Highlights of Transformation Accomplishments

In the last quarter Northern Lakes continued moving forward on transforming the public mental health system to be one more focused on recovery. The highlights are described in this quarter’s Blueprint Summary. Our Blueprint is a living document which is updated quarterly. The latest version was updated 9/25/08.

Some of the highlights include:

The Recovery Council took an in-depth look at what is needed to address holistic wellness and recommended a focus on activities connected to “Mind, Body, Spirit.” Sampling classes on various aspects of wellness have been incorporated into Learning Community meetings; a Living Well conference in October also focused on these issues. Some of the classes we intend to develop and offer through the new Anti-Stigma and Recovery block grants will focus on various aspects of wellness and chronic disease self-management.

In addition to having trained Pathways to Recovery facilitators in each office, we now have trained and certified WRAP (Wellness, Recovery, Action Planning) facilitators to provide WRAP classes in each office. We will be adding capacity to provide classes in PATH (Personal Action Toward Health) Self-Management Program, which helps individuals to manage their chronic health conditions and live a healthier lifestyle, and we will be participating with the state roll-out of a new peer supported whole health program.

We’ve been very active in working with the state to implement the Recovery Enhancing Environment (REE) measure of individual and system recovery orientation. Northern Lakes CMH and Oakland County CMH will be the first two organizations in the state to pilot use of the measurement tool.