resources

Local Base Service Units Bucks County PA

215-785-3785 215-257-6551 215-345-5327

NAMI Bucks HELPINE:  1-866-399-6264 (1-866-399-NAMI)

MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS  1-800-499-7455 

PACT's PHONE NUMBER - For information contact JoAnne Davis, Team Leader for PACT.   The phone number is 215-343-7696, ext. 5027 and the fax # is 215-343-3819.

NAMI PA Montgomery County website

Bucks County MH Individual & Family Handbook is now on-line in Adobe Acrobat on the website buckscounty.org   IndividualFamilyRecoveryResiliencyHandbookSpring2007.pdf

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance    http://www.dbsalliance.org/index.html 

FREE - SELF-HELP BOOKLETS PROMOTE RECOVERY FOR PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESSES - Techniques to help reduce the effects of trauma, make lifestyle changes to positively affect emotional well-being, and build strong relationships are a few of the issues addressed in a series of new self-help guides developed to help people with psychiatric disabilities.  The guides are being offered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a public health agency within the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.  Call SAMHSA's Clearinghouse to obtain your free copies - 1.800.789.2647; TTY 301.443.9006 or log-on at www.samhsa.gov

http://www.bazelon.org    The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is a national legal advocate for people with mental disabilities. Through precedent-setting litigation and in the public policy arena, the Bazelon Center works to advance and preserve the rights of people with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities

NAMInet - NAMI National has an intranet web site that only NAMI members and leaders can access called NAMInet.  You can sign up by going to NAMI's home page http://www.nami.org and click "sign up now" under NAMInet.  If you're a currently enrolled NAMI member, just type in your name and NAMI will give you your NAMI ID number so you can sign-up for NAMInet.  Information about our Bucks County PACT is posted at this site and is seen by NAMI members country-wide.

KNOWHOW - NAMI for Consumers - NAMI National has a web/e-mail community of NAMI consumer members throughout the country.  This is an electronic forum for the sharing of support and information among consumer members of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.  To subscribe, send an e-mail to:  knowhow-request@maelstrom.stjohns.edu     Include:  your full first and last name, your state of residence and NAMI affiliation (Bucks County), a statement to the effect that you identify as a "primary consumer" of mental health services.   or contact Ray Federici, e-mail xroads97@hotmail.com and let him know you want to join.  Ray also established a similar web-based community for NAMI PA consumer members.   Contact Ray via e-mail to join either or both.

The NAMI National website has a useful capability to search for info on Illnesses, treatment options, medications and user communities.  To use it, go to:  http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=Search&Template=/Search/Search.cfm

FAMILY-TO-FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP MEETINGS -   

The groups welcome new family members - 

Lower Bucks support group meetings are held the first and third Mondays of every month, 7:30 pm, St. Mary Medical Center,  Langhorne-Newtown Rd., Langhorne, PA.  Questions?  Call Jennifer Gorzo, 215.968.5475  map

Central Bucks Family to Family Support Group meets the first and third Mondays of the month from 7 - 9 pm at the BCCST office at 600 Louis Drive (off Street Rd./ Route 132) Suite 106, 
Warminster, PA 18974. 
For more information, please call 1-866-399-6264

NAMI-CAN (NAMI Children's & Adolescents' Network) -  Meetings are held the fourth Thursday of every month.  Call 215.675.0199 or 215.682.9724 for more information.  No meetings in summer.

Community Support Program (CSP)
The Community Support Program (CSP) is a coalition of people concerned about the range and quality of public mental health services, basic life opportunities, level of community support and the overall quality of life for persons with a mental illness in the Bucks County area. 
For info contact Susan Orloski at 215-785-2825, e-mail sorloski@mhasp.org or Donna Duffy, Penn Foundation, 215-257-0895. 

Rainbow House by Penndel Mental Health Center
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program 
1272 New Rodgers Rd
Bristol PA 19007
215-826-9760
Hours:
Monday-Friday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm
Tues., Wed.& Thurs Evening 6:00 to 9:00 pm
Sat. 10:00 am - 2:00 pm

RECOVERY, Inc.  http://www.recovery-inc.com/  Recovery, Inc. is a self-help mental health program based on the work of neuropsychiatrist, the late Abraham A. Low, M.D. Recovery, Inc.is non-profit, non-sectarian and completely member managed.  Recovery Inc., has been active since 1937 and we have groups meeting every week around the world. To find a meeting in the Delaware Valley, http://www.recovery-inc.com/meetings/northeast.html#pennsylvania  Telephone: 312-337-5661 or e-mail 155@recovery-inc.org 

http://parentsmedguide.org    a new resource center developed by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) for parents and caregivers of children and adolescents with depression. 

CONTACT Bucks County http://www.contactbuckscounty.org/ is a non-profit, United Way agency that provides free telephone helpline services to the residents of Greater Philadelphia.
Lower Bucks   215-547-1889 or 215-355-6000
Central Bucks 215-340-1998
Upper Bucks   215-536-0911
Main Line & Delaware County  610-649-5250
Philadelphia Area          888-855-5525

TELECOMMUNICATIONS RELAY SERVICES 
Please inform all of your staff, especially staff that "greet" the public, receptionists, intake, medical records, etal about Verizon's Telecom-munications Relay Service. 
The PA Telecom-munications Relay Service (TRS) allows people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind, or speech disabled to communicate with anyone using a regular telephone.
This is done by using a keyboard machine called a text telephone (TTY) to send messages over the telephone network. 
A Communications Assistant reads the typed message of the TTY user to a person using a regular telephone. 
The Communications Assistant types the response of the regular telephone user to the TTY user. 
All calls are handled with strictest confidentiality 
Call 711 or 1-800-654-5984 to access this service 
Call 1-800-855-2884 to access this service in Spanish 
TRS is available 24/7. 
People who do not have a TTY machine can reach TRS by dialing either 711 or 1-800-654-5988 or in Spanish 1-800-855-2885. 
People who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind or speech disabled may qualify for telecom-munication devices to help them with telephone services. 
Devices include TTY, Amplifier, Telebraille, Voice-carryover TTY, TTY with large visual display. 
Contact: 
PA Statewide Independent Living Council 
108-110 North Second Street 
Harrisburg, PA 17101-1401 
1-866-542-3788 (voice) 
1-800-440-0347 (TTY)
you can go onto the PA Public Utility Commission's website to find out more information 
http://puc.paonline.com/telephone/TRS/TRS_default.html
Also, Milestones has a Deaf Services Center in Glenside. Milestones has a Partial Hospitalization Program, Intensive Case Management, Residential (housing) and interpreter services. They can be reached at 215-884-5566. Treatment Services and ICM are in Magellan (HealthChoices) network for Bucks County

NAMI PA Chester County has an office in eastern Chester County in Devon.

Address is:
NAMI PA Chester County,
237 Lancaster Ave., Suite 218
Devon, PA 19333. 
Phone is 610-293-1422 

e--mail: mvbakernet@juno.com   website  http://chester.nami.org

People with severe mental illnesses also are sometimes jailed because their families find it is the most expedient means of getting the person into needed treatment.  

Read more on the criminalization of people with severe mental illnesses on the website of the Treatment Advocacy Center:  http://psychlaws.org/

http://dbsalliance.org/  Depression and bipolar support alliance.

http://www.dana.org/   Dana.org serves as a gateway to brain information. Visit the Brain Information and BrainWeb section to access general information about the brain and current brain research, and to link to sites related to more than 25 brain disorders.