Expect Recovery: Winter Newsletter Here!

The Winter 2010 Issue of the Expect Recovery: Make It Happen newsletter is here! In it, you’ll see that, as always, we have been very busy with many activities going on throughout our six counties during the last quarter.

Colleen Jasper writes quarterly for this newsletter. She’s not only the pioneer in the peer movement, but she’s also the Director of the Office of Consumer Relations at the Michigan Department of Community Health in Lansing. Each of her articles impacts our daily lives as consumers and how to move beyond the disabling power of a mental illness. In this issue, she talks about the ups and downs of our mental health-related issues and how we can move beyond recovery and flourish – making the impossible, possible.

There’s also a section on how to exercise while watching TV with different ideas to get you started. We’ve talked about it numerous times, but the Report on Morbidity (Illness) and Mortality (Death) in People with Serious Mental Illness states that people with mental illnesses are dying 25 years earlier than the general population. By reading and taking action steps towards a healthier life (like doing exercises while watching TV), we can help each other beat those odds.

Also in this issue is the topic of medications (safe use, storage, and disposal) and how to meet your recovery goals using Smoking Cessation and MI-PATH groups.

This newsletter is packed full of information and I hope you enjoy reading it! Happy Holidays!

— Mary Beth Evans, Recovery Coordinator