Maryland Transformation Grant Unofficial Blog

Position Announcement

2007-09-10T17:12:00.000-04:00

Research Assistant, Clinical
Psychiatry - MHSIC
Job Number: 1159

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Department of Psychiatry, Division of Services Research, Mental Health Systems Improvement Collaborative (MHSIC) located in Catonsville, MD. The Research Assistant will assist in the collection of data for an evaluation of a federal grant to transform the organization and delivery of mental health services in the state of Maryland.

The research assistant will perform the following activities:
Assisting in data collection activities including developing and disseminating questionnaires; conducting interviews including some travel to areas off-site; co-leading focus groups; abstracting information from existing documents such as State Plans or policy/regulation lists; and keeping project records.
Creating databases including coding, entering and cleaning data; and performing basic statistical analyses with supervision.
Project coordination including collaborating with mental health providers, administrators, advocates, and other transformation stakeholders as well as interacting with mental health consumers and family members.
Assisting in preparing project reports and conducting literature searches.
Other related work as required.

Requirements:
A Bachelors degree in Psychology, Sociology, or related field is required. One year of experience in research is preferred. (Equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered). The desired candidate will have experience as a primary or secondary consumer of mental health services. The qualified candidate should have working knowledge of research methods and statistical techniques and procedures; skill in the use of computers; specifically MS Word and EXCEL; ability to present data in appropriate formats; to operate standard office equipment; and to communicate effectively both orally and in writing. Working knowledge of computerized statistical applications such as SAS, SPSS-X, BMDP, Epi-Info or SYSTAT is highly desirable.

Hiring Range: Commensurate with education and experience
Filing Deadline: Until Filled

If you have internet access, you can apply for this position online. To apply for this position, go to https://apply.unicru.com/umaryland/ece/JobSearch.aspx . You will be able to select this position by Job Title - Research Assistant-Clinical-Psychiatry –MHSIC .

If you need assistance, or do not have internet access, you may contact Staffing & Career Services at 410-706-7171, Monday – Friday, 8:30am – 4:30pm EST. Maryland Relay can be accessed by dialing 711 (in-state) or 1-800-735-2258.

Thanks, Randy, for the Forum!

2007-09-01T19:38:00.000-04:00

Randy Bosin led a very interesting forum on the MD Transformation Grant on Monday August 27, 2007, and we are very happy to have had him lead it. We had about 27 people in attendance, and a core group of 16 or so who stayed at the Forum. Paula Lafferty from MD Mental Hygiene and Consumer Liaison for the Transformation Grant Work Group, attended - great to see you! (note: Paula, if I got your title wrong, give me a ring!)

Here are, transcribed, questions and comments posed by the audience:

REGARDING MOSTLY THE GRANT
. Who can apply for the Transformation Grant?
- groups, individuals?

. How to push harder for peer support and TRAINING ($ available)?

. How to convey personal experiences in recovery to others? (Editor's note: NAMI's In Our Own Voice is such a vehicle)

. How can I get involved w/ the Transformation Grant? (TG)

. I've never heard of the Transformation Grant!

. How will $13.5 million make an impact on the professionalism of people who work with consumers?

. I never really thought it was possible to recover/cure depression - until a few weeks ago (coming to the drop-in center, checking out other support groups, etc)

. I have much education, insight, inside contacts and resources, and it's still really hard to get good info (on doctors., education, resources, therapy, etc.) I can only imagine how horribly hard it would be for someone w/ less resources than I have!

. I need more information on personal recovery

. What can we do to help heal the mental health system?

. My understanding is the grant gives money to organizations or individuals to create awareness, and to some way change the rules/policies/laws of the state of Maryland to get recovery into the programming

. Can drop-in centers get grants to provide public education?

. I came here to see how I can participate in the grant - but I have low vision and have to leave ... because it's getting dark!

. Why is there no standardized process to apply (for contracts) for the grant???

. More money needs to go toward training Crisis Intervention Teams/Police in sensitivity!!! (handcuffs example as a traumatic event)

. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - examples w/ vets, VA Hospital/Walter Reed/families/Iraq/Afghanistan - is a big issue and can only grow larger!

. I've had problems getting turned away from programs due to "not qualifying", due to either having private insurance or barely being above ridiculously low income levels. Falling through the cracks is a big deal!

. My understanding is that the grant assumes that Maryland's Public Mental Health System (PMHS) is broken - so it needs to evolve to be consumer-designed?

