Volume 9, Issue 1
Winter/Spring 2001

TFC Expansion
Outcomes Project Update

Latino Community

Alumni Programs
Desk of Alumni Coordinator

Staff Highlights
Outward Bound 2000

Congrats to the Staff
Did You Know
Circle of Friends
God Cares

Activities

Weekly
Monthly
Conferences
Splash Party
Double Trouble Meeting

Double Trouble Group Meetings

Zodiacs

Energy Assistance
Serenity Prayer
Today's Reminder
Holidays

Congratulations To The Friends Connection Staff

Congratulations go out to Russell Collins, Peer Support Counselor, who was married on September 23, 2000. Join us in wishing him many blessings and happiness in the years ahead!

Congratulations to Bill Burns-Lynch and his family on the birth of their daughter Ashlyn Marie, in September 2000.

Did You Know

Research suggests that families play a central role in the survival and well being of their relatives with dual disorders, supplying large amounts of direct care and financial support. However, treatment providers often underestimate the importance of families in the lives of their clients with dually diagnosed disorders.

Providers may be able to reduce some of the stress or burden on families by providing timely crisis response and training in management of substance abuse and other behavioral problems. Providers can also learn a great deal from families which in turn, will help them anticipate crises and generally improve treatment effectiveness.

Although community mental health and psychosocial rehabilitation programs place a high premium on helping persons with severe mental illness to live independently, independence cannot be achieved at the expense of informal social support from family and friends.

Quotes taken from Clark, Robin E. (1998). Family Support For Persons With Dual Disorders, in Readings in Dual Diagnosis, edited by Drake, Robert, et al., International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services, pg. 384-398.

Circle of Friends

This is the section of the newsletter that we dedicate to you, our readers. We invite you to share your thoughts with us in short stories, poems, or inspirational sayings. If you would like to contribute, please contact Bill Burns-Lynch at 215-599-4011 or just send your contributions to Bill at the Friends Connection office. We look forward to seeing your words in print!

God Cares

God cares for us whether we are weak or strong,
Because to Him we do belong.
Satan tries to pull us down,
But we have to remember that God wears the crown.
And who are we to judge one another,
When it is all of us who needs to recover!