Henry Petersen,
L.C.S.W., Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital, San Diego

Henry Petersen will speak about holiday stress and families, the difference between this and SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), and coping with holiday stress.

Henry Petersen is an LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker). He has been with Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital for over nine years, and has been specifically working with the Mood Disorders Program - based on the Cognitive Behavioral model of therapy - for over six years. Beginning nearly six years ago he developed, and has been facilitating, a weekly Mood Disorders Support Group, an educational and process group. The group members comprise both diagnosed persons ("consumers") as well as family members and friends. He has been a guest speaker for DBSA and NAMI.

David Granirer,
Founder/Counselor, Author and Stand-Up Comic

David Granirer, author of The Happy Neurotic: How Fear and Angst Can Lead To Happiness and Success, will entertain you with his stand-up comedy act on the lighter side of mental health and talk about his Stand Up for Mental Health program, where he teaches stand-up comedy to people with mental illness as a way of building confidence and self-esteem.

He will also screen Cracking Up, the VOICE Award-winning documentary on Stand Up for Mental Health, and do some Q&A. And he’ll talk about how doing comedy helps in the recovery process!

This is a special joint presentation of DBSA San Diego and Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital. Note the special date and time above. The location is also special: David's presentation will take place in the gymnasium of Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital, in Kearny Mesa, 7850 Vista Hill Avenue, San Diego, California 92123-2790.

For further information about David Granirer, visit him on the Web at http://www.standupformentalhealth.com/.

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Michael T. Lardon, M.D.,
Sport psychiatrist, psychopharmacologist, physician, mental coach, and author

This talk will address what techniques and concepts elite athletes use in helping themselves perform their best in intense competition. The presentation will last about 45 minutes. Dr. Lardon will show actual case vignettes of Olympians that illustrates these concepts. Afterwards he will open a discussion on how these concepts can help the everyday man and woman in their daily lives.

Dr. Michael T. Lardon is a University of California, San Diego Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry who specializes in general psychiatry, psychopharmacology and performance enhancement. He is author of Finding Your Zone: Ten Core Lessons for Achieving Peak Performance in Sports and Life. He provides services to PGA Tour and Olympic athletes. He holds a psychology degree from Stanford University, a medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, and internal medicine training from St. Mary's Hospital in Long Beach, California (a UCLA-affiliated program). His research in Athletic Peak Performance won UCSD’s prestigious Judd award.

Dr. Lardon is published in both academic and lay press. He has been interviewed frequently by both print and television media: USA Today, Active Cities, Golf Magazine, Gold World, Sports Illustrated, Court TV, and CNN. His own interest in sports began when he became a United States Junior table tennis champion. During his psychiatry residency training he caddied for his brother, Brad Lardon, in the PGA Q School finals, an infamous experience well-chronicled by sports writer John Feinstein in his book, A Good Walk Spoiled.

To quote Dr. Lardon: "This is a very exciting time in the field of sport psychiatry because of the tremendous advancements in neuroscience. It is the integration of research and clinical expertise that allows me to help facilitate performance in my clients. I now utilize everything from cognitive-behavioral strategies, medicine, hypnosis, psychotherapy, performance enhancement techniques and common sense. I feel very fortunate to have a profession that grew out of my life's experience and draws on the latest scientific breakthroughs in the field of neuroscience."

For further information, visit Dr. Lardon on the Web at http://www.DrLardon.com/.

Michael Coleman,
Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher

Come learn about and experience The Healing Power of Laughter through Laughter Yoga. Laughter Yoga has many benefits including physical, emotional, and social. Some of the most immediate and powerful benefits are a decrease in anxiety and stress and an overall sense of well-being. Laughter Yoga is not physical yoga and everyone can do it! No yoga mat or special clothing is required. Laughter Yoga is a worldwide grass roots movement where people gather in a group and laugh without jokes or even a sense of humor by cultivating a childlike playfulness that results in genuine laughter. There are over 6000 Laughter Clubs worldwide including in the U.S. (ten Laughter Clubs meet weekly in San Diego County), Canada, Europe, India, South Africa, Australia, China, Japan, and the Middle East.