. International statistics in recovery - Japan did the best, though it took 15 - 24 years to "recover"

. Training professionals in consumers' experiences should also be done BY consumers! Is there a way to certify consumers to provide this valuable training? Perhaps CEU (Continuing Education Units)???

. This Grant is a "First Aid Box" - but what's IN the box?

. How do family members help their loved ones with mental illness?

. Hotlines/Warmlines - training (and payment of volunteers or way to keep them engaged to do this valuable work)

. Train people/consumers to be more independent (teach critical thinking skills, teach how to ask questions, to use resources, until they get the information/help they might need)

. There's a significant amount of interest in participating in this grant in all ways

. I would like us to share information on what's worked and what has not (therapy, treatments, interventions, modes of relating, meds, everything)

REGARDING MOSTLY RECOVERY, WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

. It IS possible to recover

. 1979/1986: two studies - overwhelmingly, the United States was behind the rest of the world (in recovery rates, I think is what the speaker meant)
- Issue w/ stigma
- Issue w/ ... ?

. Distinguish between adults and children

. ADVOCACY is NECESSARY
What this means:
Learn how to fend for yourself
System might want to train people to "advocate" for themselves

. (Issue of) Isolation/Not in Community
- need sources of information and help

. For me, recovery does not happen in the PMHS - it happens in community
(for example, special interest/sexual minority group; could be a woodwinds/book club/anything)

. How to live fully, productively and engaged with the community
- the wider the community, the better?

. Repair relationships with family and friends

. Many forms of community
-hobbies - bars - volunteering
- school - work - support groups
-work - music - family etc..

. Fun trips (Atlantic City) would help w/ recovery
. Outreach (at home) would be helpful

. Drop-in centers need training in crisis situations and with phone calls
. Warm lines and hotlines

. Work on stigma: in films, media

Recovery: What it is, How to Get it? Forum Mon Aug 27, 07, 6 to 7:30 pm

2007-08-22T20:24:00.000-04:00

Silver Spring Drop-In Center, 7961 Eastern Ave., 1st floor, SS, will host a forum on Recovery: What it is, how to get it by Randy Bosin, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

We look forward to an interactive discussion on personal and systemic recovery (i.e., the Maryland Mental Health Transformation Grant).

Light refreshments will be served.

Please try to RSVP by Sat. Aug. 25, 5 p.m. : 301. 589.2303 X 108. Leave your name and phone number, please; you can also include your email if you'd like in the message. (You may still attend if you don't, but it may be crowded and there may not be enough victuals for ya in that case!)

Look forward to seeing you next week!

Message base sources

2007-08-19T21:30:00.001-04:00

I think it might have to be php code. See http://www.faqts.com/knowledge_base/index.phtml/fid/51/ on the whole process

Need sources for free bulletin boards (and websites)

2007-08-12T23:52:00.000-04:00

Hey, this blog is a good first start, but in the spirit of collaboration, can Socrates and others post some sources for FREE but good bulletin board/message base websites, as well as any sources of free websites (besides packages that come bundled w/ your cable)? Not geocities, I never liked their sites...

I've added a bunch of links.. scroll down to your right and you should see some new stuff in the last few hours.

Sleepily, Hostess

THE KEY TO RECOVERY AND SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION

2007-08-11T16:12:00.002-04:00

[Preliminary Note: Some of this was actually written in response to another post but it was getting so long, going well beyond the topic of that other thread, that I decided to create a new post instead]

In another post I explained why, at least for now, I prefer not to use my real name, but would now like to explain WHY I chose the display name of "Socrates," the ancient Greek Philosopher.

I did not pick the identity of Socrates by accident, but rather because he was perhaps one of the earliest and most famous practitioners at least in Western thought) of what turns out to be the most powerful tool humanity has ever had at its disposal: "the question" - and the process of asking questions in search of better answers.

Among many other things, the question in search of an answer is the key to all meaningful, desired or needed change - including transforming systems (mental health systems, but all systems) and lives, to achieve real hope and real recovery!

I've really only understood this, at least explicitly, since I had the epiphany of a lifetime 6 months ago - itself triggered by asking myself a question I had never thought to ask before.

This question led to a flash of insight about one, simple key idea: the power of "the question" to find new, different, valid and good answers, when desired. Since then, I've elaborated this one simple idea - about the nature, function and purpose of "the question" in relation to answers - developing it into 3 inter-related theories. For these purposes, the most relevant one is a sort of ultimate theory of problem-solving and change. Tentatively, I am calling it "Why Things Are The Way They Are....And How to Change Them, If Need Be."

