Newsworthy

The Friends Connection of Montgomery County

The Friends Connection of Montgomery County (FCMC) opened its doors in January of 2001. Temporarily located at 536 DeKalb Street in Norristown, FCMC is providing one-to-one community-based peer support services to individuals with co-occurring disorders. Additionally, we are beginning to sponsor recreational activities in the community (please see our calendar of events in this newsletter). We are steadily building our staff and accepting referrals for program participants. We are accepting consumers into the program who are residents of Montgomery County and meet the following criteria:

1. Reside in Lower Merion or Norristown proper,
2. Are connected to BSU numbers 465 or 466,
3. Have a co-occurring mental health and substance abuse problem.

We currently offer services to 16 consumers from Lower Merion and Norristown. We anticipate a move to our permanent site at 700 East Main Street, 2nd Floor, north side Norristown, in August of 2001.

Once we settle in to our new location we will establish a weekly Double Trouble meeting open to the entire community.

To inquire about FCMC services please contact Carol Holmes, Program Manager at 610-292-9922.

Revisiting the Consumer Operated Services Program Outcomes Project Friends Connection of Philadelphia

Mark Salzer, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia Friends Connection (TFC) is nearing the end of its third year of involvement in a four-year study to assess its effectiveness. TFC is one of eight sites receiving funding from the Center for Mental Health Services, a division of the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, with the overall goal of studying the effectiveness of consumer-operated services. Consumer-operated services are increasingly viewed as potentially valuable additions to traditional mental health services and it is hoped that a demonstration of the effectiveness of these services will lead to increased funding and expansion of these types of services. Other sites involved in this national study include drop-in centers, self-help groups, and advocacy programs.

Over the past three years TFC staff and researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have been working with representatives from the other sites and a coordinating center to design the multi-site study and select measures that examine those domains where consumer-operated services are thought to be most valuable. These domains include increasing consumer empowerment, recovery, hope, quality of life, and general well being. TFC has been quite successful enrolling people in this project over the past year and will continue to enroll new participants through at least the end of September 2001. This project is a wonderful opportunity for consumers to express their views about the mental health system in Philadelphia and how the services they receive impact their lives.

Eligible participants are those who have a co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorder and are currently receiving targeted case management services (either Intensive Case Management or Resource Coordination). Participants in this project have five interviews with researchers from the University of Pennsylvania over a sixteen-month period and are paid $20 for each interview. All information provided is completely confidential. For more information about this project, to schedule a presentation, or to make a referral contact Terrence Means at 215-599-4011, extension 4.

The Philadelphia Friends Connection Double Trouble Meeting

The Friends Connection Double Trouble meeting is back and looking for your support! We meet on the 4th floor, Suite C at Riverview Place, 520 North Delaware Avenue. The Double Trouble group meets every Saturday from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. We look forward to seeing you there! Many thanks to the folks at CTT for making the space available to the group!

Enhancing Recovery Supports in the Latino Community

We continue to have our Spanish speaking Double Trouble 12-step meeting on Wednesdays from 1 p.m. - 2 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church on Hancock Street and Susquehanna Avenue. The meeting started in October of 2000 and continues to need a lot of support. We have a number of Spanish speaking people from the community but currently the majority of those who attend are non-Spanish speaking individuals. Oftentimes we conduct the meeting bilingual. These meetings can be an integral component for recovering individuals with co-occurring disorders within the Latino Community. Please spread the word and come out to join us in recovery. For further information contact Robert Cuadrado at 215-599-4011 ext. 5.