Michael Coleman is a Certified Laughter Yoga Leader and Teacher, trained by Madan Kataria, M.D., the founder of Laughter Yoga. In addition to training people from all over the United States to be Laughter Yoga Leaders, Michael has led hundreds of laughter classes and currently leads weekly classes in many locations around San Diego. Some of the places at which Michael has presented laughter programs include Qualcomm, Law Offices, the Lions Club, University of San Diego, men’s retreats, health fairs, community festivals and events, churches, yoga studios, senior residences and centers, and more.

In addition to being a Laughter Yoga Leader and Teacher, Michael received his Bachelors in Psychology from the University of Illinois and his law degree from the University of San Diego. Prior to becoming a licensed attorney, Michael worked as a mental health worker at Mesa Vista, Mercy and Grossmont Hospitals. As an attorney, Michael has advocated on behalf of persons diagnosed ? and misdiagnosed ? with depression, bipolar disorder and other serious mental illnesses. He was active in the mental health client advocacy movement in the late 1980s and 1990s and was involved in starting The Meeting Place, Clients and Others for Action, and other client-driven groups.

For more information on Michael, Laughter Yoga, and to view news stories about Michael and his Laughter Clubs that aired on ABC Channel 10 News, FOX Channel 6's San Diego Living, and Cox Cable Channel 4's San Diego Insider news magazine, visit http://www.LaughingInSanDiego.com/, phone him at 619.255.4622, or email him at <Michael@LaughingInSanDiego.com>.

Sandy Balkenhol,
DBSA San Diego member

Sandy will present her story of illness and recovery from bipolar disorder. She has been a DBSA San Diego member for many years.

Unlike most of our presentations, this one will be held in Room 2011, the room we normally meet in at the start of our Monday meetings. Please do not go to the Garren Auditorium for this presentation. As usual, a support group will also be held at the same time, in Room 2113.

Special program note: Anyone planning to attend this presentation should prepare for it by reading the article entitled "Welcome to Max's World" http://www.newsweek.com/id/137517/ from the 26 May 2008 issue of Newsweek magazine. A printer-friendly version of this article may be found at http://www.newsweek.com/id/137517/output/print/. Additionally, the presentation will start promptly at 6:00pm and will run until about 7:30pm. There will be no late admissions, no early departures, no breaks, and no questions. We thank you in advance for your cooperation!

Marc G. Murphy, Ph.D.,
Senior Therapist, Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital

Cognitive Therapy (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT) has been shown to be the most effective method of treating depression. In this meeting we will discuss the ways in which CBT can successfully treat depression using the most important tools that help lead to remission and prevent relapse of depression. The presentation will also address how group therapy is especially effective for treating depression.

Dr. Murphy is a senior therapist with the Cognitive Intensive Outpatient Program (Cog-IOP) at San Diego’s Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital.

The PowerPoint slides used for the presentation are now available online here. This is a PDF file generated from Dr. Murphy's PowerPoint file, and should be viewable and printable by most computer users.

Christie Johnson

Life’s Toolbox Skills
Alexander Technique Introduction : Nurturing Noticing : Exploring Balance

Are you challenged in taking care of yourself and/or while taking care of a loved one with a mental illness? Learn to care and connect without losing your own self-care by learning to turn tension into attention, redirect excess energy into useful energy, and learn the essential art of responding versus reacting. Please join us and explore more life balance.

For further information, visit Christie at http://www.ChristieJohnson.net/, or call Christie at 951.587.9156.

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Claudia Rhodes, L.C.S.W., therapist in private practice in San Diego

Ms Rhodes is going to speak on a variety of topics. A few areas of her talk will focus on what exactly a therapist does. How does she decide on what type(s) of intervention to focus, her awareness of when someone may be given a wrong diagnosis, and what she sees as the seven important behaviors that help to keep life on track. She will also want to know what questions the group members have about the therapeutic process. She will take general questions about therapy, but since she is not a doctor, she will not discuss medications. Claudia will bring her therapy dog, Heartley, to the presentation.