Admittedly, this is a little awkward for the name of a theory; I have to work on a more concise name at some point, but for now, it serves the purpose of communicating the basic idea.

These theories have virtually unlimited practical applications to help individuals, organizations, systems, governments, society, etc. in countless, even extraordinary, ways. Above all, they are the key - to the extent humans have such a key - to reducing suffering and enabling people to instead - consumers certainly included - be and do whatever they want, so long as it is humanly and theoretically possible - and it is very difficult to say beforehand that something is NOT at all realistic or humanly possible, beyond, perhaps, certain physical constraints (I'm not saying I can now go pitch for the Boston Red Sox)!

So having basically finished these theories about 3 weeks ago (at least enough to be extremely useful) I now plan to devote my life - now my career, calling and life's work - to bringing these insights to consumers and eventually anyone else who is interested - to help solve our biggest problems; whether on the personal, system, societal or even planetary level. Using these questions, we can help even those in difficult, even dire, circumstances overcome them and go on to fulfill the potential they have and the potential our society and even species has!

Thus things like this and other blogs and the forum on August 27th are some of the first steps I'm taking to bring the virtually limitless possibilities and practical applications of these ideas to people - starting with consumers who truly need this kind of help, more so than most people. These things are just the beginning of a what could be an amazing journey - as I already have ideas and plans for many other exciting, creative, collaborative mechanisms and projects to launch down the road, in furtherance of these goals.

After considerable brainstorming (applying the theory) I've concluded that perhaps the best way to maximize and speed the development of the potentially unlimited applications this process so easily gives rise to - including "killer" applications (and the further development of the theories) IS by inviting others to collaborate with me in this venture and adventure.

Moreover, almost everyone is a potential collaborator and contributor, since as long as one's basic cognitive capacity is intact (even children over some age), they can do this - including mental health consumers! Indeed, this very blog and the forum are potentially the start, and part of, that very collaboration!

Eventually, I intend to create an online collaboration that will become the equivalent of a virtual think tank, probably along with various, needed advocacy offshoots. This, in turn, will eventually help lead to the creation of a real, bricks and mortar think-tank-type organization, which will be devoted to the furtherance of all of these goals - especially developing the potentially limitless practical applications, which I couldn't achieve on my own if I had 10 more lifetimes!

Once the process is understood - and it's very easy to explain it, even as a fun game to play - just about anyone could become a collaborator, since the process (which the theory describes explicitly) makes it very easy and simple to come up with creative, innovative, insights, ideas, solutions, inventions and answers - across virtually every areas concern or problem related to human thought and activity!

So, in this spirit of collaboration - which is one thing this world definitely needs, and it can also be the seeds for the real community we also very much need - I invite anyone and everyone who is interested to collaborate on this in some way, so we can transform lives, the system, and maybe even someday, the society and even the world! All that is needed to collaborate in this sense is a willingness to ask questions, think and record and share one's answers.

This is the one "Big Answer" I now have - HOW to find better, valid, meaningful answers to our most important questions, to the extent human beings can come up with such answers.

I am well aware of just how preposterously grandiose these claims and goals sound. However, should anyone doubt that that I can accomplish something on the order of creating a think tank or similarly "unrealistic" projects, I'll just point out that, in fact, I've already done these sort of things several times in my life, even as a child - including in mental health advocacy!

While something like creating a major think tank is admittedly on a much grander scale, I now realize - and can actually demonstrate, maybe even prove - that it would entail essentially the same process I engaged in to create or doing all these other things I've done - usually in collaboration with others - over my entire life!
And most of those accomplishments also either were or would have been considered unrealistically grandiose before they became a reality! So it really is just a difference of size and scale - simply a larger, more complicated version of the same problem to solve, but still solvable when one employs the most powerful tool at humanity's disposal - a source of virtually limitless possibility and creativity!!

Moreover, thanks to the Internet and other tools we now have which we never had until quite recently, the capacity to communicate, collaborate and organize with people from virtually any and everywhere makes accomplishing these things all that more possible - with the possibilities only limited by the limitations on our imaginations. Providing, of course that the basic idea is a good and useful one to begin with, which, in this case, is quite easy to see and show.

Moreover, it's not just me who can now do things like create collaborations leading to creating think tanks. Previously, I engaged in this process more or less automatically, as a personality trait. Now, however, I have the the understanding and theoretical underpinning to explicitly and easily help most anyone (even children over some age) do these sorts of things - to achieve whatever their own goals are, if they are humanly feasible!

