From Recovery to Discovery Peer Support Group Meetings

From Recovery to Discovery Peer Support Group Meetings

Every Thursday Evening

6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

The Hub

2nd Floor, 1673 Barrington Street

Halifax, Nova Scotia

ALL ARE WELCOME!

FREE!

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 13^th, 2010

An interactive presentation on recreation and mental health with Ms. Diana Bennett, Certified Recreation Therapist

Diana Bennett has extensive experience working with youth and adults with mental illness. She was one of the principal administrators of The Wellness Program at the Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program, where she helped clients work toward personal and group fitness and health goals, and assisted them with their journey toward recovery. Diana has also worked with the Mental Health Day Treatment Program, and she is currently employed at the IWK's Adolescent Centre for Treatment, and at COMPASS, Centre for Collaborative Child and Family Treatment. Her enthusiastic yet sensitive approach addresses many of the issues facing people with mental illness, such as a lack of confidence and motivation. A main focus of her work in mental health is supporting clients to enhance their level of physical activity and realize the connection between mind and body. Diana’s skills with engagement as a group motivator will be sure to remind members of the From Recovery to Discovery Peer Support Group of the importance of meaningful recreation in achieving and maintaining mental health.

Thursday, May 20^th, 2010

An interactive presentation on bipolar disorder with Dr. Martin Alda, Professor of Psychiatry, Acting Director of Research, Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University

Dr. Martin Alda is an expert in bipolar disorder and psychiatric genetics. He is the first holder of the Killam Chair in Mood Disorders at Dalhousie University, and he is a Faculty of Medicine Clinical Research Scholar. He provides clinical care in the Mood Disorders Program at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax. Prior to his placement at Dalhousie Medical School in 1998, Dr. Alda taught and practiced psychiatry in Czechoslovakia and at the University of Ottawa and Royal Ottawa Hospital. The winner of three Young Scientist Awards from the Bi-Annual Workshop on Schizophrenia, Dr. Alda also received the New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit (NCDEU) Young Investigator Award from the US-based National Institute of Mental Health, the Intermediate Research Fellowship from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation, and twice the Independent Investigator Award from National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD). His research interests include long-term treatment of bipolar disorder and the phenomenology, clinical course, and neurobiology of mood disorders.

Thursday, May 27^th, 2010

An interactive presentation on Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) with Dr. Ravinder Bains

Dr. Bains is a psychiatrist at Connections Halifax (formerly known as Connections Clubhouse) and The Centre for Emotions and Health, as well as psychotherapist who specializes in ISTDP. The basic ISTDP understanding of many psychological disorders is based on attachment, and the emotional effects of broken attachments. Interruptions and trauma to human attachments may cause a cascade of complex emotions which may become blocked and avoided. When later life events stir up these feelings, anxiety and defence reactions may be activated; a basic finding derived from a large case series conducted by Dr. Habib Davanloo in the 1960’s and 1970‘s. The anxiety and these defence reactions may be completely unconscious to the person experiencing them, and the result may be ruined relationships, physical symptoms, and a range of psychiatric symptoms. The ISTDP treatment approach, as designed by Dr. Davanloo, is to first acquaint the patient with these unconscious processes and then to help them to overcome the emotional blocking processes. This often means focusing on the feelings that the patient has in the office during the moments of the interview, and pointing out the ways the patient blocks off both the emotions, and the connection with the therapist, during treatment. After exposure to the origins of these intense emotions, and learning to stay with them in the present moment, patients commonly experience an improvement in symptoms, and a reduction of defensive reactions.

Further upcoming From Recovery to Discovery Peer Support Group interactive presentations:

Thursday, June 3^rd, 2010 – Ms. Aileen McGinty, Music Therapy

Thursday, June 10^th, 2010 – Rev. Martin Zwicker, Topic to be announced.

Date TBD – Dr. Phil Tibbo, Early Psychosis and Current Research in Psychosis

Laura Burke

Peer Support Facilitator

Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia

Phone: (902) 465-2601

Toll-free: 1-800-465-2601

Website: www.ssns.ca

Weblog: www.blog.ssns.ca

Room B-23, E.C. Purdy Building

300 Pleasant Street

P.O. Box 1004, Station Main

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

B2Y 3Z9