. Steve will be signing copies of his book, The Soloist!
When: January 24 , 2019, 7-9 PM
Where: Hyatt Regency, 1 Old Golf Course Rd, Monterey, CA 93940
General Admission: $30
Sponsorships (see details below): $250-$2500
Online Tickets or Sponsorships : Eventbrite
Phone Registration, Sponsorships or Other Questions: contact Our Development Officer, (831) 649-4522, ext 205
Become an Event Sponsor!
Sponsorships help support the costs of the event and raise funds to support Interim’s mission to support and provide housing for people with mental illnesses. It also comes with a few exclusive benefits you will receive as an event sponsor!
Sponsorship includes exclusive access to a private VIP reception with the opportunity to meet Steve Lopez up close and personal! Wine and hors d’oeuvres are included.
You will receive priority seating up front for Steve’s presentation!
Multiple Opportunities for Business or Organizational Recognition!
Four Levels of Support:
Platinum: $2500 – 4 presentation admissions; 4 admissions to a private VIP reception; Recognition opportunities!
Gold: $1000 – 3 presentation admissions; 3 admissions to a private VIP reception; Recognition opportunities!
Silver: $500 – 2 presentation admissions; 2 admissions to a private VIP reception; Recognition opportunities!
Bronze $250 – 1 presentation admission; 1 admission to a private VIP reception; Recognition opportunities!
Sponsor Now!
A BIG thank you to our wonderful sponsors of this event:
Platinum:
Wald Ruhnke & Dost Architects, LLP
Suhr Risk Services
Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula
Gold:
Alexander and Maryn Ljubimow
Bill Pardue and Barbara Mitchell
MidPen Housing
John Stafsnes and Iathan Annand
Fenton & Keller
Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence Weisshahn
Each Mind Matters
Kay Kingsley
Silver:
The Nunez Company
Fran Baca
Wayne and Maureen Lavengood
Renee and Richard Kezirian
Suzanne Taunt
Sheila Holmes
Richard and Julie Altman
Mr. & Mrs. Fred Cohn
Bronze:
Philip Bhaskar, D.MD.
Monterey Oral Surgery
Anastacia Wyatt
Jocelyn Brady
Judith Ritchey
Media:
Monterey County Weekly
Calling all Amazon shoppers!
You can easily support Interim, Inc. just by shopping!
Amazon Smile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com , you’ll find the exact same low prices, your same account and cart as on Amazon, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to your favorite charitable organization.
How do I select a charitable organization to support when shopping on AmazonSmile?
On your first visit to AmazonSmile at smile.amazon.com , you need to select a charitable organization to receive donations. Your charity will be saved so that every eligible purchase you make at smile.amazon.com will result in a donation.
We hope you will choose Interim Inc. for your non-profit, thank you for your support!
Meet Our New Development Officer:
Debra L. Shearer
Debra L. Shearer is the new Development Officer for Interim Inc. and has a wide-ranging employment experience that includes the areas of municipal government, higher education and the medical and mental health care fields.
Debra, who grew up in Marina and Monterey and graduated from Monterey High School, first got involved in the medical field as a full-time Medical Records Clerk at Trinity Hospital in Weaverville, California from 2011-2013.
In 2013, she became office manager and records coordinator for three RI International Wellness Centers in Contra Costa County, California, which provide education and support to people who are in recovery from mental health challenges. She became Executive Assistant for Interim, Inc., working as a confidential assistant to the Executive Director and Board of Directors of Interim, in 2016, and was named Development Officer of Interim in the fall of 2018.
Shearer graduated Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She has been married for nearly 40 years, and has three grown children, including a foster daughter, who are all married. She has eight grandchildren.
A Second Chance at Recovery: Bill’s Story
“Interim, Inc. saved my life.” Bill stated when we sat down to talk last week. Bill says his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and depression was devastating and caused him to attempt suicide. He is convinced that genetics plays a strong part in suicide. He told me he had an aunt on one side of his family and an uncle on the other who both took their own lives.
“When I was working full time for a store, I didn’t disclose to them that I have a mental illness. When the pressure of hiding my illness got to be too much, my symptoms escalated. I didn’t seek the help of my job coach until it was too late, and I was fired. When I was fired, I overdosed on medication to end my life. When I woke up in the ICU, I realized that severe mental illness is part of who I am, and that I must take medication to function. I will not stop taking my meds ever again. I want to keep my life stable and I have learned from my mistakes.” Bill thanks God that his doctors connected him to Monterey County Behavioral Health and Interim Inc.
Bill says, “I fell in love with Interim Inc and the staff at OMNI. I have been able to work part time for Interim and have not experienced any lost time because of my mental illness. I love my job, my boss and my co-workers. I have made friends and am very happy. It helps to work where you don’t have to hide your mental illness.”
Bill attends group meetings that teach individuals how to deal with paranoia, depression and mental illness. “When I take my meds, I am normal now. I am learning how to manage my mental illness, and am very thankful to Interim Inc. This is the happiest I’ve been. Without the #OMNI Wellness Center, the Supported Education and Employment Services (SEES), and the supported housing at Shelter Cove and Sandy Shores, I would probably be in a locked facility.”
I asked Bill what he would want people to understand about severe mental illness. “A lot of people in America hear the words mentally ill and think ‘he’s a troublemaker’ or ‘he’s diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, that means he’s a killer’ or ‘that bipolar person is crazy.’ In real life, a mentally ill person is not always aggressive, is not always a killer. A lot of us are friendly—we are lost but we are friendly. We can work hard, we can live a normal life and we can be happy if given the opportunity and the medications that make us able to work and able to live. We should not be discriminated against or stigmatized or laughed at. We can survive. Stigma and discrimination are not helping us. Wellness is hard work but is worth the effort.”
Every little step reduces stigma. Every little step is progress. Bill has been through the fire, and has overcome, is still overcoming. Thank you for sharing your story, Bill. By sharing with us another step has been taken to reduce stigma and discrimination for individuals with severe #mentalillness .
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