So the risk of being called grandiose or worse is one I'm willing to take, given what I know to be the stakes and the potential, and my desire to get this out there, so it can be of maximum benefit to individuals and society, especially those who could most use it, including millions of persons disabled by physical, mental health or other problems, and so many others who are struggling, suffering, impoverished, marginalized, dis-empowered and lacking in hope that things could be otherwise.

Because suffering and struggle are things I've known more than I'd care to about, so to sit back and and not do what I know can really help alleviate so much of this, while helping us fulfill our potential ,is simply not something I can do.

Hence if I can stay healthy and stay focused, I will create such a think tank - from scratch, out of nothing - like other things I've created from scratch, out of nothing, before. And this will then become the tool to harness the potential of the question and these theories based on it - to bring amazing applications to the world, no doubt beyond what I can even foresee at this moment! And the more who join in on this, the more synergy, the more can be done, and the faster it can be done!

So, anyone want to join me in this collaboration - this amazing journey - of a lifetime?!!

If you are looking for a one sentence summary of all of these insights and theories, I can hardly do better than this Cameroonian proverb I found on page 1 of a book titled "A Comparative History of World Philosophy."

"He who asks questions cannot avoid the answers"

Think about it...think about it - really meaning ask questions about it - long and hard enough and you will understand everything I am saying here, and so very much more!!!

Or, if you want something more familiar, try this one: "Ask and Ye Shall Receive,"and particularly ponder (inquire about, which, of course, means to ask) its converse: DON'T Ask and Ye Shall NOT Receive.

Only I mean this, not in its original, religious meaning, but in this deeper, purely secular meaning, not in its original religious meaning: Ask questions, and you shall receive answers - good, better, meaningful, valid answers. And, by implication, this is the only way to get valid answers and avoid the unsatisfactory, quick easy answers that have plagued humanity from its arrival on the scene.

THE VERY PURPOSE AND FUNCTION OF QUESTIONS:
TO GET ANSWERS!!

Indeed, the very terms or concepts of "questions" and "answers" presuppose each other, such that there is an intrinsic relationship between the questions you ask and the answers you receive in return!

How does one get to the "right"questions?....Why, they are there for the taking - or the asking, so long as one is clear about what they are really asking; and the best way to achieve that clarity is - you guessed it - ask some key questions, like "Why"questions, that go to crucial considerations, like purpose.

Simply put, the way to get good answers is to keep asking questions until the answers you get really answer your original question,
not just appear to do so or beg the question.

"The Ultimate Answer" = "The Question" !!

Asking questions, as Socrates and so many others throughout history have at least implicitly understood, is to take the ultimate journey - the journey of the mind, to places one never would otherwise get to, except by serendipity, or to unexpected places one never even imagined existed!

So if you decide to take this journey and go on this ultimate adventure - happy trails, and hope our paths will cross out there, which I have no doubt they will, if we both keep traveling on this endless trip!!...... Bon Voyage!!!

Son of Socrates

Forum on Recovery and the Transformation Grant

2007-08-10T00:28:00.000-04:00

Silver Spring Drop-In Center will be hosting a forum on what recovery means, and how that plays in with having "meaningful" consumer involvement in participating within the Maryland Transformation Grant in the public mental health system. What an awkward sentence!

This forum will take place Monday August 27, 2007, from 6 to 7:30 pm (possibly til 8 pm), in downtown Silver Spring. Visit www.silverspringdropincenter.blogspot.com/ for more info about the center - our new blog -, and also visit www.thesantegroup.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=101 which is the official center website.

For RSVPs to this event (a flyer is in the works), please email dropincenter AT santegroup
DOT o r g or call 301.589.2303 X 108, leaving your name and phone number in your message. The outgoing message has our physical adddress.

Entiende?

Mr. Forum leader, would you care to comment on the upcoming event?

Thanks for creating this needed site!

2007-08-07T16:57:00.000-04:00

Thank you for setting up this blog - I tried to find out information about this Transformation Grant on the Maryland Government website and found nothing. I spoke with the administrator to the then director of this grant project last winter to suggest they create a website and online forum for people interested in this to provide input into the process and exchange information, ideas and questions. She assured me that they were working on this, but apparently they have run into various snags in getting this off the ground. So glad to see that you took things into your own hands (real empowerment!) and went ahead and created this alternative!

Socrates

"Seek and Ye Shall Receive" - the true, deeper, secular meaning of this

The Ultimate Answer: "The Question"!

Welcome to the unofficial Maryland Transformation Grant blog

2007-08-07T14:29:00.000-04:00

This is a resource for those in the dark about the Maryland Transformation Grant, which is in its second year (as of 8/2007).