Claudia Rhodes, LCSW, has been providing individual, couple, and group psychotherapy in San Diego since 1991. She has worked for the County of San Diego in the adoption unit, The Chadwick Center for Children and Families at Rady Children's Hospital, working with victims and family members who had been traumatized by abuse, PsyCare as a group and individual therapist, and currently is in private practice. Claudia takes a holistic approach with her clients. She believes that it is important to focus on healing mind, body, and spirit. Her therapy dog, Heartley, is an integral part of her therapy. His energy is calming and nurturing.

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Wendy McNeill and Diana Wahl
Members of NAMI San Diego

In Our Own Voice is a multimedia presentation by mental health consumers to people who want to learn more about mental illness, including families, medical professionals, and other consumers. It is specifically designed to show how persons with serious mental illness not only cope with the illness itself, but recover from the illness to reclaim meaningful and productive lives.

The presentation includes a brief video, an interactive discussion, and a Take Home Kit for attendees. The video shows mental health consumers speaking on different aspects of living with their illness. The discussion allows the audience to interact with the presenters on the topics covered in the video. The Take Home Kit includes mental health resources and an evaluation form.

Megan Webster
Poet, Author, Parent, and Professor

Megan Webster is a founding member of San Diego Writers, Ink. She has authored several texts in English as a second language and three poetry chapbooks, including Bipolar Express, which won the 2004 San Diego Book Award for Best Unpublished Poetry Chapbook. Published in 2006 by Finishing Line Press, Bipolar Express was also a finalist in the New Women's Voices Chapbook Competition.

Megan has taught ESL and literature in Mexico and at Northeastern University in Boston. She currently teaches poetry at San Diego Writers, Ink and does freelance editing. Her son is bipolar and her poetry is her coping skill, often documenting her experiences living with a bipolar person. She will share some of her poems and also do some interactive exercises with the audience.

Kitty Dukakis
Author and Mental Health Patient

Larry Tye
Medical Reporter

For more than twenty years, Kitty Dukakis battled severe depression with every medication and treatment available. But it wasn't until she tried electroconvulsive therapy—ECT—that she began getting her life back for good. In this talk, she and medical reporter Larry Tye will discuss the book they co-authored: Shock (subtitled The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy). This book is "half her first-person experience with the treatment, half his look at its history, science, and medicine."

Ms Dukakis is the wife of former Massachusetts governor and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis, and a well-known and much-loved public figure in her own right. Mr. Tye is an award-winning author and journalist who currently runs the Health Coverage Fellowship, which is designed to help improve media coverage of critical health care issues.

John McManamy
Author of Living Well with Depression and Bipolar Disorder and Mental Health Advocate

John McManamy is the author of the highly-acclaimed Living Well with Depression and Bipolar Disorder: What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell You…That You Need to Know, just out at the end of last year. He is a former financial journalist with a law degree. Soon after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1999, he began researching and writing about his illness. Over a period of six years, he read thousands of research articles, attended psychiatric conferences, conversed with leading researchers and clinicians, and talked to thousands of patients and loved ones. In 2004, John McManamy received a public service award from NAMI-CT, the CT Psychiatric Society, and the CT Department of Mental Health for his email newsletter, McMan's Depression and Bipolar Report, and his Web site, McMan's Depression and Bipolar Web http://www.mcmanweb.com/.

His book bridges the needs of the diagnosed, their friends and families, and their health care team. He currently is a mental health advocate in the San Diego area. Through examples drawn from the latest scientific research and new clinical insights into the mood spectrum, John McManamy will illustrate during his talk the importance of "knowing thyself," and how this can lead to a constructive dialogue between patients and their treating professionals, along with loved ones, with the goal of full recovery.

There will also be time at the end of the talk for "Ask the Patient" and for signing books.